Discovery Charter School

OVERVIEW OF DISCOVERY CHARTER SCHOOL
Discovery is a small, non-traditional public charter school serving 100 children from fourth to eighth grade in Newark, New Jersey, founded in 1999 by two veteran public school teachers.
We are guided by the principle of building on students' natural curiosity to help them develop life-long learning skills and work habits. We train our students to be critical, creative, and reflective thinkers, effective writers, in order to become active citizens. Discovery has a solid track record of proficiency on state tests, and many of our graduates have obtained scholarships to go on to the best high schools in the area.
Our learning environment is an open schoolhouse setting, and includes frequent mixed-grade instruction and cross-curricular learning activities. Our pedagogical emphasis is on experiential, problem-based learning. Within our lessons, we create active learning situations that encourage our students to explore and tinker, to think, to make sense of what they observe, and to support their positions with evidence.
At Discovery, children are active members of our school community. They express their ideas, tutor younger children, and share communal responsibilities. Every adult in the school knows every child, and we place a high value on building close, constructive relationships with the families of all of our students. Parents/guardians are welcome in the school at any time to observe and discuss the progress of their children. Discovery views families as our school's natural partners for supporting children's education.
Because we are a very small school, teachers undertake varied responsibilities outside of planning and instruction, and are involved in multiple aspects of sustaining and improving our learning community.
Contact Denis Cretinon Phone: (973) 623-0222 Fax: (973) 623-0024 dcretinon@discoverycs.org 240 Halsey Street, Newark, NJ 07102