Hill Early Literacy Program (HELP)

Determined to help children get off to a strong start in reading, during the critical development 3-5 development years, the key to later educational success, the Mebane Foundation in partnership with 11 childcare centers in Davie County worked with the prestigious Hill Center in Durham to develop a research-based, best-practices early-literacy program for childcare teachers serving 3 and 4 year olds.

Funded by the Foundation, the Hill Early Literacy Program (HELP) was launched in 2005. It provided 60 childcare teachers initial training in innovative methodologies that had already been tested and proven by Hill Center professionals. Hill Center then made regular follow-up visits to the Davie County childcare centers for additional training, guidance and support. We were all very pleased with early results, and our enthusiasm was underscored by the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) in 2007 when the perceived effectiveness of the new methods was thoroughly documented.

RTI reported that preschool students whose teachers participated in the HELP training “significantly increased their skills” in 1) phonological awareness, 2) print knowledge, 3) definitional vocabulary and 4) receptive vocabulary. The report also stated that these preschool students “increased their skills in print knowledge faster than expected of average children their age.”