The Mebane Charitable Foundation, established by Allen Mebane, awarded $1 million to The Hill Center to develop and implement a middle school reading achievement program called HillRAP for grades 6-8 in Davie County, North Carolina.  It will be a continuation of the existing HillRAP already developed and implemented in Davie County grades K-5 through an earlier grant from the Mebane Charitable Foundation.

This recent gift enables The Hill Center to train Davie County teachers to work with students who struggle with learning and provides a seamless continuum of effective remediation for students in grades K through 8.  Middle School HillRAP is an innovative approach to improving students reading abilities with age-appropriate materials,  emphasizing reading comprehension and incorporating state-of-the art technology.

We are thrilled to be able to develop a program for middle school struggling readers, which can be adopted by public schools, after-school and tutoring programs.  Mr. Mebane's goal of having every student in Davie County able to read before third grade will be within reach once our programs are fully implemented.  We are grateful to the Mebane Charitable Foundation for supporting The Hill Center in making a difference in so many students lives, said Shary Maskel, Ed.D., Director of The Hill Center.

In Davie County we're finding that because of programs like The Hill Center's and Smart Board technology, it is easier to attract and retain teachers, said Allen Mebane.

HillRAP is based on The Hill Center's 30 years of experience and proven success in helping struggling learners and incorporates current reading research recommendations.  Students failing or at-risk in the Durham Public Schools showed more than one year's academic growth in reading after a year of participation in HillRAP.  In spite of being identified as failing or at-risk for failure, HillRAP students actually progressed at a rate greater than expected of the average student.  Early results show the same positive results being achieved by students in Davie County's  elementary school HillRAP.

Since 1977, The Hill Center has enabled students with learning differences to succeed not just in the classroom, but throughout their lives.  The Hill Center's mission is to transform students with learning differences into confident, independent learners.  What began as a small half-day school has grown to a major professional development program for teachers and a center which is designing and implementing innovative programs for public schools across North Carolina, 17 states, and 4 countries.  Hill Center half-day model replication sites are operating in Geneva, Switzerland; Colorado Springs, CO; and Greenville, NC.

Millions of school age children experience difficulties with learning to read.  There are approximately 2.9 million students with learning disabilities in public schools who may not graduate from high school without intervention.  HillRAP will provide new hope for struggling learners in middle schools.