|
History
First Teachers @ Home, an initiative of RUSH, was founded in 2001 as an outgrowth of a faith-based organization with a core mission to help children succeed in school. Originally, we operated a school-based medical clinic, and established the first in Alabama school-based therapy program, understanding that children have to be healthy and in school to learn, and also need strategies to deal with the uncommon number of mental health problems in their lives.
While both programs were helpful, neither achieved our core mission. We discovered that the average poor child began kindergarten two years behind the average middle class child because parents weren’t teaching their children the skills necessary to start school prepared. We then started a family literacy preschool program.
Five years ago, we created a new curriculum called First Teachers @ Home, which included a strong component for behavior modification and disciplining, as well as emergent literacy, math, and science lessons.
First Teachers @ Home formed several delivery components: one visits families in their homes weekly while another partners with schools, churches, and social services agencies to provide a weekly program at their facility. We are committed to bringing its expertise on parenting to as many families as possible in Alabama and beyond.
|
