Reports how New York City's capital planning process is a reason the New York City public school system is failing to build enough new schools to accommodate children in many neighborhoods experiencing residential construction booms. Shortcomings of the capital planning process are discussed, followed by analyses of neighborhoods where population growth is not matched by increased school capacity. Persistent elementary and middle school overcrowding in some neighborhoods is attributed enrollment projections based only on Community School District (CSD) and not for individual neighborhoods. Recommendations include improvements to the capital planning process for schools and an increase in accountability within that process. 117p.

Provides local government managers with an understanding of the connections between school facility planning and local government management issues, with particular attention to avoiding the creation of large schools remotely sited from the community they serve. It offers multiple strategies for local governments and schools to bring their respective planning efforts together to take a more community-oriented approach to schools and reach multiple community goals--educational, environmental, economic, social, and fiscal. Eight case studies illustrate how communities across the U.S. have already succeeded in collaborating to create more community-oriented schools. Includes 95 references and an extensive list of additional online resources. 40p.

Illustrates how nine high performing, small urban high schools across the U.S. are thinking about and organizing their resources strategically to best meet their students' most pressing needs. The report provides a look at how leaders in these schools carefully and purposefully think about how they use every staff member, each moment of the school day, and every dollar to support student learning. The report also illustrates how principals carefully select teaching staff to meet high standards and fit specific school design needs, how students spend 20% more time (on average) in school each day and 233 more days over four years on core academic compared to their peers in traditional high schools, and how teachers devote five times more hours to collaborating and professional development than local districts require. 108p.

Presents findings from a study of Baltimore's five-year high school reform, which included breaking large schools into smaller, more autonomous units. Using administrative data, the researchers found that test scores and attendance rates were higher for students in Baltimore's innovation high schools than in the city's comprehensive or newly formed neighborhood high schools. Students in innovation and neighborhood schools also showed more stability in their enrollment than their counterparts in comprehensive schools. These findings remained after controlling for students' backgrounds and previous achievements even though students at innovation schools were more academically advantaged than their peers in other schools prior to entering high school. 31p.

Reviews the ongoing revitalization of the Drexel University campus, from a financially challenged institution with eroding facilities in the mid-1990's, to a financially sound institution with rising enrollment and in the midst of large capital renewal program. Accomplishments of that program are featured, and plans to initiate $160 million in new construction in the next year are outlined. Challenges and opportunities of this urban university's master plan are highlighted, as are relationships with architects and the city of Philadelphia.

Examines 14 of New York City's new, smaller high schools that graduated their first class in June, 2006. Data indicate that attendance is high, ninth grade promotion rates are high, and a majority of students are graduating. A significant number of those graduates are applying to and being accepted by postsecondary institutions, over half of whom will be the first in their family to attend college. The report provides a snapshot of the promise and impact of these small high schools in the lives of adolescent learners from some of New York's most underserved communities. Includes ten references. 23p.

Discusses remediation issues with ground contamination at school sites, including assessment, public interest, benefits of using brownfield sites, and the removal of contaminants from both existing and potential school sites. 2p.

Examines the implications of competition between school districts in a mid-Michigan metropolitan area. Over the past decade, many urban and suburban districts have found themselves competing over per-pupil state funding. Suburban districts need extra students in order to make up budgetary shortfalls and protect instructional programs that are essential in today's political climate of school accountability. Several districts in this study have built new or substantially renovated state-of-the-art high schools, possibly signaling a "space race" between the districts to build bigger, better, newer capital assets in order to attract more students. The central-city district, surrounded by growing suburbs with higher-value taxable property, is at a disadvantage in this competition. 42p.

This book focuses on how large, under-performing urban high schools can become learning environments characterized by academic rigor, curricular relevance, and mutually supportive relationships. This book explores how these communities are using small school development as a central strategy for improving large high schools and overhauling the way school districts do business.

Reports on the re-segregation of America's educational system, focusing on overcrowded and underfunded urban schools, and the unsatisfactory disciplinary and instructional experiences of the minority children who attend them. Appendices illustrate per-pupil spending in public schools of six metropolitan areas and an extensive bibliography is included. 404p.

