This book can be used as a graduate school text for courses in school buildings and facilities. It is probably more suitable as a guide for practitioners especially school district superintendents in small to medium sized school districts. Such districts make up the majority of school districts in this country. Lunenburg and Ornstein (1996) reported that 38% of the 15,000+ school districts in America enroll fewer than 1,000 students; and another 37% enroll from 1,000 to 5,000 students. America is a country of relatively small school districts. The book opens with a brief overview of the history of twentieth century school buildings and moves from there into a brief discussion of the requirements of today’s school buildings as integral parts of the communities they serve. Citizens need to understand problems and issues involving their school buildings. Understandings are reached through practice of positive relations between school and community. Good public relations facilitates mobilization of the public to assure that school buildings ultimately serve the publics’ interests.
'The Impact of School Infrastructure on Learning: A Synthesis of the Evidence provides an excellent literature review of the resources that explore the areas of focus for improved student learning, particularly the aspiration for “accessible, well-built, child-centered, synergetic and fully realized learning environments.†? Written in a style which is both clear and accessible, it is a practical reference for senior government officials and professionals involved in the planning and design of educational facilities, as well as for educators and school leaders. --Yuri Belfali, Head of Division, Early Childhood and Schools, OECD Directorate for Education and Skills This is an important and welcome addition to the surprisingly small, evidence base on the impacts of school infrastructure given the capital investment involved. It will provide policy makers, practitioners, and those who are about to commission a new build with an important and comprehensive point of reference. The emphasis on safe and healthy spaces for teaching and learning is particularly welcome. --Harry Daniels, Professor of Education, Department of Education, Oxford University, UK This report offers a useful library of recent research to support the, connection between facility quality and student outcomes. At the same time, it also points to the unmet need for research to provide verifiable and reliable information on this connection. With such evidence, decisionmakers will be better positioned to accurately balance the allocation of limited resources among the multiple competing dimensions of school policy, including the construction and maintenance of the school facility. --David Lever, K-12 Facility Planner, Former Executive Director of the Interagency Committee on School Construction, Maryland Many planners and designers are seeking a succinct body of research defining both the issues surrounding the global planning of facilities as well as the educational outcomes based on the quality of the space provided. The authors have finally brought that body of evidence together in this well-structured report. The case for better educational facilities is clearly defined and resources are succinctly identified to stimulate the dialogue to come. We should all join this conversation to further the process of globally enhancing learning-environment quality! --David Schrader, AIA, Educational Facility Planner and Designer, Former Chairman of the Board of Directors, Association for Learning Environments (A4LE)
The increase in the population of the United States and the rapid movement of people from rural to urban areas continue to create many problems in the great cities. Overcrowding of residential areas, congestion of streets and highways, increased demands for city services, and the changing social patterns of cities contribute to these problems. To solve them, immediate and long-range goals must be cooperatively established and striven for. Even though many of the legally constituted agencies such as the school systems, boards of health, highway departments, city planning commissions, and others are quite independent of one another, there is an essence of interdependence necessary to successful planning. Each agency would be in a better position to fulfill its own functions· and objectives if it had an awareness of the problems of the other agencies. This study, an attempt to identify characteristic problems in planning school facilities in metropolitan central cities, is one effort to acquaint the various planning groups with at least one phase of this very important and overall community interest.
Children who miss substantial amounts of school pose one of the most vexing problems for school officials. In many cases, school personnel must assess these students and successfully help them to return to the academic setting. This can be difficult considering most school-based professionals are pressed for time and do not have access to proper resources. The information in this book can help school officials combat absenteeism and reduce overall dropout rates. Designed for guidance counselors, teachers, principals and deans, school psychologists, school-based social workers, and other school professionals, Helping School-Refusing Children and Their Parents outlines various strategies for helping children get back to school with less distress, all of which can be easily implemented in schools. This fully-updated second edition provides recommendations for a multi-tiered approach to school absenteeism that concentrates on prevention (Tier 1), early intervention for emerging cases (Tier 2), and more extensive intervention and systemic strategies for severe cases (Tier 3), with each tier based on empirically supported strategies grounded in scientific research. A chapter on assessment describes several methods for identifying school refusal behavior, including time-limited techniques for school officials who have little opportunity to conduct detailed evaluations. Worksheets for facilitating assessment are included and can easily be photocopied from the book. Other chapters provide advice for working collaboratively with parents, preventing relapse, and special issues. Topics such as poverty, homelessness, teenage pregnancy, violence, and school safety are also addressed, as are individualized education or 505 plans and consultation with other clinicians.
A new approach to help kids with ADHD and LD succeed in and outside the classroom This groundbreaking book addresses the consequences of the unabated stress associated with Learning disabilities and ADHD and the toxic, deleterious impact of this stress on kids' academic learning, social skills, behavior, and efficient brain functioning. Schultz draws upon three decades of work as a neuropsychologist, teacher educator, and school consultant to address this gap. This book can help change the way parents and teachers think about why kids with LD and ADHD find school and homework so toxic. It will also offer an abundant supply of practical, understandable strategies that have been shown to reduce stress at school and at home. Offers a new way to look at why kids with ADHD/LD struggle at school Provides effective strategies to reduce stress in kids with ADHD and LD Includes helpful rating scales, checklists, and printable charts to use at school and home This important resource is written by a faculty member of Harvard Medical School in the Department of Psychiatry and former classroom teacher.
Many school buildings across America are falling apart due to age or lack of maintenance. Others are outmoded and do not meet the needs of modern educational programs and curricula. Unfortunately, school administrators and boards of education have found it increasingly difficult to obtain the funding necessary to correct facility problems in their districts. However help is at hand in the third edition of a popular title originally published in 1999. Holt updates the status of school facilities in the U.S. and provides new information on the relationship between school climate and student achievement. New to this edition is a discussion of the importance of technology in school bond issues and construction. The nuts and bolts of securing the funding for facility construction, a component of the building process usually overlooked in training administrators, are clearly outlined in chapters that begin with a look at the problem of aging schools and follow through the planning and project development phasesto the bond campaign and election day. Filled with tips, checklists, and insights on the details from experienced school leaders, this is the perfect guide to consult every step on the way to victory.
