Open Forum

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Lindzy Bivings
Senior Manager, School & Community Programs
California Academy of Sciences
San Francisco CA

(415) 379-5188
lbivings@calacademy.org
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Hi Lindzy!  Here in Jacksonville our district currently has a contract program called "S.T.E.A.M. Passport" were Title 1 schools receive field trips to various cultural institutions in the city.  Each grade level is assigned two cultural institutions for the year that they visit.  Each institution is designated certain grade levels to attend.  For instance, my museum has received all second grade students this school year.

The district pays for transportation and covers the cost of the field trip and make them mandatory for the schools.  There aren't really any other components to it that I am aware of.  This is the 5th school year we have had the program, but will likely be the last.  There has been a change in how the district is allowed to spend the Title 1 funding (each school is in charge of spending it, instead of the district doing it for them) and that is leading to the end of the program.

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Dulcie Hause
Museum Educator
The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
Jacksonville FL
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-06-2018 03:25 PM
From: Lindzy Bivings
Subject: Researching city-wide field trip programs

Here's a random question I thought you all might be a good resource for knowing: 

1. Do you know of any city-wide/ region-wide field trip programs run by museums/ zoos/ aquaria that include all or most of these features?

• All classes in an elementary school (k-5) within an area (and any kind of school - e.g. public, parochial, private) recieve the following:
• free field trip admission
• free busses for every classroom 
• bilingual translation of materials 
• free family nights at the museum for schools
• free student passes to the museum
• free family passes to the museum
• support for the teachers in supporting the integration of the field trip into the curricula

2. Do any school districts run something like this to multiple museums?

Thanks for any tips!

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Lindzy Bivings
Senior Manager, School & Community Programs
California Academy of Sciences
San Francisco CA

(415) 379-5188
lbivings@calacademy.org
------------------------------

Lindzy, me again!  I misread your original post about this being a museum led initiative.  The Cummer Museum does have a program that I manage called Cummer in the Classroom.  While it does not serve the entire district (100 + elementary schools) we do serve 8 Title 1 schools (in the urban core) where each grade PK-5 receives many of incentives you spoke of:

-2 free field trips per year (including transportation)
-2 museum outreach visits for each class per year- this is where I bring lessons to them that help support the field trips
-free admission for their families
-scholarships for art classes
-free art materials
-teacher professional development on how to integrate art into their general subject areas
-a mini "gallery" that has poster sized reproductions of artwork from our museum that are hung at each school
- a free musical performance is offered to each school as well

Currently this is funded in several ways including: endowment, corporate sponsors, family foundations.  The program has been in place for over 10 years and I have been managing it since 2013.  If you have in depth questions, please feel free to contact me dhause@cummermuseum.org

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Dulcie Hause
Museum Educator
The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
Jacksonville FL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-07-2018 08:21 AM
From: Dulcie Hause
Subject: Researching city-wide field trip programs

Hi Lindzy!  Here in Jacksonville our district currently has a contract program called "S.T.E.A.M. Passport" were Title 1 schools receive field trips to various cultural institutions in the city.  Each grade level is assigned two cultural institutions for the year that they visit.  Each institution is designated certain grade levels to attend.  For instance, my museum has received all second grade students this school year.

The district pays for transportation and covers the cost of the field trip and make them mandatory for the schools.  There aren't really any other components to it that I am aware of.  This is the 5th school year we have had the program, but will likely be the last.  There has been a change in how the district is allowed to spend the Title 1 funding (each school is in charge of spending it, instead of the district doing it for them) and that is leading to the end of the program.

------------------------------
Dulcie Hause
Museum Educator
The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
Jacksonville FL

Original Message:
Sent: 02-06-2018 03:25 PM
From: Lindzy Bivings
Subject: Researching city-wide field trip programs

Here's a random question I thought you all might be a good resource for knowing: 

1. Do you know of any city-wide/ region-wide field trip programs run by museums/ zoos/ aquaria that include all or most of these features?

• All classes in an elementary school (k-5) within an area (and any kind of school - e.g. public, parochial, private) recieve the following:
• free field trip admission
• free busses for every classroom 
• bilingual translation of materials 
• free family nights at the museum for schools
• free student passes to the museum
• free family passes to the museum
• support for the teachers in supporting the integration of the field trip into the curricula

2. Do any school districts run something like this to multiple museums?

Thanks for any tips!