Examines how school districts and communities can work together to address facility and academic achievement inequalities affecting African-American and Latino students, as part of their school construction programs. This study explores the hypothesis that when school districts engage community stakeholders in a clear, consistent and meaningful way in the long-range planning and site selection of new public schools, they can build schools more effectively and achieve better academic outcomes and overall benefits for impacted communities, as well as increased support. A case study of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) sheds light on the numerous challenges school districts face in engaging communities as key partners in the long-range planning and site selection process for new urban schools while trying to address educational and facility inequalities and community development needs. From 1999 2001 quantitative and qualitative data on LAUSD was collected through first-hand observation and from primary and secondary sources. Qualitative research on the community engagement practices and policies of thirteen other school districts from nine different states was collected through the use of surveys and phone interviews. Promising practices were identified from these school districts, chosen for their high rates of growth and active school construction programs and key guiding principles were developed. The research provided invaluable insight on how school districts can more effectively engage communities in the long-range planning, prioritization, and site selection process for new urban schools while working to reduce facility and educational inequalities and support community revitalization and development needs. 235p.

Recounts the history of New Jersey's Abbott School Construction Program, from 1990 court rulings on school facility deficiencies in poorer school districts to the present. The work of the Program in creating facilities plans, integrating planning and design with educational needs, and lessons learned from the first years of the program are described. It is written to assist policy-makers and advocates in New Jersey and elsewhere in their efforts to renovate and construct educationally adequate, and community-centered public schools. 40p.

The attrition of both new and experienced teachers is a great challenge for schools and school administrators throughout the United States, particularly in large urban districts. Because of the importance of this issue, there is a large empirical literature that investigates why teachers quit and how they might be better induced to stay. The authors build upon this literature by suggesting another important factor: the quality of school facilities. The importance of facility quality is investigated using data from a survey of K-12 teachers in Washington, D.C. The authors find in their sample that facility quality is an important predictor of the decision of teachers to leave their current position. [Author's abstract] 12p.

The Cesar Chavez Educational Center is one of the winners of California's 2004 Savings By Design Energy Efficiency Integration Awards Competition for their integration of energy efficiency with outstanding architectural design. The jurors were impressed by the efforts made to bring the best of energy-efficient, sustainable design to a tough, constrained urban site. They particularly noted the effort to align the classrooms on a north/south axis for maximum use of daylighting despite the site’s orientation--and the delightful building forms that resulted from this effort.

Describes the Los Angeles Unified School District's plan to deliver over 11,000 new classroom seats by 2010, with a goal of returning all schools to a 180-day, two-semester calendar and allowing all students to attend a neighborhood school. The mission, vision and organizational structure of the program are outlined, and the scheduling and costs of every project are provided, along with maps and renderings. 208p.

Describes the inception and realization of this revered community school created within a restored 1911 St. Paul, Minnesota, high school building, and combined with an adjoining new YMCA facility. The community collaboration required for the condemnation of four homes and relocation of several businesses is described, along with the results of these moves. Restoration and renovation of the deteriorated high school, the design of the YMCA, and the naming process for the new facility are discussed. 42p.

Presents a conceptual plan for locating a law-related charter high school to a small, historic neighborhood school building. The deficiencies described include lack of administrative, physical education, cafeteria, and assembly spaces, and sufficient classroom space. Site plans illustrate the design remedies and are accompanied by cost estimates. 59p.

Suggests adapting the model of the ancient Greek "agora" to create successful small schools and describes several that have done so while reducing costs. These innovative urban small schools are the modern equivalent of the agora, where students and adults interact with the community, share resources, and learn from each other. Strategies used by communities to keep schools small and local include sharing facilities with other schools, reconfiguring large high schools, sharing with an education partner, sharing with a noneducation partner, sharing with the community, leasing space in the community, using the small facility in new ways, leasing the whole facility, and capitalizing on the facility. (Contains 18 references.) 2p.

The construction proposed in the Cincinnati Public Schools' Facilities Master Plan will have a significant impact on the greater Cincinnati, Ohio, economy. Highlights include: (1) the Facilities Master Plan of the Cincinnati Public Schools envisions a 10-year program with $985 million in construction spending. The funding of this program includes $211 million from the State of Ohio, which increases the purchasing power of the $774 million local funding commitment; (2) the Facilities Master Plan will generate a total of $2.35 billion in economic impact, including $718 million in local household wages and salaries, meaning an average annual impact of the Facilities Master Plan for the next 10 years of $232 million, and household earnings totaling $71 million and 2,339 jobs will be generated for area residents each year; (3) the return of $718 million in wages and salaries for $774 million in local dollars is important, meaning that every $100 in local funding ultimately returns $93 in wages and salaries to the pockets of local workers; (4) business activity will especially be stimulated in the construction, business services, real estate, and retail sectors; and (5) economic benefits may result from improvements in educational quality, quality of life, and physical conditions of neighborhoods, but are not measured here. 35p.

