The Museums and Public Schools (MAPS) initiative intends to “create a lasting impact on teaching and learning by integrating museum resources into the educational process and serve as a national model.” It is conceived as a “sustained partnership of museums and schools, students and teachers,” engaging them in “authentic learning experiences.” This is to be accomplished primarily via the explicit incorporation of relevant (as indicated by the Chicago Academic Standards) cultural, historical, and scientific resources of Chicago’s world-class museums into the curriculum of Chicago Public Schools. The result is to be an experience of education that is powerfully rich, engaging, meaningful, and relevant - transcending common limitations of school-building circumstances and classroom isolation. Inspired by this vision of “classrooms without walls”, these bold expectations seem suitable for the nation’s third largest school district and the city’s internationally esteemed cultural institutions.