Parents as
Teachers
Starting in 1981, Parents as Teachers was developed to
assist parents in the process of becoming the best teachers for their children
prior to entering the educational system. Today, Parents as Teachers has the
same focused mission and values: to
equip early childhood organizations, programs, and professionals with the
information and tools that are relevant and widely applicable to every person
serviced.
Vision
All children
will learn, grow and develop to realize their full potential.
Mission
To provide
the information, support and encouragement parents need to help their children
develop optimally during the crucial early years of life.
Values
The early
years of a child's life are critical for optimal development and provide the
foundation for success in school and in life.
Parents are
their children's first and most influential teachers.
Established
and emerging research should be the foundation of parent education and family
support curricula, training, materials and services.
All young
children and their families deserve the same opportunities to succeed,
regardless of any demographic, geographic or economic considerations.
An
understanding and appreciation of the history and traditions of diverse
cultures is essential in serving families.
One amazing issue or trend that was introduced in their
monthly update posting or resource area was the section about how Parents as
Teachers works with special populations. There was a fact sheet about how this
organization assisted in implementing and maintaining the Native American
Indian Head Start program. Being from American Indian decent, I automatically gravitated
to this resource newsletter. This clearly shows that diversity is much larger
than what many Americans realize. It was also refreshing to see that as a
people Tribes have finally accepted governmental assistance programs to better prepare
their youth. The major purpose of Indian Head Start is to support high quality,
comprehensive, early childhood developmental and educational services by retaining
value of cultural exclusivity and diversity of each Native communities. Another
exciting idea that should be implemented in not only the Indian Head Start
program, but in all early childhood and educational programs, is that this
program seeks to preserve each groups’ identity through culturally appropriate
and relevant family- centered child development and educational services.
I feel that this article/fact sheet definitely relates to
this week’s topic of changing demographics and diversity. Native Indian tribes
were the first group in the Americas that felt like outcasts or different and
they were ironically the original citizens. Their educational programs and
systems were based solely on traditional ceremonies and life needed skills,
which lacked many advanced, modern enhancements including technology. Being the
first group “looked down upon” or discriminated against, it took hundreds of
years for tribes to welling trust and accept assistances from the “enemy”. Because
of immigration being on a raise and diversity being more accepted, I feel it has
definitely become easier for ostracized groups to reach out for help and/or be
more welcoming of assistance.
Frances,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great website! I think that their vision, mission, and values definitely speak as to what they want for children and families. As we seek to learn more about changing demographics and diversity there is so much to be learned and so much to be offered through these excellent websites. Thank you for sharing about his website and I look forward to hearing more about parents as teachers and how they they have supported these special populations.