Legislature(2011 - 2012)BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
02/29/2012 08:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB6 | |
| SB120 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | SB 120 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | SB 6 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 120-EARLY CHILDHOOD ED: PARENTS AS TEACHERS
8:21:54 AM
CO-CHAIR THOMAS announced the consideration of SB 120.
8:22:10 AM
CO-CHAIR MEYER moved to adopt CSSB 120 ( ), labeled 27-LS0788\M.
CO-CHAIR THOMAS objected for the purposes of discussion.
8:22:30 AM
SENATOR FRENCH, sponsor of SB 120, said this is a nice
compliment to SB 6, which was prekindergarten operated by school
districts or Head Start. This bill takes the idea of early
childhood development a step further with Parents as Teachers
(PAT). Parents as Teachers is designed to help convey to parents
around the state, since they are a child's most important
teacher, a child's first teacher, how better to handle a young
person in their lives.
He said Parents as Teachers first began in Alaska in 1995 when
it was implemented in Hoonah, Alaska. It is a long standing,
well supported program that now operates in 41 communities
around Alaska serving over 900 children. It is designed to
provide education services to newborns continuing until the
child reaches the age of five. It is a purely voluntary program.
SENATOR FRENCH said they all know that parental involvement in a
child's learning is linked to the development of a child's
academic skills including reading had writing and Parents as
Teachers is about engaging families in understanding the way
that their child's brain develops and how to create the best
possible learning environment for their child. Their services
include personal visits, group socialization opportunities with
other families, and developmental screenings to pick up on a
child's learning disabilities in order to be referred to
services as needed and as soon as possible.
There is good evidence about the benefits of this program and
this bill has wide support. They had received 129 letters of
support from Ketchikan up to Savoonga. The bill simply expands
the reach of the current program and asks the Department of
Education and Early Development (DEED) to report back to the
legislature on the program's effectiveness in 2015 after it has
been running for three years. The CS pushes that report date out
one year, because he filed the bill last year and three years
would have come up a little too fast for last years' bill.
8:25:41 AM
CO-CHAIR MEYER asked how this bill differs from SB 6 that
basically expands the public school system to provide
prekindergarten for four year olds. This seems to ask the
parents to be the teachers for the pre-kindergarteners.
8:26:07 AM
SENATOR FRENCH answered that SB 120 is the perfect complement to
SB 6 and probably the more important of the two, because kids
will spend at the most four hours a day in a pre-school
environment and while they get great benefits from that they
will spend 20 hours a day in their home. They have been raised
up until age four by their parents. And a parent is a child's
most important teacher and this is just putting tools in the
hands of Alaska's parents to try to get the most out of that
precious child in their residence with as little governmental
involvement as possible.
8:27:10 AM
SENATOR DAVIS commented that Parents as Teachers is a wonderful
program, but it is not a pre-K program. This helps children get
ready to learning by involving parents in their homes and
schools.
8:28:43 AM
DEBI BALDWIN, Director, Childhood Development Division, Rural
Alaska Community Action Program (RurAL CAP), Anchorage, thanked
the committee for letting them share their experiences in over
19 communities with the Parents as Teachers (PAT) program. She
invited Ms. Ramstad to provide a general introduction to the
program.
KRISTIN RAMSTAD, Program Director, Parents as Teachers, Rural
Alaska Community Action Program, Anchorage, said she supported
SB 120. She said that Parents as Teachers has four goals
nationally: to increase parent knowledge over early childhood
development and improve parenting practices, provide early
detection of developmental delays and health issues, prevent
child abuse and neglect and increase children's school readiness
and later school success.
The PAT model is made up of four components: personal visits to
families that focus on child development and help explain
children's behaviors, developing rapport with parents and
children, modeling best practices and helping parents to
interact with their children. Families additionally are invited
to one or two community social events every month where they get
to learn and play together; parents have the opportunity to
network with each other and children have the opportunity to
gain social skills from their peers. Additionally, PAT conducts
developmental and social emotional screenings to make sure that
children are on track and hearing and vision screenings,
referring when necessary.
8:31:28 AM
MS. RAMSTAD said the final component of the Parents as Teachers
program is connecting families with local, regional and
statewide resources. During the personal visits, topics will
come up that are beyond the scope of the PAT program and
knowledge, and they refer on and follow up with the families.
They talk about barriers to accessing the resources and assist
families in advocating for access to them.
8:32:01 AM
MS. RAMSTAD said PAT has certified parent-educators that provide
research-based information and utilize evidence-based practices.
Basically, they partner with families and promote child/parent
interaction. The promote development-centered parenting, working
on child's behavior and parenting decisions and reactions. This
helps parents understand what to expect during each stage of
development. PAT serves children birth to five years of age,
including teen mothers and special needs children; it is present
in both rural and urban communities of Alaska.
8:34:20 AM
SENATOR FRENCH asked her to explain how this program works with
the various challenges military families face with respect to
early childhood development.
