The nation's major city public school districts have substantial construction, renovation, modernization, and deferred maintenance needs because of the age and size of their school buildings, shifting populations, and the need to devote substantial resources to instructional personnel to meet their core academic mission. For instance, the average…

International travel has significant implications on the study of architecture. This study analyzed ways in which undergraduate and graduate students benefited from the experience of international travel and study abroad. Taken from the perspective of 15 individuals who were currently or had been architecture students at the University of Miami…

Large numbers of schools across the country are low performing and have been for years. This longstanding and widespread problem painfully reveals that individual schools are not the only ones responsible for their performance. The public school system as a whole is unable, and sometimes unwilling, to address the root causes of dysfunction.…

"No student left out" should be the motto of the entire student movement. It can be understood in many different ways. No student should indeed be left out of higher education, both in terms of access and progress towards completion in higher education but also in terms of representation in governance structures at all levels. Leaving no…

Online charter schools are one key subset of the K-12 online education landscape, which also includes state virtual schools, district-level online programs, private providers of both individual courses and entire schools, and others. As of late 2010, online and blended charter schools existed in more than 20 states, serving more than 100,000…

A new international partnership in southern Belize that provided ongoing mentoring, teacher development, and resource allocation in two rural schools was examined through interviews with key individuals. This research was implemented through a scholar-practitioner approach, which embraces the concept of researcher as change agent. The results…

HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUMS ARE OFTEN MUCH TOO LARGE, SERVE A LIMITED NUMBER OF FUNCTIONS, AND ARE UNUSED A MAJOR PORTION OF THE YEAR. THIS PAPER DETAILS DESIGNS FOR AUDITORIUM MODIFICATION IN SIX HIGH SCHOOLS AIMED AT MAKING THE SPACE MORE USABLE FOR SUCH FUNCTIONS AS SMALL LECTURES, LUNCHROOMS, LIBRARIES, ETC. THIS DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE FROM…

High School auditoriums are often much too large, serve a limited number of functions, and are unused a major portion of the year. This paper details designs for auditorium modification in six high schools aimed at making the space more usable for such functions as small lectures, lunchrooms, libraries, etc. This document previously announced as…

Describes the first school in Elgin's program of building to replace 19th century facilities and to accomodate the steady increase in enrollments. (JF)

The tiny town of Niangua, Missouri, made national headlines in 2008 when a rare cluster of winter tornadoes tore across the state on an unseasonably warm January night. The twisters killed a Niangua woman in her trailer home and destroyed numerous other structures. News photos of the trailer debris were a sobering reminder of the vulnerability of…

The deterioration of public school buildings is more prevalent in large cities that, because of funding shortfalls, have deferred maintenance and require huge sums to bring their buildings up to acceptable standards. Cities such as New York will require approximately $680 million to address the problem of deferred maintenance for needed painting,…

Construction bonding authority--a technical, and often obscure, source of capital funding for school districts--has emerged as a hot ticket for those looking to finance school facilities work under the federal government's economic-stimulus program. School districts left out of the loop for direct funding are lining up for some of at least $24…

By providing a $20,000 tax credit for Universal Design (UD) housing, when new housing construction begins anew, the United States has a real opportunity to save hundreds of billions of dollars in long-term healthcare while encouraging long-term economic growth. Universal Design (also known as Inclusive Design or "Aging in Place" when referring to…

For many schools, "Going Green" once meant turning out the lights after leaving the classroom, filling the recycle bins, and celebrating Earth Day. Not anymore. Although such activities remain staples of environmentally conscious school systems, that consciousness has exploded in an era of high energy prices, global warming threats, and…