I'd like to second the policy articulated by Ed Pershey.  Put another way,
anything that's a real "keeper" shouldn't be in the education collection.
That doesn't rule out replicas.

Tom Vaughan

>We're also just beginning to develop a separate education collection. In
>addition to numbering the items, we've developed an working policy that
>anything acquired by the education staff for hands-on programs must be
>reviewed by curatorial & registration. If the item is thought to be of
>"collection quality," then the item is accessioned and made part of the
>permanent collections. Some items have been and are being deaccessioned from
>the collections for use in education. So far, as a working policy, it's
>helped to guide us. Once something is assigned to education, we're free to do
>with it as we see fit. If it breaks or is lost, then we'll simply note that
>in our database.
>
>Ed Pershey, Director of Education & Curator of Urban History
>Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
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