Dr. Dale Lang recently completed a 6 month study reviewing the efficacy of Seattle Public School's Design Manual. He wrote a critique of the process when it was initially introduced back in 2004 published on the DesignShare web site [see online, http://www.designshare.com/Research/Lang/SeattleDesignGuidelines.asp].
The district used the manual process to plan and reconfigure several middle and secondary schools over the past few years. Dr. Lang interviewed key individuals involved in the process including project and program managers, educator consultants, a principal and 3 architects about their views of the ongoing process. Although the process has been a struggle, generally because it was new, untested and required more input and effort from the participants, most agreed that the district is better off with the manual process than without. The goal is to address the needs of all students as well as those of teachers as is typical when planning a school. Shrinking the equity gap and energizing the learning process is critical. A summary of the report will be available on this page soon.
The Gates Foundation is rethinking the funding of schools-within-schools. Stand alone small schools are proving themselves worthy of additional funding but large high school reconfigurations are another problem. Systemic issues involving governance and autonomy are difficult to overcome at the classroom and school levels. Parents are not adequately informed of the changes required. Teachers are not prepared for the changes in time and committment. The paper written a year ago is still relevant to these issues:
"Call to Action" fare entitled "American high school environments: Opportunities for improving academic outcomes and ecological awareness".
Feel free to write or submit material to be presented. Meanwhile, stay tuned for upcoming news!
Dr. Lang's E-mail: dalelang@vircom.net
Prof. Dowcett's E-mail: taoset@mac.com
Back to Home Page: http://educationalDESIGN.net/
educational DESIGN:
"rethinking public education from the ground up"