• Home
• About Discovery
• Enrollment
• School Overview
• Family Information
• Contact

An integrated, place-based curriculum.

Curriculum

The Discovery School curriculum is aligned with
Indiana’s Academic Standards. Teachers are required to include all standards in their lesson plans, and on-site Team Leaders are responsible for ensuring that all of the standards are met.

comprehensive educational program

At Discovery Charter School we use the Core Knowledge Sequence, which is a comprehensive educational program that specifically outlines the content to be taught at every grade level from Kindergarten through 8th grade. All subjects, language arts, social studies, mathematics and science as well as the fine arts are taught in a sequential manner.

reading program

Teaching students to be successful readers is our most fundamental and highest priority. Students will be taught using the Open Court Reading Series. In addition, where appropriate, the Direct Instruction method will be employed.

mathematics program

We will be using the Everyday Mathematics program which is a comprehensive Pre-K through 6th grade mathematics curriculum developed by the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project. Everyday Mathematics emphasizes the application of mathematics to real world situations. Numbers, skills and mathematical concepts are not presented in isolation, but are linked to situations and contexts that are relevant to everyday lives. The federal government's What Works Clearinghouse gave Everyday Mathematics the highest rating of any commercially published elementary mathematics curriculum.

instructional program

Instruction at Discovery will use a place-based approach. Place-based education is the process of using the local community and environment as a starting point to teach concepts in language arts, mathematics, social studies, science and other subjects across the curriculum. We will utilize the local surroundings, human and non-human, as the context for integrating curriculum into a multidisciplinary approach.

In addition, because our school is located in an area dominated by protected natural areas, the curriculum will be focused on environmental education. Our three broad goals for environmental education are:

1. to foster clear awareness of, and concern about, economic, social, political, and ecological interdependence in urban and rural areas;
2. to provide every person with opportunities to acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes, commitment, and skills needed to protect and improve the environment;
3. to create new patterns of behavior of individuals, groups, and society as a whole toward the environment.

By infusing our curriculum with opportunities to explore and become involved in the local community and environment as a regular part of daily learning, our school will meet the
following goals:

Higher Test Scores and Grades: Students in schools and classrooms that use the environment as an integrating context (“EIC”) for learning score higher on standardized tests in reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. Results from studies indicate that students in EIC programs tend to improve their overall GPA, stay in school longer, and receive higher than average scholarship awards. They are perceived by their teachers to exhibit increased pride in their accomplishments and greater engagement and enthusiasm for learning.

More Advanced Critical Thinking Skills: EIC programs have shown to raise students’ scores on the Cornell Critical Thinking Test, because EIC programs require students to integrate multiple disciplines, formulate and test hypotheses, investigate issues, take responsibility for their own learning, reflect on what they learn, and connect their learning to their communities.

Greater Achievement Motivation: Greater achievement motivation is associated with greater engagement in schoolwork, which improves academic performance. Students in classrooms with EIC programs score significantly higher in achievement motivation compared with students in more traditional classrooms due to the use of the local environment, the application of learning to real-life issues, and the ability to tailor learning experiences to students’ interests and strengths.

More Responsible Behavior and Environmental Stewardship: Students exposed to EIC programs display reduced discipline and classroom management problems, better attendance, and more responsible behavior in their school and community. The more exposure that students have to EIC programs, the more they report attachment to place, time spent outdoors, civic engagement, and environmental stewardship.

The Paideia Teaching Approach offers a unique approach to active learning. A Paideia classroom combines three instructional techniques:

• Instruction is focused on basic concepts required for more in depth understanding of a subject, not the memorization of facts.

• Socratic seminars are the highlight of Paideia education.. These seminars encourage children to use critical-thinking skills and express their thoughts about the world around them.

• Students are provided appropriate feedback and reinforcement at each step in their learning process. Teachers use coaching as an important part of differentiating instruction within the group.

Fieldwork allows students to be directly involved in their learning through various experiential means. Fieldwork may take place anywhere that best allows students to learn and gain a more in-depth understanding of the essential question.

Since the major integrating context for Discovery Charter School’s place-based curriculum will be the environment, fieldwork will involve significant time outdoors examining study plots, studying transects, completing longitudinal research, and doing other learning activities that will allow students to develop a firm understanding of the integrated nature of standard academic subjects.

At Discovery Charter School teachers introduce non-science themes through essential questions rooted in the cultural, political, or social environments of the school’s community. Fieldwork will be a major component of these studies as well. Teachers and students will have available to them all the resources of the community and instead of examining the details of a particular aspect of the natural environment, they may be studying the architecture of the community or touring the rail operations to learn about the role the railway has had in the development of the community.

student assessment

All students will be assessed upon entering the school using NWEA. From the assessment a personal educational plan will be designed for each student focusing on reading and math.

testing

The ISTEP will be administered annually each spring. In addition to ISTEP, Discovery Charter School will administer NWEA MAP assessments in grades 3-8, and the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) assessments in grades K-2.

NWEA MAP tests are available in reading, language arts, and math that are aligned with Indiana state learning standards. NWEA assessments will be administered in September, January, and May. The initial NWEA assessment administered in the fall provides a baseline from which to monitor students’ growth and set proficiency year-end targets for each student.
DIBELS are a set of standardized, individually administered measures of literacy development. They are designed to be short (one minute) fluency measures to monitor the development of pre-reading and early reading skills.