About Us

Our Mission

To guide educators at all levels through the process of creating schools that excel in developing students’ language and literacy skills.

Our Vision

To help all US schools teach language and literacy effectively, with a million children moving from struggling to reading on level each year.

We don’t take the challenge of teaching kids to read lightly: according the 2022 NAEP results, 68% of 4th graders fail to read at grade level each year and we know that we can help them. The HILL is neither a program, nor a curriculum; rather it is expertly tailored in-service education implemented to fit a particular school’s literacy profile. The HILL supports school leaders in organizing and enriching existing literacy structures. We start at the top and build leadership teams, provide a guided curriculum review process, train teachers and reading personnel, introduce evaluation methodologies, and provide support throughout the process to ensure success. We are dedicated to bringing our clients the best and latest in evidence-based literacy practices. As part of our commitment to research, we partner with the some of the premier education research centers in the country including the University of Oregon’s Center on Teaching and Learning (CTL) and the University of Connecticut’s Center for Behavioral Education & Research (CBER).

The HILL was founded in 2001 as the Hanson Initiative for Language and Literacy within the Communication Sciences and Disorders graduate program at the MGH Institute of Health Professions; in 2010 we reorganized and became an independent nonprofit. The HILL began working with five Massachusetts schools in 2001, and in 2003, the Massachusetts Department of Education chose the HILL as the professional development provider for all Reading First schools in the state. Since then, the HILL has worked with numerous schools, districts, and state DOEs nationwide, and now leverages HILL Online, a suite of applications that provides a blended approach to support and optimize delivery to ultimately help schools build a more scalable and sustainable literacy model. Currently, one of our major projects is a state-wide literacy leadership training project in Connecticut, and the GLEAM project in Massachusetts.

The HILL Advantage

We are an education nonprofit that helps teachers better translate literacy research and assessment data into highly effective instruction that results in long-term success. The HILL is different in that our focus is improving pedagogy and leveraging insights mined from research and raw data to drive continuous, tactical classroom improvement. With the HILL as your partner, you are not only improving academic outcomes, but constantly testing and adjusting leading indicators of success that drive those outcomes in the desired direction.

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The HILL is PLPG Certified