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Pre-kindergarten training can change a child’s life.
Children who have completed high quality pre-schools demonstrate
greater academic and social competence during their academic
careers than those who have been deprived of the experience.
That is because the pre-school years, ages three and four,
are formative years, crucial to social, emotional, physical,
cognitive, language and literacy development.
Documented research
supports the theory that children whose parents have the
poorest formal educations and lowest incomes appear to benefit
most from programs such as Opportunity, Inc.’s.
Thus, we strive every day to deliver to the neediest, most
vulnerable families in Palm Beach the opportunity to attend
pre-school. We offer, in concert with the best academic
curricula available, cultural enrichments and exposure to
the fine and applied arts that would otherwise be far beyond
our families’ imaginations - all on a sliding -fee
scale calculated according to each family's ability to pay.
We expect our students ultimately to acquire, without conscious
effort, a large vocabulary, the language skills necessary
to become readers, to write well and to spell well, and
the ability to understand and apply complex instructions
and math concepts. We expect our graduates to move smoothly
through elementary school, applying the behavioral and learning
skills instilled at the center, and to graduate from high
school. We know many will grow to excel academically and
become leaders during their school years and beyond.
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