[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 10 (Friday, January 16, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S647-S648]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EDUCATION BEGINS AT HOME ACT
Mr. BOND. Mr. President, our families are struggling in the worst
economy since the Great Depression. It is a difficult time for many who
do not have jobs or who have seen their savings shrink or are in danger
of losing their homes. We are working very hard on many fronts to try
to get the economy going again.
During this time, I think it is important we not lose sight of our
long-term priorities. We have to build a better safety net for our
children and families. We must think about the long-term educational
prospects and tools for success our children need, regardless of the
economy.
Today, I highlight two bills that address educational needs of
children.
First, research tells us that the first months and years of life are
critical in laying the foundation for later success in school and
social interaction. As a matter of fact, some people say that half of a
child's learning intelligence is developed by 3 years old. For too
long, we have thought those wonderful little people under 3 were just
to be loved and ignored in terms of education. Much of the time is
spent in the home, and parents are the most influential part of a
child's life. It is my view that they must be the child's best first
teacher. During these early moments, with the parents and other family
members, children establish their social, emotional and intellectual
health that will continue to grow throughout their lives. Enhancing
these early critical moments further enhances the later years of a
child's education.
You know, the key to education is exciting their curiosity. If you
can make a child curious, then you can begin to teach them because you
can respond to what their curiosity seeks. I think it makes sense to
equip the parents with the skills they need to help maximize the
child's health and development. This is exactly what a program that I
have worked on in Missouri does. It is called Parents as Teachers--or
PAT--and that is precisely what it focuses on. It focuses on primarily
those first 3 years of life, when half the learning intelligence, when
the socialization and interaction are developing, and when the
curiosity is excited.
The curriculum of PAT is designed to build a foundation for later
learning, to provide early detection of developmental delays, as well
as health, vision, and hearing problems, to prevent child abuse and
neglect and to increase a child's school readiness and success.
Actually, we found that detecting those early childhood developmental
delays probably saves more money in avoiding special education or
remedial education needs later on. The way we finally got the bill
passed in the Missouri General Assembly was when a commission I had set
up as Governor studied ways to lessen child abuse. They came back and
said: You know, the best thing you can do is to equip a parent with the
tools to deal with a child's frustration and keep them from pushing you
to the point where you are abusive.
My Bond theorem is that if you have a 2-year-old child and that child
isn't driving you nuts on a regular basis, either, A, you are not
normal or, B, the child is not normal. Parents as Teachers gives the
parent a means of dealing with those frustrating and challenging times.
Twenty-five years ago, I pushed the Early Childhood Education Act
through the Missouri General Assembly and signed it into law. It was my
second term and I had to fight for 4 years to get the bill passed, but
it mandates that Parents as Teachers be offered in every school
district in the State. In other words, to every family; whether they
were going to home school their children, whether they had their
children at parochial or private school or in a public school.
That was 4 long years of work, and I don't know that I have ever had
a more satisfying 4-year-long battle with that success. I was on a
mission because the year I started pushing it was the year my son was
born. I was anxious to be a new father and shared the same feelings of
anxiety and confusion many new parents still feel today. I had bought a
new car before my son arrived, and it came with a handbook. We took Sam
home from the hospital, and they told us to use a car seat and gave us
diapers. Well, children's schooling is a key component of a child's
success in school, and that is why we began working on it.
PAT made a positive difference in my family, through sleepless
nights, teething, and learning the ABCs. My son was probably one of the
first to benefit from the Parents as Teachers materials and books, but
countless others have benefited since. And after I passed it, I found
that parents would stop me on the street or in my office and say: You
would not believe what I learned when the parent educator came to visit
us. Every time it was something new and different and it gave the
parents a feeling of power that they could deal with the opportunities
this new child gave them.
What began as an experiment in Missouri has expanded to more than
3,000 sites in all 50 States and 8 foreign countries. Countries all
over the world are investing in PAT because the results are positive
and the cost is low. We have about 150,000 Missouri families--200,000
children--participating in
[[Page S648]]
PAT now. I have had the anecdotal results, but scientifically we have
determined, through sound research, that at age 3, PAT children are
more advanced in language, social development, problem solving, and
other cognitive abilities than their peers; and parents who participate
in PAT are more confident about their parenting and more involved in
the children's schooling, which is a key component of a child's success
in school.
I can tell you also that when you talk to an elementary school
educator or administrator they can tell you which children have been in
the Parents as Teachers program because it is that obvious from the
start. A 2008 published, peer-reviewed study of almost 8,000 Missouri
children found that 82 percent of low-income children who participated
in both Parents as Teachers and preschool entered kindergarten ready to
learn, as compared to only 64 percent of similar children who had no
involvement in either service.
At third grade, 88 percent of low-income children who participated in
both Parents as Teachers and preschool received a benchmark level of
performance on the Missouri Assessment Program Communication Arts test,
compared to 77 percent of similar children with no involvement.
These results confirm what I know from personal experience and have
heard from so many parents in PAT--it is a tremendous benefit to them
and their children.
To date, more than 2 million families nationwide have received the
education and support of PAT programs. These are accomplishments of
which we can be proud, but we need to do more. There are more families
that can and should be reached by this life-changing program, which is
why I have introduced the Education Begins at Home Act with Senators
Murray and Clinton. This legislation will establish the first dedicated
Federal funding stream to support the expansion of PAT.
Our bill has had strong bipartisan support in the past, and I expect
it will continue. It would authorize $400 million over 3 years to
States to expand access to Parents as Teachers. It would provide $50
million over 3 years to fund innovative ideas and partnerships at the
local level to expand access to PAT in communities with limited English
proficiency, and it would provide $50 million over 3 years to reach
more military families by expanding access to PAT in schools and
community organizations that serve military families.
As a side note, we have established the program at several military
facilities in Missouri where one parent is often gone overseas, and the
family may not have any normal family network to help them. This brings
the parents together and it also provides them some of the resources
that they might get from a grandmother or an aunt or even an uncle.
Parents as Teachers builds on the principle that babies are born to
learn and that the child's parent is the first and most important
teacher. PAT gives parents the tools they need to prepare children for
success in school and life, and helps parents become more active
participants in their child's education. I believe the expansion of
Parents as Teachers is a sound investment in the future of our children
and our families, and I hope my colleagues will join me in it.
Vision Care For Kids Act
I, also, wish to add comments about another extremely important act
to ensure the success of children--the Vision Care for Kids Act. Eighty
percent of what kids learn in their early years is visual, but one in
four children has a vision problem that can interfere with learning,
and only one in three children receive any form of preventive vision
care before school.
As I said, children have tremendous potential to learn and succeed,
but untreated vision disorders can lead to permanent vision loss. I
know that, personally, because I suffer from a permanent vision loss
due to a previously undiagnosed condition which wasn't learned about
until it was too late. If the condition had been discovered and treated
before I entered school, I could have avoided a lifetime of vision
loss--and I might have done a much better job of catching fly balls in
the outfield.
The Vision Care for Kids Act, which I have reintroduced with Senator
Dodd, establishes a grant program to complement and encourage existing
State efforts to improve children's vision care. Ensuring good vision
for kids will help them see bright futures ahead of them. I invite my
colleagues to join us in supporting children and families through these
important bills.
For the vision care, talk with Senator Dodd or me. For Parents as
Teachers, talk with Senator Murray or me. We would love to have you on
these two important bills.
I thank the Chair and I thank the staff for according me this
opportunity.
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