HOME INSTRUCTION PROGRAM FOR PRESCHOOL YOUNGSTERS (HIPPY)

HOME INSTRUCTION PROGRAM FOR PRESCHOOL YOUNGSTERS (HIPPY)

OVERVIEW

HIPPY is a home-visitation program designed to teach parents how to enhance preschool-age children's school readiness. Home visits are conducted by paraprofessionals, and are complemented by program-organized group meetings for parents. An experimental evaluation of HIPPY shows that parental participation can result in better cognitive and educational outcomes in children. Evidence suggests that HIPPY does not have this impact for children of parents with lower levels of program involvement.

PROGRAM INFORMATION

Target population: Families with 4- and 5-year-old children

The Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) is a home visitation program that serves families with 4- and 5-year-old children. It consists of home visits by paraprofessionals and meetings of groups of parents in order to teach parents how to carry out educational activities with their children so that they will be ready for school. Parents are given books and activity packets to use with their children, and are instructed to work for 15 minutes each day. The activity packets are designed to improve language and critical thinking skills, such as talking about a text and vocabulary building (Baker, Piotrkowski, & Brooks-Gunn, 1999).

HIPPY costs approximately $500 to $1,600 per child, per year. Training for the program ranges from $340 to $850 per person depending on the number of trainees.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Baker, A. J. L., & Piotrkowski, C. S. (1996). Parents and children through the school years: The effects of the Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters. New York, NY: National Council of Jewish Women Center for the Child.

Evaluated Population: Families from a large city in New York State (N=130) for Cohort I and families from the same area (N=119) for Cohort II. All children were enrolled in prekindergarten at the same time as the first year of HIPPY. All children were four years old at year one. The four groups (Cohort I - HIPPY and Comparison, Cohort II - HIPPY and Comparison) ranged from 19 percent African American to 41 percent African American. They ranged from 22 percent Hispanic to 38 percent Hispanic.

Approach: The authors collected data at post-test on the home environment and school environment. Variables collected were the following: number of types of literacy materials in the home, number of play materials in the home, parental expectation's of child's educational attainment, parental expectations of the child's educational performance, the Cooperative Preschool Inventory, attendance, standardized reading, standardized math, and classroom adaptation. Five variables were collected at the one-year follow-up: attendance, standardized reading, standardized math, grades, and classroom adaptation.

Results: Cohort II had no significant impacts. Cohort I had four significant impacts: parental expectations of performance at post-test (d=.72), classroom adaptation at post-test (d=.76), standardized reading at one-year follow-up (d=.69), and classroom adaptation at one-year follow-up (d=.73). The following variables were not significant at post-test: number of types of literacy materials in the home, number of play materials in the home, parental expectations of child's educational attainment, Cooperative Preschool Inventory, attendance, standardized reading, and standardized math. The following variables were not significant at one-year follow-up: attendance, standardized math, grades, and academic self-image.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

Link to program curriculum:

http://www.hippyusa.org/

References:

Baker, A. J. L., Piotrkowski, C. S., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1999). The Home Instructional Program for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY). The Future of Children, 9(1), 116-133.

Program also discussed in the following Child Trends publication(s):

Child Trends. (2001). School readiness: Helping communities get children ready for school and schools ready for children (Research brief). Washington, DC: Child Trends.

Halle, T., Zaff, J., Calkins, J., & Margie, N. G. (2000). Background for community-level work on school readiness: A review of definitions, assessments, and investment strategies. Part II: Reviewing the literature on contributing factors to school readiness. Washington, DC: Child Trends, Inc.

SUMMARY & CATEGORIZATION

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

Evaluated participant ages: 4-5 / Program age ranges in the Guide: 0-5

Program components: clinic/provider-based, home visiting, parent/family

Measured outcomes: education/cognitive

KEYWORDS: Children, Home Visitation, Academic Achievement, Parenting-management skills, Kindergarten, Preschool, Parental-child relationship, Clinic or Provider Based, Parent or Family Component, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, White or Caucasian, manual, cost.

Program information last updated 10/1/09