Describes current school overcrowding in New York City and the progress that the system is making to remedy it. The ability of the current capital program to meet the need is discussed and recommendations on overcrowding for the New York State Dept. of Education are included. 15p.

This book addresses funding for school facilities. Contents of section 1, "Overview and Scope of the Problem," are: (1) "Unmet School Infrastructure Funding Need as a Critical Educational Capacity Issue: Setting the Context" (Faith E. Crampton); (2) "Financing School Infrastructure Needs: An Overview across the 50 States" (Catherine C. Sielke); (3) "Canadian Approaches to the Financing of School Infrastructure" (Vivian J. Hajnal); and (4) "Financing Captial Facilities in Higher Education" (Mary McKeown-Moak). Section 2, "Current Challenges to Funding of School Infrastructure," contains the following chapters: (5) "Capital Needs and Spending in Urban Public School Systems: Policies, Problems, and Promises" (James G. Cibulka and Bruce S. Cooper); (6) "Funding School Infrastructure in Rural America" (Jeffrey Maiden); (7) "Infrastructure Funding Considerations and Students with Disabilities" (William T. Hartman); (8) "School Finance Litigation: One Strategy To Address Inequities in School Infrastructure Funding" (David C. Thompson and Faith E. Crampton); (9) "Funding Technology versus Bricks and Mortar: Can We Have It All?" (Faith E. Crampton, Janis M. Hagey, and Kathleen C. Westbrook); and (10) "Should Principals Be Involved in School Renovations?" (Brian O. Brent and Marie Cianca). Part 3, "The Future of School Infrastructure Funding," contains the following chapter: (11) "Striking a Balance in School Infrastructure Funding" (David C. Thompson). 270p.

This describes essential characteristics required to successfully develop and implement an educational facility planning processs. The intent of these essential characteristics is to outline an approach for addressing the facility challenges confronting urban school districts that is cost effective and realistic. Discusses such characteristics as shared vision, agreed upon process, consultant leadership, internal capacity, adequate funding, and broad based involvement. 8p.

This monograph presents papers from the 2000 Mayors' Institute on City Design and the public forum that followed it. Essays include: "Schools for Cities: Urban Strategies" (Sharon Haar); "Reenvisioning Schools; The Mayors' Questions" (Leah Ray); "Why Johnny Can't Walk to School" (Constance E. Beaumont); "Lessons from the Chicago Public Schools Design Competition" (Cindy S. Moelis and Beth Valukas); "Something from `Nothing': Information Infrastructure in School Design" (Sheila Kennedy); "An Architect's Primer for Community Interaction" (Julie Eizenberg); "The City of Learning: Schools as Agents for Urban Revitalization" (Roy Strickland); and "Education and the Urban Landscape: Illinois Institute of Technology" (Peter Lindsay Schaudt). Case Studies include: "Prototypes and Paratypes: Future Studies" (Sharon Haar); "Lick-Wilmerding High School, San Francisco" (Pfau Architecture Ltd.); "Architecture of Adjustment, New York City' (kOnyk Architecture); "Booker T. Washington School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Dallas" (Allied Works Architecture Inc.); "Camino Nuevo Middle School, Los Angeles" (Daley, Genik Architects); "Elementary School Prototypes, Chicago Public Schools" (OWP/P Architects). 103p.

This volume documents the work that resulted from the Chicago Public Schools Design Competition, explaining research and policies underlying the competition's criteria. The volume has three parts. Book 1, "The Chicago Experience," written by the competition's organizers, describes the competition's process and explains how it allowed community members, educational experts, and architects to collaborate in the design of schools that will foster the education of students, support quality teaching, and increase community involvement. It also chronicles the changing trends in public school architecture in Chicago. Book 2, "New School Designs," offers plans and ideas for schools designed for the 21st century. The competition's two winning designs and those of the finalists are extensively documented in drawings and renderings. Book 3, "Policies and Principles," explores policies that provided the impetus for the Chicago competition. It discusses the advantages of smaller learning environments; the benefits to students, teachers, and communities of universal design; application of sustainable design to the creation of public schools; and the importance of cost feasibility when building on a public budget. The section ends with a complete list of the winning, finalist, and notable architectural firms involved in the competition and a list of professional resources for creating new schools. 136p.

