2021-22 Annual Report
Our community of supporters powered Hill Learning Center through a remarkable year! Scroll down to celebrate all we have achieved together.
The Heart of Hill
Developing and delivering quality programs for students, educators, and families through another pandemic year showed once again that our people – students, peer educators, and employees – and growth mindset remain the heart of Hill. We feel grateful and lucky that you, our supporters and partners, celebrate our commitment to continuous learning and improvement and always put first the well-being of people, especially students and educators.
Our donors have consistently provided flexible operating support while fueling program innovation with targeted gifts and grants and investing in Furthering Access through student financial aid; diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives; and school, district, and nonprofit partnerships.
Thanks to your generosity, we made remarkable progress in 2021-22! Together, we achieved our two ambitious goals for the year:
Consistent, safe, quality in-person Student Programs
Transformation of the Hill Reading Achievement Program (HillRAP) into a web-based intervention easily accessible to teachers and students anywhere
We also leaned into having fun together by celebrating the return of Hill Mile – a community builder and critical fundraiser – and throwing the most festive and inclusive School Spirit Week I can remember.
We learned together, launching new professional development courses in the science of reading and working with experts in language diversity on a new training module for educators.
We grew together, supporting educators and staff from across Hill to develop their leadership through diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and investing in capacity and technology to sustain and expand on our pandemic innovations.
We celebrated together, hearing countless stories from students, families, and educators sharing their successes and growth that inspired and validated our efforts.
Thanks to your amazing commitment to Hill, despite all the challenges of the pandemic, Hill students and educators have continued to learn and grow and families and partners have been deeply appreciative of Hill’s consistent support, innovations, and improvements. I hope you find the progress and testimonials shared below as inspiring and motivating as we do, as truly none of it would have been possible without you.
Onward!
Beth Anderson
Executive Director
A complete list of donors who contributed to Hill Learning Center between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022 is available online at hillcenter.org/annualreport.
Reaching Students, Educators, & Families
Your Support Made the Difference
Pursuing our Ambitious Vision
Hill’s vision is that ALL students with learning differences and attention challenges receive the instruction and support they need – regardless of where they attend school or whether they have a formal diagnosis. We use a range of strategies to pursue our vision, making investments and pursuing partnerships in the areas outlined below. Hill is grateful for our community of students, educators, families, partners, and donors for all the growth and learning you made possible in 2021-22!
Evolving Student Programs
Hill School, Summer, and Tutoring programs returned to campus!
Our #1 priority was to offer a year of safe, consistent, in-person instruction, which we achieved thanks to the incredible commitment of our faculty, leadership, students, and families.
The Hill Reading Achievement Program (HillRAP)
HillRAP is an individualized, small-group reading intervention delivered by teachers and supported by technology and quality professional development.
Over the last year, Hill and our partners transformed HillRAP into a web-based intervention that can be delivered in-person and remotely. At the same time, we upgraded our training model while also training 340 new HillRAP teachers. Ultimately 790 teachers reached 9,800 students across 15 states in the 2021-2022 school year.
Knowledge and Field Building
Providing research-based tools and training for our own educators as well as teachers and families everywhere is a top priority for Hill. In 2021-22, our faculty engaged with writing and math experts; we expanded our external reading, executive function, and differentiated instruction offerings; and Hill continued to provide open access to our Community Education Series.
Furthering Access
Hill continued strengthening our commitment to Furthering Access, a framework that drives Hill toward greater inclusiveness and more equitable practices and commits us to specific progress across all program areas and operations. Led by faculty and staff, and deeply supported by Hill’s Board and leadership, Hill is making concrete progress to becoming an organization where all students and educators feel they belong and can benefit fully from Hill programs and practices.
Organizational Resilience
Hill is proud of our employees and community for pulling together to accomplish our top organizational priorities from last year - offering safe, consistent in-person instruction for students and successfully releasing the updated HillRAP web-app and training platform – while also improving programs and systems and building toward the future.
2020-21 Annual Report
A year unlike any other. Thank you to our community of supporters. Together, we emerged stronger than ever! Scroll to learn more.
We can’t say it enough. Thank You!
It cannot be said enough – 2020-21 was an unprecedented year in education. Amid a global pandemic, educators, students, and families everywhere were challenged to reinvent their learning routines, tools, and spaces; build and sustain relationships in new and different ways; and demonstrate unparalleled resilience, resourcefulness, and compassion.
Thanks to the commitment of our faculty, staff, and tutors, hard work of our students and families, dedication of our partners and peer educators, and unwavering support from our donors and Board of Trustees, Hill had a remarkable year and indeed emerged stronger.
Please explore this annual report to learn more about the accomplishments that your investment and support made possible. You will discover that Hill transformed into a virtual, learning hub for students, educators, and parents. You will appreciate that Hill leveraged public and private dollars, along with your generosity, to exceed our revenue goals and continue delivering the highest quality programs and expanding our reach. You will experience the character of the Hill community, where trust amongst colleagues and gratitude from students, families, educators, and partners are stronger than ever.
