Standards-Based
Enterprise Charter School follows the New York State Next Generation Standards for English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics. The Common Core Standards are academic skills that students should be able to demonstrate upon completion of a grade level. ECS uses the standards as the framework to build a curriculum that focused on engagement, collaboration, and creativity.
Literacy
The Next Generation Learning Standards for English Language Arts (ELA) focus on the skills necessary to read, write, and speak in English for the purpose of using language (written and verbal) to understand and analyze both fiction and non-fiction texts, and to communicate and have discourse around these understandings.
At ECS, we follow the Science of Reading combined with a culturally responsive research based curriculum and teaching to support students in engaging with text that represents the diverse world in which they live. An emphasis on necessary foundational literacy skills takes place at the primary level. Students engage in whole group, independent, and small group instruction. Students work on collaborative projects that embed social and emotional learning (SEL), social studies, science, mathematics, and ELA learning together, centered around the characteristics and competencies of the ECS Portrait of a Graduate.
Mathematics
The Next Generation Standards in mathematics are vertically aligned mathematical understandings and skills to facilitate problem solving. Students learn the basics of number sense, operations, fractions, decimals, and geometry, and are expected to be able to apply them to solve real-world problems. Students engage in whole group, independent, and small group instruction to develop abstract understandings from concrete mathematical representations.
Science and Social Studies
In addition to the common core, all grade levels are exposed to content and activities in Science and Social Studies. We extend our ELA reading and writing to cover the content areas, and engage our students in disciplinary-based inquiry.
Spanish
Students in 7th and 8th grade take a 1/2 credit of Spanish.
The Arts
ECS believes that arts-based learning is an essential pathway for academic success and student engagement. We have a great daily program of music, theater, and visual art for all grade levels. We leverage our special areas as a source of academic and creative engagement as part of our core mission statement.
Physical and Emotional Education
We are committed to our students physical and mental wellness. A few years ago, ECS made a major investment by building a full-sized gymnasium. More recently, we have added rooms for targeted gross motor activity and social emotional learning. We are able to provide our students with some form of physical education or social emotional learning every day, because we recognize that these experiences will help balance their intensive academic work.