Here at Getting Smart, we believe school visits are the all-time form of professional learning. Based on a couple thousand schoolhouse visits, and with aid from colleagues and readers, we've compiled a list of simple and middle schools that tin give educators a better sense of what's possible. This listing includes schools that achieve extraordinary results for underserved communities, create powerful learning experiences, and/or have innovative school models.

Elementary Schools

Horace Isle of mann Uncomplicated School , in northwest Washington D.C., is a educatee-centered personalized learning surroundings serving a diverse pupil body. The modernized facility reflects thoughtful values: Collaboration and Connection, Sustainability and Stewardship, and Selection and Invention. (Meet our feature, and listen to our podcast with master Liz Whisnant.)

Horace Mann's Building exterior, one of our schools worth visiting

Epic Unproblematic School, Freedom School District, a project-based schoolhouse located in what used to be the commune office.
Serving 300 learners in the renovated district role, the Epic compages features double classrooms and partner teaching. Many of these "studios" have big curl-upward doors (below) and share common infinite (like the mini-theater beneath) and quiet minor grouping rooms. See feature.

KIPP Empower in LA (run into profile and video) was the first blended school in the KIPP network. All seven simple schools in this region have implemented similar models with success. Like other KIPP schools, Empower promotes character strengths and social intelligence.

Ingenuity Prep, in Washington, D.C, is a NGLC winner that serves PreK3-2d grade students. They program to abound to PreK3-3rd next year with a four-tiered staffing approach (from resident to master teacher) and small-grouping blended learning teaching.

Bricolage Academy in NOLA (@BricolageNOLA) is a new, diverse, active learning unproblematic (K-four growing to K-eight) school founded by Josh Densen. A recent Mini Maker Faire builds on an innovation civilisation.

Success Academy is redefining success in public education with 28 elementary schools, three heart schools and one high school in NYC. Visit to acquire nearly sophisticated instructor development, inspiring science educational activity and a powerful culture. CEO Eva Moskowitz explains, "We have a civilisation of daily mastery–we believe children should intellectually struggle with challenging content and the teachers should insist on mastery."

Achievement First operates 30 schools in Brooklyn, Providence and Connecticut. The flagship Amistad University "opened in New Haven in 1999 to prove that urban students can attain at the same loftier levels as their affluent suburban counterparts." A K-three school (growing to K-iv), AF Providence Mayoral Academy, is worth a visiting to see "joyful, student-centered, rigorous didactics."

KIPP Arise Primary in Chicago has a station rotation model during math and literacy blocks. They use Lexia Core5, Reading Assistant, ST Math, Think Through Math and Khan Academy.

Bracken STEAM Academy is an award winning magnet 1000-5 school in due north Las Vegas (profiled here). Grade level teams coordinate a long listing of digital resources.

Gilroy Prep is a loftier performing simple school (K-8 in 2018) and the anchor of Navigator Schools. Yous'll meet a combination of direct instruction and a lab rotation model.

Cleveland Unproblematic Schoolhouse (featured hither) was the lowest performing uncomplicated schoolhouse in Santa Barbara until they launched a blended math programme powered past DreamBox Learning. The adaptive math plan is used in a station rotation model.

Cornerstone Madison-Carver Academy is a K-6 school in Detroit (featured here). Cornerstone features a lab rotation in main grades and a form rotation in intermediate grades, and a strong civilisation and well developed character development program for all students.

All students at Wade King Elementary Schoolhousein Bellingham, Washington, are learning Chinese. Students are able to work at their own pace, and benefit from individualized instruction, access from home, and coaching from a native speaker. Male monarch Unproblematic was featured in our recent paper, The Next Generation of World Language Learning.

Colvin Run Elementary School in Fairfax Canton Virginia expanded their existing Spanish curriculum in blended classrooms. Subsequently 13 weeks, 90% of the students improved oral proficiency by at least one level. They also use Rosetta Stone to create an independent written report programme for languages similar Chinese (featured hither).