Presents a descriptive case study of the politics surrounding Portland Public Schools' facilities policy reform from 2000 through 2003. Portland is a revelatory case because of its history of urban growth management, neighborhood organizing, and its culture of civic innovation and intergovernmental cooperation. The research analyzes the recent and future implementation of several innovations currently being pursued by the school district as a foundation for connecting school and regional development planning. Applying theoretical models to local experience, the study predicts likely outcomes and suggests necessary actions to make ongoing cooperation successful. 398p.

Presents an emerging strategy for revitalizing urban public school systems, a background for the City of Learning (COL), and outlines COL's principles. The paper presents a selection of COL projects developed for Berkeley, CA, Washington, DC, and Union City, Paterson, and Trenton, NJ; and summarizes COL's local and national outcomes. It also reflects on challenges that must be overcome in innovative design and planning for urban public schools. Finally, it concludes with reflections on the potential advantages of school systems in urban environments as they subscribe to COL. 19p.

This describes the recent accomplishments that have been made by Chicago Public Schools's Capital Improvement Program (CIP). This reviews CIP funding history, discusses overcrowding, the e-rate technology program, science laboratories, ADA upgrades, health centers, early childhood and pre-K classroom renovations, playlots and exterior enhancements, and operations and maintenance improvements. 25p.

This book explores the architectural treasures of the Boston, Massachusetts public schools. It includes photographs and descriptions of 129 buildings that were constructed in the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century and notes that the first and oldest public school in the United States was founded in Boston in 1635. Eight chapters focus on: (1) "Exploring for Treasure"; (2) "Turning the Century"; (3) "Growing Up"; (4) "The Roaring Twenties"; (5) "A New Deal"; (6) "After the War"; (7) "Suburban Spread"; and (8) "Turning the Century--Again." A CD-ROM with over 100 images and descriptive captions of the architectural treasures of the Boston Public Schools, Massachusetts is included. 138p.

This report examines the Chicago Public School System's need for capital improvement, and it highlights action plans for the future. The report reveals that many planned school improvements projects are unfunded and that there is about $229 million worth of projects that no longer appear in the city's capital improvements plan. Overcrowding remains a persistent and unresolved problem, and there has been no clear plan for integrating educational technology. The Chicago public school system alone has $2.5 billion in unfunded capital needs for its schools, but funds allotted for statewide capital needs are rapidly disappearing, and federal assistance in local school construction and repair needs is in jeopardy. It is recommended that, to ensure that the Capital Improvement Program is as fair and efficient as possible, the Chicago Public Schools should release the building assessments for each school facility and make public its demographic predictions for enrollment growth. Appendices contain highlights of capital programs in other major midwestern cities and a summary of Chicago's Teachers' Pension Fund Proposal. 49p.

This paper focuses on how urban high schools may be not only revitalized but also transformed into institutions that are designed to help students at the crossroads of their academic careers. It discusses the rationale for change, historic highlights of this effort, and a new vision for American high schools. Some of the promising approaches to change include: transforming large impersonal schools into small schools; using whole-school design; reaching out to parents and other community members to increase their involvement in education; and partnering with businesses and universities. The paper highlights the Carnegie Corporation's Schools for a New Society initiative, which has awarded planning grants to 10 community-school district partnerships working on urban high school reform. The paper also focuses on principles outlined by the New Century High Schools for New York City Consortium, a $30 million commitment to high school reform in New York City announced in December 2000 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Open Society Institute, and the Carnegie Corporation. 14p.

Presents concepts for using public school capital projects as tools for revitalizing a post-idustrial American City. It applies the school design and planning strategy called City of Learning [COL] to historic Paterson, New Jersey. COL embraces educators' argument that healthy neighborhoods support successful learning and makes school design and programming holistic by looking beyond the school building to the school setting at the neighborhood, town, and city scales. By doing so, it identifies schools as a potent new force in urban revitalization as it explands preK-12 educational options. The first section describes the framework of the "City of Learning" concept, which involves building schools as neighborhood foci and converting industrial and commercial facilities into schools. Subsequent sections present the plans for four nontraditional learning environments, using the city's rich architectural heritage, parks, existing schools, and libraries. 220p.

