Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Some Very Welcome Changes

  • By Deb Moore
  • 10/01/09
I have been fortunate enough to sit on a number of architectural juries in the past few years. I have always enjoyed reviewing the projects and seeing what was new, but it wasn’t until the last year or so that I really began to see schools where the design was substantially different from the one that I remember attending in Pittsburgh as a child. (Keep in mind that my kids tell me that dinosaurs still roamed the earth when I graduated from high school.) No question, that in past years new spaces were added to accommodate the latest technologies, but for the most part, a classroom was still just a classroom, accommodating rows of students in rows of desks.

In the last few years, the acronym SLCs (smaller learning communities) started popping up everywhere in project descriptions. The SLC structure includes autonomous schools-within-a-school, freshman academies, multi-grade career or themed academies and other like programs. In 2009, a number of the award-winning project designs were career academies where students could focus on a particular skill-set such as nursing, gaining practical experience in a specific field and earning college credits while still in high school. To support the further development of SLCs, the Department of Education’s Smaller Learning Communities Program plans to announce a new grant competition sometime in 2010.

Another acronym that started popping up was the ELA (extended learning areas). Extended learning areas are flexible spaces designed to promote student engagement and contemporary educational delivery. You won’t find rows of desks in these areas, but rather flexible furniture, informal seating, storage and display areas. ELAs accommodate a wide variety of student activities including individual tutoring, small-group interaction, team-based projects and special events. For students they also provide a more intimate setting that inspires a strong sense of community and encourages relationships with teachers and students alike.

It’s not my classroom winning awards anymore — and I’m glad!

Featured

  • North Carolina District Completes New Elementary School

    The Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) in Holly Springs, N.C., recently announced that construction on a new elementary school has finished, according to a news release. Rex Road Elementary School measures in at 133,000 square feet and is the fifteenth school that general contractor Balfour Beatty has completed for the district.

  • DFW-Area District Opens New Replacement Middle School

    The Eagle Mountain-Saginaw Independent School District near Fort Worth, Texas, recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new replacement middle school campus, according to a news release. The new facility for Wayside Middle School, originally established in 1964, was built on the site of the former district administration building and funded through Bond Proposition A in 2023.

  • University of Rhode Island, Gilbane Partner for Three New Residence Halls

    The University of Rhode Island in Kingston, R.I., recently announced a public-private partnership with construction development firm Gilbane, according to a news release. Gilbane will soon start construction on three new residence halls with a total of 1,100 beds: two with apartment-style suites in northwest campus, and a reconstruction of the Graduate Village Apartments for graduate students.

  • UCNJ Launches $30M Modernization of Physical Education Center

    The Union College of Union County (UCNJ) in Cranford, N.J., recently broke ground on a new $30-million modernization project for its Physical Education Center (PECK), according to a news release. The college partnered with DIGroup Architecture for the project’s design, transitioning the existing 42,000-square-foot structure into a campus hub for student athletics and campus life.