Learning That Lasts: Building Meaningful School and Community Connections

Sep 29

A Lesson from the Field

I was excited to launch our new professional development program; in my view, it filled some identified gaps with the local school district, positioned our institution as a learning partner, and opened up new possibilities for future engagement and programming. The manager on the team did an amazing job identifying a pilot group, I worked to make sure the content was relevant, and we had all of the logistics planning complete. And then, after a couple of months of planning, the day before leading my first professional development session for teachers at the museum, my boss said, “I just don’t see how this improves ticket sales.” Not “Does this fit our mission?” or “What do you hope to accomplish?” – instead, a vague prediction of failure based on a singular metric we had never discussed as being important.

It might be a fair observation, I suppose, if deploying a myopic, business-only perspective, but it was also the wrong one. Professional development isn’t about boosting same-day attendance numbers at all. It’s about meeting an urgent community need. Schools everywhere face teacher shortages, declining student engagement, and rising demands for innovative instructional approaches. It’s also about capitalizing on new resources that may become available in the latest wave of American education reform. Cultural institutions are uniquely positioned to help address local needs, if we measure impact by something bigger than we have in the past.

Counting field trip admissions or workshop registrations tells you how many people walked through your doors. It doesn’t tell you whether your institution strengthened teacher practice, improved student outcomes, or helped schools solve pressing challenges. It also says nothing about the experience of participants.

Research in museum education shows that learning outcomes are often long-term and relational, not transactional (Falk & Dierking, 2013). Similarly, professional development literature highlights the importance of ongoing, context-specific learning over one-off events (Desimone & Garet, 2015). If we apply those insights, we see why one-day visits rarely equate to meaningful educational impact. And if we look closely, we can also discover opportunities for ongoing engagement.

By focusing solely on ticket sales, cultural institutions risk missing:

Sustainable revenue streams (professional development contracts, grants, partnerships).
Deeper community trust (becoming an anchor in the local learning ecosystem).
Mission alignment (fulfilling the role of steward, educator, and civic partner).

The New Landscape: School Reform and Shifting Roles

The broader education landscape is changing in ways that matter for cultural institutions:

Minimized Federal Role: As education policy decentralizes, states gain more power over Title II funds (traditionally used for teacher professional development). This opens the door for museums, libraries, and cultural centers to become contracted PD providers.
Rise of School Choice: Charter schools, microschools, and homeschool collectives are multiplying. These schools often lack centralized curriculum departments and are actively looking for outside partners to enrich instruction.
Networks over Districts: Increasingly, networks and collaboratives hold influence (Charter Management Organizations, regional school alliances, or even cultural access collaboratives). Institutions that demonstrate adaptability by designing resources for multiple types of schools will become the go-to partners.

In short: the days of “supplemental” field trips are coming to an end. Schools are searching for long-term, flexible partners to help them adapt to new realities.

The Funding Landscape

When cultural institutions think about education programs, the conversation too often stops at ticket sales. But in today’s landscape, ticket revenue is a poor measure of impact and a short-sighted one. Institutions that position themselves as essential learning partners, not just field trip hosts, open the door to entirely new streams of support.

Education funding in the U.S. is in transition. The federal government has steadily reduced its direct role, shifting more authority and flexibility to the states. This means that funds previously limited to traditional school districts may become accessible to non-traditional partners, including cultural institutions. These may include:

Title II (Professional Development): Traditionally directed toward teacher training, Title II funds are in high demand as schools face teacher shortages and retention crises. Cultural institutions can provide high-quality PD that aligns with district and state goals.
Title IV (Student Support and Academic Enrichment): Title IV supports “well-rounded education,” including arts, STEM, history, and civics. These are exactly the domains where museums, libraries, theaters, and historical societies shine.
School Choice and Microschools: With more charters, private schools, and microschools, there are more decision-makers seeking flexible partnerships. Networks, not just single districts, will increasingly drive funding decisions, and networks prize partners who can adapt across contexts.

In other words: institutions that can speak the language of schools and align with their funding streams become viable partners for much more than ticket sales.

Philanthropy, Foundations, and Hidden Revenue Opportunities

Public funds aren’t the only source of untapped resources. Philanthropy has always played a role in education, especially museum education, but foundations are now focusing on areas where schools alone cannot keep up:

Teacher pipelines and quality: Grants often support PD initiatives, mentoring programs, or alternative teacher support systems.
Whole-child learning: Funders are increasingly interested in creativity, social-emotional development, civic engagement, and student belonging, all areas where cultural institutions can contribute.
Collaborative, scalable models: Foundations rarely want to fund one-off events. They look for ecosystems: museums partnering with districts, theaters aligning with charter networks, or multi-institution collaborations that reach broad student populations.

Philanthropy acts as experimental capital, willing to test innovative models that public funds might adopt later. Cultural institutions that establish themselves as credible learning partners can use philanthropy to pilot ideas and then scale them when broader funding opens up.

