National Extension Parent Education Model
Of Critical Parenting Practices

This report is an electronic version of the complete printed report and does not include many of the graphics that are an integral part of the final model. For a copy of the written version, please contact Charles A. Smith, R343 Justin Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506 or casmith@ksu.edu. Please do not make changes in this report without the permission of the authors. Please keep the authors informed as to its distribution.

Table of Contents:

Preface
Part 1: Foundations
Part 2: The Model In Depth
Part 3: Implementing the Model
Part 4: Curriculum Guide
Part 5: References

Preface

In this final report, we outline a model of parent education that provides common ground for extension professionals throughout the Cooperative Extension System. The National Extension Parent Education Model (NEPEM) is a dynamic approach to parent education constructed through consensus. We hope you find inspiration and direction for your parent education programming within the pages of this document.

County extension professionals, specialists, and administrators do have differences in the nature and style of their parent education efforts. Some of these differences are dictated by personal philosophy and training, others by regional variances. The way you conceptualize your own approach to parent education may be different from the model described here. You also might differ with us in our design strategy for the model. What we share, however, is more profound than how we differ. By coming together to agree on a common set of goals, we are more likely to harness the great power that exists within our system. By focusing on what we share, we can communicate more effectively to others at county, state, and federal levels what we hope to achieve with our resources. We hope county extension professionals, state specialists, and administrators will use NEPEM to better understand and communicate to others what we believe is important in parent education and to design balanced and comprehensive programs. It is only a beginning in what we hope is a continuing reexamination of our priorities.

This report is intended primarily for professionals or committed volunteers who deliver parent education programs and for decision makers and advocates. It is not meant to be given directly to parents. NEPEM is not a parent education program. It is a compilation of priority parent practices and supporting material to be used as a basis for parent education efforts. It also can be used to communicate our priorities to those outside of extension who might be unfamiliar with our goals and programs. Resources listed in the Curriculum Guide section are examples of more specific parent education programs that are consistent with the model. Please contact the authors of these resources if you want to learn more about them.

We hope NEPEM begins a dialogue within extension that continues into the future. NEPEM builds a foundation for creating materials at local levels and provides a basis for more effectively pooling evaluations to communicate the nationwide impacts of our programs. Let us know what you think.

We would like to thank Ron Daly for his vision in seeing a need for the model and his support in finding the resources to complete this project. Olivia Collins's work in the early stages of the project was invaluable. Ron Pitzer provided much appreciated background information on discipline. We also would like to thank those extension administrators, specialists, field faculty, and parent educators outside of extension who took the time to review the model and send us their opinions.

This project was funded from the Plight of Young Children and Youth at Risk national extension initiatives supported by Extension Home Economics and 4-H programs. It is based upon work supported by the Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Cooperative Extension Service, Kansas State University, under special project number 92-EXCA-2-0182.

Charles A. Smith, Ph.D., Project Leader
Human Development Specialist
Kansas State University Cooperative Extension Service

Dorothea Cudaback, Ph.D., CFLE
Family Development Specialist
University of California Cooperative Extension Service

H. Wallace Goddard, Ph.D.
Extension Family and Child Development Specialist
Auburn University Cooperative Extension Service

Judith A. Myers-Walls, Ph.D., CFLE
Extension Human Development Specialist
Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service



Part 1: Foundations
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