History Of PTA

PTA's Founders

National PTA is the largest, all-volunteer organization devoted to bettering the lives of children. PTA provides parents and families with a powerful voice to speak on behalf of every child while providing the best tools for parents to help their children be successful students.

For more than a 100 years, PTA has provided support, information and resources to families focused on the health and education of children. The organization was founded in 1897 in Washington DC as the National Congress of Mothers by Alice McLellan Birney and Phoebe Apperson Hearst. In 1911, Selena Sloan Butler founded the National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers which merged with National PTA in 1970. If not for these women and their vision and determination, there would not be a PTA—an organization that has been woven into the very fabric of American life.

By whatever name it has been known, National PTA was created to meet a profound challenge: to better the lives of children. And today, it continues to flourish because PTA has never lost sight of its goal: to change the lives of children across our great nation for the better.

• a powerful voice for all children,
• a relevant resource for families and communities, and
• a strong advocate for the education and well-being of every child.

Values: What PTA Stands For

Collaboration: We work in partnership with a wide array of individuals and organizations to accomplish our agreed-upon goals.

Commitment: We are dedicated to promoting children’s health, well-being, and educational success through strong parent, family, and community involvement.

Accountability: We acknowledge our obligations. We deliver on our promises.

Respect: We value our colleagues and ourselves. We expect the same high quality of effort and thought from ourselves as we do from others.

Inclusivity: We invite the stranger and welcome the newcomer. We value and seek input from as wide a spectrum of viewpoints and experiences as possible.

Integrity: We act consistently with our beliefs. When we err, we acknowledge the mistake and seek to make amends.

PTA Purposes: Historical Goals of PTA 

• To promote the welfare of the children and youth in home, school, community, and place of worship.
• To raise the standards of home life.
• To secure adequate laws for the care and protection of children and youth.
• To bring into closer relation the home and the school, that parents and teachers may cooperate intelligently in the education of children and youth.
• To develop between educators and the general public such united efforts as will secure for all children and youth the highest advantages in physical, mental, social, and spiritual education.