How Can Museums Stay Relevant To Schools?

Training

VDOE Glossary

VDOE Draft Rubrics

What professional development content is most important to you? (Check up to two)

"Be willing to let us use your space for events other than field trips."

- Large County Social Studies Supervisor

45%

Lower Elementary:

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/local_assessments/rubrics/lower-el-hss-rubric-draft5-053118.docx

Upper Elementary:

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/local_assessments/rubrics/upper-elementary-hss-rubric-draft2-053018.docx

US1/US2 (Middle School):

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/local_assessments/rubrics/ms-hss-rubric-draft4-070918.docx

43%

41%

"It helps if PD [professional development] isn’t just reviewing a resource file. Give us time to use it, mess with it, create something. We have no time to have stuff marinate."

- City Social Studies Supervisor

33%

How Can Museums Stay

Relevant To Schools?

Assessment:

any systematic basis for gathering data or information and making inferences about characteristics, proficiencies, or abilities of people, usually based on various sources of evidence; the global process of synthesizing information about individuals in order to understand and describe them better.

Performance assessment or performance-based assessment:

generally requires students to perform a task or create a product and is scored using a rubric or set of criteria. In completing the task, students apply acquired knowledge and skills. This type of assessment often includes a written component.

Project-based learning:

a teaching method or approach that engages students in sustained, collaborative, real-world investigations. Projects are organized around a driving question, and students participate in a variety of hands-on tasks that seek to meaningfully address this question (Buck Institute). Performance assessment is typically a component of this approach to teaching and learning.

Rubric:

a description of the criteria for success and levels of achievement for a task, product, or assessment. Rubrics are used to score various types of alternative assessments based on evidence in student work. When used during instruction, rubrics provide feedback to teachers and students, allowing teachers and students to make adjustments and modifications during the learning process.

Full VDOE Glossary:

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/local_assessments/assessment-literacy-glossary.docx

VDOE Performance Assessment Design

"Museums educators should take more initiative to share resources."

- Large County Social Studies Supervisor

"Secondary teachers are good at social studies content but are lacking in pedagogy. They need 'not just what, but how' for professional development, especially programs that help teachers work with minority populations and address scaffolding materials for varied reading levels and abilities."

- Small City Social Studies Supervisor

24%

Process Skills

Task Design

Context

Evaluation Design

"So much PD is already required of my teachers that I only pass along ones that are good, on weekends, and during the summer that don’t conflict with my needs. July is best." - Small City Social Studies Supervisor

Museums can have great relationships with teachers and central office staff, but "elementary school principals can do whatever they want."

- County Social Studies Supervisor

Content

Reflection

"Museums need to stay current with education pedagogy. Approach history with an inquiry mindset." - Large City Social Studies Supervisor

How could your museum help educators in your community? Where do you fit in this flow chart?

Full Chart: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/local_assessments/performance_task-development_cycle.pdf

Primary &

secondary

source

analysis

Developing

lesson

plans

Assessment

strategies

Teaching

strategies

Historic

content

"Tell us your schedule as far in advance as possible. If we know about fall activities in the spring or summer, some expenses could be split over two fiscal years." - City Social Studies Supervisor

"We need performance based educational planning sessions to help teachers prepare students to fit the profile of a VA graduate." - Large City Social Studies Supervisor

"If we plan to use your museum for an assessment or graded assignment, please tell us when you change your exhibits or rotate objects." - City Social Studies Supervisor

About the Project

Remove Barriers

Communication

Transportation

Time

Educators Preferred Method of Communication

“English and Math reign supreme. A teacher might be willing [to participate in a museum program], but principals are not. Accreditation is not defined by Social Studies, so principals want teachers to focus on English and Math." - Small City Social Studies Supervisor

What are your largest barriers to working with museums? (Check up to two)

For each field trip..."there is a ridiculous amount of planning. Teachers have to be very committed. It's not just the coordinating the buses, it's working with the museums. Checking the testing calendar. Recruiting parent volunteers. Collecting money. Putting letters out to the community. [It is] worth it once there and the kids having the experience, but the prep work on the teacher side is not enjoyable."

