Aims and purposes

Lighthouse Learning Center has developed a comprehensive aims and purpose document to help define our purposes. This document explains what we do and why we do it.

Vision Statement:

To maximize your child’s academic potential by proving holistic instruction

Aims:

  • Encourage self-motivation
  • Teaching effective study habits
  • Provide a friendly atmosphere
  • Offer challenging enrichment classes
  • Involve parents in their children’s studies
  • Serve as mentors and counselors
  • Maintain small class sizes and the opportunity for private tutoring

Accreditation Goals

At Lighthouse we recognize the student time is at a premium. At the moment, our mathematics program is purely supplementary and does not provide the student with any school credit. It is our goal, through continuously improving our program and demonstrating the effectiveness of our teaching, to establish accreditation for our high school Mathematics program. Our goal is to supplement the local school districts by offering “for-credit” classes in Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II / Trigonometry Mathematics. We believe that this will further service our current students and expand our range of capabilities. In the long term we desire to seek to offer “for-credit” classes in English, History, and potentially other subjects. Such expansion will depend upon the availability of qualified instructors and student demand.

Programs

  • After School Homework and Enrichment
    In our after school enrichment program our instructors seeks to help students complete their homework and further enrich their academic experience. This program is focused upon younger children (Kindergarten through 8th grade) and provides a structured environment during the afternoon. Students arrive at the Learning Center via Lighthouse buses and are then encouraged to work through their homework. A staff member is always present and able to provide specific guidance as requested. The staff also seeks to check the work of the students to confirm that they are making progress. In addition to the group guidance offered by our staff, the students can enroll in focused private tutoring for specific one-on-one help.
  • Private Tutoring
    Private tutoring allows us the opportunity to specifically focus upon an area in which a student is struggling or desiring to go further. These tutoring sessions are one-on-one with a tutor with specialized experience in that particular subject. The particular subject of the tutoring session is established via an admission process in which the program administrator develops a personalize program with the student and parents. Particular areas of private tutoring include:
    • SAT Prep
      In SAT preparation, the tutor and student will often meet in 90 minute sessions. During the first 30 minutes of the session the student will complete a practice session (from a practice manual). The tutor will spend this time working through the practice sessions that the student has completed before arriving (each student is encouraged to complete two practice sessions privately before each tutoring session). During the second 30 minutes the tutor and student will work through these three sections and work through those sections that the student failed to complete correctly. This allows for the student to improve in those sections and for the tutor to identify which area of the test the student is the weakest. The final 30 minutes of the session is to be focused upon working through the principles and material that the student appears to be least successful upon. For example, a tutor may determine that a particular student has struggled with geometry question on the SAT Math portion. The tutor will use the third portion of the session to instruct the student upon SAT geometry. Upon concluding the session the tutor will assign two additional sections to be completed before the next session.This method has certain advantages. First, the SAT exam is broken into three sections each of which contain three 20-30 minute portions. This procedure allows the student to complete exactly one exam’s worth of material in a particular subject per session. The tutor and student can then calculate and track the student’s progress through grading that exam. This allows for the tutor and student to be able to subjectively evaluate the value of the tutoring.
    • Subject-Focused Tutoring
      Many students require tutoring in a particular class, whether Math, English, Biology, or others. Lighthouse employs subject-focused tutoring which matches the student with a tutor who specializes in that particular subject. This style of tutoring seeks to reinforce the instruction occurring during school by working through homework and the material assigned by the teacher. Thus, the curriculum is dependent upon the primary school teacher and the tutor seeks to complement this by providing one-on-one instruction. The tutor will often work through sample problems and demonstrate how to approach the particular material at hand. This also allows for the student to ask for clarification on any areas that they did not fully grasp in classroom instruction.
    • Reading and Basic Skills Tutoring
      Often students who struggle in one subject are also having difficulties in others. A student who appears to be having challenges in Math may be struggling with reading comprehension and thus being unable to complete word problems. The interdisciplinary nature of learning is addressed in our reading and basic skills tutoring. In this type of private tutoring the student is encouraged to develop study habits, reading comprehension, and logical thought through personalized curriculum.
  • Subject Focused Classes
    Offered during the weekend during the school year, and multiple times throughout the summer these small classes (4-10 students) allow for us to work students through a focused curriculum corresponding to the target age. Our desire is to offer these classes for credit to allow students how have failed a class during the regular year to catch up and to allow accelerated students the opportunity to advance to a higher level class.
    • 7th Grade Mathematics
