Watch the video of this program at El Dorado Elementary in San Francisco!

Learning Laboratory School Network (LLSN) is a national network working to strengthen music learning in schools in conjunction with the Music in Education National Consortium (MIENC). MIENC has received a grant of $600,000 from the United States Department of Education to support "scale-out" of the national network.

MuST has established three LLSN sites: Thornhill Elementary in Oakland (Alameda School District), El Dorado Elementary School in San Francisco, and Green Oaks Academy in East Palo Alto (Ravenswood School District). These three schools are dedicated to infusing music into the school day, to conducting active research, and to sharing their information with the MIENC network.

Together with colleague schools and arts organizations around the nation, we are working to document the positive impact of specific interventions on student academic performance, musical skill and social-emotional development.

Our work with MIENC is based on a set of common principle and ideas. It is not a pre-set program that is always implemented the same way from school to school We are training classroom and music teachers, principals, teaching artists and other educators in the MIENC Guided Practice approach of using music to help build skill development in other core curricular areas. The ultimate goal is to build capacity among educators so that they develop effective strategies to support student learning in and through music.

As we look to scale out and engage more partners, participating schools will have the opportunity to establish a high quality, research-based music program. They will benefit from the ideas, conceptual framework, and instructional tools that will have grown out of MIENC schools both locally and nationally. We will use MIENC guided practice consultants and website services to provide innovative curriculum and assessment tools useful for music and classroom teachers for years to come. Our work is based on data-rich action research processes. The specific assessment tools, results and work samples from laboratory schools will provide substantial evidence for the impact and value of the program for teachers and students.

In 2004, the first Bay Area LLSN site, Thornhill Elementary in Oakland, piloted curriculum and rubric development. Thornhill has participated in regional meetings, attended national conferences and provided mentoring to teachers and teaching artists at the younger sites through workshops and on-going Guided Practice consulting.

In San Francisco, MuST is working with the principal and staff at MIENC Learning Laboratory El Dorado Elementary. After MuST conducted a long range planning session with all the teachers at this under-served school two years ago, they voted to use their school budget to include 27 weeks of music for every child. MuST provides requested services, including creating a music room, which is central to the Learning Lab concept. MuST is initiating an internship through San Francisco State University to help with the research and assessment. MuST is also starting an ecology project, using their Peace Garden, the Learning Library resources and our curriculum, "The Nature of Music." Several schools in San Francisco have indicated an interest in establishing similar programs.

Working in partnership with the local Music in Schools (MIS), MuST is piloting a groundbreaking program at Green Oaks Elementary. The Metropolitan Opera is consulting with us through MIENC to develop an opera program that launched in the spring semester of 2008, following a workshop for the music teacher provided by Music in Schools and three Green Oaks classroom teachers in December 2007. MuST Program Director Hector Armienta is mentoring the music teacher, who will in turn collaborate with the classroom teachers to integrate curriculum and to present a culminating shared event. This is seen as the first step in developing a district-wide program that utilizes music to teach language acquisition and literacy.