The Discovery Charter School will foster in its students the passion and curiosity necessary for lifelong learning. Students will develop the ability to think critically, communicate effectively and excel academically. Through an integrated, place-based curriculum, our students will become stewards of their environment and community.

To accomplish this mission, the Discovery Charter School will:

· utilize a standards-based integrated environmental curriculum. The school will use the local community and environment to teach concepts across all areas of the curriculum, including math, science, language arts and social studies.

· emphasize hands-on, real world approaches to increase motivation, relevance and achievement for our students as well as foster their natural curiosity in the world around them.

· utilize inquiry and place-based learning as a core process to develop critical thinking and facilitate and demonstrate learning.

· emphasize teaching how to think, not what to think, in order to foster life-long learning.

· provide a well-rounded curriculum that includes the arts, humanities and technology, while emphasizing the interrelation of all subjects in the students’ community.

· maintain a strong emphasis on the outdoors to foster an awareness of, and love for, the natural environment and an understanding of our impact on that environment. The school will engage children in creating and implementing conservation practices in their classrooms, throughout the school and in their homes.

· preserve in students a sense of attachment to their surroundings in order to develop active, productive community citizens who recognize their role and responsibility to themselves, their neighbors, and the world.

· integrate the Indiana state standards into its curriculum to ensure academic excellence. ISTEP+ and NWEA testing will be used to monitor student achievement.

· develop partnerships with local and regional environmental science resources such as the Indiana Dunes Environmental Learning Center, the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and many others, to build stronger working relationships among educators, parents and other community members.

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