| Friends of the HILL
The staff of the Hanson Initiative for Language & Literacy is proud to send you the first issue of our newsletter. The HILL Newsletter will highlight educators' tools, training and articles of interest on literacy improvement.
The HILL is a non-profit organization devoted to enhancing the literacy capacity of schools through professional development and school change. Our goal is to help all children read to their potential. The HILL is housed within the Commu nication Sciences and Disorders graduate program at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. The HILL's work is supported by contracts, grants and donors. To learn more about our work with schools, districts and national educational leaders visit our website at www.mghihp. edu/hill.
Send Us Your Feedback! This is the first edition of the HILL newsletter. We'd loved to know what you think of the format, content and design.
Please send you comments to hill@mghihp.edu.
Sincerely,
Dr. Sandra Jones, HILL Director
| The HILL Celebrates Five-Year Anniversary |  |
The HILL celebrated its five-year anniversary at the University of Massachusetts Club, 225 Franklin St., Boston, MA on March 22nd.
Valerie Gumes, Principal, Haynes EEC
Advisory Board members Krista Hanson, Chuck Holland, Maura FitzGerald and Ann Noble-Kiley were instrumental in creating this Five-Year Anniversary and contributing their creativity to the celebration. Glenn and Krista Hanson received a plaque honoring their contribution as founders of the HILL. Glenn Hanson also spoke of the importance of literacy and the impact that reading has on one’s life.
The HILL has much to celebrate. In a scant five years, this small but mighty non-profit has grown from working with two to over 130 schools across Massachusetts and the nation. The HILL is devoted to transforming schools by helping all children learn to read. Their model of school reform is working. Results in districts with high numbers of low-income and multi-lingual children have demonstrated that by using a school-change model along with intensive professional development, team building and leadership training, schools can give teachers the skills they need to teach children to read and write.
By working with the Massachusetts Department of Education, the HILL has been able to help shape the professional development for Massachusetts Reading First and the Boston Public Schools Early Reading First initiatives. Speakers at the event included Sandra Jones, Director of the HILL, Chuck Holland, Advisory Board Chair, Valerie Gumes, principal of the Boston Public Schools’ Haynes Early Education Center, along with Doug Sears, Dean of the School of Education at Boston University.
Over 90 leaders in business, philanthropy, government and education attended this event in celebration of literacy and the HILL’s accomplishments.
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| Initiating Literacy Change. The Chairman of the HILL Advisory Board reports on his "fieldwork" as he assists in kicking off school-wide change | | The HILL's intrepid Advisory Board Chair reports from the field. Last fall Chuck worked with a HILL team in a large elementary school and describes his experience in initiating school-wide literacy change.
Read more of the article
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| Featured Teacher Tool: Stem and Leaf Charts | | | The stem and leaf chart is the HILL's most widely requested classroom grouping tool. Classroom teachers find the tool useful in differentiating instruction in their classrooms.
For more information or help with using this tool in your school, contact Darci Burns at dburns@mghihp.edu .
To access tools such as the stem and leaf charts visit HILL Tools page.
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| Leadership for Literacy: Pioneering Professional Development for Educational Leaders | | Sandra Jones, HILL Director, Darci Burns and Catherine Pirri, Professional Development Coordinators, were invited to present the HILL’s Leadership for Literacy training at the Second Annual National Reading First Conference in New Orleans held in the summer of 2005.The presentation was developed for Administrators and Coaches in Reading First Schools nationwide. HILL staff examined the key issues of school-wide literacy change from a school leader’s perspective to enhance school leaders’ ability to effectively implement research- based,comprehensive literacy programs and data- driven instruction.
HILL presenters touched upon tips for literacy leaders from best practice research, role clarification, stakeholder analysis, the power of teacher beliefs and how to use data to overcome resistance, and the implementation of strategic professional development and coaching that get results.
The positive response to this pioneering topic has led the HILL to create and offer a 2 day course in Leadership for Literacy. The course will be held at The Reading Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts on May 18 and 19. Click her for more information on this workshop. For those of you across the country, contact us about bringing Leadership for Literacy to you.
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| | Dr. Jones: Sustaining Literacy Improvement During Turbulent Times | | | Dr. Sandy Jones, the Director of the HILL, edited the fall issue of the IDA journal, "Perspectives." The issue is devoted to the topic sustaining change in schools. Dr. Jones brought together some of the nation's thought leaders on school-wide literacy change, Barbara Foorman, Carol Tolman, Sharon Walpole and Edward Moskovich.
Read Dr. Jones' article |
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