Crawford County R-1 Contracting Parents As Teacher Educator

Unable to hire a Parents as Teachers (PAT) educator, the Crawford County R-1 School District has contracted the position from nearby Steelville.

During a special board meeting on Sept. 17, the district approved a contract with Steelville R-III to have their educator work in Bourbon as well.

The PAT program “is beneficial to our families and is a state requirement” according to minutes from the session.

Bourbon reached out to five other districts to fill the PAT role, which has been posted since the end of the 2023-24 school year.

Steelville will allow its educator to provide services to the Crawford County R-1 families.

The PAT educator will be paid the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) rate that Bourbon receives for visits and screenings. Bourbon also will pay for mileage and office hours to prepare for visits.

Erin Mades, the director of the Special Services Department at Crawford County R-1 and PAT supervisor, will take on other PAT roles to ensure all DESE requirements are met.

Bourbon will pay $90 for high needs visits; $70 for regular visits; $12.84 per hour for office hours and 62.5 cents for mileage.

The PAT educator provides home visits, group connections, developmental screenings for eligible children and access to a resource network. The services are provided in an effort to increase parenting knowledge of early childhood development, provide early detection of developmental delays and health issues, prevent child abuse and neglect and increase school readiness.

Bourbon’s PAT program received high praise during the last school year. 

Brandi Housewright was the PAT educator.

“Parents feel that Mrs. Housewright is great at providing resources to help them support their child,” Mades wrote in a report. “She also provides great developmental activities that help work on their child’s skills and activities that allow families to bond.”

Parent educators work with children to prepare them for kindergarten. 

A study by the University of Missouri Institute found that participating in the PAT program has lasting positive effects on children’s academic performance.

The report revealed that students who received three or more annual PAT visits showed significantly higher attendance rates from kindergarten through third grade. They also demonstrated greater proficiency in both third-grade MAP English Language Arts (ELA) and third-grade MAP mathematics.