Atlantic Ave Magazine - June 2018

center academy prep
A Hidden Gem
For Academic Success
By Nicol Jenkins | photos By Naila Syed
Center Academy Prep goes
above and beyond your
typical academic institution
to help your child flourish.
Center Academy Prep is a fully accredited, independent private
school, family-operated since 1968, providing a college prep
curriculum for students with learning disabilities in grades
5-12. The campus is located in Coral Springs, and accepts students
with ADHD, Asperger’s, dyslexia and other learning disabilities.
The class sizes are small, with a teacher and a teacher assistant
in every classroom. The school population is only 88 students,
which helps teachers focus on each individual student’s needs. The
teachers understand that each student comes to Center Academy
Prep with different learning styles, experiences, needs, and abilities.
After an individual assessment, an environment is created for
each student that allows teachers to remediate specific learning
disabilities and teach compensatory strategies. They offer specialized
instruction to accommodate IEP guidelines and each student’s
unique abilities and learning style. The school is certified by two
private organizations, NIPSA and ADVANC ED, accepts both the
McKay and Gardiner scholarships, has a state-of-the-art security
system in place, and remains reasonably priced for tuition. The
school has a summer program for high school grade recovery, summer
credits and tutoring for all grades.
Center Academy began in 1968 with the vision of its founder, Dr.
Mack Hicks. Seeing the need for a specialized, full-day school for
students who were falling through the cracks in traditional schools,
Dr. Hicks established one of the first schools in the United States to
focus on the needs of students with Attention Deficit Disorder and
other neuropsychological processing difficulties.
With a team of professionals in the fields of neuropsychology, education,
and individualized remediation, Center Academy focused
on remediating learning disabilities and providing a small, focused,
and positive learning environment for students who had experienced
academic frustration, and for whom tutoring and other parttime
programs were not successful.
“We are the tri-county area’s best kept secret as far as schools.
It’s traditionally for students with ADHD, anxiety and those on the
autism spectrum. This is the only school currently, of the 11 Center
Academies, which is primarily a prep school. We have very high
performing students that we are preparing for higher education,”
said Barbara Cooper, Director and Principal of Center Academy
Prep. “The maximum number of students we take each year is 88.
We work with each of our students individually to address his/her
individual needs. If any students come to CAP behind in their studies,
we work with them to recover the academics. What parents
love most about our school is that we help students with learning
disabilities finally grasp new concepts and coach them as they go.”
Since the school only takes a limited number of students, they
are very selective. They do not accept students with disruptive behaviors.
They are also careful when they choose their staff of teachers
and administrators.
“We are selective of who we accept for admission and make sure
the student is a good fit as well. We don’t just fill the seats. We are
also very selective about our staff. We make sure they are compas-
66 | June 2018 | www.AtlanticAveMagazine.com