Debra-Lou and Glynda-Lee spent an hour with other CUSD teachers and CSU faculty at a reception for Don Deshler, Director of the Center for Research on Learning at the University of Kansas. We introduced ourselves and told him about HIP. During his powerpoint he continually mentioned the need for disruption in large organizations in order to further the processes of innovation, directing us to two books by Harvard scholar Clayton Christensen, “The Innovator’s Dilemma,” and “Disrupting Class.” I squirmed in my seat a bit, wondering if he recognized HIP as one of the innovations he was referring to. I was fascinated by his reading list and asked if he’d make it available to us. Another book he recommended is “Good to Great,” by Jim Collins. We told him we were looking to partner with interested institutions to test the efficacy of HIP. I’m already thinking of new grant proposals to write.

Brianna Scott and I worked into the long hours of the night to complete and submit our grant application to the Institute of Education Sciences by Sept. 16th. It was a Goal 2 Development Grant to upgrade materials and develop a HIP Instructor training course, with manual and dvd, plus use the new materials to conduct a two-week HIP Instructor Training with local teachers and then oversee their administration of HIP with students from four local schools throughout the school year. We won’t find out for several months if our application is selected for funding, so keep your fingers crossed. We’ll update as we learn about results. In the meantime, we’re looking for other institutions, universities and funding sources to partner with in furthering our goals of providing HIP to all students who need it. If you know of a school interested in an intervention for struggling students, contact us.

Big happenings at HIP central. We’ve contacted two researchers, Brianna Scott and Kristin Bass, with Rockman Et Al in San Francisco who are now working with us to write a major federal grant from the Institute of Education Sciences to study HIP and upgrade materials for Instructor Training. We are excited about this project as it will inform the scientific and educational communities about the wonderful benefits of HIP. Our application for funds is due Sept. 16, 2010, so we’re burning the midnight oil to get this done. Wish us luck!

Big Hug to all you voters and some confusion over the voting and sign-in process.

1. When you get to the Pepsi/HIP page (after clicking the button to the right), click the “vote for this idea” button.

2. A sign-in window opens.  Facebook is easiest to sign-in. Pepsi sign-in asks you to fill out a short form, after that just email and password.

3. After sign-in hit the vote button again. Your vote tallies when a message  indicates your vote is successful.

Vote every day in June. Click the  “vote for this idea” button. >

Pepsi decided not to spend $20 million on Super Bowl ads. Instead, they are giving the money away, $1.3 million each month, in online contests. Every month Pepsi is funding 10 prizes each in the $5000, $25,000 and $50,000 categories, and two prizes each in the $250,000 category. Learning is HIP registered for a $50,000 prize on April 1st, to be in line for the May contest. But a cyberglitch sabotaged our registration process. Pepsi has now agreed to manually put us in the June lineup, so our campaign will now begin June 1st and continue until June 30th. To win one of the $50,000 prizes, we need online votes. Anyone can vote. Voting is open every day in June, so we encourage you to vote every day in June and enlist your friends, family and online contacts to vote as well. Since Pepsi funds 10 prizes in the $50,000 category we only have to place in the top ten.

If we win we will use the $50,000 to train 320 elementary students in Chico using our HIP methodology of core learning skills. You can help by offering suggestions for how we might enlarge our online campaign and by committing to vote every day in June and encourage your friends and family to vote.

Thanks for all your support.

Expanding HIP

Principal Bev Landers invited us to offer HIP training to her students on campus, a dream come true for us. We’ve always believed HIP should be part of school curriculum. (After school sessions are too hard for both students and parents.) We’ve evaluated 20 students so far. With Bev’s support we are breaking new ground and hope to be training students in a week. Parents at Chico Christian are excited too. We will be updating reports here.

By the end of sixth grade Preston was frustrated with his grades and hated doing homework. His teachers were worried he wouldn’t be able to handle junior high with its change of classes every hour. They strongly suggested he enroll in an alternative program with smaller classes. Preston was bright and curious, but  discouraged and demoralized because he didn’t understand why learning, for him, was so difficult. His self-esteem plummeted. After two summer sessions of HIP training, Preston’s confidence rose along with his academic abilities. His seventh grade studies were easier than expected. He even made the honor roll at Chico Junior High School. Best of all, according to his mother, he no longer hates homework and completes it without prompting. Congratulations Preston!