      The California Academic Standards Commission deliberately chose to design K-7 mathematics standards that put students on track to study Algebra and Geometry by grade 8. Plans such as this one start at kindergarten and present all students, and their teachers, with the expectation that students will keep up and be ready for Algebra in grade 8. Whether all students succeed at this level, all will have had the opportunity to succeed at a level that is now available only to the lucky few. This plan requires that the seventh grade math course be a Pre-Algebra course. Our desire in our seventh grade Mathematics course is to prepare our students for the rigors of Algebra in 8th grade. In this program, a class of up to 20 students is taught by a certified instructor the standardized material. The student is evaluated at the beginning of the class utilizing released questions from previous California State Standards exams. This testing process helps us to evaluate the students before beginning the program and sets a benchmark from which we can objectively measure the effectiveness of our methods.The course itself is arranged into ten modules. By organizing the material into these ten modules the class can be taught in multiple arrangements ranging from classes that meet every Saturday to classes that meet multiple times a week for shorter sessions.
    • Algebra I Mathematics
      The State of California has prepared a standardized set of materials that must be covered in an Algebra I. These standards serve as a guideline to evaluate student learning and to help prepare students effectively. At Lighthouse we have arranged our Algebra I program to reflect these standards and the teaching methods used in Newhall school district. Lighthouse has intentional structured the Algebra I curriculum so that a student will be exposed to same material in this program as they would if they attended a more traditional program at a local high school. Currently, the Algebra I curriculum has been prepared into two modules each covering a semesters-worth of material. Each of these modules has been designed for the student to receive ten hours of lecture instruction, ten hours of private instruction and twenty hours of guided study hall. This particular structure was adopted after speaking with the local high school mathematics instructors and in other programs supplementary programs in the State of California. During the ten hours of lecture, the instructor will cover the material utilizes sample problems and direct lecture. For each hour of classroom instruction the students are assigned a set of problems to complete. The guided study hall (2 hours per hour of lecture) serves a focused time for the students to work on their homework packets as well as be given guidance by an instructor. The study hall time will also be used for the student exams. The private tutoring (1 hour per hour of lecture) provides focused instruction on those areas that they student may not have fully grasped. This part of the program is extremely beneficial as it allows the tutor to develop a one-on-one relationship in which particular difficulties can be addressed.The modular curriculum has been designed so that it can be taught in a variety of formats. It could be conducted with one hour of instruction per week over a ten week period, or at a more accelerated pace. When the student completes the Algebra I program they will have completed 20 hours of lecture, 20 hours of private tutoring and 40 hours of study hall.
    • Geometry Mathematics
      The State of California has prepared a standardized set of materials that must be covered in a high school Geometry class. These standards serve as a guideline to evaluate student learning and to help prepare students effectively. At Lighthouse we have arranged our Geometry program to reflect these standards and the teaching methods used in Newhall school district. Lighthouse has intentional structured the Geometry curriculum so that a student will be exposed to same material in this program as they would if they attended a more traditional program at a local high school. At this time the geometry curriculum has not been fully developed but it is intended for completed by January of 2008. Rather than quickly prepared an insufficient curriculum, Lighthouse has determined to build the curriculum methodically and carefully. Currently, the Geometry curriculum is intended to be prepared into two modules each covering a semesters-worth of material. Each of these modules will be designed for the student to receive ten hours of lecture instruction, ten hours of private instruction and twenty hours of guided study hall. This particular structure is similar to that employed in the Algebra I curriculum. By maintaining a consistency of approach, both the instructors and students can develop effective means of structuring their time. During the ten hours of lecture, the instructor will cover the material utilizes sample problems and direct lecture. For each hour of classroom instruction the students are assigned a set of problems to complete. The guided study hall (2 hours per hour of lecture) serves a focused time for the students to work on their homework packets as well as be given guidance by an instructor. The study hall time will also be used for the student exams. The private tutoring (1 hour per hour of lecture) provides focused instruction on those areas that they student may not have fully grasped. This part of the program is extremely beneficial as it allows the tutor to develop a one-on-one relationship in which particular difficulties can be addressed.The modular curriculum has been designed so that it can be taught in a variety of formats. It could be conducted with one hour of instruction per week over a ten week period, or at a more accelerated pace. When the student completes the Geometry program they will have completed 20 hours of lecture, 20 hours of private tutoring and 40 hours of study hall.
    • Algebra II / Trigonometry Mathematics
      For those students who have completed both Algebra I and Geometry at the high school level, Lighthouse intends to offer a course in Algebra II / Trigonometry. This class is intended to prepare students for college-level mathematics. Similar to the curricula for Algebra I and Geometry, this class will be developed upon a module basis and arranged to reflect the standard teaching practices of the Newhall district and the standards established by the State of California.At this time, this curriculum is under development and will hopeful be used in Spring 2008. The course will reflect the teaching arrangement established in previous mathematics classes (1 hour lecture / 1 hour private tutoring / 2 hours study hall). Over the course of the entire class (both modules), the student will have received 20 hours of lecture, 20 hours of private tutoring and 40 hours of study hall.