Parents as Teachers Faith Community Network

Parent Educators

Our Parent Educators have all successfully completed the Parents as Teachers Born to Learn training.

Born to Learn^TM Institute, Prenatal to 3 Years

This is a comprehensive five-day Institute with a follow-up sixth day. It is designed to prepare early childhood and human service professionals to implement the four components of a Born to Learn^TM program (personal visits, screening, group meetings, and resource network) using the Born to Learn Curriculum Prenatal to 3 Years.

The Institute covers:

neuroscience research on early development and learning (prenatal through age 3)
sequences of early childhood development
effective instructional personal visits
facilitation of parent-child interaction
ideas for parent group meetings
ways to provide connection to community resources
service to diverse families
red flags in areas of development, hearing, vision and health
recruitment and program organization
the Born to Learn Curriculum: Prenatal to 3 Years, award-winning video series, parent handouts, prepared visit plans (for monthly, bi-weekly and weekly visits), and resources for parent educators

Born to Learn^TM Institute Follow Up, Prenatal to 3 Years

Parents as Teachers National Center offers this one-day technical assistance training to certified parent educators as a follow-up to their initial Institute. It is designed to support the work of all new parent educators who have been implementing the Born to Learn™ model for several months.

This training is required for all first year parent educators. Those completing the course will earn six hours of professional development credit. The goals of the training day are to:

Enhance skills used in delivering personal visits to a variety of families.
Address challenges and learn techniques for facilitating screenings and offering group meetings and resources to families.
Improve recordkeeping skills.
Provide an opportunity for parent educators to network with others and discuss challenges in their work

There are two ways to participate in this training: by attending a face-to-face training or taking the online web-based course.

Born to Learn^TM Training, 3 Years to Kindergarten Entry
The goal of this training is to prepare PAT-certified parent educators to successfully extend the Parents as Teachers program to families with children ages 3 years to the age of kindergarten entry. This two-day training is available only to current parent educators already certified in the Born to Learn Curriculum: Prenatal to 3 Years. The training covers intellectual, language, social-emotional, and motor development of children 3 to 5 years old, and covers techniques for facilitating parent-child interaction during personal visits. The curriculum contains 11 units of personal visit plans and parenting information. Training topics include:

latest neuroscience information relating to 3- to 5-year-olds
all elements of literacy, including reading, writing, listening and speaking
the value of play and the adult's role
aspects of motor development, including gross and fine motor skills, nutrition, health and safety development
aspects of social-emotional development such as social relationships and attachment
aspects of intellectual development such as how children gather and process information
parent group meetings that include topics related to development and parenting issues of children 3-5 years old

Recertification Requirements
To continue to serve families in a program using the Born to Learn model, parent educators maintain annual certification with the National Center. They must:

Deliver Parents as Teachers services to a minimum of five families a year, with a minimum of five visits per family (or 25 personal visits per year)
Maintain records that contribute to the Annual Program Report. The supervisor must submit the Annual Program Report per the requested deadline in order for the parent educators to be recertified.
Earn professional development hours relating to child development from prenatal to kindergarten entry and parenting issues related specifically to early childhood:
- Year 1: 20 clock hours of professional development
- Year 2: 15 clock hours of professional development
- Year 3 and beyond: 10 clock hours of professional development

Professional development hours may be obtained through:

Parents as Teachers National Center trainings and professional development opportunities
Undergraduate or graduate courses by accredited community colleges, colleges or universities
Conferences, workshops, or seminars by nationally-recognized professional early childhood organizations and by local experts
Continuing education classes using local experts from hospitals or community resources.
Program self-assessment using the Parents as Teachers standards