KM Explore is i of three very interesting district-sponsored charter schools due west of Milwaukee. The open-program multi-age blend features loftier engagement projects. They also figured out what to do with those one-time textbooks.

View image on Twitter

Hartland School of Community Learning (profiled hither), also west of Milwaukee, is a grade 3-five multi-age charter school that uses trimester targets to ready weekly and monthly academic goals for themselves to guide their learning. Each day, students stop, drop and reverberate for the last 40 minutes of the 24-hour interval.

KIPP Austin Obras features a dual linguistic communication school that uses a station rotation model in both Spanish and English (ST Math and Istation). (Encounter Hechinger'south characteristic.)

St. Louis Linguistic communication Immersion Schools (@STLGlobalKids) include French, Spanish and Chinese immersion uncomplicated schools, and plan to open an IB secondary school next twelvemonth. We agree: every student should be globally competent and globe linguistic communication fluent.

Hanley Unproblematic is one of v Aspire Public Schools schools in Memphis. Their proven "College for Certain Model" offers a "rich STEM-focused education, individualized applied science rich learning opportunities, and explicit instruction in computer coding skills." The updated rotation model (profiled here) features i-Ready and DreamBox Learning. For the full story read Liz Arney's book, Go Blended.

Cornerstone Academy Preparatory School, San Jose, was a traditional loftier performing elementary school founded in the Building Excellent Schools network that was recently transformed to blended learning and is getting exceptional results with a depression income, ELL population.

Quitman Simple School in Newark is making good strides in a tough place by starting with keen expectations. Blended partners include Education Elements, i-Ready,GoMath, Reading Eggs, Study Isle, Newsela and BrainPOP.

Randle Highlands in Washington DC worked with Education Elements to deploy blended learning featuring ST Math, Lexia, MyON and i-Ready. Each school twenty-four hours has 90 minutes of blended math instruction and 120 minutes of blended ELA education. (See our summary of the DC approach and an AEI paper that details composite learning in DC featuring Kramer Middle School and Ketcham Elementary Schoolhouse.)

Uinta County School Commune in Evanston, Wyoming has four elementary schools that use rotation and flexible learning models to empower their K-5 students to ain their learning. They use a diverseness of software tools including Google Apps, NewsELA and NoRedInk.

Lake Wood Elementary School, Fulton Canton (Atlanta) is a high poverty, high mobility, loftier ELL school. It's a great instance of blended learning, student access, student-centered instruction, personalized professional development, and a great schoolhouse culture.

Rocky Mount Prep (@RockyMtnPrep) is a growing network of unproblematic public charter schools in Denver. The RMP Creekside campus serves P-five students in a class rotation model (featured hither). Teacher fellows can earn a Masters in Teaching from Relay while working with a atomic number 82 teacher.

Barack Obama Charter School in Compton is role of the Ingenium network and uses the personalized, standards-based model kickoff developed in Chugach, Alaska (come across seven role serial). Teachers serve as coaches in the system where proficiencies as assessed, verified and documented. Students spend 120 minutes per week using software such every bit DreamBox, Study Island and Reading Eggs, which has been helpful for practicing skills and getting rapid feedback (featured on CompetencyWorks).

Hawk Ridge Unproblematic in Charlotte was transformed through the development of a shared vision of personalized learning, a culture of trust, and a lot of professional learning. Key features of the school model include a Genius Hour, personalized pathways, squad teaching and opportunity culture staffing (profiled here).

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Encinitas Union School District , northward of San Diego, features ix One thousand-6 schools focused on personalized learning, health and wellness.

Herrera Elementary in Houston is an IB school tech magnet that offers dual language. The walls are covered with student work and vibrant with brilliant colors. There was a alloy of individual, partner and grouping work apparent in every classroom. The kids love the farm animals in the courtyard (but if you visit, watch out for the goat).