- Large County Social Studies Supervisor

41%

Other

"The biggest challenge for educators is finding TIME. Time to plan, time to assess, time for instruction, etc. Any way that you can make it easier for educators to connect with your organization in a meaningful way will have a greater impact." - Large County Teacher

"It's not you, it's me"

“We can’t use a school bus. Elementary drop off is at 9:05, earliest field trip departure is 9:15, and they have to be back by 2:15. It’s not enough time to go far." - City Social Studies Specialist

36%

Don't get absorbed in these and forget

about those.

31%

“Wrote a grant to take every grade – K-12 – on a field trip out of the building. Transportation is the biggest element of the grant." - Small City Social Studies Supervisor

26%

Teachers do not generally act alone. They must recruit other colleagues and administrators to participate in museum activities. Adminstrators can give approval or allocate funds but still need teacher participation. The more levels that support a museum collaboration, the more likely it is to happen.

Christina Keyser Vida is a 2018-2019 Leadership & Advocacy Fellow for the Virginia Association of Museums and the Virginia History Day Coordinator at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.

She surveyed 258 Virginia educators and conducted in-depth interviews in seven representative communities around the Commonwealth.

This project provides museums with some data and strategies to answer the question: "How can museums stay relevant to schools?"

Food

“You can't just tell a student to 'pack a lunch,' because most can't."

- City Social Studies Specialist with 80% of students on free or reduced lunch

11%

9%

Email

7%

Many teachers cannot check email regularly throughout the day. Try to be at the top of their inbox first thing in the morning or right after the school bell.

6%

“Museums need to know that students are required to have time to eat. To admins the content of the field trip is less important than whether or not students can eat. Lunches can be provided by the school for free and reduced lunch kids but that’s an extra layer of planning." - Small City Social Studies Supervisor

5%

2%

Other subject areas

Lack of relevant

programs

Scheduling within the

school day

Lack of relevant web content

Program costs

Planning

time

Other

Difficulty using websites

Difficulty contacting museums

Bus costs

Do you have any suggestions for how museums can better serve educators?

Programming

Programming

Training

Do you have any suggestions for how museums can better serve educators?

"A lesson on one topic that encompasses 5 class periods is not always realistic. Having a second, adapted option spanning one or two class periods is much more feasible." - Large County Teacher

"Creating activities/lessons that can be done in 1 class period or less Incorporating skills with content activities " - Large County Teacher

"Promote the programs TO us rather than making us do all the work, then not even getting phone call back or an email follow up." - Large County Teacher

“There is a difference between lovers of history and teachers of history. Good teachers make it relevant for students." - City Social Studies Supervisor

What museum programs are most important to you? 

(Check all that apply)

What museum program content is most important

for your students? (Check up to two)

"Create a full-day, on site, in-person PD for K-6 librarians. I believe the demand is great and with the entire school population benefiting." - Large County Educator

"Provide longer, more diversified programs keeping in mind that these changes would require more active, student-centered activities to keep the students engaged. " - Large County Administrator

"It is painful for the students to be lectured the majority of the time while surrounded by these amazing treasures of history." - Large County Teacher

73%

"Host professional development programs to share available resources then have them create a collection of suggested lesson ideas." - County Administrator

"It would be great if there was like a series of traveling exhibit that schools could sign up to get." - Small County Teacher

64%

"I'd love for someone to correlate English SOLs to local museums that can be visited to enrich a particular standard." - County Teacher

59%

"Open house events that allow educators to become familiar with the programs and logistics within specific museums." - Small City Administrator

"More programs suitable for K-2 students.... also articles and books on their level! We are currently teaching Christopher Newport, Pocahontas, Powhatan, and their contributions to Jamestown. It’s difficult finding books and articles that are on their reading level." - Large County Teacher

"If they have the planning and pacing guides for the local school districts, or are able to pace their connections and offered workshops in advance of curriculum, it may help more teachers sign up to take advantage of their resources." - Large County Teacher

44%

41%

38%

Communication

"Supply pre and post visit materials. Allow for more group specific needs." - Large County Teacher

"Host on-site brown bag educator luncheons with a mini-presentation on museum content." - Small County Teacher

31%

"Emails that contain lists of resources, directions on how to access archives, and updates on new exhibits and programs." - County Teacher