Most of all, you will learn that our commitment to the 1 in 5 students with learning differences and attention challenges runs deep. We know many of these students have been disproportionately impacted by the educational disruptions and learning loss caused by the pandemic. We will continue to marshal Hill’s resources, in partnership with others, to further access to the instruction and support they need and deserve.
Deep appreciation goes to our incredible Board of Trustees, as well as Hill’s Leadership Team and every single employee who helped lead us through this last year. Finally, I cannot overstate my appreciation for you, our donors, friends, and supporters who make this work possible. We would not be where we are today without your steadfast belief in us, and in the remarkable students and educators we serve.
I look forward to all we will continue to accomplish together.
With deep gratitude,
Beth Anderson
Executive Director
Our Virtual Year By the Numbers
Your Support Made the Difference
Not reflected here Hill Learning Center also invested $694,148 in facility capital investments in response to COVID-19, including installing a new HVAC system, replacing classroom furniture, and upgrading technology.
Click here for Audited Financials, Statement of Activities, and Balance Sheet.
Strategic Priorities - Forward Momentum
We are a small nonprofit with a bold vision that ALL students with learning differences and attention challenges receive the instruction and support they need. We can’t accomplish it alone, but the need, the inequities in education, and our potential to make a difference demand we continue to strengthen and expand our impact. Following are the organizational priorities that are guiding our work, investments, and partnerships.
Evolving Student Programs
Hill served more than 600 students through virtual Hill School, Summer, and Tutoring Programs and emerged with a cohesive portfolio of in-person and online offerings for the future. We made a courageous, forward-looking decision in July 2020 to operate all student programs virtually for the entire year.
Evolving the Hill Reading Achievement Program (HillRAP)
HillRAP is an individualized, small-group (4:1) structured literacy methodology that guides teachers through effective instruction for students with persistent reading difficulties.
Despite pandemic disruptions and pervasive remote learning in the many school districts that Hill serves, HillRAP consistently provided more than 500 teachers outside of Hill with an instructional tool to support their students with persistent reading difficulties.
Advancing Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
In January 2021, Hill’s Board of Trustees completed an 18-month process that began with an examination of financial aid across Hill student and educator programs and culminated in the formal adoption of a strengthened commitment to Furthering Access at Hill:
We actively work to reach, engage, and retain students and educators representing all races, ethnicities, sexual orientations and gender identities, and socioeconomic classes to experience and benefit fully from Hill programs and practices.
Advancing Knowledge and Field Building
In 2020-21, Hill entered a new virtual era in our efforts to provide research-based training and tools for educators that set the course for the year, and for our future. For the first time ever, Hill released an online course catalog of virtual offerings for educators anywhere in the world.
Building Culture, Care, and Community
When Hill made the decision to operate virtually for an entire year, we knew that we would need to make intentional efforts and investments to stay connected and care for ourselves and our community while working apart. We elevated this work to an organization-wide priority supported by the board and Leadership Team and led by a committee of dedicated employees.
Building Organizational Resilience
When planning and budgeting for 2020-21, we were not sure what to expect and planned for all potential outcomes. Thanks to the early receipt of a Paycheck Protection Program loan, and the flexibility of foundations and individual major donors allowing reallocation of restricted funds, we were able to maintain full staffing and proceed boldly into the uncertainty of a year of remote living, learning, and working.
Honoring our Award Winners
Sharon P. Maskel Methodology Award
Recipient: Sue Duncan
The Sharon P. Maskel Methodology Award is given each year to a peer-nominated recipient who demonstrates commitment to developing, improving, and spreading Hill Methodology. Sue Duncan, our 2022 recipient, is a veteran Hill faculty member who uses amazing creativity and incredible compassion to build her students’ knowledge and confidence. One of her nominators summarized her skills saying that “She is remarkable at cultivating students’ enthusiasm for writing – which is one of the hardest things to teach, and yet her students are always engaged and having fun while learning. It is rare to hear laughter in a written language classroom, but not in hers!”
Charles S. Atwater Star Volunteer Award
Recipients: Lisa Guckian and Stacy Parker-Fisher
Lisa Guckian and Stacy Parker-Fisher answered a call for leadership when Hill needed it most, agreeing to serve as Co-Chairs when an unexpected chair vacancy arose and leading the board through truly unprecedented times, including a global pandemic. Lisa and Stacy set a new tone and started effecting change at the board level, focusing on increasing engagement and belonging along with more diverse representation, including establishing parent, alumni, and partnership representatives. They led the board to articulate and begin operationalizing a clear commitment to Furthering Access. They made sure we always put our students, our partners, and our people first in making hard decisions and allocating time and resources. Lisa and Stacy have without a doubt had a lasting impact on this organization, and the students and educators we serve.