This follow-up report revisits the overcrowded classroom issues facing the New York City Public School system after one year's efforts to correct the problem. The study reveals that: (1) 53 percent of all New York City elementary school buildings and annexes are overcrowded and continue to operate at 99 percent or greater capacity; (2) in 10 school districts, 70 percent or more of elementary school buildings are operating at 99 percent or greater capacity; (3) minischools and transportables, both ways to quickly increase capacity, are also overcrowded; and (4) over the last year, New York City collected less than 31 percent of the state's reimbursable school building aid despite enrolling almost 40 percent of the state's students. To end the class-size crunch and improve student performance, the report's author, the public advocate for the City of New York, recommends that a number of specific actions be taken by the board of education, the State, and the City, including lobbying for new federal assistance. 13p.

According to a new study released by Bank Street College of Education, reconfiguring large urban schools into smaller schools is having a positive impact on student performance, school climate, professional collegiality, and parent satisfaction. Relying on the largest database assembled to date on small schools, this suggests that even though smallness by itself is not the cure to all that ails urban schools, policymakers can have a significant impact on a variety of important education issues if they integrate small schools into a comprehensive reform strategy. 87p.

This paper addresses the growing population trends in California; the need to counteract the current model of community sprawl by designing smarter schools and community growth strategies; and the changes in planning, policies, and practices needed to achieve these goals. Recommended strategies described support the following actions: more participatory and community-based planning; innovative educational facilities that promote the concept of learning communities and schools as centers of community; the joint use of all public facilities; the planning of urban and suburban projects based on the principles of smart growth; the assessment of all public expenditures based on the concept of integrated resource development; and the development of an ongoing vehicle for communications and decision-making between all agencies, institutions and organizations involved in education reform and smart growth issues. Six case studies are highlighted that illustrate some of the goals outlined for smarter schools and smarter growth strategies. 37p.

This paper is a preliminary examination of homologous shifts in U.S. discourses on the design and building of schools and "planning" as they relate to curricular reforms and inventions of new pedagogical techniques. The purpose is to question underlying assumptions about "space" and historical reasonings about a place called school. Particular historical junctures in discourses of school architecture provide the contingent conditions and reasonings on which the current debates about reform of school design seem reasonable and make sense. Schematically, they are: (1) the common school discourses of the "school house" during the 19th century; (2) the emergence of the "school-plant," which introduced city "planning" discourses into the discourses of school design during the 1920s and 1930s; (3) the "open-plan" in the 1950s that followed as a critique of the "school-plant"; and (4) the enfolding and redeployment of elements of the "school-house," "classroom school-plant," and the "open plan" in the "school-as-community." 25p.

Discusses how schools are natural forces for community development efforts. The authors claim that schools, by becoming more active and open to the communities they serve, allow a rising generation to achieve the capacity to overcome social disadvantage and poverty. p339-380

The American Institute of Architect's Committee on Architecture for Education convened a conference addressing the urban school relative to quality of public education for all students, entitlement and privilege, community ideology, racial tensions, and the reopening and refurbishing of aging facilities. This report presents synopses of the discussions, including question and answer exchanges, overviews of the school tours conducted, highlights of opening remarks, and links to relevant Web sites provided by attendees and speakers. Speakers examine the new urban school and present case studies as examples of new school designs that allow unique experiential learning opportunities for students; explore how architects can lead in the managing and organizing tasks of urban school design projects; examine the teaming of architects with educators, administrators, and politicians in developing prototype facilities; discuss the historical issues surrounding public schools; review ideas on assessing educational facilities to help balance the ideals with the monetary realities; and present ideas on collaborative efforts across sectors to solve urban school problems. Concluding comments explore the building of community consensus on school infrastructure repair, methods for tapping into the multifaceted roles of architects, and seeking out creative financial strategies. A list of conference speakers is provided. 35p.

This presentation describes the development process behind the Boston Schoolyard Initiative: a 5-year, inner city, community-driven initiative to transform neglected and unwelcome schoolyards into active centers of school and community use. Each phase of the initiative is discussed from community organizing through design, construction, and ongoing maintenance. The initiative shows sustainable schoolyard programs need total involvement from all potential users in the design and development phases, a focus on the multi-use approach, the integration of the school grounds into the life of the school, and inclusion of the school yard in future budgeting allocations. 8p.

This guidebook provides information on improving urban school grounds to enhance children's lives. Chapters provide the experiences from other schools on the topics of greening the urban school grounds; the multi-cultural aspects of developing urban school grounds; organization of limited space; issues involving seating, shelter, and raised structures; and playground art. The unique difficulties involved in secondary school ground development are addressed in the areas of curriculum linkage, social needs, and the management and organization of change. Additionally discussed are areas of special consideration in urban school grounds development, such as vandalism prevention, school security, tarmac removal, and new surface installation. Resource information is provided along with a list of schools and their locations which have created winning grounds development schemes. 110p.

