Crawford County R-I Program Builds School Readiness Before Kindergarten

Before Crawford County R-I students enter kindergarten — and sometimes before they enter preschool — the district is already trying to answer a critical question: what does this child and family need to be ready for school?

That work is happening through the district’s Parents As Teachers (PAT) program, a free birth-to-kindergarten service offered to families in the Bourbon School District. 

The program provides home visits, developmental screenings, referrals, literacy tips, parent support and other resources aimed at helping families during the earliest years of a child’s development.

For a rural district where school readiness can vary from family to family, PAT serves as one of Crawford County R-I’s earliest intervention tools. This year, the program recorded 66 screenings, 10 non-high-needs family visits and 26 high-needs family visits.

The program served three non-high-needs families and five high-needs families during the year.

The district’s PAT program is supervised by coordinator Erin Mades. This year, Vicki Thomas joined the district as the new PAT parent educator.

Thomas provides visits to families with varying needs, offering parents and guardians techniques to help children reach developmental milestones. She also provides referrals to support services when needed.

For each family, Thomas provides developmentally appropriate activities, books, literacy tips, health and developmental screenings, and other tools meant to improve overall family well-being.

District officials said Thomas has worked to grow the program and has successfully enrolled several new families.

Parent feedback has been positive, according to the district. Families rated the PAT program as highly effective and reported that Thomas does well engaging with children while providing quality activities and lessons to develop their skills. Survey respondents also said they look forward to her visits.

The program has also been working to become more visible in the community. Thomas has collaborated with the Bourbon Library to meet new families and strengthen the program’s connection with the community. She also set up a table at the Health and Wellness Fair, where she enrolled two additional families.

The local effort is part of a broader early-childhood model focused on helping families before children fall behind in school.

Early childhood professionals say programs that provide early detection of developmental delays, parent education and stronger parental involvement can improve school readiness and family well-being. PAT is designed around that idea, using home visits and screenings to support families before children reach the classroom.

A study conducted as part of Missouri’s Preschool Development Grant Birth to Five examined the effects of Missouri’s PAT Parent Education Program. 

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education contracted with the University of Missouri’s Institute of Public Policy for the study, which included 28 school districts across the state.

According to the district’s report, students who received three or more annual average PAT visits had statistically significantly higher rates of school attendance from kindergarten through third grade, third-grade MAP English Language Arts proficiency and third-grade MAP Mathematics proficiency than peers who did not participate.

The report also found stronger positive effects for children receiving free and reduced-price lunch and children with disabilities. Students who received three or more annual average visits were also less likely to be retained in kindergarten through third grade than students who did not participate in the program.

For Crawford County R-I, the program fits into a larger early-childhood picture. The district also operates a Title I preschool program, but PAT reaches families even earlier — from birth to kindergarten — and can help identify needs before a child enters preschool or elementary school.

That early connection can be especially important for families who may need help navigating screenings, referrals, developmental milestones or school readiness expectations.

The district’s goal for the upcoming year is to expand the reach of PAT through increased community involvement and growing enrollment.

By keeping a consistent parent educator presence, district officials said they hope to build the long-term trust and stability needed for the families the program serves.