This School Fully Embraces Expeditions And Test Scores Soar
After reading a “Exhibit Night” brochure from The Museum School of Avondale Estates (TMS), a community member or school visitor might have many questions. Like…
“What is Exhibit Night?”
“Did the kids in this school really just dissect owl pellets to learn more about the food chain, visit a monastery to get a first-hand look at a Buddhist temple and learn Buddhist principles, visit a glass blowing company to witness thermal energy and engage with a meteorologist to learn about weather patterns and systems?”
“Okay, the hallways look beautiful, the students can eloquently share their learning, but does it work? Considering all public schools are required to take standardized tests, how are museum school students doing on those tests?”
The answer to all these questions is simple.
It’s a museum school, specifically, it’s TMS. And yes, it works! It’s really all in the numbers - TMS provides K-8 students with rich, hands-on learning experiences through valuable classroom lessons and engaging learning expeditions and experiences. Then, students demonstrate their learning by turning the school into a museum every 9 weeks.
The Art and Science Behind Learning Expeditions
About twice a month, students travel out into the field on learning expeditions – not field trips – to immerse themselves in their content and standards. Focused, strategically planned learning expeditions place students in museums, centers, habitats, theaters, exhibits, galleries, simulations, and more. The expeditions are designed to make the learning real, impactful, and unforgettable. The school prides itself on its relatively small class sizes and generous teacher-to-student ratios, which set students up for successful, frequent, and productive learning experiences.
Expeditions + Lessons = Memorable Learning Experiences
Interdisciplinary expeditions and lessons skillfully and strategically combine content standards, leading to meaningful and memorable learning experiences for students. For example, a 2nd-grade TMS student’s science-based study of stars might include an in-depth look at Van Gogh’s "Starry Night," narrative writing about the night sky, and a musical piece that brings the writing to life through sound.
Every nine weeks, the school becomes a museum, hosting Exhibit Night and opening its doors to the community. At Exhibit Night, students showcase their learning in a variety of ways – projects, experiments, simulations, role-playing, broadcasts, musicals, seminars, and more. All students are trained to be docents, and as a result, they become proficient public speakers. Exhibit nights also spotlight student-created travel journals. TMS K-5 students create travel journals that serve as a textbook/diary/journal and house students’ reflections, insights, new learning, and more throughout their learning units.
The students’ mastery of learning is evident in their projects and demonstrations. But it also reflects in their performance on norm-referenced and criterion-referenced assessments.
A Proven System of Success
When compared to a national norm of millions of peers, most TMS students are growing at a faster rate. And when compared to local and state peers on state standardized tests, TMS students typically outperform their peers in every subject and every grade level, sometimes doubling the proficiency scores of their peers.
TMS has taken research on how kids learn best and put it into action. Learning is not passive or stagnant. TMS students engage in their learning through expeditions, travel journals, and Exhibit Nights, and as a result, they gain a deep and rich understanding of the content.
Learn more about TMS here, and learn more about the over 50 other museum schools across the country here.
