Macomb, October 2017 – Early Beginnings/ROE26 earned a prestigious endorsement by Parents as Teachers national center as a Blue-Ribbon Affiliate, making it one of the top performing early education and home visiting affiliates within the international Parents as Teachers network. The official designation was made on October 1, 2017.
Being named a Blue-Ribbon Affiliate affirms that Early Beginnings is a high-quality member of the home visitation and parent education field, implementing the evidence-based Parents as Teachers model with fidelity. Families in McDonough, Hancock, Fulton and Schuyler counties are positively impacted by the services delivered by this program, which include home visits, group connections, child screening and connections to community resources, equipping parents with knowledge and resources to prepare their children for a stronger start in life and greater success in school.
To earn this recognition, over the past year staff at Early Beginnings completed the intensive Quality Endorsement and Improvement process through the Parents as Teachers national center. The Early Beginnings demonstrated that it meets all of the Parents as Teachers Essential Requirements and at least 75 percent of the Parents as Teachers Quality Standards. Early Beginnings exceeded expectations by meeting 92 percent of the Quality Standards. The designation as a Blue Ribbon Affiliate is good for five years, until September 30, 2021 as long as the program continues to meet the Essential Requirements.
The Quality Endorsement and Improvement Process is designed to help ensure and recognize quality implementation of the Parents as Teachers model, which is used in more than 1,300 organizations including schools, family resource centers, social service agencies, housing authorities, churches, and healthcare systems.
Among Early Beginnings greatest strengths identified by the national office is supporting families with quality personal visits and “Play to Learn” groups, linking families to needed community resources and ensuring that all children in the program are developing at their full potential through regular developmental, social-emotional and health screenings.
About Early Beginnings/ROE26
Early Beginnings provides child development and parenting education for those expecting and with children birth to three through a personal visit and group program customized for the needs of the family. Early Beginnings is a prevention initiative program that receives most of its funding through the Illinois State Board of Education’s Early Childhood Block Grant. Early Beginnings also received a small United Way grant to provide childbirth education and doula support in McDonough County. For more information on Early Beginnings and the other program through the Regional Office of Education, please visit http://www.roe26.net/
About Parents as Teachers
Parents as Teachers is an international, non-profit organization that promotes optimal early development, learning and health of young children. Parents as Teachers provides an evidence-based home visiting model and is a center for innovation in promising practices. Parents as Teachers designs and develops quality research-based and evidence-informed curricula and trainings for early childhood family support professionals.
We support evidence based model implementation by our local partners through professional development, implementation support, continuous quality improvement and a quality endorsement process. We facilitate data collection, analysis, evaluation and research to deepen and demonstrate our impact in communities. Lastly, we advocate for children and families at the state and federal level through community engagement.
For more information, visit www.ParentsAsTeachers.org.