Forum on the Role of Design in the Transformation of the American High School

There is an emerging recognition that in too many circumstances, the traditional single-use, and single-site high school is an obsolete and failing (or failed) model. This is especially true in the urban situation where school facilities are often deteriorating, high challenge populations are often underserved, and educational relevance to life and career is often absent. As part of a national strategy to transform the very concept of the American high school, the American Architectural Foundation is exploring the crucial role of design in facilitating the creation of more effective learning environments. On August 21 and 22, AAF convened a national group of architects, educators, technology experts, developers and philanthropists to discuss the challenge and possible strategies in addressing the national imperative to more effectively educate America’s youth.

The time has come to encourage school systems and educators across the country to adopt dynamic new models for school design. Two powerful ideas emerge from the Urban Schools Forum that may ultimately drive the creation of 21^st-century schools and open the door to significant advances in learning, especially for students in urban settings.

Schools as Centers of Communities: Innovative schools are being built with a new goal: serving the entire community. In addition to educating students during the day, these new facilities provide space to address the life-long needs of adults and families. For example, model learning centers are successfully combining space for family health services and adult education with traditional youth studies. Rather than a single building, this 21^st-century community learning center offers a multi-purpose, people-focused campus that can support and energize the surrounding community.

STEM Schools: Schools dedicated to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math offer students of all abilities a pathway to success in the 21^st-century marketplace and respond to a growing concern about our national capacity to produce technology educated employees of the future. As cities compete for residents and seek to attract high-tech businesses, the STEM choice signals progressive leadership and understanding of the need for a globally competitive, technology-literate workforce, while offering students from all walks of life an open-ended future in such growing fields as engineering, computers and health care.

The fundamental dynamic behind both trends is appropriate, learning-focused school design. To meet the challenge of educating a productive workforce and equipping citizens with the tools to navigate an increasingly complex world, schools must innovate as well. Yet, too often, school facility design has not changed significantly since the 1950s, even though the digital revolution has altered the very concept of education. School systems across the country continue to build large, inflexible classroom factories with fixed walls and rows of desks, while their clients – high school students and their teachers – are immersed in and learning from a collaborative, Internet-empowered world without walls.

Forum Participants

Matthew Bell, AIA
Principal, Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects

Thomas H. Blurock, FAIA
Founder, Principal-in-Charge, IBI Group
Tom Carroll, Ph.D
President, National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future

David Ethan Greenberg
CEO, New Schools Development Corp

Christopher B. Leinberger
Visiting Fellow, The Brookings Institution

Kerry Leonard, AIA
Principal & Senior Education Planner, OWP/P

Roger J. Limoges
Manager of State and Local Advocacy, U.S. Green Building Council

Judy Marks, Hon. AIA
Associate Director, NCEF, National Institute of Building Sciences

Elizabeth (Liz) Ogbu, Assoc. AIA
Design Campaign Manager, Public Architecture

Linda G. Roberts, Ed.D.
Former Director
Office of Educational Technology
U.S. Department of Education

Steven G. Seleznow, Ed.D.
Program Director, Education
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Dr. Kurt A. Steinhaus
Director
Community Programs Office
Supporting Education, Economic Development and Community Giving
Los Alamos National Laboratory

John M. Weekes, AIA
Principal, Dull Olson Weekes Architects, Inc.

Jess Zimbabwe, AICP, LEED-AP
Director, Mayors' Institute on City Design
Senior Director of Programs. American Architectural Foundation
U.S. Conference of Mayors

Linda Hales
Contributing Editor
Architect Magazine

Great Schools by Design (GSbD) is a national initiative of the American Architectural Foundation that seeks to improve the quality of America’s schools and the communities they serve by promoting collaboration, excellence and innovation in school design. Following the 2006 National Summit on School Design, AAF has conducted forums to gather concepts, current perspectives, and best practices on a number of topics recommended by the Summit participants. AAF appreciates the continuing support of Great Schools by Design’s presenting sponsor Target.

Click here to learn more about Great Schools by Design.