The U.S. Department of Energy's Rebuild America EnergySmart Schools program provides school boards, administrators, and design staff with guidance to help make informed decisions about energy and environmental issues important to school systems and communities. This document is part of the suite of products developed to promoteenergy efficiency…

This document offers additional guidelines for school facilities in California in the areas of safety and security, lighting, and cleanliness. It also offers a description of technology resources available on the World Wide Web. On the topic of safety and security, the document offers guidelines in the areas of entrances, doors, and controlled…

The educational specifications included in this document were prepared by the Madison, Connecticut public schools for Connecticut's State Department of Education School Facilities Unit. The result of a school facilities study, the specifications were prepared to serve two purposes: first, to fulfill state requirements regarding reimbursement for…

A study of new design features for public schools was conducted to determine what specific design features were being implemented in Virginia's schools. This report summarizes the major trends in facility design that were discovered in the following areas: safety and security features; classroom space; technology areas; administrative spaces;…

The new diversity of approaches to educational facility planning include combined community centers and schools; remodeling of four to six classrooms at a time as open pods, permitting alternative approaches to education within what started as a traditional building; career education facilities; recreational facilities; and special facilities.…

Describes a career center in Michigan, a vocational school in Texas, and a vocational center in Kentucky. Each facility has some unusual feature, such as the quadrant structure of the career center; the consolidation of administration, maintenance, and distribution at the vocational school; and the duo-building arrangement of the vocational…

Describes some of the ways a nonprofit research institution has applied the concept of wholistic synergism (relationship between meanings and surroundings) to the design of school facilities. Demonstration projects have been created to show how an educational space can be cued with objects and behaviors to embody new meanings that have…

New senior high school in Little Falls, New York, has space for all the innovations educators dream about. (Editor)

Ideas and examples for remodeling or building new schools to turn the school into a model of good ecology include improving the quality of air, combining energy saving measures with the production of food, and separating and recycling wastes. (MLF)

Reviews some of the most relevant research regarding classroom design, draws from this research a number of principles for the design and management of classroom space, and discusses issues that need to be examined with respect to the effective use of the physical environment in instruction. Forty-two references are listed. (Author/CHC)

Reports on Minnesota educators' views of the changes that will occur in secondary education over the next 20 years. Examines possible changes in curricular emphasis and design, instructional design, the nature and organization of the student population, staffing patterns, space arrangements, and time arrangements. (RL)

Notes that the location of any child care center is a key factor in its success. Provides four major objectives to consider when siting a center: (1) the center as a part of the community; (2) access and visibility; (3) desirable and undesirable surroundings; and (4) characteristics of the site itself. (SD)

Examines the notion of an early childhood education center organized as a series of houses around a common core of shared facilities. Discusses examples of child-care centers in Sweden and explores ideas that can promote functional facilities. Suggestions include ideas about physical-motor activities areas, administration offices, centralized…

Describes the design of the Virginia Beach Higher Education Center, a partnership institution aimed at nontraditional students, including the educational context and design goals. Includes information on the architects, as well as a floor plan and photographs. (EV)

Argues that the secret to producing quality child care in the 1990s will be clear, innovative thinking by the center or program director, good center design, and an ability to articulate and sell a vision of quality. (BB)