The School of the Future, the long-anticipated joint venture between software giant Microsoft Corp. and the School District of Philadelphia, held its first day of classes yesterday. Project organizers say the state-of-the-art facility is intended to serve as a model for other school districts as administrators seek to better meet the needs of 21st-century learners.

eSchool News was on location in Philadelphia Sept. 7 as students and teachers took to the halls to explore this technological marvel. The sprawling facility, situated in the traditionally low-income neighborhood of Fairmont Park, just a few blocks from the Philadelphia Zoo, will serve 170 freshman in 2006, adding a new class each year until it reaches its 750-student capacity in 2009.

More than simply building a school that would showcase technology for its own sake, project leaders sought to create a truly interactive learning environment that could tackle the unique needs of today's students.

"It's been a long three years, and we've learned a lot," said Mary Cullinane, Microsoft's lead on the project and one of the school's initial architects, in an interview with eSchool News. "We see this as a worldwide opportunity ... for both kids and educators to think differently about how we affect different learning environments."

Built on a budget of $63 million and paid for out the school system's capital improvement budget, the school was designed not as a one-of-a-kind institution, but as a concept that could realistically be adapted and replicated by other school systems looking to better prepare their students for the challenges of the new global economy, Cullinane said. Rather than donate money to help build the school or supply equipment, Microsoft instead chose to donate human capital, assigning a team of educators and technologists to work in concert with the school system and the surrounding community to create a sustainable learning environment that could be expected to produce a more engaged, productive, and committed student body.

"As a company, Microsoft didn't simply want to cut the school district a check," explained Cullinane. Unlike other technology-laden urban charter schools, including the High-Tech High Schools now operating in cities such as San Diego and Los Angeles, the School of the Future isn't intended to stand alone as the envy of other institutions, she said; instead, by creating a general-enrollment school that is paid for, staffed, and operated by the public school system, project organizers aim to provide a model that is replicable--one that other school systems, regardless of socio-economic and geographic barriers, can learn from and imitate.

This was the message that pervaded the building as parents and students took to the school for the first time to meet with teachers and administrators. For many, the moment marked the start of a school year steeped in hope, pressure, and the highest of expectations.