Support for facilities that are safe and attractive
Although not all school boards have a chance to design a developmentally responsive middle school or to redesign or renovate an existing school, those who can emphasize:
- Layouts that facilitate easy supervision (for safety) of all areas
- Small learning community areas that facilitate team teaching and professional learning community collaboration
- Technology supports such as projectors, electronic whiteboards, and computer labs
- Areas for the visual and performing arts
- Areas for physical education
- Classrooms that allow for math projects and science labs
- A library/media center where students can do research in an inviting setting with knowledgeable support personnel
“Successful examples of new school architecture, while varying in material and form, all emphasize the creation of sociable, enjoyable spaces . . . and the best school architecture can itself serve as an inspiring, educational tool.”1
Other resources to assist local governing boards and superintendents with middle school design features are as follows:
- Healthy Children Ready to Learn: Facilities Best Practices
- Nutrition by Design (PDF; 721KB; 45pp.)
- “8 Strategies for Middle School Design" (Outside Source), by August Battaglia and Robin Randall, National School Board Journal
- Existing school designs that help the professional learning community focus on small learning communities and teaming include:
- John Glenn Middle School (Outside Source), Schools to Watch™-Taking Center Stage (Outside Source), Indio
- Silverado Middle School (Outside Source), Schools to Watch™-Taking Center Stage (Outside Source), Placer County
- Rio Norte Junior High School (Outside Source), William S. Hart Union High School District, Santa Clarita
- Designs of the following schools promote teaming and articulation:
- Toby Johnson Middle School (Outside Source), Schools to Watch™-Taking Center Stage, Elk Grove
- Reyburn Intermediate School (Outside Source), Clovis
- Dollars & Sense II: Lessons from Good, Cost-Effective Small Schools (Outside Source). Cincinnati, Ohio: Knowledge Works Foundation, 2005.
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Compliance with the Williams case
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Support for instructional technology
Footnote
1 Jonathan Glancey, “A Classroom with a View” (Outside Source), The Guardian, June 20, 2006.