Mission & Vision:
“Personalized learning through educational discovery: building 21st century leaders; one project at a time.”
We achieve this through instilling in our community:
- Kindness, tolerance, and respect amongst all learners.
- Certainty that honoring the individual means honoring diversity.
- Conviction that a democratic community is the basis of individual excellence.
- An ethic of school & community stewardship exemplified by the servant leader.
Public Charter Schools Are:
- Public schools that utilize a range innovative strategies & programs to drive instruction & learning.
- Exempt from some regulations in exchange for greater accountability.
- Funded directly from the State Department of Education and are sponsored by the state or school district. Explore Knowledge Academy is sponsored by Clark County School District.
The Academy Community:
- Serves students in grades Kindergarten to year 12, including Special Education services.
- Many families have students in both the elementary and the secondary programs.
Project Based Learning:
- Students complete projects in which they incorporate the curriculum standards for the courses in which they are enrolled.
- They select areas of interest that are relevant to them and create an essential or guiding question to frame the investigative process.
- A minimum of three resources are required to frame student research which include primary, secondary & tertiary resources (i.e. texts, websites, human experts and original factual documents & accounts).
- Each project concludes with a presentation to an audience to illustrate what has been learned.
- Students then enter evidence of the learning, which includes a reflection, pictures & images, or an essay in their portfolios.
- Students must take responsibility for learning the curriculum standards for their courses, with the advisor acting as the learning coach to guide them to a higher level of work than they would produce on their own.
A Four Day Work Week:
- Students attend school Tuesday through Friday, with each day counting for 1 1/3 days.
- Elementary Hours: Grades K-5: 7:45am to 3pm;
Elementary drop off begins at 7:20am. Students must be picked up by 3:20pm - Secondary Hours: Grades 6-12: 7:55am to 3:40pm.
- Students use Mondays for research, working on projects, visiting places of interest in the community (art galleries & the cultural district).
- Participating in leadership, service learning, community service & extra-curricular activities.
- Staff members use Mondays for collaborative planning and professional development activities.
Tuition:
- Charter schools are publicly funded so there is no tuition.
- Fees may be collected for planners, field trips, library fines, textbook replacement for lost books, special activities, & class projects where students keep the finished projects
- Parents are also asked to volunteer for a range of activities and programs during the school year.
- Families are expected to participate in school fund-raisers.
Multi-age classes:
- All students, with the exception of Kindergarten and first grade, are assigned to multi-age advisories which creates a family like environment at Explore Knowledge Academy.
- For instruction in reading and mathematics, students are grouped by their developmental levels rather than grade level.
- Students are encouraged to work at the highest level of their abilities and interests.
- At the secondary campus, students attend seminars and mathematics classes based on topics and proficiencies rather than grade levels.
Registration:
- As mandated by state law, a student entering Kindergarten must be 5 years old by September 30th. There is no testing for early admission and no exceptions are able to be made.
- Anyone interested in enrolling their child or children at Explore Knowledge Academy may submit a registration form available in any of our office locations.
- For more information on the enrollment process, please consult the enrollment section.
General Information:
- All students attend 1.3 days of school Tuesday through Friday in order to meet the minimum number of minutes required by state law.
- Parents must provide their own transportation to and from school.
- Explore Knowledge Academy does not provide lunch. Students must bring their lunch.
- Explore Knowledge Academy does not offer a Before/After Extended Day program. As an alternative, day care facilities, Kids R Kids, Tinker Town, and others are offering reduced fee programs for Explore Knowledge Academy parents.
Millennium scholarships:
- Students who meet the eligibility requirements for the millennium scholarship are eligible through Explore Knowledge Academy
- Our school counselor will also be working with students to ensure they are aware of other scholarship opportunities.
