Our Mission
The mission of East Chicago Lighthouse Charter School is to prepare scholars with the academic and social-emotional skills necessary to succeed in college, career, and life.
East Chicago Lighthouse Charter School is a tuition-free public charter school serving scholars in grades K-8. Our team of dedicated professionals, work with scholars, parents, and community partners each day to make quality education accessible.
Managed by Lighthouse Academies, we are authorized and approved by the Ball State University. Our campus receives public funding from federal and state resources. This funding fuels our ability to continue offering vital programs that support our literacy-driven curriculum.
At ECLCS, we believe in the power of literacy to create the building blocks of academic success. We promise to prioritize clear literacy instruction starting in kindergarten so that by third grade all scholars have both the strong literacy foundation and social-emotional skills to successfully transition to reading to learn. For scholars entering East Chicago, we meet all students where they are in their learning journey and ensure that each child meets or exceeds grade-level expectations within three years.
At East Chicago, we have cultivated a family-oriented educational setting. We actively encourage student-teacher engagement to build strong, respectful, and lasting relationships between them and serve our community to provide our students with an education aimed at developing the whole child academically, physically, and emotionally.
East Chicago’s unique culture includes:
Each educator is focused on creating a family environment in the classroom. Our school day begins with a time for scholars to share and discuss things that are important to them individually and as the class as a whole. We also believe education is a family matter and sponsor many annual events in addition to monthly Parent University Nights.
Deep and creative thinking are accomplished when scholars feel safe and nurtured in their surroundings. We create campus and classroom environments that are predictable, orderly, and physically and emotionally safe. In order to achieve this, we adhere to the following practices:
Our culture is centered on building scholars’ social and emotional character in addition to their academic performance.
We follow a Restorative Practice disciplinary system which focuses on developing positive behaviors and changing negative behaviors, with the overall goal of restoring relationships and keeping our scholars engaged in the classroom.