A Local Education Fund (LEF) is a third-party, nonprofit entity whose agenda, at least in part, consists of developing supportive community and private sector relationships with a public school system. It provides limited private sector support to launch initiatives and broker relationships leading toward school improvement. LEFs are funded by the…

This document gathers together nine papers prepared in conjunction with a series of four seminars, held from January through May 1982, on the Role of Technical Assistance in the Long Range Plan for School Improvement. The seminars included participants from higher education, intermediate units, and public school superintendents. The following…

This is Volume II of a two-volume final report of a study on the exchange and use of knowledge for school improvement in three paired educational systems in Boston, Massachusetts. The pairings, which involved the collaboration of a college/university with one or more of the Boston public schools in carrying out school improvement programs, were…

All 22 papers presented at the 1982 meeting of the Association of Physical Plant Administrators are contained in these proceedings. The papers are organized under four topical areas: resource management, energy management, maintenance programs, and physical plant management. Resource management area papers offer advice on establishing a day…

The deferred maintenance problem on college and university campuses is addressed. Deferred maintenance refers to larger or more expansive maintenance work that can be delayed and is not performed when needed or reported, usually because its cost is beyond the annual maintenance and operating budget of the physical plant department. Eventually…

Teaching staff represent a powerful influence on program development. Therefore it is essential that their opinions be ascertained and analyzed in a school evaluation. The Teacher Opinion Inventory was developed to accomplish three goals: (1) to assess teacher opinion toward many facets of the school; (2) to provide teacher recommendations for…

The purpose of this handbook is to provide guidance to planners of new schools, and to those involved with additions and/or improvements to existing schools. This publication covers guidelines and pertinent information concerning: an outline for a comprehensive educational survey and guidelines for writing educational facility specifications;…

The purpose of this study is to analyze overachieving and underachieving elementary schools in order to determine ways in which they differ. One hundred overachieving elementary schools across the nation were compared with 100 underachieving elementary schools. Questionnaires completed by sixth grade students, principals, and teachers of the…

This document provides baseline information about temporary facilities as alternatives to school construction. More than 40 individual school districts in 18 States cooperated in a review of their units. The study scans the problem of temporary facilities historically, analyzes prevailing conditions at the beginning of the 1960's, makes…

Faced with increasing enrollment and state legislation requiring more laboratory work, this school system hired an architectural firm to devise a cost-effective "District-wide Science Facility Master Plan." The process of developing that plan and some of its conclusions are described here. Illustrations are provided. (DCS)

The elimination of student overcrowding--the objective in writing this report and the objective in seeking reforms of the school facilities construction process--must be the top priority for the city in the next decade. The premise of this report is that much of the planning process for building and repairing schools requires fundamental change,…

The purpose of this manual is to suggest strategies for identifying components that must be addressed to create and develop a successful food service and nutrition facility. It focuses on the process involved in creating such facilities, and it provides an overview of the planning phase, design and construction, and educational specifications.…

Argues well-designed middle schools support the physical, social, cognitive, and emotional changes students experience. Promotes a design that is a hybrid of the home-based, child-centered elementary model and the elective-based, campus high school model. Focuses on enabling cross-curriculum, interdisciplinary team instruction in smaller,…

A study was done to investigate the impact of public school building conditions on student achievement. An analysis of District of Columbia public schools showed that the size of an individual school's Parent-Teacher Association budget is positively related to the school building's condition and to student academic achievement. (JB)

The quality of a school building plays a critical role in student academic achievement as well as teacher retention. Yet, the majority of U.S. public schools are in poor physical condition, and nearly one-quarter are overcrowded, pressuring school systems to invest in both improving existing facilities and adding new facilities to accommodate…