Early childhood education is critical to a child’s development. It has the capacity to close the educational achievement gap and increases their self-sufficiency as adults. Diversified Community Services realizes that learning through play with parents as a child’s first teacher is the key to that success.
In October, Diversified Community Services is introducing the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program to families in Philadelphia’s Point Breeze neighborhood. The program is open to 60 parents with children aged 3, attending its Western Learning Center and Dixon Learning Academy. There is no fee for the 30-week curriculum, which will run through …show more content…
At HIPPY USA’s 25th anniversary dinner in 2014, Clinton said, “It is now so wonderful to see so many people in so many walks of life talking about early childhood, talking about the importance of parents, particularly mothers, as a child’s first teacher.”
Clinton recognized, then, the positive attributes of HIPPY, which have been reinforced by international studies that show the model “to be effective in improving school readiness, parent involvement, school attendance, classroom behavior and standardized test scores and academic performance by children participating in HIPPY.”
Rivera emphasized that HIPPY is not a parenting program, but is a program that helps facilitate learning in the home. “It’s all about modeling and not necessarily teaching the parent what to do and what not to do,” Rivera said.
When HIPPY is introduced in Philadelphia in October, parents will receive all of the materials they need to successfully complete the program at no cost, including children’s books, scissors and