MS. BALDWIN answered that the Department of Defense (USDOD)
invested in PAT a few years ago in the "Hero's at Home Project,"
which was offered to families on military bases. It provided
support and strength to families with one parent deployed
overseas. It was very successful on both the Anchorage and
Fairbanks bases. However, that funding was cut by the Department
of Defense and now the PAT program is reaching out to those
military families; but only 24 spaces are available in the
Anchorage community and a waitlist has been established for
military families that are still interested in the program.
8:36:01 AM
SENATOR STEVENS asked who does the visit and what a certified
parent educator is.
MS. RAMSTAD answered that PAT has developed a three to five day
training curriculum for certification and Alaska and is
fortunate in that it has two national trainers. Once individuals
are certified, they are tested.
The most important thing she had discovered was that the family
visitors are from the local community and she said that RurAL
CAP has all local family visitors of varying levels of education
from paraprofessionals up to master's degree in education.
8:37:21 AM
MS. BALDWIN added that this model is very attractive for Alaska,
because it doesn't have many professionals in the early
childhood field, a career field that they hope will take off in
the next several years. It is one of the few early childhood
programs where people must be tested before they deliver the
material to the participants.
8:37:54 AM
SENATOR STEVENS asked if these people have gone through police
checks and if they get paid.
MS. BALDWIN answered that all PAT staff must clear background
checks before they are allowed to visit families in their home.
Completing the training is point for entry into the early
childhood profession and many continue on to get their AA and BA
degrees. PAT works with the State Training and Employment
Program (STEP) in the Department of Labor and Workforce
Development (DOLWD) that provides assistance for the cost of the
certification. AS incentive to become the top in the field, a 10
percent wage increase is tied to the completion of the course
and another 10 percent on completing an AA degree; a BA gets
another 10 percent.
CO-CHAIR THOMAS asked what becoming a certified parent teacher
requires.
MS. BALDWIN answered that PAT educators have to keep current
each year with 10-15 hours of ongoing professional development
on the latest information coming out of the early childhood
field.
8:39:52 AM
SENATOR DAVIS asked how many educators the program retains once
they begin to get their AA degrees.
MS. BALDWIN answered it is a fact that school districts pay
better than many of the early childhood programs and many of
their teachers are shared with the community once they have
reached their bachelor degree level, but the PAT program in
RurAL CAP doesn't experience that.
8:41:09 AM
That led Ms. Ramstad to a chart of who delivered the program in
the State of Alaska last year that indicated 50 percent of the
children were served by non-profit agencies and 50 percent were
served by school districts that operate the PAT model. She
summarized that PAT served 738 families in 41 communities last
year; 3 percent of those families were teen parents. The chart
showed the ethnicity of children served, which greatly affects
funding sources and where they are located.
8:42:04 AM
MS. RAMSTAD explained that Parents as Teachers connects parents
to other parents in real ways. A major stand out is that they
actually use an evidence-based curriculum that is based on brain
development and home visitors leave resources in the homes to
help parents extend their learning opportunities there.
8:43:30 AM
MS. RAMSTAD said the advisory board is made up of members from
all around the state - from local school boards, Head Start,
local PAT programs, Alaska Native Regional non-profits and
thread. Certified parent educators have to complete 20 hours of
professional development education within their first year, 15
hours in the second year and 10 hours for every year after that.
The PAT model promotes universal access and is not designed for
any socioeconomic status or cultural group, but the biggest
thing is that the modest investment results in high returns and
outcomes. On average, the program spends $3,200 to $4,000 per
family, depending on the cost of living where they are located.
8:45:09 AM
MS. RAMSTAD explained that results from a 2011 RurAL CAP PAT
survey indicated that of the 261 parents who returned the
survey, 260 said they increased their understanding of their
role as their child's first teacher and 257 reported gaining
improved parenting skills including learning more positive
discipline techniques. All of them understood the importance of
reading and early literacy activities, and all of them stated
that they had observed an increase in the skills needed for
their child to succeed in their next learning environment.
Additionally, of all the children that have been in RurAL CAP's
PAT program, 89 percent demonstrated age appropriate skills
going into their Head Start Program.
8:46:56 AM
MS. RAMSTAD explained that a continuum of early learning graph
indicated that PAT works well and is a compliment to Head Start,
private public pre-school and school districts and that they
collaborate on a local, regional and state level with all of
those entities.
8:47:44 AM
MS. BALDWIN addressed Senator Meyer's earlier comments about the
district teacher report that will be coming out from the Alaska
Early Childhood Coordinating Council saying she is a member of
that council, as well as 16 other representatives from around
the state. A draft recommendation lists seven priorities that
are going to be recommended to the legislature and the governor;
they are voted in order of priority based on what the council
sees would be most helpful to the state. These priorities range
from short term to long term actions and look at services and
systems development. The number-one recommendation was to
immediately begin services to an additional 5,000 children
across the state through proven models that have historically
had success in Alaska; those models are Head Start and Parents
as Teachers.