This digest briefly reviews the current movement to downsize urban schools to help educators decide whether and why to pursue such a move, and to indicate which models appear most promising. Research evidence is strong that small schools benefit the entire school community. Small schools are particularly beneficial for disadvantaged youth, who profit from the extra attention and sense of belonging promoted in a small school. Putting several small schools into an existing large-school building can rejuvenate the building and enhance educational possibilities. The founding principles of small urban schools are: (1) cohesion; (2) autonomy; (3) focus or theme; and (4) a constituency assembled on the basis of shared interests. There are many difficulties in implementing small urban schools, but many more are being planned. They combine features currently being recommended by educational researchers as important in transforming schools. (Contains 10 references.)

Presents an essay concluding that the world needs a vision of a "learning city" for the future, and then focuses on six themes that illustrate the connections between education and aspects of economic development: 1) investing to enhance the built environment; 2) modernizing and improving school buildings; 3) making more of educational facilities; 4) adult learners in colleges and schools; 5) the place of vocational education; and 6) uncoupling schools and buildings. Subsequent chapters examine families, poverty, race, ethnicity, and crime; planning issues in creating the learning city, with emphasis on the role of government; and nine case studies about the renovation of urban schooling in Australia, Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, Greece, the Netherlands, France, the United States, and Scotland. (Includes 128 references.) 156p.

This paper describes an approach to urban renewal, called the Multi-Function Polis (MFP), which emphasizes education as a key factor in a renewal process that includes development of 21st century industries such as information technology, telecommunications, and environmental management. Focusing on Adelaide, Australia, as an example, the paper discusses the MFP educational component, where resources can be found to achieve both urban renewal and the new urban development, and the importance of community involvement. Final comments summarize the important points of each educational renewal component. 16p.

Discusses the dilemma of a lack of downtown schools in San Diego, at a time when the population of school-age children in the inner city seems to be growing. The debate between building new classrooms downtown or transporting students to outlying schools is highlighted, as many of the district's schools are under-enrolled.

Reviews one district's experience with public engagement during a school closure process. The criteria used to rank the schools are detailed, as is the presence or absence of community support for various schools under consideration. Recommendations for running a fair and equitable school closure process are included.

Offers projections for educational facility planning in 2008 from four educational facilities planners. They were asked to comment on the following: 1) Spending on school facilities: Will you see increases, decline, urban vs. rural? 2) Trends in design for 2008. 3) Energy spending: Do you foresee schools making this a major initiative or will it remain status quo? 4) School size: Trends 5) Role of the facility planner: What new roles will the Planner take as more and more communities seek out different types of schools?

Profiles security design and equipment features at the new Medrano Middle School in Dallas, Texas. These include site design, traffic control, alarms, motion and metal detectors, and surveillance systems.

Profiles this new elementary school in an urban setting, where small learning communities are housed in a building that is organized inward, around a central elliptical courtyard that provides a safe and sheltered common area. Building statistics, a list of project participants, and photographs are included.

Profiles this new elementary school in a mixed residential and commercial urban setting. For safety, the building is organized around an interior courtyard that features an amphitheater, reading areas, and play spaces. Building statistics, a list of project participants, and photographs are included.

Profiles this 750-student elementary school constructed on a tight urban site The three- story classroom blocks surrounds a protected play area. Building statistics, a list of project participants, and photographs are included.

Profiles this school built on a peculiar site that was essentially a traffic island bounded by four busy streets. The solution was to create the common area on the interior of the building, as an open courtyard between two two-story wings. Building statistics, a list of project participants, photographs, and plans are included.

Profiles this four-storey, 2,100-student high school designed to work on an urban site half as large as is typically indicated for a school of that size.

Profiles an exemplar high-rise school design, conceived for tight urban sites in the United Kingdom. The small footprint of the design allows for it to be built alongside the school it will replace. Lighting and ventilation issues within the multi-story design are discussed.

Describes this recently completed primary school, illustrating how architecture can contribute to creating a safe and warm environment in a distressed area, and can meet the particular needs of the student community. The article presents the architectural description and comments from the school's Board of Management.