New Emerson Elementary School is a demonstration site for Mesa County Valley Schoolhouse District 51, a district featured by CompetencyWorks for their high engagement transition to personalized and competency-based learning. Principal Terry Schmalz explained, "It is a powerful process when community members and parents and educators come together to create a shared vision for a school. It took us a year because we wanted rich participation. We don't exercise buy-in, nosotros practice shared leadership." (Listen to our podcast with their district leaders.)

Mukilteo Unproblematic, north of Seattle, makes peachy use of the Leader in Me programme to empower student leadership. They cease each year with a family portfolio picnic where they review quality student work. Students also help to develop a nature preserve with trails and an outdoor classroom (see feature).

Rocketship Spark Academy in San Jose is housed in a beautiful building opened in 2013 and authorized past Franklin-McKinley School Commune. Rocketship uses a flex learning lab model to extend the day and the reach of great teachers. Content includes DreamBox, ST Math, i-Ready and Rosetta Stone. (Run into Preston Smith on Investing in the Art of Instruction.)

Grand-viii Schools

Design39, in Poway School Commune n of San Diego, is a spectacular M-8 school featuring design thinking and personalized learning (featured here). Check out this podcast episode with Joe Erpelding, formerly of Design 39 on why this is such a magical schoolhouse and how they live into their motto: "Life gear up thought leaders who elevate humanity."

West Belden is a M-8 school in Chicago's Belmont-Cragin neighborhood and part of the Chicago International Lease School network. The NGLC grant winner (see profile) personalizes learning using flexible environments, learner profiles, personalized learning plans and competency-based progress.

Cesar Eastward. Chavez Multicultural Academic Centeris a neighborhood P-8 in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood on the south side. Despite about 100% poverty and virtually half of the students new to English, the school has been a top bookish performer in Chicago for the last five years. Chief (and information ninja) Barton Dassinger was a teacher at Chavez and has kept a veteran staff focused on getting better every twelvemonth.

National Teachers Academyin Chicago, managed by AUSL, is a loftier poverty school that serves as a training university. (Meet EdWeek characteristic on the first chromebook classroom in Chicago Public Schools.)

Aspire ERES Academy in Oakland (profiled here) uses ST Math, i-Ready, Attain 3000, Accelerated Reader and Think Through Math in a station rotation model. Serving 16,000 students in 40 schools, Aspire is one of the nation'south highest performing low-income schoolhouse systems.

Da Vinci Connect is a project-based NGLC winning schoolhouse in Hawthorne, California (profiled here). Students usually spend two days per calendar week on campus and have another optional day on campus for electives.

Burley School is a Chicago literature, writing and technology magnet school. Visitors come across students discussing, reading, thinking, exploring, questioning, experimenting, creating and collaborating.  Students have access to iPads and laptops and a full art and music programme.

Acton Academy is a student-centered microschool in Austin. On a recent visit, 35 middle school students, with no adult supervision, were designing an electric grid for a smart city. In that location are about 200 global replications worldwide. (Run across our characteristic.)

Caliber Beta opened in 2014 in Richmond, California, with personalized learning plans, a flexible rotation model for math and English and projection-based learning for scientific discipline and social studies. Students participate in figurer programming, technology and robotics classes.

Washington Unproblematic School in Lindsay Unified Schoolhouse District (outside of Fresno) is doing great things with blending and competency. They use multiple resource to help students in pursuing personal learning plans and students transition every bit they demonstrate competency at the class level–a great example of developing and engaging pupil agency and social emotional learning. (Watch district video and see characteristic in iNACOL personalized learning report.)

Magnolia Montessori for All is a champion of both blended learning and the potential of a schoolhouse dedicated to true college and career readiness for all its students. The school opened its doors as a public charter in the fall of 2014 with grades pre-Thousand through 3. It will achieve total capacity in 2019 with students through form eight. It is a unique alloy of Montessori practice and the loftier expectations of the "no excuses" charter model.

Environmental Charter School at Frick Park in Pittsburgh uses their theme to build systems thinkers, explore complexity and develop problem solving skills.

