Pupil transportation is a vital component of the education system. There are many facets and hurdles that must be addressed in order to provide the safest transportation possible. In some cases, it may seem almost impossible to transport students during the COVID-19 pandemic but implementing some changes at the district and school level may allow…

The design of a classroom space can make a big difference in student behavior and learning. The use of color, sound, light, furniture arrangements and more can help foster community and culture and promote understanding. Dillon discusses some easy ways to transform the classroom space that can help with classroom management.

This report summarizes activities undertaken by OSPI's Reducing Restraint & Eliminating Isolation (RREI) project during fiscal year 2025, as mandated through 2023's biennial operating budget and 2024's supplemental operating budget. Demonstration projects incorporate "Pilot site" districts that strategically engage in the process of…

Academics and behavior are inextricably linked, and as such, management of behavior should be considered not as an addition to the teacher's repertoire of skills but as an integral foundational component of effective instruction. Paradoxically, teachers report that students with challenging behavior are both their greatest challenge and that…

At a Monday evening monthly meeting of school administrators, discussion ensued about how to improve the administrators' schools. Ideas such as increasing student achievement, energizing teachers, and engaging parents were offered. One principal suggested focus should be turned to the students' restrooms, "because lots of problems emerge…

Good teachers know that the physical environment of the classroom can either enhance or hinder learning. Appropriate room preparation and arrangement of materials reserves class time for learning, while inadequate planning interferes with instruction by causing interruptions and delays. Before the year begins, effective classroom managers…

Booker Park School is a new complex for pre-primary children and primary pupils with a range of behavioural and learning difficulties. To respond to the pupils' varied needs, the school facilities offer a high degree of flexibility and a quality environment for learning.

The organization of space profoundly affects learning. Students feel better connected to a building that anticipates their needs and respects them as individuals. Built in 1971, Crow Island School, in Winnetka, Illinois, is a prize-winning facility that has provided generations of children with windowed classrooms, skylights, adjacent workrooms,…

Most school librarians do not think of copyright compliance and facilities planning in the same breath. Yet the design of space--physical and virtual--can discourage or promote compliance, or even help police it. Placement of and access to equipment, traffic patterns, signage, and student workspace all may influence copyright-compliance behavior…

The beginning of a new year is a crucial time for both students and teachers alike. What a teacher does to establish an effective classroom management system and create an environment that supports learning will influence what students accomplish throughout the year. Learning cannot take place in chaos, but well-managed classrooms do not just…

Good classroom management supports good instruction. Just as important, instruction that actively engages students' attention and efforts decreases the incidence of student misbehavior. This "What We Know About" discusses the link between instruction and management, describes daily routines that contribute to a smoothly run classroom, and talks…