Reviews with statistics the trend toward enrollment in schools of choice, including private schools, charter schools, and schools outside the resident's district. Voucher programs from a number of states are described, as are some of the serious drains on enrollment prompted by school choice. Facilities implications of these fluid situations are also covered.

Decisions on where schools are built and how much land they occupy are gradually beginning to reflect New Urbanism’s belief in the importance of physically fitting the schools into their communities. This discusses school siting, minimum acreage requirements for schools, and using non-traditional structures and sites.

Profiles New York City's new P.S./I.S. 260 in Queens, built five stories high on an extremely tight site. A list of project participants is included.

Profiles a proposed British school designed to accommodate both primary and secondary levels. The school fits on a tight urban site and its design, operational efficiencies, benefits, and costs are described.

Profiles the new Detroit School of Arts. The small site compelled an unusually tall six-story structure that is scaled down at the edges to acknowledge the low-scale neighborhood. Plans, photographs, and a list of project participants are included.

Reviews school closure crises in Seattle, San Francisco, and Chicago, cities where enrollment has declined as families have migrated to more affordable suburbs. Community backlash was considerable in all cases. Successful and unsuccessful attempts to contend with it are described.

Discusses various reasons for decline in urban school enrollment, including migration out of the city and competition from private and charter schools. Examples from Detroit, Portland (Oregon), and Buffalo illustrate the problem, which typically calls for closing schools, reducing staff, and raising community support.

Profiles six creative solutions that made school architecture out of abandoned, unused, or under-used spaces in this urban setting. Recovery of spaces from rooftops, above courtyards, in abandoned buildings, and within a new condominium are highlighted.

Profiles a new Los Angeles elementary and high school built on restricted urban sites. The massing of the buildings, traffic and parking, athletic facilities, scale, and accommodation of community use are described.

Describes this private art-oriented school for at-risk teens that was constructed on a small site in an industrial zone requiring environmental remediation. The resulting LEED platinum-certified school is able to sell surplus electricity from its photovoltaic arrays. Building statistics, a listing of the design and construction participants, plans, and photographs are included.

Describes this urban school that takes advantage of its tight and unusually-shaped triangular site with a building that features daylighting and balconies overlooking a heavily-used multipurpose room "commons." Building statistics, a listing of the design and construction participants, plans, and photographs are included.

Describes Denvers Learning Landscape Alliance (LLA) , where a public/private partnership was formed to upgrade the citys elementary school playgrounds. 22 learning landscapes were created in underprivileged neighborhoods first, and this became the catalyst for a successful bond that funded 36 additional sites. Components of some of the learning landscapes, the volunteer labor contributed, subsequent benefits of the childrens increased physical activity are decribed.

Describes The Accelerated School in Los Angeles, a charter facility in a distressed urban setting that features high security without looking like a fortress. The educational program was successfully compressed into a small site, a nearby park is used for athletic activities, and daylighting is featured throughout the building. Photographs, plans, and a list of project participants are included.

Levels of mouse and cockroach allergen were measured in vacuumed settled dust in 87 classrooms in 11 New York City schools. At the same time, two five-day air samples were collected by 53 students at school and at home. The percentage of samples where the allergens were measured to be over analytical detection limits were as follows: mouse allergen in school dust, 81%; cockroach allergen in school air, 71%; mouse allergen in school air, 5%; cockroach allergen in school air, 22%.

Discusses the mitigating effect of small schools in situations where poverty is an obstacle to educational achievement. In both rural and urban settings, large schools are shown to exacerbate the achievement gap between rich and poor. School size recommendations for poor, affluent, and mixed-income schools are offered, and benefits to small communities that retain their schools are described. Includes five references.

Considers the relationship of race, community, and education to sprawl and examines education as a means toward managing sprawl. Desegregating and improving urban schools is detailed as a means to attract students and encourage close-in living. Includes 93 references.

Describes successful urban schools created in San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Raleigh, citing how they were sited and funded, the community services they provide, and the constituencies they serve.

These days in New York City, it is possible to find a public school almost anywhere that can hold a few hundred students and accommodate a redesign for classrooms and a cafeteria. They are popping up all over, in the most unexpected places: an old salami factory in the Bronx, the boxy remains of a defunct department store in Harlem, a warehouse vacated by Sotheby's on the Upper East Side, the 13th floor of a downtown skyscraper. And the Department of Education plans to spend more than $1 billion over the next five years creating more of them, turning on its head the traditional - some say outdated - notion of what a public school should be.

