February 2, 2015

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	State Highlights: Advocacy Days! CT Mark your calendars for this year's Early Childhood Advocacy Day on Wednesday, April 15, at the State Capitol. Further details will be forthcoming. Find out more from the CT Early Childhood Alliance. DE May 6, 2015 is Early Learning Advocacy Day in Delaware! This year's Advocacy Day is sponsored by the Delaware Early Childhood Council. PAT programs are encouraged to get involved early in the planning efforts and to take this opportunity to talk to their legislator about their Parents as Teachers program. Registration opens March 15. For more information contact: Joanna Sullivan OK Smart Start Oklahoma has launched an effort to encourage home visiting program accountability legislation in 2015. The goal of this effort is to ensure program longevity, effective implementation, and to prioritize outcomes in statute. Click here to read a copy of the bill that was introduced by Rep. Echols. To get involved in this effort, please contact: Debra Andersen at Smart Start Oklahoma or 405.278.6978. OH Mark your calendar for OH Voices for Children Advocacy Day on February 19 at the Capitol. Advocacy Day will include a short breakfast including special messages from U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman. Registration and Breakfast will be followed by a brief advocacy training and overview of Voices' advocacy goals for the 2016-2017 biennial budget. To register for Advocacy Day, click here. TX Texas Parents as Teachers has joined a group of advocates to plan Child Protection Advocacy Day at the Capitol on March 5th. Mark your calendar and click here for updates on how to register your PAT group! VA Sabrina Jenkins, former PAT program participant and current Parent Educator testified before the bi-partisan U.S. Senate Law Enforcement Caucus on Feb. 4 about her experience in the CHIP of Virginia PAT program. The briefing was to highlight the success of MIECHV and urge Congress to reauthorize MIECHV before it expires. Great job Sabrina! Is your program or state participating or planning an advocacy day this session and it's not listed here? Tell us about it and we'll include it in the next issue. Email your story and pictures to us.

Inside This Issue

Federal

• PAT Goes to Capitol Hill
• ESEA Reauthorization

Resources

• Free PD Opportunity for Parent Educators

New Reports

• WV PBS Documentary features PAT

	Federal
	PAT Goes to Capitol Hill
	Parents as Teachers National Center, in coordination with a broad coalition of home visiting providers and advocates, continues to help lead the effort to extend funding for MIECHV. On February 4th, PAT President & CEO Scott Hippert joined Fight Crime Invest in Kids on Capitol Hill to testify before the bi-partisan U.S. Senate Law Enforcement Caucus to highlight the success of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program and to underscore the need to extend funding for the program before it expires on March 31st. Former program participant and current parent educator Sabrina Jenkins from CHIP of Virginia PAT, also testified about her experience in the program! Later that evening, Parents as Teachers co-hosted a reception with colleagues from another evidence-based home visiting model, HIPPY USA, to highlight the importance of MIECHV and ESEA reauthorization. MIECHV provides funding to states to implement and expand evidence based home visiting programs. If Congress fails to extend funding, programs may be forced to reduce or eliminate home visiting services for families and states will lose vital funding for home visiting infrastructure. As we move closer to the deadline, programs across the country will be meeting with their Members of Congress about MIECHV. If you want to know what you can do to help, get in touch with our office at: publicpolicy@parentsasteachers.org.
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ESEA Reauthorization

Congress has begun work on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), a funding source that helps many school districts implement their Parents as Teachers programs. So far, the majority of policy conversations have been focused on sections of the law that deal with testing and accountability. However, President Obama, Ed. Secretary Duncan and a few U.S. Senators have indicated that early ed, and namely pre-k should be better incorporated into the bill. Parents as Teachers will be monitoring this legislation. Parents as Teachers has submitted the following policy recommendations to bill drafters:

Parent Information Resource Centers (PIRCs): PIRCs should be reauthorized and continue to be served through a dedicated federal funding stream. Currently this stream is not funded. A number of PIRCs used funding to provide Parents as Teachers.
Inclusion of Parents as Teachers as Model in Parental Involvement: ESEA reauthorization should maintain specific requirements that LEA's describe how they will "coordinate and integrate parental involvement strategies such as Parents as Teachers programs."
Strengthen language to clarify early childhood initiatives as an allowable use of Title I funds: Schools can allocate Title I funds for early childhood program and home visiting services but often do not because the language is not clear enough.
Support state efforts to create learning systems: PAT recommends that Congress Fund the Early Learning Challenge Fund.
Continue support for community partnerships that support early childhood initiatives.

Click here to see an article about a school district that uses their Title I funds to support their Parents as Teachers programs.

Sources:

U.S. Department of Education (2014). Title I, Part A U.S. Department of Education (2004). Title I, Part A Parental Involvement Under Title I: Non Regulatory Guidance. Washington D.C.

U.S. Department of Education (2012). Title I, Part A: Serving Preschool Children, Non-Regulatory Guidance. Washington D.C.

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	Resources
	Free PD Opportunity for Parent Educators
	Professional Development: Are you looking for a way to weave advocacy into your PAT professional development portfolio? Consider adding one of our FREE pre-recorded, on-demand webinar and companion toolkits to your list of must-do trainings. Currently we're offering, "Using Social Media for Advocacy" and "Building a Relationship with Your Elected Officials." Click here to get copies of the toolkits and to watch pre-recorded companion webinars.
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	New Reports
	WV PBS Documentary features PAT
	*The First 1,000 Days: Investing In WV Children When It Counts* is a new documentary that explores the multi-faceted and often misunderstood world of early child development. It looks at some of the problems surrounding the issue and introduces viewers to family programs that are changing the lives of children and helping adults to become better parents. Watch this documentary to get an insider look at a few of the publicly supported childhood interventions in West Virginia, including In-Home Family Education (home visiting), Birth to Three, Early Head Start, and Head Start. Meet the families who are changing their children's lives through enthusiastic participation in these interventions. Parents as Teachers families are featured in this documentary. Click the following link to watch the trailer and the full movie: http://wvpublic.org/term/first-1000-days
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