As described by Dr. Pauline Crabb,

"The Parent Education Program has the distinction of being one of the earliest of its kind in the state of California. The program was an outgrowth of a grant from the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Foundation in 1926 to the University of California for an Institute of Child Welfare and to the Califronia State Department of Education for the establishment of a bureau of parent education. Dr. Gertrude Laws, one of the recipients of that grant, who completed her doctoral studies at Columbia University in the area of parent-child relationships succeeded Herbert R. Stolz, M.D. as the director of the bureau in 1928. In collaboration with her friend Pauline Gartzman, Dr. Laws initiated the first parent-child observation classes in Pasadena in 1933. Tournament Park, located at Cal Tech, was the original location for the first "Play Group," as it was then named. A small group of women, primarily wives of Cal Tech faculty, gathered to observe their children at play. The site was set up each week by two teachers who carried all the necessary play equipment in their cars. Under the direction of Miss Gartzmann, the mothers would record their observations of their children at play and gather one evening each week to discuss these observations and other child growth and development topics as well. Gradually a discussion time was worked into the morning program and a more formal structure of children's activities, like those in a nursery school setting was included. In a 1943 publication under the auspices of the Parent Education Department of Pasadena City Schools, "play groups" were devined as "parents laboratories." Teachers were called "play group leaders." The program has continued, uninterrupted, for more than 70 years.

Until 1967, the program was jointly sponsored by the Pasadena Unified District and Pasadena City College. PUSD provided sites and allocated funds for capital outlay; PCC (then PJC) provided funding for the staff and collected the ADA in conjunction with the other adult education credit classes. As the program grew, sites were added at elementary schools and other parks and more teachers were hired, two for each class. To be eligible to teach at this time, a potential teacher was requried to have been a parent in the program, to have earned a bachelor's degree, and possess a credential in Adult Education with a specialty in Parent Education and Child Care. Beyond that, "Cadet training, " a six-week in-house practice teaching program of observation, skills practice, and formal discussion, was required. Each six-weeks session, which was held only a few times each year, as need indicated, was the responsibility of a Cadet leaders who would schedule the candidates into a variety of age-lelvel groups four days a week, then hold discussion of the week's experiences on the fifth day. The cadets were not paid for this experience.

In 1967, Pasadena voters determined that the PUSD and PCC would no longer be governed by one School Board, but that each would become a separate entity. With that decision, PCC assumed full control for the administration and operation of the Parent Education program. Mrs. Hana Pear Alexander, a former Parent Ed teacher, then an elementary teacher, was assigned as Parent Education Specialist. Due to the increased fiscal responsibilities of PCC, only one credentialed teacher was assigned to each class. It was her responsibility to plan both the adult and children's curriculum. She was to be supported by an aide who would assist with the physical set-up of the site and supervise the children (with the help of parents) during the adult discussion period of the class.

It was also the Parent Education Specialist's responsibility, as with all succeeding administrators of the program, to assess and develop class schedules and staffing requirements, which included the training of aides and teachers. The position includes ordering equipment, and being a liaison for the program in each of the communities of the PCC district.

In keeping with changing times, the Parent Education program has continued to develop new types of classes as the needs of parents indicate. Recognizing that parents need education and support long before their child reaches the age of two and a half, as was the requirement in 1933, classes were initiated for expecting parents (Preparation for Motherhood), for parents of infants and toddlers, and a dad's class in the evenings. Curriculum was developed for short-term classes for each level of the school-age child, a course in Systematic Training for Effective Parenting, and a course that meets court-mandated attendance requirements. In cooperation with PUSD, Pasadena City College has also offered courses for parents who have limited background in English...

Since the inception of a California State Bureau of Parent Education (which, during the 1970s was subsumed in the Adult Education Department), parenting education has become an integral component of the state's education program. The Objectives for Parent Education in California as first developed by Dr. Gertrude Laws in 1933, and used as the basis for the objectives of the Parent Education program in Pasadena, continue, in the main, to be viable for the parents in the 21st century."