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WFISD updates Parents as Teachers program after achieving national endorsement
Summary
WFISD’s Parents as Teachers affiliate reported program growth, near-capacity enrollment and a national quality endorsement; the board heard assessment, outreach and funding details and asked about expansion and scheduling barriers for working parents.
The Wichita Falls Independent School District on Tuesday heard an update on its Parents as Teachers (PAT) affiliate, including service reach, screening practices and a newly earned national quality endorsement.
Stephanie Parsons, the district’s Parents as Teachers coordinator, told the board PAT began in 2013 and “is a comprehensive evidence based home visiting model that strengthens families and supports early childhood development.” She said the local affiliate serves prenatal-to-age-5 families across Wichita County and works through four core components: personal home visits, group connections, child screenings and a resource network.
Parsons said the program earned a PAT Blue Ribbon affiliate quality endorsement after meeting essential requirements and quality standards. She described routine screening tools used by home educators — the PICCOLO, Bracken School Readiness assessment, Ages & Stages Questionnaires and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale — and said assessments trigger referrals to district services when concerns arise. “We do these screenings to identify family and child needs and connect them with the appropriate supports,” Parsons said.
Board members pressed staff on reach and capacity. Parsons said each home educator can carry about 20–21 families and that the program currently serves 122 families (capacity 124). She explained recruitment through community events, partner organizations and school records and flagged scheduling constraints: district expectations limit most visits to standard work hours, which can make evening participation difficult for working parents.
On funding, Parsons said PAT is “100% funded through the McBee grant,” with United Way and the Early Childhood Coalition providing supplemental resources and WFISD charging a 10% indirect cost on the grant. Trustees discussed whether to expand the program if evidence shows better school-entry outcomes for participants; Parsons invited trustees to join home visits to observe the model directly.
The presentation closed with board appreciation for staff and partner organizations; trustees raised follow-up questions about measuring long-term impact and whether the district should consider scaling eligibility or hours to reach more families. The board did not take formal action on the presentation.
The district’s PAT materials and the program’s performance measures were provided to trustees as part of the board packet.
