There has been a slow but steady increase of research on the impact of public school facilities on educational achievement and community outcomes and of the rigor of the research. This summary of studies is part of a larger literature review conducted by the 21st Century School Fund with funding from the Charitable Trust of the Council on…

The American Institute of Architecture's Committee on Architecture for Education (CAE) held their annual fall conference in Helsinki, Finland. Several international studies have rated Finland among the world's best in student achievement, largely due to the country's main principles for comprehensive education. This stands in sharp contrast to…

When construction slows and campus operating expenses are under the microscope, it is more important than ever to save energy dollars with the equipment and staff on hand. For the facilities manager who thinks out of the box, significant savings can be found on most school and college campuses. This article provides energy-conservation tips that…

Displacement ventilation (DV) units use the natural buoyancy of warm air to improve ventilation and comfort. Although relatively new to the United States, DV has been used in Scandinavian countries since the 1970s. Two types of DV can be used in a classroom: (1) Conventional displacement ventilation (CDV) units which are situated on an interior…

The influx of technology has brought significant improvements to school facilities. Many of those advancements can be found in classrooms, but when students head down the hall to use the washrooms, they are likely to find a host of technological innovations that have improved conditions in that part of the building. This article describes modern…

This article develops a theoretical framework for studying how instructional space, teaching and learning are related in practice. It is argued that a school's physical design can contribute to the quality of the learning environment, but several non-architectural factors also determine how well a given facility serves as a setting for teaching…

Lockers are often begrudging investments, scraped from the bottom of the budget barrel. This is unfortunate for a number of reasons, one of which is that they often serve as the internal face of the school: endless, grim sentries lining mile-long halls. Alternately, they may be entombed, a catacomb of visual obstacles stuffed into independent…

Making furniture decisions can involve many factors, and they vary from institution to institution. For fixtures, furnishings and equipment, comparing initial cost with the cost of ownership over a life cycle can be more challenging. It may be the functionality of the furnishings that provides the greatest return on investment. In this article,…

Using Mikhail Bakhtin's conceptions of dialogue, monologue, and chronotope, the authors ask readers to consider how different values and actions ultimately create the teaching and learning spaces in which children are recognized as literate. Using qualitative data that focus on the relational writing practices of two preschoolers, this…

The benefits of sustainability go way beyond improving the environment. School districts that choose to build facilities using sustainable principles reap the benefits of environmentally friendly, healthy establishments; attractive work spaces (which improve recruiting and retention); and significant operational cost savings. Districts realize…

Green design, green construction, and green operations for new buildings are rapidly becoming the norm for school districts throughout the country. Today, increased availability of green products and technology coupled with cost savings that are realized through an integrated design process mean that schools like Arabia Mountain High School in…

This report explores classrooms and adjacent corridors which, when combined, form one of the central areas within the college campus. Additionally, this report questions why these areas do not reflect learning centered principles and flexibility in their physical design. This report incorporates research by those who have explored and in some…

The Irish Department of Education and Skills (DoE) is strongly committed to energy efficiency and to reducing CO[subscript 2] by developing and implementing energy level ceilings in relation to school design that aim to remain below half of the accepted good practice in the field. This approach works within normal departmental budgetary limits to…

Sometimes students come up with crazy ideas. When this author first started teaching at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia five years ago, she had a sophomore share such an idea with her. He wanted to put solar panels on the school's roof as a way to reduce the school's carbon footprint and set a bright clean…

Roofs always have been a major focus for building energy-conservation measures. The emphasis traditionally has been on beefing up insulation. More recently, advances in roofing materials technology and analytical techniques have found new ways to fine-tune the energy performance of roofing to reduce not only operating costs, but also environmental…