PTHV in 2025
Building Relationships, Transforming Schools
Closing out 2025 as Executive Director of Parent Teacher Home Visits, this year has underscored how deeply home visits can renew educators’ commitment to their work. Throughout the year, teachers and staff shared that meeting families in their homes helped them reconnect with why they entered education in the first place, reminding them that relationships are at the heart of learning. Stepping into this role after earlier service on PTHV’s board has revealed just how much coordination, care, and courage sit behind every training, every visit, and every new relationship formed. None of this happened in isolation. The stories and milestones that follow reflect what you—our partners, educators, families, district leaders, and supporters—have made possible by centering family voice, building trust, and championing conditions where every child can thrive.
4
New Podcast Episodes
30950
Home Visits Conducted
23
Trainings Completed
429
Schools in Network
Major Milestones
🏆 Honoring a PTHV Champion
In April, we presented the biennial Jocelyn Graves Award to Kwesi Rollins, Chief Programs Officer at the Institute for Educational Leadership. His decades of work supporting family engagement and commitment to equity embody everything our founder Jocelyn Graves stood for.
📚 Strengthened Training Model
Ours is the only training of its kind in which teachers learn directly from families. Our trainings weave in the voices of educators and parents who share concrete examples of taking theory into practice. We’ve added hands-on activities that build the skills needed for authentic connection.
🤝 WE-Lead in Wisconsin
This July marked the launch of WE-Lead in Madison, Milwaukee, and Racine. We’re demonstrating how the union’s organizing strength, combined with PTHV’s proven model can transform teaching and learning while building authentic family-school-union-community partnerships.
📅 National PTHV Week
In September, our fourth annual National Parent Teacher Home Visits Week brought together practitioners, researchers, and advocates through a powerful webinar, and home visit coordinators from districts across the country told powerful stories in a unique blog series.
Heard in 2025
Voices from the Field
“
This is the work we should be doing. This is the work that's going to get us through the time that we're in.
- Anne T. Henderson
“
All of the policies that affect everything that we do in our classrooms are crafted by people who are not in the classroom.
- Missy Testerman
“
We don't want the first interaction being a parent-teacher conference where they don't feel comfortable. They should have prior engagements.
- Tim Finklea
“
I think it takes one visit. I really do. If we save one relationship, if we build one relationship, if we have one student that I made a difference for, it was worth it.
- Superintendent Georgia Rhett
“
"What are your hopes and dreams for your kids?" When I heard that the first time, it just had such a profound impact, and you immediately know in your bones, nothing bad can come out of that conversation.
- Kwesi Rollins
“
What's at stake if teachers aren't prepared? They may not be able to establish or build trusting relationships, and they could do some serious damage by perpetuating stereotypes.
- Jenna Porter
“
You can't get rigor or relevance if you haven't built a relationship with your students first.
- Ashlee Teczon
Thought Leadership & Learning
Podcast
Featured conversations with Anne T. Henderson (40 years in family engagement) and Missy Testerman (2024 National Teacher of the Year) exploring authentic relationships versus compliance-driven approaches.
Blog & Commentary
Addressed critical challenges including the perils of lost federal leadership in family engagement and supporting immigrant families in uncertain times.
New Resource
Published "Strengthening Community-Connected Classrooms," helping educators translate home visit insights into culturally responsive daily teaching practice.
Stay Connected with the Home Visit Movement
Join thousands of educators and advocates receiving insights, research, and stories about building stronger relationships between schools and families.
#PTHVWorks
An Evidence-Based Practice
Students whose families participated in a home visits were 21% less likely to be chronically absent. Source
Students attending schools where home visits are systematically implemented are 22% less likely to be chronically absent. Source
Students attending schools where home visits are systematically implemented are 35% more likely to score proficient on standardized assessments in English and math. Source
2025 in Images
Looking Back
A Sample of School Districts Trained in 2025
In 2026
Looking Ahead
As we enter our next chapter, we’re:
- Launching conversations on teaching and learning at the intersection of family engagement and instructional practice
- Finalizing our strategic plan to guide PTHV’s growth and impact
- Deepening partnerships with unions, districts, and community organizations nationwide
- Strengthening our team to support the growing demand for authentic family engagement
None of this work happens without the dedication of our incredible team—trainers, program staff, coordinators, and communications professionals who coordinate across time zones, troubleshoot challenges, and bring both expertise and heart to everything we do. Thank you for being part of our story.
GET INVOLVED
Bring PTHV to Your Community
Partner with us to train educators and transform school culture through relationship-building home visits.
PTHV advances student success and school improvement by leveraging relationships, research, and a national network of partners to advance evidence-based practices in relational home visits within a comprehensive family engagement strategy.
Explore
Support
PTHV is a nonprofit grassroots network that must raise its operating budget every year. Like the local home visit projects we help, our network is sustained by collaboration.