PAT educator Heddie Carter reads along with Tracy Bixler and daughter Hannah, 3.
Murfreesboro PAT Program
Opens New Parent Center

On January 27, 2004, Murfreesboro City Schools celebrated their Parents as Teachers program by opening a renovated Parent Center on Vaughn Street. PAT educators Gail Drye and Heddie Carter hosted on open house attended by the director of schools, the chief of police, the director of the Murfreesboro Housing Authority, the state director of Tennessee's Family Literacy Programs, a representative of Middle Tennessee Medical Center, which provides collaborative services for the PAT program, and parents and other interested parties from the surrounding community.

Drye and Carter currently serve about 20 families, many of whom are enrolled in one of Murfreesboro's two Even Start Family Literacy Programs. PAT also has strong collaborations with the city's Family Resource Centers, the Patterson Park Community Center, and the Adult Education program. The PAT program teaches parents about early childhood education, from prenatal through kindergarten.

Drye remarked that the objectives of America's educational initiative No Child Left Behind will be difficult to attain unless we can also "leave no parent behind." "We help parents understand they can be their child's first and best teacher," Drye said. "We want parents to take the next step. We want parents to be involved in their child's education." Candy Clifford, an MCS community outreach coordinator, pointed out that the PAT program helps families "break the cycle" of low literacy and consequent poverty. "We make an incredible difference," Clifford said.