Survey Shows Private School's Pupils Continue To Excel Academically
Over 75% of former students of Home Away From Home Academy located in Aberdeen New Jersey rank in the top 10% of their class in academic performance.
Aberdeen, NJ (PRWEB) February 16, 2004
Home Away From Home Academy (www. homeawayfromhomeacademy. com) In addition to our former pupils ranking in the top 10% of their academic performance, and more than a quarter of the private school's past pupils are now in gifted and talented programs. The school surveyed over 700 parents of former students to document the results of emphasizing age-appropriate academic and social development for children enrolled in its pre-kindergarten through second grade programs and classes.
"The responses we got bear out what we already know from Terra Nova National Achievement Test results," said the school's president and co-owner, Carmine S. Visone. "Home Away From Home Academy's second graders perform at fifth-grade level in reading, language, vocabulary, science and social studies," he said. " Our kindergarteners test at second-grade level in reading, language and math."
The survey was sent to parents of all children who attended or graduated Home Away From Home Academy since 1993. The school received responses from as far away as Massachusetts, and from parents whose children spent from one to six years at the school. "The survey results show statistically that once kids leave, they are not forgetting what they learned at our school, and they are remaining in the top 10 percent, " said Visone. "For parents looking beyond day care for a school, that provides academic and social development for their child, we've documented that our approach works."
More than three quarters of the parents responding attributed their children's communications skills and level of confidence to early childhood academics at Home Away From Home Academy. Co-owner Phyllis Visone teaches pre-kindergarten classes at the school and brings 12 years of community theater experience, producing shows and music-related activities and programs for all ages. Her teaching approach encompasses a broad range childhood educational tenets, "We emphasize art, music and theater arts to encourage creativity and get the children to feel comfortable and confident about expressing that creativity," said Phyllis Visone.
Her creativity-based teaching philosophy extends to Home Away From Home Academy's hands-on science projects, with students conducting weather, electricity and earth science experiments. The curriculum also features three foreign languages and computer training. Many of the survey's respondents singled out these programs to add comments; "My child continues to love and remember his early science exposure," wrote the parent of a former pupil who skipped fourth grade and is now in the gifted and talented program in fifth grade. Another parent of a girl ranked in the top 10 percent of her class wrote, "She absolutely loves science, and I do believe (the school's) fun approach to science contributed to this."
Several respondents credit their children's theatrical aspirations to Phyllis Visone's philosophy of introducing music and theater at an early age. "Home Away From Home Academy lit the spark," wrote one parent. The emphasis on performing arts paid off for former Alexa Rose Burger of Old Bridge, with a role in The American Girls Musical Revue, scheduled to open on Broadway this fall.
The parents of two boys who spent a total of six years at the school wrote of leaving their youngest when he was just 3 months old. "We felt at ease leaving him with your staff while we both worked in Manhattan," the couple wrote about a son who recently completed second grade at the school. His older brother is now in fourth grade and, according to this parents, thriving in the public school system. "Both boys have such a love of music, and we know that it started at Home Away From Home Academy. Your shows have given them both great self-confidence when speaking or performing in front of an audience."
The parent of a girl scored 98 on a recent Terra Nova test was among a handful of survey respondents to point out that they commuted from Ocean County so their children could attend the school at 1182 Route 34 in Aberdeen. A single mother from Brick said in a two-page, handwritten letter, "...it was the best jump start (my daughter) could have ever gotten."
Home Away From Home Academy is conveniently located on the borders of Aberdeen, Matawan and Holmdel, and offers commuting parents easy access to rail and bus service to Manhattan.
For more information, please visit www. homeawayfromhomeacademy. com or call Home Away From Home Academy at: 732-290-0033
