Welcome to Grand Rapids Public Museum High School (9-12)

Bringing community to the classroom and the classroom to the community. 

Grand Rapids Public Museum High School serves scholars in grades 9 through 12 with programming that combines design thinking, place-based education, and museum methods and environmental learning. Scholars experience integrated content across subject areas and blend classroom activities with community-based experiential projects. Embracing the XQ Institute Learning Goals, we pursue a mission “to inspire, develop, and educate the next generation of confident, creative thinkers, doers and leaders.”

Our Mission:

The mission of Grand Rapids Public Museum School is to use place-based design thinking and the museum context to create learning experiences that develop confident, creative, and competent thinkers, doers, and leaders.

Here, all learners will: master fundamental competencies, improve through iteration, enrich their communities, and understand and pursue their best selves. 

Core Competencies: Read Critically; Reason Quantitatively; Learn Independently; Lead Inquiry; Explore Social Phenomena; Communicate Effectively; Collaborate on Teams; Build Community; Design Solutions; Develop Self-Knowledge; Cultivate Well-Being; and Think and Act Globally

True Community Innovation

The Public Museum High School was one of ten schools internationally to receive the XQ Super School grant. This funding has allowed for GRPS and the Museum School to continue to innovate. At Museum School, we are reinventing high school.

Scholars are part of small cohorts that work collaboratively, co-taught by teachers, creating a culture of community of learners. Greater emphasis is placed on community, as the school recognizes downtown as an extension of the classroom, providing scholars the opportunity to further build on place-based learning principles. Housed in the Grand Rapids Public Museum Archives downtown, scholars quickly learn that the community IS their classroom.