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Learning
Community Charter School (LCCS) is a dependent public charter
school supervised by the Student Programs and Services
Department
administered by the Butte County Office of Education. Student
Programs and Services Department provides appropriate
educational services through alternative instructional programs
including charter schools, community schools, juvenile court
schools, independent study, special education programs and
vocational programs. These programs provide services for those
students who are not well-served by the existing comprehensive
public school environment.
Butte County Office of Education proposes a world of enhanced
educational opportunity and option for the students it serves
through LCCS, a student-centered educational program aligned
with state curriculum standards and frameworks, based on
effective teaching models and designed to meet the needs of
diverse students in a targeted K-12 continuum. LCCS believes
that learning best occurs in an interconnection of home,
classroom and/or community; where parents, students, teachers
and community members are partners and mutually invested in
student success and where comprehension and understanding deepen
through project-based learning, service learning and culturally
relevant curricula. LCCS is designed to prepare students for
life in the 21st century through development of strong academic
skills and applied life skills, use of technology in learning
and communicating, authentic and performance-based assessment,
integration of a wide range of community resources, development
of interpersonal and cognitive skills and growth of personal
qualities. LCCS prepares students to become active agents in a
lifelong learning process; to become responsible, effective and
productive citizens, to exert influence responsibly and to
effect positive, successful change in their lives.
LCCS comprises two educational programs that establish
diverse and challenging educational environments for students in
grades K-12 Hearthstone and Four Winds Schools. The mission of
Hearthstone is to establish and maintain strong partnerships
with parents and families designed to facilitate learning
experiences and daily instruction in the home and community.
Students are empowered to develop special talents and individual
responsibility, enabling them to achieve their potential and
become knowledgeable, productive citizens. Hearthstone provides
instructional support services that ensure high quality,
personalized learning experiences emphasizing standards-based
academic performance, individual responsibility and development
of personal interests and special talents. The curricular
program includes the mastery of standards in the core academic
content areas of English/Language Arts, Math, Science and Social
Science utilizing textbooks, technology, classroom instruction
and individualized student projects to meet educational
requirements and expectations. Hearthstone provides a
wide-range of opportunities to improve student learning by:
- increasing learning opportunities for those students who
are identified as academically low achieving.
- encouraging the use of different and innovative teaching
methods.
- providing parents and students with expanded choices in
the types of educational opportunities that are available
within the public school system.
- achieving measurable student learning outcomes.
- providing a method to change from rule-based to
performance-based accountability systems, and
- providing vigorous competition within the public school
system to stimulate continual improvements.
To date Hearthstone has met all requirements and has received
full WASC accreditation status.
The mission of Four Winds is to support the development of an
“educated person” in the 21st century by providing a rich and
rigorous curriculum whereby all students are equipped with the
skills, knowledge and attributes to become self-motivated,
competent, lifelong learners. Four Winds believes that a firm
grounding in culture is a fundamental prerequisite for the
development of competent students. Academic standards stipulate
what students should know and be able to do and cultural
standards are oriented more toward providing guidance to help
students become responsible, capable human beings. Four Winds
provides an instructional program addressing the need for
students to read, write, speak and calculate with clarity and
precision and to participate passionately and responsibly in the
life of the community. Four Winds believes strongly that
service and respect to others, practiced with the classroom as a
part of the daily classroom routine and in the
community-at-large, is the motivating tool to engage young
people in meaningful activities that support the development of
responsible citizens. By shifting focus of the curriculum from
teaching/learning about culture to teaching/learning through
culture Four Winds fosters a strong connection between what
students experience in school and their lives outside of
school. Four Winds educational program is guided by research
that validates the effectiveness of culturally-responsive
schools upon student learning and achievement. At Four Winds
students are held to high academic and behavioral standards in a
multi-cultural, student-centered learning environment.
Innovative practices include multi-grade/multi-level classrooms,
cooperative learning, flexible scheduling, longer school day,
independent study instructional model outside of regular
classroom setting, parents as genuine partners in the school
culture, developmentally/culturally responsive curriculum and
effective instructional practices. By recognizing academic,
social and cultural needs, by improving relationships between
home and school, by implementing new and effective teaching
strategies and by developing a curriculum that is
standards-based and culturally responsive, students will
overcome their educational deficiencies, make significant
improvement in their academic achievement and envision
themselves as successful people.
As an instructional program Four Winds utilizes state-adopted
curriculum based in the four core academic content areas
standards of English/language arts, mathematics, science and
social studies. The breadth and depth of California’s academic
content standards presents significant instructional
challenges. To address this challenge Four Winds offers two
instructional programs. For students in grades K-9 Four Winds
offers a daily instructional program emphasizing a
standards-based curriculum in all academic content areas. High
quality teaching methods are aligned to the individual learning
styles of students. For grades K-3 instruction is also enhanced
by replicating the Montessori method of curriculum and
instruction. Students learn through exploration with emphasis
upon child-choice, consequences, respect and decision-making.
Students work at their own developmental level to ensure
learning experiences are meaningful and positively
reinforcing.
For students in grades 7-12 Four Winds offer Independent
Study as an educational strategy emphasizing a standards-based
curriculum in all academic content areas. Independent Study as
an instructional strategy is meant to respond to the student’s
specific educational needs, interests, aptitudes and abilities.
Four Winds ensures that Independent Study students have the same
access to existing services and resources as are available to
all other students in enrolled in the school. Independent Study
teacher works in conjunction with student and parent in the
development of an Individualized Learning Plan designed to meet
curricular objectives and fulfill graduation requirements for
students whose needs may be best met through study outside the
regular classroom setting. |