The Explorer Elementary Charter School Difference

Explorer Elementary Charter School is unique among public schools in San Diego. Read below to find out what makes Explorer special.

• What are Charter Schools?
• Explorer's Mission
• At Explorer, How Children Learn Is As Important As What Children Learn
• Explorer's School-Wide Social Emotional Literacy Program
• Explorer's Partnerships With Parents
• Explorer's University Partnerships
• Explorer's Community Partnerships

What are Charter Schools?
Charter schools are K-12 public schools of choice that are held to high standards of accountability in exchange for the freedom and flexibility to design innovative educational programs. A school's mission and design are expressed in the school's charter which is reviewed and approved by its local school district. Because charter schools are tuition-free public schools which draw from wide geographic areas, they provide expanded educational opportunities for families within the public school system. Over 250,000 students now attend charter schools across the nation.

Explorer's Mission
Explorer's mission is to create caring, confident, life-long learners in a compassionate learning community that respects and values the different interests, abilities, learning styles, ethnicities and cultural backgrounds of each child. Explorer's program is based on the belief that education is a shared responsibility of the students, faculty, parents and community.

Our Charter along with High Tech High (PDF)

At Explorer, How Children Learn Is As Important As What Children Learn
Explorer’s program is designed to teach children with dignity. The faculty is dedicated to providing an appropriate program that respects each child’s timetable for and style of learning. Critical to the program is teaching children the skills that will empower them to become self-motivated, life-long learners.

Children are guided toward the advancement of knowledge and development of skills by lessons which emphasize questions, critical thinking and collaborative experiences. Learning experiences are structured to encourage children to develop positive social behaviors by interacting with others cooperatively, collaboratively, and compassionately. Project oriented approaches provide meaningful opportunities for students to make connections with the world around them. The walls of our school are filled with charts defining children's deep thinking.

Each classroom is taught at a scholarly level addressing students' academic and interpersonal needs. Explorer's interdisciplinary thematic curriculum uses a variety of strategies for accelerated learning to raise the level of thinking in all areas of instruction. Students construct knowledge of the world with the aid of "big ideas" such as exploration, patterns, change and systems. Higher-order thinking skills are encouraged by helping students use strategies to find evidence of concepts such as trends, multiple perspectives, convergences, and paradoxical ideas in their academic work. Scholarly circles, debates, and intelligent discussions are a constant in the classrooms.

Top

Explorer's School-Wide Social Emotional Literacy Program

The Social-Emotional Literacy Program is central to Explorer’s identity and differentiates it from other schools in San Diego. This program integrates a social-emotional curriculum into the daily academic curriculum and involves all students, parents, teachers and community members. This is evidence that such curriculum positively affects academic performance.

Social Curriculum is not just about creating a nurturing community, though that is a worthwhile goal in itself.  The awareness of self and others that is created through Explorer’s Social Curriculum has profound academic impacts as well.  In writing, for example, we want children to find and use their authentic voice.  In history, we want children to see and analyze differing perspectives.  In science, we want children to analyze a problem, hypothesize a solution, and test the solution with evidence – the same way we teach them to solve a problem on the playground.  Just as in social and emotional development, rote academic learning is superficial and fleeting.  Learning, both emotional and cognitive, that is rooted in rigorous analysis of self, others, texts, and data can be longer lasting, deeper and adaptable.

Our cognitive curriculum,"Second Step," as well as the intuitive talents of faculty members, form the basis of the social-emotional literacy program in the classroom. The program teaches and reinforces core concepts such as tolerance, compassion, ethical and responsible behavior, empathy, positive conflict resolution and collaboration. The goals of this program are (1) to raise the level of social and emotional competence in children as part of their regular education – not just something taught remedially to children who are faltering and identified as “troubled;” (2) to improve academic performance by creating caring, confident life-long learners; and (3) to create a compassionate, ethical, socially responsible, collaborative learning community. The social-emotional curriculum also includes weekly parent-education meetings and frequent faculty trainings to learn strategies for compassionate and effective parenting and teaching.

Explorer's Partnerships With Parents
Parents are an integral part of their children’s education and are valued as contributing members of Explorer's learning community. Effective communication between parents, faculty and students is essential. The Parent Education Program provides ongoing, structured support for parents with the goal of helping them deal effectively with their children’s emotional lives. Weekly meetings give parents skills to provide consistent messages about emotional competence at home and reinforce what students are learning in the classroom.

Explorer's University Partnerships
The school has formed partnerships with Point Loma Nazarene and UCSD in order to ensure that research-based approaches to instruction, learning and assessments that promote academic excellence will be implemented. Explorer’s teachers and university faculty work together to ensure that research is well informed by the real life issues that occur every day in the learning process.

Explorer's Community Partnerships
Explorer has formed partnerships with the following community-based organizations: UCSD Teacher Education Program, Point Loma Nazarene Teacher Education Program, Starbucks Point Loma, and High Tech High Learning Internship.

Top