Timber Ridge Magnet School  is part of the Evanston/Skokie, Illinois District 65 School System.  It was established in 1995, a major component of the district's long range plan to achieve racial balance in three of its schools and relieve overcrowding in five other schools.  The  philosophy and principles of the school are based on responses to a survey from District 65 parents who indicated that they would like a second K-8 Magnet School in the district, highly structured, small class sizes with an emphasis on technology, science, communication and literature. 

The school has two classrooms per grade level, Kindergarten through eighth grades, with a maximum of twenty (20) students per classroom.The classes are heterogeneously grouped, and for the most part self-contained. 

Since the inception of the school, a  major portion of the teacher training efforts has been devoted to technology, approximately eighty (80) hours per year. One of the primary goals of the school is the complete integration of technology into the instructional program.  The on-line science fair is one example of the integration process. 
 

Working with the Northwestern University Collaboratory,  a group of TRMS teachers, known as the Committee of Nine, are trained in a variety of  technology applications.  This committee then works with their colleagues, teaching them to use these applications in constructing the science projects with their students.  All projects fall under the umbrella theme:  The Environment. In grades kindergarten through three and one fourth grade,the science project  is a class effort.  In grades five through eight and one fourth grade, the projects are completed individually or 
in small groups.  Here are the science projects by grade level. 
 

Each of these topics represent an experiment already in progress.