Case Study: Marshall Elementary, A Pilot Program in San Francisco

Marshall Elementary classrooms surround a tranquil courtyard that is covered with colorful Mexican tiles; an appropriate setting for a school where over 75% of students are native Spanish Speakers. Marshall is situated in the heart of San Francisco's Mission District at the corners of Mission and 15th Street and has 12 classes between the grades of Kindergarten and 5th grade. Every grade has a Spanish Immersion class and an English Enrichment Class.

All Marshall teachers were trained at the Koret Training Center at the SF MOMA. The training day was split into two parts. In the morning the methodology and scientific research that supports the curriculum was introduced, and in the afternoon the teachers practiced VTS in the museum galleries.

After inervals of 2 months and 4 months, debriefings were held with the teachers, both to refresh the VTS methodology and to evaluate the curriculum. We found that:

        • Teachers successfully implemented the curriculum after a 6 hour training
        • All teachers advanced at the appropriate rate
        • Teachers reported that students looked forward to the VTS lessons
        • Teachers noticed increased student participation, even with those who rarely spoke
        • Staff shared that VTS greatly supported language development

In the arts as well as elsewhere in education, the best teacher is not the one who deals out all he knows or who withholds all he could give, but the one who, with the wisdom of a good gardener, watches, judges, and helps out when help is needed. - Rudolf Arnheim, world-renowned visual thinking scholar