The PTHV Model
The Parent Teacher Home Visits model was co-created by parents and educators using the community organizing principles of shared leadership and recognizing the inherent dignity in all people. The success of PTHV relies on training teachers and staff to develop meaningful relationships with families of their students, starting with voluntary home visits. These are short, 30- to 40-minute conversations, in which educators listen, ask questions, and make observations that they can take back to their classrooms to improve instruction for the learner. As a two-visit model, PTHV encourages the initial, ice-breaking visit to occur in the summer or early fall. This first visit focuses on sharing hopes and dreams. It is followed by ongoing communication throughout the year and a second visit that focuses on academics or any other relevant issue to the student or family.
Core Practices
Our Five Non-Negotiables
Visits are voluntary for educators and families, and arranged in advance.
Visits are not “one more thing” to be done, but something that teachers look forward to and can be arranged during times that are conducive to their schedule
Teachers are trained, and compensated for visits outside their school day.
Training prepares school staff to build authentic relationships with families. The model dictates that educators be compensated for visits outside of the school day to demonstrate value and respect for the time committed.
Parent Teacher Home Visits focus on hopes, dreams, and goals for the student.
By asking families to share their “hopes and dreams” for their child at the start of the first visit, educators lay the groundwork for a productive partnership focused on student success.
Educators visit a cross-section of students and do not target any subgroup of students.
Our model is universally applied to all students and their families with the expressed intent of building relationships of trust. As such, it is a low-stakes interaction that has a positive impact on educators
and families alike.
Trained educators go on visits in pairs and reflect afterward.
Visiting in pairs allows for discussion about what was learned about the student and how to incorporate this learning into classroom instruction as well as what biases were held about the family prior to the visit and how those assumptions changed as a result.
The Visits
PTHV is a two-visit model.
1st Home Visit – Summer or Fall
Educators focus on getting to know the student and the family. The educators and the family members share their experiences, their hopes and dreams for their child, and their expectations of each other. The conversation naturally leads to the educator and the family identifying how they will help the child with their goals.
Follow-up
Now that there is an ongoing relationship,
- Family members and educators may share resources and continue their communication.
- Teachers may use what they learned from the family to improve the child’s experience in the classroom, and enjoy a stronger relationship with the child.
- Families may find new or additional ways to be involved with the school.
2nd Home Visit – Winter or Spring
Educators meet with the family again, with the focus on how to support their child academically. Sometimes schools offer Academic Parent Teacher Teams or other ways parents can get up to speed on grade-level standards and specific strategies to help their child learn.
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.
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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.