Parents Become Class Teachers to Their Kids in New Kansas-Wide School Program

Kansas is promoting the notion that parents are a child's first and most influential teachers. In a new state-wide school program, parents are the ones who teach their kids in school and at home. They are supervised by a parent educator who would check on the child's learning through developmental screenings, home visits and other activities.

The Parents as Teachers program is now in full effect in multiple Kansas cities such as Goddard, Haysville, Wichita, Maize, Derby and Mulvane. Foster parents, caregivers and close relatives of the child can also become teachers as long as their young learners are not older than 3 years old, as per The Wichita Eagle.

"All the research shows that the earlier we start working with kids, the more prepared they will be for kindergarten," claimed Maize Early Childhood Center associate principal June Rempel. She said the new set-up makes parents feel supported. Those who participate in the Parents as Teachers program are more likely to be active in school activities as their child advances.

Rempel and her colleagues have been constantly asking Kansas lawmakers to increase funding for the Parents as Teachers program. School administrators have received the support of Maize voters who recently accepted the idea of a $70.7 million bond issue.

Some of its aims include the creation of a separate Early Childhood Center dedicated to the Parents as Teachers program. The project is expected to cost roughly $7 million.

A typical Parents as Teachers class features parents and their toddlers convening in a circle to learn new skills together like making homemade cloth diapers, essential oils and baby food. Parents can also mingle and share vital parenting tips to other participants.

Earlier this month, the Parents as Teachers program held a mass screening in Saint Joseph, Missouri. The evaluation was done to assess the competencies of children who plan to enroll in preschool this August. St. Joe Channel reported that 3- to 4-year-old kids were tested in three developmental areas: cognitive, language and motor function.