26%

23%

"More online that kids can easily access. Things that are organized by topic or are part of a PBL experience." - Large County Teacher

"Offer online field trips/lessons - Social Studies often is crowded out of the funding for field trips." - County Administrator

18%

"Reach out to school with emails on current content for all grade levels." - Large County Teacher

14%

12%

"The educational programming must be relevant. How does this information connect to students here and now?" - Large City Administrator

"Hands on activities for students that model instructional approaches and conceptual understanding." - County Teacher

Guided

tours for history SOLs

Primary &

secondary

source

analysis

Project

based

on historic

topics

Tours of

historic

houses & landscapes

Content not related to history

SOLs

Educator

training

Field

trips

Project

based

Social

Media

In-class

programs

Virtual

programs

Self-guided tours

Access to library or

archives

"Reach out more. I am a fourth year teacher and museums are still a foreign entity to me in my teaching because it seems like such a distant and hard to incorporate resource." - Small County Teacher

"Virtual tours/programs - either live or recorded." - Small County Teacher

"More web based (Skype/Zoom/Hangout) options." - County Teacher

"Have presenters are that have experience working with the age group and have appropriate engaging activities." - County Teacher

"Be aggressive; let us know what you have and how it helps us." - Small County Administrator

Removing Barriers

"More online resources available to teachers for realistic use in the classroom." - Large County Teacher

In the last 12 months, which museums or historical societies have you interacted with for your school, division, or professional development? (Check all that apply)

"Our local historical society is not cooperating with our requests to build partnerships between their organization and the school system." - Small County Teacher

"Specific tours designed around specific SOLs." - County Teacher (but echoed by many other educators and interviewees)

Key Links Referenced by Most Interviewees:

"They need to be able to accommodate 100+ students at a time for field trips." - Small City Teacher

History & Social Sciences Standards of Learning

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/history_socialscience/index.shtml

55%

Profile of a Virginia Graduate

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/accreditation/grad-req.pdf

Standards of Accreditation for Virginia Schools

"Under the revised SOA, student achievement in history/social science is no longer a factor in determining a school’s accreditation rating."

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/accreditation/2017-soa-impact.shtml

42%

Room to grow!!

26%

Website Content

"Docents should be facilitators not lecturers."

- City Social Studies Supervisor

"Museum experiences can and should provide them opportunities that they can’t get in a classroom."

- County Social Studies Supervisor

21%

"Museums provide educational content and a different perspective." - County Social Studies Supervisor

13%

"Have more hands-on boxes that teachers or museum educators can use in the classroom. Especially for younger students." - Large County Social Studies Supervisor, but echoed by all the other interviewees

What museum website resources are most important to you: (Check up to two)

Museum

in

Virginia

Museum in

same city

or county

Museum in

DC, MD,

NC, or WV

50%

Other

museums

None of

the above

"Museums provide educational content and a different perspective." - County Social Studies Supervisor

46%

"Many local museums offer 'come here and consume information,' but it would be better if museums mimic pedagogy for the classroom." - County Social Studies Supervisor

"Museum websites are hard to filter. It’d be great if resources were organized by standard [VDOE Standards of Learning]." - City Social Studies Supervisor

31%

29%

Sometimes websites aren't the answer: “When I’ve found a good resource it was because a curator found it for me.” - County Social Studies Supervisor

#local

"Liking kids is a plus for museum docents...Our US History students don't go to [a nearby historic site] anymore because an interpreter once told them "I don't want any questions." Word will spread through a division after a bad experience." - County Social Studies Supervisor

19%

17%

12%

"The best teachers will only spend 10 or 15 minutes on your website. Make it easy." - City Social Studies Supervisor

"Museums are doing things, but in a bubble. They should support cross-curricular programs for elementary students." - County Social Studies Supervisor

Articles

written for

students

Articles

written for

teachers

Hours,

directions,

contact info

Online

teacher

trainging

Field trip

pricing &

info

Primary

sources

Lesson

plans

"Small historic sites present equity issues across our division. Since not all schools can fit a whole grade level in one museum or site or afford the buses, we prefer in-class or online experiences." - Large City Social Studies Supervisor

"The museum needs support from local schools to get attendance. They plan events around school topics so students can attend for extra credit." - Small City Social Studies Supervisor