Pretty much the only way that the hang gliding community, whether
it grows, shrinks or stays the same in numbers, is going to have new hang glider
pilots is through pilots learning to hang gliding at hang gliding schools,
whatever size they may be. You can find hang gliding schools in the US (and
around the world) here, for example:
https://www.willswing.com/schools/.

There has always been a tension between the "larger" schools and the individual
instructors that may produce one or two new pilots a year. There is also a
tension between schools or instructors in out of the way locations and those
located near population center. It s often the case that there is no hang
gliding school nearby where you can learn so you may have to travel a good
distance or take a couple of weeks off to learn to hang glide.

The USHPA wants to encourage and support all instructors. They are held to a
minimum standard and provided instruction and certification through the USHPA's
program.

What the USHPA does not do, and what might be very helpful to prospective
students, is have a rating for schools or instructors. It would be good for
potential students to know whether a given school has an excellent safety record
or not. Whether a school has a highly rated curriculum or not. Whether a school
has an excellent reputation or not. Of course, you can see the potential for
conflict in these proposals, and the USHPA would rather avoid this conflict.

There is no agreed upon standard curriculum for hang gliding instruction.
Depending on the location different instruction methods are used. In the past I
have heavily promoted the scooter tow method as a safe and effective method of
quickly getting students up to speed. But only a few instructors apply this
method. There is no agreement on whether this is the best way to go or not. And
there are different versions of this method.

Students would be greatly served by a certification program that went beyond the
basic USHPA certification as it now stands. I'm going to make the assumption
that other sport organizations have more advanced certification programs than
that offered by the USHPA.

One possible way to have such a certification program is through crowd sourcing.
Students who have been through the existing programs could be contacted and
asked to discuss their experiences. These could be published on one site. Also a
few basic statistics could be gathered, such has the ratings of student two
years after their basic instruction. How many students each school produces each
year. The school's overall rating from their former students, etc.

Again, lots of potential areas of conflict among the schools. But it is in the
interest of hang gliding in general that potential students are given the most
information possible when it comes to choosing a school.