Celebrating HIPPY Program’s Success

We are thrilled to announce that 100% of SCC’s HIPPY (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters) participants improved their Bracken School Readiness Assessment Scores last fiscal year.

The Bracken Test helps determine if our HIPPY children are ready for school by measuring exposure to concepts necessary for classroom learning. It assesses a child’s understanding of numerous foundational academic concepts such as colors, letters, numbers and counting, size and other comparisons, and shapes.

HIPPY is a home-based, family-focused program that helps parents provide educational enrichment for their preschool-aged child(ren). The program supports parents who may not feel sufficiently confident to prepare their children for school and is designed to remove barriers to participation in education. HIPPY's primary goal is to ensure children are kindergarten-ready, offering the greatest possibility that they will succeed in school and, ultimately, in life.

Recent studies show that children included in HIPPY cohorts are more likely to get promoted to the next grade and achieve satisfactory levels on Florida Standards Assessment reading and math tests over peers who did not benefit from such a program.

Since 1992, HIPPY Sarasota has served a targeted population of families with tremendous economic, social, and educational challenges. Since preschool may not be an option for every child, this program works to prepare youngsters ages 2-5 for a successful path to education. HIPPY is offered free of charge to the most disadvantaged and at-risk youth and families in our community. Currently, 200 children and parents participate in the program.

We offer high praise to our HIPPY families and children for their many hard-earned achievements and are grateful to the team members for their expertise and wholehearted support. To learn more about the HIPPY program, visit our website: sccfl.org/hippy