When learning programs are reimagined as partnerships rather than transactions, revenue models diversify:

Professional Development Contracts: Multi-year agreements with districts or networks to provide PD for teachers.
Curriculum Integration Fees: Schools pay for tailored units or digital resources that align with their scope and sequence.
Membership Models: Homeschool groups, microschools, and parent collectives pay for access to ongoing programming and institutional space rather than heavily curated one-time visits.
Community Sponsorships: Local businesses or regional foundations may underwrite community-facing programming tied to workforce readiness, literacy, or STEM engagement.

These models don’t just bring in revenue, they embed the institution deeper into the educational ecosystem. Schools come to rely on you not for a day trip, but for capacity-building, problem-solving, and long-term student engagement.

From Field Trip Destinations to Comprehensive Learning Ecosystems

What does it look like when institutions step beyond the one-day visit? Some ideas include:

1. Professional Development Series for Teachers

Designing PD programs aligned with local curriculum standards.
Offering workshops on inquiry-based instruction, culturally relevant pedagogy, or arts integration.
Hosting teacher institutes in the summer to deepen relationships.

Research shows PD that is sustained, collaborative, and connected to practice is most effective (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017).

2. Curriculum Development and Classroom Supports

Co-designing lesson plans that bring artifacts, exhibits, or local history into the classroom.
Providing digital resources teachers can adapt across grade levels.
Offering virtual field trips to extend reach beyond local geography.

3. Project-Based and Community Learning

Creating opportunities for students to engage in multi-week projects, culminating in public exhibitions or performances.
Partnering with afterschool programs or microschools for ongoing enrichment.
Connecting parents to learning through family nights or intergenerational programs.

4. Ecosystem Convening

Acting as a hub where schools, homeschool groups, and community organizations collaborate.
Hosting cross-sector events to break down silos and strengthen local networks.

Measuring Success Differently

If ticket sales are no longer the metric, what is?

Number of Schools and Networks Engaged (a measure of demand and output)
Number of Students Reached (across traditional and non-traditional schools – disaggregate the data to identify new opportunities)
Teacher Satisfaction and Retention (how many returned for PD or ongoing collaboration? Were survey results positive?)
Evidence of Improved Student Outcomes (qualitative or quantitative, will likely require ongoing relationships with classes)
Diversity of Revenue Streams (contracts, grants, sponsorships, memberships)
Innovation and Adaptability (programming that evolves to match school needs)

This is not about abandoning quantitative data; it’s about using measures that actually reflect learning, engagement, and community impact.

A Roadmap by Institution Size

Not every organization can launch a full ecosystem approach tomorrow. But every organization can start somewhere.

Small Institutions (volunteer-led or 1–2 staff):

Start with downloadable content on your website like lesson plans and/or offer one PD workshop.
Build relationships with homeschool collectives and charter schools.
Apply for a small grant to pilot a teacher institute.

Medium Institutions (dedicated learning team, small staff):

Develop ongoing PD contracts with local districts.
Create project-based student programs aligned with curriculum.
Partner with other cultural institutions to share resources.

Large Institutions (comprehensive learning department):

Position as a regional PD provider, leveraging Title II funds.
Develop hybrid digital/in-person learning ecosystems.
Pursue sponsorship and multi-year grants tied to systemic outcomes.
Pursue new programs (for example, after school tutoring offered at a museum)

This growth model allows institutions to scale impact over time while aligning resources with capacity.

Toward a New Role for Cultural Institutions

Ticket sales are transactional. Partnership funding is relational. The more cultural institutions shift from measuring success by bodies through the door to measuring impact in terms of educator support, student outcomes, and community impact, the more doors will open, from state funds, to philanthropy, to earned revenue. If cultural institutions measure by impact, partnership, and long-term learning, they unlock both mission fulfillment and financial sustainability.

The school reform era has created both disruption and opportunity. Schools need partners who can provide professional development, curriculum, student engagement, and family support. Cultural institutions large and small are perfectly positioned to step into that role. It’s time to move beyond field trips and into collaboratively-designed, innovative learning ecosystems, because the future of learning partnerships depends on it.

I’ve prepared a handbook for cultural institutions to use as they begin to reimagine their relationships and co-create local learning ecosystems. You can access it here. Get in touch if you’d like to have some support as you embark on your transformational journey.

Further Reading:

Falk, J. H., & Dierking, L. D. (2013). The Museum Experience Revisited. Left Coast Press.

Desimone, L. M., & Garet, M. S. (2015). “Best practices in teachers’ professional development in the United States.” Psychology, Society, & Education.

Darling-Hammond, L., Hyler, M. E., & Gardner, M. (2017). Effective Teacher Professional Development. Learning Policy Institute.

Carroll, D. A., & Stater, K. J. (2009). “Revenue Diversification in Nonprofit Organizations.” Public Administration Review.

Matt Borek