The department of education must establish Parents as Teachers programs for rural and urban communities, measure program effectiveness using listed criteria, serve parents of children from birth through age 3, and use at least half of appropriated funds for low-income areas.
I. The department of education shall establish the school district based Parents as Teachers Program for a rural community in Sullivan county in cooperation with School Administrative Unit 6 and the Parent Information Center. Sullivan county will be the rural site for the program because of its unique demographic profile, including the high number of risk factors affecting its children, the demonstrated interest of its public officials in the program, and the capacity to link the program to existing programs within the county including Good Beginnings, the Parent Information Center, and department of education programs in Sullivan county. The department shall use the following criteria to measure the effectiveness of the program: (a) Whether the pilot program was implemented according to the criteria established by the Parents as Teachers National Center. (b) The number of families served, the number of contacts with each family, and family profile information for the families served, including the percentages of families served by town. (c) The total cost and the cost per family for the program. (d) The number of children identified with Parents as Teachers participants that were identified as having developmental delays who have received services during the pilot program to address these delays. (e) The number of children identified with Parents as Teachers participants who were, during the pilot program, the subject of a founded report of abuse or neglect pursuant to RSA 169-C. (f) The results of 3-year-old developmental screening for all children of appropriate age identified with Parents as Teachers participants. (g) The level of parental participant knowledge and achievement including, but not limited to high school equivalency completion, employment, and volunteerism. II. The department shall, consistent with available funding and the expressed commitment of an urban community, establish a school district based Parents as Teachers Program in an urban community on or before January 1, 2002. III. The programs established by this subdivision shall serve parents of children aged birth through 3 years of age. The programs shall utilize at least 1/2 of the appropriated funds to serve areas with high concentrations of low income families in order to serve parents who are educationally or economically disadvantaged. Source: Source. 2000, 140:1. 2003, 317:2. 2013, 215:2, eff. Sept. 8, 2013.