Annual Report

School Year 2022-23

Quick Stats For SY 2022-23

Schools Served

Teachers Trained

Children Reached

cents of every $ spent went toward direct delivery in schools

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last few years, HILL for Literacy has experienced significant growth, and School Year 2022-23 did not slow down. Instead, we more than doubled our revenue over the previous year and hired 23 new staff members to ensure we continued to provide high quality service to our rapidly expanding client base.

HILL Online, our flagship suite of applications that support the implementation of HILL for Literacy’s MTSS framework also experienced expansion. Several of our new staff members play key roles in HILL Online including a Learning Management System Administrator, additional help desk support, application developers, a UI/UE designer, graduate assistants, and more, all with an eye to better serve our clients now and in the future. In School Year 2022-23 we served 118 schools, 3,500 teachers, and more than 27,000 students through HILL Online alone, and anticipate serving even more in School Year 2023-24.

We’re proud to have partnered with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on two initiatives this year: GLEAM and Mass Literacy: Open Access Professional Learning (OAPL). Our GLEAM partnership saw the addition of a Pre-K initiative, and thanks to OAPL we were able to train 150 Massachusetts teachers in in the Science of Reading free of charge and with a stipend.

We anticipate School Year 2023-24 will be a year of even more growth for the HILL. We look forward to continuing our partnerships with MA DESE as well as the Connecticut State Department of Education and reaching more teachers and students through their initiatives. We’re planning to launch a completely asynchronous version of our Science of Reading series through Expertise and the development of HILL Online as whole continues at a brisk pace. We’re eager to offer exciting new enhancements to our clients and reach more schools with these new applications that will make our work even more accessible and sustainable.

As a nonprofit, our organization’s ability to continue operations is due in part to the generous donations of community members and foundations. We don’t take the challenge of teaching kids to read lightly: according the latest NAEP results, 65% of 4th graders fail to read at grade level each year and we know that we can help them. Your support can have a tangible, meaningful impact on the lives of children in HILL schools. Donations can be made via our website or by contacting the HILL office at 888-860-0190.

Best Wishes,

Darci Burns, Ph.D.
Executive Director

SPOTLIGHT ON HILL ONLINE

The 2022-23 school year was one of significant growth for HILL Online, our web-based application that guides the installation, implementation, and sustainability of HILL for Literacy’s Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework. HILL Online is comprised of three primary components: Roadmap, Expertise, and Continuum. Roadmap supports our Needs Assessment process, Expertise provides professional learning and implementation support, and Continuum brings the HILL’s data meeting process online into an easy-to-use format.

For years, the HILL’s proprietary individual data meeting process has supported teachers in reconciling multiple data sets to inform a high-leverage/high-impact instructional focus. Now, through an interactive interface, Continuum supports and simplifies that process, supplies necessary insights to assist teachers in data-based decision-making, incorporates teachers’ expert knowledge of their students, and provides a tool for long-term sustainability, all in one online application.

In SY22-23, we rolled out many new features and enhancements for our clients, including:

  • enhancements to support teachers in conducting mid-cycle monitoring and determining a student’s response to instruction
  • offering schools the ability to customize data cycles
  • Classlink API integration that syncs district student rosters to HILL Online
  • live helpdesk support
  • reporting

Overall, between Continuum and Roadmap, we served 118 schools and 3,500 teachers.

We also made huge strides in the development of Expertise, the newest component of HILL Online that launched in Summer 2023. Expertise is the interface through which schools and districts will manage their professional learning, resources, tools, and implementation support. We adopted a new learning management system software platform for Expertise, hired a learning management system administrator, and began development on a completely asynchronous version of our acclaimed Science of Reading series to launch in spring 2024.

Client Feedback

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I really enjoy using Continuum. I can easily view my students’ progress and assign an instructional focus for future instruction.

First Grade Teacher, Bryant School
Bridgeport Public Schools

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I love how clear and easy it is to create groups and choose focus areas.

Kindergarten Teacher
CREC Museum Academy

Key Partners

Black and Puerto Rican Caucus of the Connecticut General Assembly
Center on Teaching and Learning, University of Oregon
Center for Behavioral Education & Research, University of Connecticut
Commonwealth Learning Online Institute
Connecticut Commission on Women, Children, and Seniors
Connecticut State Department of Education
Crafting Minds
Educational Performance Systems, Inc
Keys to Literacy
Literacy How
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
NeuEon, Inc.
Professional Training Institute
Public Consulting Group
Rhode Island Department of Education
Right to Read CT
RMC Research Corporation
Schoolworks
The Reading Institute
YPTC

Our Supporters

For a complete list of HILL Supporters, please click the link below.

Our Schools

For a complete list of HILL Schools, please click the link below.

Interested? Give Us a Call or Email!

888.860.0190 | info@hillforliteracy.org

Financials

from FY2021-22 financial audit

REVENUE

EXPENSES

For more about the administrative side of the HILL, please see the links below.

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