The physical developments at powerful urban universities are reshaping metropolitan culture and character. Case studies of new buildings at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Philadelphia's University City area, the Cooper Union campus in New York City, and campus redevelopment at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Schools play an important role in urban planning and development. Across the country, a variety of solutions are being tested to improve schools and their relationship to surrounding communities. Describes the new schools at the Stapleton development in Denver, a new urbanist community.

School boards often make site selection decisions without consulting the local governments, despite the long-term impact schools can have on local property values, nearby land use, traffic, etc. This discusses getting school boards and local governments to work together. Describes interlocal agreements required in Florida.

Over the last ten years, university development in Chicago has been changing the landscape of large swaths of Chicago, including the downtown areas. Universities have given new life to old buildings, adressed land use conflicts and historical and architectural preservation issues, turned outward to remake neighborhoods, and forged innovative partnerships.

Discusses an unsuccessful and a successful broad-based school planning endeavor in two urban school districts. The unsuccessful district had a monolithic structure, little grassroots involvement, and pursued a business model approach. The successful district divided the city into planning areas, aggressively solicited community participation, and pursued a community dialogue approach. Committee structures and responsibilities for a successful campaign are suggested.

Located on three acres at the eastern edge of historic downtown San Jose, California, the new $21.5 million Horace Mann Elementary School, designed by Santa Monica-based Moore Ruble Yudell, is a cohesive campus of forms and courtyards that respond to the urban context. The new buildings step from one to three stories, and a variety of courtyards, turf play areas, terraces, and gathering spaces provide a link between the school and the larger community.

A lack of land for new schools and additions is a common problem across the country, particularly in urban and fast-growing areas. To confront the problem, districts are building multistory schools, converting existing buildings to schools, and persuading housing developers to donate land or help build schools. Other districts in fast-growing areas have bought land on speculation while the cost is relatively modest. And in severe cases, districts that have the power of eminent domain—the right of governments to force owners to sell their land to them at fair market value for public purposes—have taken homes, businesses, farms, and other properties to build schools. [Free subscriber registration is required.]

Driven in part by concerns about stemming urban sprawl, in part by movements promoting smaller, neighborhood schools as antidotes to ailing educational quality, and in part by concern over keeping community cores intact, many people are asking whether it makes sense to keep putting up large new schools on the edge of town. Just as schools going up on the periphery of a community can promote sprawl, so a decision to build or renovate in the central city can generate revitalization.

Despite evidence demonstrating the importance of quality facilities, a number of obstacles impair efforts to build and maintain schools that are conducive to learning, including: state funding systems that limit financial support and provide incentives to build schools cheaply and defer maintenance; a growing number of facilities requirements; and significant enrollment growth. Urban and rural districts face additional challenges due to dense and sparse populations, respectively, and state policies that limit funding specifically for their school facilities. As a result of these barriers, countless students across the country, and particularly those in urban and rural areas, attend school in substandard facilities that negatively affect their education.

Describes the award-winning John A. Johnson Achievement Plus Elementary School, a state-of-the-art K-6 community school and neighborhood hub. The school is located on the East Side of Saint Paul, a section of the city that has seen economic hard times with the loss of 2,500 manufacturing jobs. The renovation of an old and unused high school as part of the facility was seen as a critical piece in the revival of the East Side. Also incorporated into the complex is a YMCA that serves 3000 students and community members. Authentic community engagement was vital to the success of the planning process given the fact that the school district needed to demolish some houses and relocate families.

Relates the history of Denver's first Learning Landscapes project, at an elementary school, and the aftermath of its success as the program spread to schools throughout the district. The objectives, funding, educational programming, types of ecosystems created, social outcomes, and the role of the University of Colorado, Denver, are described, Includes 20 references.

Describes the planning and design process for this Detroit school, with attention to the design challenges presented by a small urban site in an area that compelled attention to architectural context and preservation of the venerated historical facility it replaced.

Discusses elements of a successful school and community partnership aimed at addressing social issues in the neighborhood. Planning, design, and implementation issues are described, illustrated by two Boston case studies. Includes four references and resources.

Outlines design issues related to K-12 schools built on small urban sites, including parking, setbacks, bulk and height restrictions, service access drives, shared facility use, and school building structures in an urban context. Design solutions proposed ard based on Seattle Public Schools 1995-2008 Building Excellence (BEX) school construction program.

Describes the creation of this small high school within the vibrant Seattle Center neighborhood. The program and design of