8:49:08 AM
CO-CHAIR MEYER asked to receive a draft report and for an
explanation of how it dovetails with SB 6 that they just passed
in which public schools provide statewide pre-K program for
four-year olds and up.
MS. BALDWIN answered that there is no draft report, but rather a
draft of the priorities that their report will address. She
added that the impetus to making the addition of another 5,000
children the group's number-one priority is the direct
correlation between the amount of parent involvement in a
child's education and their school success. The reason Head
Start is so successful is because they have a strong
family/parent involvement component. Regarding SB 6, they highly
suggest that any pre-school program coming out of the district
also have a strong parent/family involvement to it. Without it
there will be marginal outcomes.
8:50:49 AM
SENATOR STEVENS asked what the additional 5,000 students would
cost.
MS. BALDWIN answered to provide a spectrum of services it would
cost from $30,000 (for services like PAT) to $104,000 (for
intensive services) annually.
SENATOR STEVENS asked if they are talking roughly about $2
million.
MS. BALDWIN answered that they wanted the legislature to take a
look at the children's needs around the state in terms of
existing wait lists for services before making a decision on
allocation of resources.
8:53:42 AM
PENU LUCIER, Director, System for Early Education and
Development, thread, Anchorage, applauded them for passing SB 6
but said there is a gap. The critical years are zero to three
and in SB 6 pre-K begins at four years of age. So, Parents as
Teachers is a very important program in that it serves newborns
though age thee.
MS. LUCIER said she is the outgoing executive director of the
Alaska Children's Trust whose mission is to prevent child abuse
and neglect and that they know absolutely that providing parent
support and education about child development reduces child
abuse and neglect. Anecdotally, she related the joy she felt
when a public health nurse visited her mother for the birth of
her brother in Fairbanks, adding that the experience sticks with
her today. She hoped they gave credence to the letters of
support, especially from the rural areas, because they need the
additional support most.
8:55:25 AM
SENATOR STEVENS asked her to explain what thread is.
MS. LUCIER answered that thread used to be called "Childcare
Connection," and it is the childcare resource and referral
network for the State of Alaska. Besides referrals, they provide
training and education for people in the early childhood field.
She added that she recently became an advisory board member on
the PAT program.
8:56:01 AM
CO-CHAIR THOMAS asked if she was also speaking on behalf of
Sarah Leonard.
MS. LUCIER answered yes and that Ms. Leonard was also with
thread.
8:56:14 AM
LYNNE OSHEIM, Executive Director, Parents as Teachers, Hoonah,
said she had been involved with early childhood programs for 40
years in three states and many different cities and programs.
She recently served as director of the PAT program in Hoonah and
had been on the state board since its inception.
MS. OSHEIM said nothing has changed dramatically for
professionals in this field; the big change has occurred in the
area of brain development and the proof of the importance of the
early years (previous to kindergarten) and the effects they have
on a child's life. And after hearing all the testimony about the
cost benefits of early childhood and family program, she didn't
know why the state wouldn't put its money where it would get the
best results and be ethically and morally right, as well.
As a supervisor of PAT for seven years, she said she had
witnessed many positive changes for children and families. One
of the most important components of this program was that it
embraced the whole family in whatever form it may be. She added
that the PAT program is research-based, comprehensive, very
organized and relatively easy to implement. Complications come
with the many complications of today's families, which is all
the more reason to support this program that supports those
families.
CO-CHAIR THOMAS stated he would hold SB 120 in committee.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB0120A.PDF |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |
| Changes in CSSB 120.pdf |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |
| CS for SB 120.pdf |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |
| Letter of Support - Tonsmeire Kelly (ASDN).pdf |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |
| Letters of Support.pdf |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |
| Letter of Support - Hensley Abbe (Best Beginnings).pdf |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |
| SB 120 - Sectional Analysis.pdf |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |
| 2011 PAT State Office Fact Sheet.pdf |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |
| Letter of Support - Berglund Stephanie (Thread).pdf |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |
| Letter of Support - Bridwell Gara (AEYC).pdf |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |
| Letter of Support - Lyon Joy (Thread).pdf |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |
| Letter of Support - Rose Carl (AASB).pdf |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |
| SB 120 - PAT Value to Military.pdf |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |
| RurAL CAP PAT Presentation Feb 12 to Senate Ed Committee.pdf |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |
| SB 120 - What is Parents as Teachers.pdf |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |
| Why Invest in PAT - Factsheet.pdf |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |
| SB120-EED-TLS-12-7-11.pdf |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |
| 2011 PAT State Office Fact Sheet.pdf |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |
| Why Invest in PAT - Factsheet.pdf |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |
| SB 120 - Sponsor Statement.pdf |
SEDC 2/29/2012 8:00:00 AM |
SB 120 |