Bella Romero Academy is a K-eight school on 2 campuses in Greeley Colorado. The half-dozen-8 classrooms launched a personalized learning model beyond all subject areas with back up from their platform partner Education Elements. The instructional model looks different in each grade level as the teachers gradually release more than responsibility to students each twelvemonth.

Arthur Ashe Charter Schoolhouse in New Orleans (profiled hither) is operated by FirstLine Schools. The lab rotation model incorporates Reach 3000, Accelerated Reader, Think Through Math and ST Math.

Dolores T Aarons Academy is a P-8 school operated by ReNEW Schools, turnaround specialists in New Orleans. Intermediate blends use ST Math and performance groups in reading. Center grades feature one:1 Chromebooks and big integrated blogs. DTA has improved from F to C and is shooting for an A rating.

Urban Montessori Charter School, an NGLC in Oakland grantee, combines Montessori'due south pedagogy with Blueprint Thinking and Arts Integration.

Crossroads Academy-Central St., Kansas City, is a blended and project-based school that embraces the opportunity of an urban setting.

St. Ann, the Personal Schoolhouse is a model Blended Learning school from the Archdiocese of New York. Known as The Personal School, their focus is meeting the needs of every pupil.

Mandarin Immersion Magnet School in Houston is a must-come across with a land-of-the-art facility, cohesive culture, blended learning and student supports.

Heart Schools

KIPP Ascend Charter School and KIPP Create College Prep in Chicago features a large and flexible lab rotation giving teachers the flexibility of either being in the lab, working with small groups in their classrooms, or something else entirely.

Bate Middle School, Danville, Kentucky, (profiled here) is a turnaround story. The staff-developed innovation plan focused on challenge-based learning, functioning-based assessments and positive habits of mind. Cheque out this bully trip report from erstwhile superintendent Carmen Coleman.

At Messalonskee Middle School in Maine, students accept Learning Goal Time every solar day, with a full two hours one time a calendar week to work on assignments and become the extra help they need. Chris Sturgis has featured the school on CompetencyWorks and in this brief.

Blanca Alvarado Eye School, of Alpha Public Schools (profiled here), is in San Jose. Blastoff uses Compass Learning, Achieve 3000 and ST Math content on the Pedagogy Elements platform with MAPS and MasteryConnect assessments. Students spend about l% of their time in the station rotation model online.

James Madison Middle Schoolhouse in Oakland (profiled hither) is one of the blended learning pilot projects supported by the Rogers Family Foundation and Education Elements. Madison teachers use a two-group in-class rotation model. Math content includes DreamBox, Mangahigh and Khan University.

KIPP Washington Heights Heart School in NYC is also worth a visit. In addition to ST Math and Khan Academy, they use Newsela and Read180/System44 in a combination of lab rotation and station rotation models at different points in the day. (See lessons from KIPP Math Blends).

Quest to Learn is a NYC game-based charter eye school (profiled here) created with the Constitute of Play. Game-based content includes, Minecraft, Gamestar Mechanic, Atmosphir and Mangahigh.

Ranson IB center school (@RansonIBMS) is role of Charlotte Mecklenburg's Project LIFT to create an Opportunity Culture and extend the attain of the best teachers. A nifty blog from Romain Bertrand (@htdcompletely) outlines five lessons from their efforts to personalize math didactics and notes that "Compass Learning Odyssey or Dreambox Learning aid you ameliorate know what each of your students actually need."

Spurgeon Intermediate School in Santa Ana integrates project-based learning with lab rotation in a newly rebuilt flexible learning infinite (see pictures and video on Facebook). Gooru holds all of their Common Cadre units of study.

Advanced Learning University is a new Santa Ana lab schoolhouse. It's "high-tech, project-based, and Stem" focused. The blended and competency-based schoolhouse opened with grades 4-half-dozen and will abound a grade a twelvemonth to grade 12 (featured here).