Sharon P. Maskel Methodology Award
Recipient: Sara Gray Horne
The Sharon P. Maskel Methodology Award is given each year to a peer-nominated recipient who demonstrates commitment to developing, improving, and spreading the Hill Methodology. Our 2021 recipient Sara Gray Horne has spent nearly four decades advancing the Hill methodology while making a remarkable and lasting impact on countless students, teachers, and administrators.
Charles S. Atwater Star Volunteer Award
Recipient: Rick Rosenberg
In April, we honored former Board of Trustees Chair Rick Rosenberg (1955-2021) with the 2021 Charles S. Atwater Star Volunteer Award. Rick was a dedicated volunteer, champion, and philanthropist for Hill from 2012-2021. We dearly miss his wisdom, warmth, dedication, and generosity of spirit. He made us better, bolder, stronger, and simply more fun. We are grateful to his caring and committed family who established the Abigail F. Rosenberg Student Scholarship Fund in honor of his daughter Abby, a Hill alumna and special education teacher, to help make a Hill School education possible for a student of color from a low-income household.
Honoring our Award Winners
*Total Revenues in audited financials reflect $1,634,415 in Investment Losses. Click here for Audited Financials, Statement of Activities, and Balance Sheet.
In Memory of Bowen Brinegar
1995-2021
The Bowen Brinegar Student Scholarship Fund was created to honor an extraordinary young man who benefitted from nine years with Hill Learning Center.
Victim of a tragic accident in 2021, Bowen grew up to be a software engineer, entrepreneur, photographer, and fly-fisherman, with a quick wit and the kindest of hearts.
He also became a voracious reader. He built a prodigious library of the sort of books many people put on display to impress, but which he read, cover to cover, to expand his mind.
Bowen would surely credit Hill with shaping his feelings about learning differences. He said you can “ultimately feel worthless and less than and live life that way, or opt in, double down and prove everyone wrong.”
Bowen would be proud to know that part of his legacy will be helping others, through his scholarship fund, “opt in” and become confident, independent learners.
Hill offers sincere gratitude to the many friends and family members whose generosity in his memory made the Bowen Brinegar Scholarship Fund possible.
Sharon P. Maskel Methodology Award
Recipient: Sara Gray Horne
The Sharon P. Maskel Methodology Award is given each year to a peer-nominated recipient who demonstrates commitment to developing, improving, and spreading the Hill Methodology. Our 2021 recipient Sara Gray Horne has spent nearly four decades advancing the Hill methodology while making a remarkable and lasting impact on countless students, teachers, and administrators.
Charles S. Atwater Star Volunteer Award
Recipient: Rick Rosenberg
In April, we honored former Board of Trustees Chair Rick Rosenberg (1955-2021) with the 2021 Charles S. Atwater Star Volunteer Award. Rick was a dedicated volunteer, champion, and philanthropist for Hill from 2012-2021. We dearly miss his wisdom, warmth, dedication, and generosity of spirit. He made us better, bolder, stronger, and simply more fun. We are grateful to his caring and committed family who established the Abigail F. Rosenberg Student Scholarship Fund in honor of his daughter Abby, a Hill alumna and special education teacher, to help make a Hill School education possible for a student of color from a low-income household.
Honoring our Award Winners
“We are so grateful to Hill Learning Center for creating a safe space for our son to learn and thrive. Part of Hill’s greatness is how they address the whole child – the social, the emotional, as well as the academic. Since beginning at Hill, Xavier’s confidence in his own abilities has improved dramatically. He has become much more independent and is no longer anxious to ask for help as he had been in previous schools. Above all, the educators at Hill are more than just experts in their craft; they have ‘heart.’ For our son, knowing how much they genuinely care coupled with their expertise has made a world of difference!”
- The Lopez-Miro Family
Thank you to the many individual, corporate, and foundation contributors who fueled learning, drove innovation, and expanded access.
“It is both an honor and a pleasure to serve as a HillRAP teacher. This wonderful program provides our scholars with an opportunity to build the foundation needed in order to become a more proficient reader. It is so rewarding to watch as my scholars begin to unlock the mystery to reading words. They are working everyday to be the BEST readers they can be!”
- Lisa Oakley, Edgecombe County Public Schools
Hill School students show off books from our new and improved libraries! Thanks to your support, our students now have a diverse library of books serving as mirrors of themselves and windows into other experiences.
HillRAP is a web-based intervention that can be delivered in-person and remotely – last year it helped 9,800 students across 15 states improve their reading.
Edgecombe County Public Schools is one of Hill’s largest partners. We launched a Tutoring Scale Up project thanks to grants from the Anonymous Trust, Barnhill Family Foundation, and Mebane Foundation!
The Heart of Hill is taking care of each other, from parents bringing delicious treats to uplift faculty and staff, to celebrating milestones together and getting creative with Spirit Week costumes!
“HillRAP makes me glad when I say words right that I have said wrong before. It makes my heart happy!”
- Terrance M.