The first HIPPY program was an experiment in Israel! Professor Avima D. Lombard led the team which developed HIPPY. They worked at the National Council of Jewish Women NCJW Research institute for Innovation at the School of Education of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel. The original research project in 1969 was done to study home-based education for parents of preschool children. The first HIPPY families were immigrants with low education and limited incomes. As a result, many of the immigrant children lagged behind Native Israeli children in school achievement. The idea behind HIPPY was that home instruction could improve children's learning achievements in school. This theory recognized the untapped power of parents in the home setting.

    The Israel Ministry of Education and Culture was impressed with the results of the pilot project. In 1975 HIPPY went from a university experiment to become a country-wide home-based childhood program. The ministry of Education made HIPPY available to communities which had large numbers of children who were educationally at-risk. Over the years, HIPPY has grown rapidly in Israel and the Israeli government continues to fund HIPPY programs. Local school districts or community councils can select HIPPY from among a variety of government sponsored programs. 

    The NCJW Research Institute at the Hebrew University still maintains program quality in Israel. It has also become an international center for information on HIPPY. In 1980, the Research Institute sponsored an international seminar on HIPPY. The seminar was attended by experts in early childhood education from around the world. The participants agreed that HIPPY could be implemented in a variety of settings in different countries. This meeting resulted in international interest in HIPPY. 

The first International HIPPY Workshop was held in Israel in 1982, with support from the Ford Foundation. Over 30 participants from around the world gathered to learn about the HIPPY model to determine if it could work in their own countries.

    Soon programs were popping up all over the world. In 1983, the first HIPPY program outside of Israel began in Turkey. It was a university research project. Unfortunately, after three years the program closed for lack of funding. HIPPY started in the United States in 1984, in Richmond, Virginia, and Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the following year, 1985, a third program was launched in Miami Florida. That same year, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was the First Lady of Arkansas at that time, read about HIPPY while on a visit to Miami. She decided that HIPPY would be a great program for Arkansas. In 1986 the first Arkansas programs were started.

    In Santiago, Chile, HIPPY started in 1986 as a research project. It did well for 4 years and then closed because of lack of funding. HIPPY began in South Africa in February of 1988, in the townships of Soweto and Bosmont. It soon spread to six more communities. In 1991, "HIPPY South Africa," a not-for-profit organization was established. Fortunately HIPPY has become a wonderful part of the "New South Africa."

    In 1988, a national center for HIPPY was established at the NCJW Center for the Child, where it remained for 2 years. During this time, a national advisory board was established to support the growth and development of HIPPY. Members of this advisory board later formed the core of HIPPY USA's Board of Trustees. In 1992, HIPPY USA became an independent, non-profit educational corporation. 

    The early 1990's were exciting times for HIPPY internationally. A program started in the small town of Temixco, outside of Cuernavaca, Mexico in 1991. That same year, Germany began programs in the cities of Bremen and Nuremburg. Also, the first HIPPY program in the South Pacific area was started in 1992, in Auckland, New Zealand.

    In the 1990's HIPPY programs continued to spread throughout the United States. The greatest concentration of programs as is in the state of Arkansas. In 1990, a HIPPY Regional Training Center was established in Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock. Soon after that in 1991 the Arkansas Better Chance Act (the ABC Bill) was passed by the Arkansas State Legislature. Then-Governor Bill Clinton, fully supported the ABC Act and signed it into law. The ABC Bill provides Arkansas with state funding for early childhood education programs like HIPPY.