Whittemore Park Eye School was designated in need of improvement, and launched a turnaround process in 2013. Working with Education Elements, Whittemore won an NGLC grant. This Horry County School (near Myrtle Beach) is a great case of community collaboration and district led digital conversion. (Cheque out their Personalized Digital Learning Initiative, a feature on the district'southward Whole Village strategy, and a recap of blended learning decisions.)

Achievement Offset Bushwick Middle School in Brooklyn is blending 90 minutes of math teaching and more than two hours of reading educational activity every day. The talented principal is a onetime math instructor, has an MBA and was an BCG didactics consultant.

Piedmont Heart School, a rural school between Atlanta and Birmingham, is an NGLC and Verizon Innovative School winner that has completely restructured their day. The model has iii primary goals: advanced mastery, relevance and student buying (read the NGLC profile).

KIPP Central City University is one of 10 KIPP schools in New Orleans. The five-8 schoolhouse opened in 2007. A great Chromebook learning lab features St Math in five-half dozen, and ThinkThroughMath and iXL in 7-8. Achieve3000 and Quizlet help build vocab in support of writing across the curriculum. In the spirit of the city, KCCA features a great marching band.

Camp Creek Centre Schoolof Fulton County Atlanta is a loftier poverty, high mobility school implementing NewClassrooms' Teach-to-I Math model for a group of most 800 middle school students. Math has get personalized and students progress at their ain pace while engaging in diverse instructional modalities.

KIPP Prize is a third year schoolhouse in e San Jose featuring personalized learning, character development and cultural enrichment. Equally i of 11 Bay Area KIPP schools, information technology was named a Summit Bay Area Public Schoolhouse for Underserved Students.

Grant-Beacon Heart School is a transformed heart school in Denver featuring composite learning, character development, and extended learning opportunities (featured here). Kepner-Beacon Center School is the second school in the network (featured here). Both accept great student ambassadors.

Houston'south A+ Upward is an innovative flex blend middle school with half dozen museum partnerships (featured here). Launched as private microschool pilot, the school expanded equally a 2 campus charter school.

Fruita Middle School is one of two model PLC schools in Colorado and a leader in G Junction's Commune 51 transition to performance-based learning. (Run across PLC video and podcast with district leaders)

Elementary + Middle Pairs

The 200 school New Tech Network (NTN) includes a growing number of project-based, STEM-focused heart and uncomplicated schools. The movement began in the Evergreen School District in San Jose with Katherine Smith Elementary, a joyful project-based school with the all-time student ambassador plan we've experienced. Bulldog Tech (below) is a purpose-built middle school with double classrooms ideal for integrated project-based learning. (Come across our characteristic and listen to Bulldog teachers and students)

Humes Preparatory Academy and Klondike Preparatory Academy in Memphis are operated past Gestalt Customs Schools (profiled hither) and feature a rich program of blended, project-based and social-emotional learning.

AF Greenfield Schools includes Elm Urban center College Prep Elementary, a Connecticut School of Distinction (cheque out their expeditions), and Elm Metropolis College Prep Middle. They are piloting the Cortex platform, and student-centered and technology-enhanced learning.

Strive Prep Cherry-red Hill , a third year uncomplicated school, and Strive Prep Federal , a 6-8 eye school, are part of the Strive network of 11 schools serving three,500 students in Denver. The personalized learning network is building out K-12 feeder patterns in three low-income neighborhoods.

International Bonuses

Inspired by Rocketship, the 21 SPARK Schools in Johannesburg and Greatcoat Town S Africa feature blended and extended learning and design thinking (featured here).

Saunalahti School in Espoo, Finland features student-centered learning in drama, art, music, literature, handicrafts, trip the light fantastic and P.Eastward.

For more great schools to visit, check out our Heart & High Schools Worth Visiting Smart Listing, and check out our other recent Smart Lists: 30 School Districts Worth Visitingand75 Top School and Lease Networks.

We're certain nosotros missed hundreds of great schools. Who did we miss? Share in the comments department below.

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