A School Management Committee (SMC) is an administrative tool adopted in many developing countries to decentralise administrative and financial responsibilities at school level, while involving local people in decision-making and making education more responsive to demands. I question the assumption linking administrative decentralisation and…

Many contemporary superintendents face a new challenge, one of ensuring that the school buildings in their school districts are safe, sound, and conducive to offering the educational programs found in twenty-first century classrooms. Despite the growing need to upgrade the physical plants in many school districts, few superintendents have the…

This article introduces a theoretical framework for studying school improvement processes such as making school environments safer. Using concepts from spatial theory, in which distinctions between mental, social and physical space are applied makes for a multidimensional analysis of processes of change. In a multilevel case study, these were…

This article considers a school community initiating change in pedagogical practices to complement new-build premises in the context of demands for school improvement, but constraints on autonomy. We investigate how school leaders planned the change towards enquiry-based learning in flexible spaces, and how teaching staff prepared for the coming…

This report provides nationally representative data on the condition of public school facilities. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) previously collected data on this topic in 1999 (Lewis et al. 2000). The study presented in this report collected information about the condition of public school facilities in the 2012-13 school…

Many universities exist apart from their community's public schools. A New Orleans area public university took measures to facilitate collaborative partnerships with four public schools. Those schools were taken over and converted to charter schools by state officials for poor performance. The partnerships created simultaneous opportunities…

Could new types of pedagogy that involve more classroom projects and peer instruction encourage school districts to replace outdated furniture and redesign classrooms? Or could new classroom designs using modular furniture have an impact on how teachers engage their students? These are just a few of the questions that educators, instructional…

As soon as the winds that left seven students in Moore, Okla., dead last month had calmed, and more storms blew through the same area less than two weeks later, questions about the safety of schools in a region labeled Tornado Alley rose amid the rubble. While better design of new schools and thorough emergency training and practice may be in…

This article presents a case study examining the demise of a high school Mandarin language program in a school district that appeared to offer an exceptionally friendly habitat for its survival. Though members of the school board majority who voted against funding the program offered rational explanations for their decision (e.g., insufficient…

Buildings consume approximately 40 percent of the energy used in the U.S., and efficiency is widely recognized to be the most effective means for containing demand and reducing use. Institutions of higher education make up a significant proportion of building area and annual energy and facility-related costs in the United States. The national…

Jane L. Beyer Westerhold knows no boundaries. As superintendent of the Des Plaines (Ill.) