Gift of Knowledge Academy

We are a K-2 school serving mostly low-income families in Durham. Families of all income levels are welcome. We started the school because 60-80% of students are below grade level in literacy and math by the third grade.  The numbers are worse for African Americans and Hispanics.  We believe that all children, regardless of their socioeconomic conditions, deserve the opportunity to receive a quality education. We want to be proactive and provide students with a firm foundation in literary and math so that they don’t get behind in the first place. We are passionate about helping to eradicate illiteracy, decreasing the dropout rate, bridging the literacy gap, and helping to build the self-esteem and self-confidence of beginning readers and learners.  We use curriculum and methodologies that are research-based and proven effective.

Nonprofit K-2 school
Research conducted by several groups including The National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) has determined that all reading instruction should include 5 components – phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and reading comprehension.  Gift of Knowledge Academy incorporates these 5 components as well as writing, spelling, sight words, all while implementing a multisensory approach to learning. For math, we teach number sense, which is key to understanding and excelling in math. We also incorporate Social Studies, Science, Music, Art, and Computer Technology.

We provide all of the school supplies for our students to use in class, and we send some home for them to use when doing homework or working virtually. Most of our families receive the North Carolina Opportunity Scholarship.  The additional tuition cost not covered by the scholarship continues to be a challenge for most of these families.  We solve that cost challenge by covering the remaining tuition cost for these families.  These families can exercise their choice to get a quality education for their child at no additional cost to them.