Welcome

School in the Park is an innovative program that shifts the location of "school" from a traditional classroom setting in an inner-city school, to the resources and educational opportunities available at museums in Balboa Park. A relevant instructional environment is created as hands-on learning challenges students to become active participants in their own education.

Rosa Parks and Hamilton Elementary School participate in a program that is designed to fully utilize the unique educational opportunities of San Diego's cultural institutions in Balboa Park. The plan allows all third, fourth and fifth grade students to spend up to eight weeks at San Diego's famous Balboa Park, where they participate in week-long educational programs at nine institutions. In essence, the students spend almost twenty-five percent of their time learning in this hands-on, real world setting.

Visits to museums and cultural institutions bring meaning to the printed page because many of the students do not have prior knowledge about the variety of subjects covered in their school materials. Hence, the Park Program has the potential to engage students in learning that has real world connections.