------------------------------
Lindzy Bivings
Senior Manager, School & Community Programs
California Academy of Sciences
San Francisco CA

(415) 379-5188
lbivings@calacademy.org
------------------------------

​Hi Lindzy,

We have a program that checks most of your bullet points. Our program is called Inspire: Reach Every Child and we serve all of the 2nd grade classes (approximately 2,300 students/year) within the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. The program includes pre & post-visit activities, an extended 3.5 hour program at our Museum, family passes, and a special Inspire Family Day event at the Museum. We raise all of the funds to cover the program and buses. We also work with an outsider contractor for program evaluation. We've incorporated teacher PD as part of this but that's been inconsistent as it's been difficult to schedule that with the District. We're in year 6 of our program and it's grown into a larger collaborative. CLE4SCI, involving 6 informal education institutions serving grades pre-K through 7 in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

I'm open to talking with you further about our program challenges and successes. Feel free to email me, Heather Lee, at hlee@cmnh.org

In the meantime, please check out our resources online. We have some general information and a great overview video that highlights our program Inspire | Cleveland Museum of Natural History

Cmnh		remove preview
Inspire | Cleveland Museum of Natural History View this on Cmnh >

We also have a teacher resource page with a lot of additional information and a teacher and student video https://www.cmnh.org/learn/inspire/for-the-teacher


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Heather Lee
Manager of School and Teacher Programs
Cleveland Museum of Natural History
Cleveland OH
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-06-2018 03:25 PM
From: Lindzy Bivings
Subject: Researching city-wide field trip programs

Here's a random question I thought you all might be a good resource for knowing: 

1. Do you know of any city-wide/ region-wide field trip programs run by museums/ zoos/ aquaria that include all or most of these features?

• All classes in an elementary school (k-5) within an area (and any kind of school - e.g. public, parochial, private) recieve the following:
• free field trip admission
• free busses for every classroom 
• bilingual translation of materials 
• free family nights at the museum for schools
• free student passes to the museum
• free family passes to the museum
• support for the teachers in supporting the integration of the field trip into the curricula

2. Do any school districts run something like this to multiple museums?

Thanks for any tips!

------------------------------
Lindzy Bivings
Senior Manager, School & Community Programs
California Academy of Sciences
San Francisco CA

(415) 379-5188
lbivings@calacademy.org
------------------------------

Hi Lindzy,

We offer many but not all of the things on your list. About 6 years ago Kansas City created a Zoological Tax District, in which two counties in the metro area support Kansas City Zoo through a 1/8 cent sales tax.  Some of that funding supports new exhibits etc. that are available to all Zoo visitors, but there are also a number of special benefits for residents of those two counties, including:

• Each household in the Zoological District receives a postcard for free Zoo admission four times a year. They also receive discounted admission every day.
• Every Zoological District classroom receives free admission for a field trip once each school year. This is for all grade levels and includes any educational institution, including public, charter, private, parochial, and even homeschool coops.
• Every Zoological District classroom (any grade, any type) receives a free visit from the Zoomobile, our outreach program, once every school year.
• In addition, teachers in the ZD are able to access ZooED, our signature curriculum program. We currently offer three different curricula for different grade level ranges. Each curriculum includes cross-curricular lesson plans, student booklets, companion books for the classroom, and a variety of other materials. Teachers complete a training to learn how the program works and how to incorporate the curriculum into their classroom. ZooED teachers can then access self-guided tour materials or a guided tour as part of their free field trip that supports what they're learning with ZooED in the classroom, and if they complete our participation requirements they can also earn a stipend to cover their bus transportation to the Zoo. All of this is 100% free to teachers, schools, districts, etc. and is paid for the tax district. We don't currently have bilingual or Spanish-language materials but it's in our strategic plan to create them in the next few years.

We used to offer the bus stipend to all Zoological District classrooms but demand quickly outgrew our funding capacity, so this year we had to restrict it to classes using a ZooED curriculum. It's also important to note that all of these free resources are only available to two of the 14 counties in the metro area. Classrooms outside the ZD have to pay for their field trips and Zoomobile programs and they aren't able to participate in ZooED.

I hope some of that was helpful? I'm happy to answer questions or discuss specifics! Feel free to get in touch.

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Megan Sevedge
ZooED Supervisor
Kansas City Zoo
Kansas City MO
megansevedge@fotzkc.org
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-06-2018 03:25 PM
From: Lindzy Bivings
Subject: Researching city-wide field trip programs

Here's a random question I thought you all might be a good resource for knowing: 

1. Do you know of any city-wide/ region-wide field trip programs run by museums/ zoos/ aquaria that include all or most of these features?

• All classes in an elementary school (k-5) within an area (and any kind of school - e.g. public, parochial, private) recieve the following:
• free field trip admission
• free busses for every classroom 
• bilingual translation of materials 
• free family nights at the museum for schools
• free student passes to the museum
• free family passes to the museum
• support for the teachers in supporting the integration of the field trip into the curricula

2. Do any school districts run something like this to multiple museums?

Thanks for any tips!

------------------------------
Lindzy Bivings
Senior Manager, School & Community Programs
California Academy of Sciences
San Francisco CA

(415) 379-5188
lbivings@calacademy.org
------------------------------