Walla Walla School District's Explorer Program is a liberal arts program which gives able students an opportunity to study a variety of academic topics, complex ideas, and problems at greater depth than is possible in the traditional classroom.  The program is designed for third through eighth grade students with unusual academic ability and a high degree of drive and motivation to learn.

The goal of the Explorer Program is to offer students challenging and academically rigorous educational opportunities.  This will provide students with the tools and informational background needed to become responsible for their own learning, to develop their creative thinking and critical reasoning power and to endeavor to reach their potential.

In third through fifth grades, Explorer students leave their home schools and are bussed to Sharpstein School two half-days a week.  In the sixth, seventh and eighth grades, Explorer students meet daily at the middle schools for two periods.

The Explorer curriculum for third through fifth grades focuses primarily on mathematics, science, oral and written communication, and critical thinking skills.  The study in mathematics includes units on metrics, spatial perception and geometry, probability, statistics, simple algebra, and problem solving.

The elementary science curriculum involves understanding the scientific process through inquiry, hypothesizing, investigating, using measurement and scientific tools, observing, recording data, analyzing results and reformulating ideas.

The middle school curriculum is drawn from the areas of language arts and social studies and offers advanced, but parallel, topics for the year.  Middle school students have the opportunity to take advanced mathematics classes; and seventh and eighth grade Explorer students are also eligible to take Advanced Science.

The annual selection process for in-district students takes place in the spring.  The deadline for grade 2-7 nominations is January 31, 2008.  Parents and teachers must complete the required forms, and students will be tested at a central location.  In all cases, parents will be notified of the results of the process, and a child not selected one year may be re-nominated in following years.