By Adam Kramer
“Many parents are looking for after-school programs that will be fun and productive for their children,” said Lisa Cancemi, director of the center. “Our goal at Score is to help inspire a love of learning in children. We know from experience that when a child loves to learn, she can master any academic skill.”
Adam Williams, regional manager for Score, said the facility is an afternoon enrichment center for children ages 5 to 14.
The Glen Oaks center opened Sept. 16. It is owned by theKaplan Company – a name well known by high school seniors studying for SATs – and the Washington Post. The Union Turnpike location is the third Score Center in Queens; the other centers are in Forest Hills and Flushing.
Company officials say they have kept up with demand by opening a new center every 10 days. Score has more than 120 educational centers nationwide, 13 of which are in the New York metropolitan area.
Williams said Score uses a multimedia and interactive curriculum to adapt to the students' varying academic needs and learning styles. He said the children work independently at a computer on a program based on their academic levels. Score instructors called coaches are available to work with the students.
“The kids work on the basic skills – math, reading and spelling – for an hour twice a week,” he said. “It does not matter whether they are ahead or behind their grade level because we design a curriculum that is comfortable for them. This allows us to target the levels they are at in math, reading and spelling.”
Williams said Score instructors walk around the center answering questions, monitoring the students' work and checking how they are proceeding with the lessons. If a student has a question, he said, all he has to do is raise his hand and a “coach will come over.”
The students can drop in twice a week at any time during the center's hours to work on their lesson plans.
There are three full-time directors at the Score Center and several part-time assistant coaches who are in college or high school seniors trained by Score to work with the students. Williams said there is one instructor for every five children working in the center.
The Glen Oaks Score center is open daily from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Those who contract for a year or more of services pay $119 per month, or students can pay on a month-to-month basis at $131 per month.
For more information, call Lisa Cancemi at 343-5150.
