Parents as Teachers Plus ‘Birthday Party’ celebrates successful first year of childhood literacy initiative

Idaho’s Parents as Teachers (PAT) Plus early childhood literacy program celebrated its successful first year in Madison County with a “birthday party” for participating families, residents and special guests, on February 9, 2005. PAT Plus also received a new $50,000 infusion of funding from the PacifiCorp Foundation for Learning’s Utah Power Fund.

“We have seen very positive results from the additional ‘plus’ component added to the Parents as Teachers program in Madison County, through support from the PacifiCorp Foundation,” said program director Janet Goodliffe. “This additional funding will enable us to continue our efforts to provide the best possible training for families in order improve childhood literacy in our community.”

In its first year, Parents as Teachers Plus made a significant impact in boosting kindergarten reading readiness skills. PAT Plus provides in-home and group-parenting training for nearly 670 children and 240 families in Madison County, Idaho. The PacifiCorp Foundation’s support added a literacy curriculum to parenting visits, and provided a “books for preschoolers” component in conjunction with the Dollywood Foundation’s Imagination Library.

Isaac Regenstreif, PacifiCorp Foundation for Learning's executive director, presents a $50,000 check to Janet Goodliffe, PAT Plus program director.

PAT Plus, in conjunction with BYU-Idaho, developed age-appropriate literacy activities to correlate with the books in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. These literacy activities were provided to participating families in a 65-page booklet handed out at the celebration. BYU-Idaho professors and students who have been involved with the program utilized three of the literacy activities in the event’s Reading Activity Center, where children created fun book-based projects to take home.

Special guests at the celebration included BYU-Idaho President Robert Wilkes; Parents as Teachers Systems Director Michelle Welsh; Madison School District Superintendent Geoffrey Thomas; BYU-Idaho professors Kathy Gee and Kathleen Gordon; Tom Putnam with Partners for Prosperity; PAT Plus Program Director Janet Goodliffe; and PacifiCorp Foundation for Learning Director Isaac Regenstreif.

Media inquiries: newsdesk@pacificorp.com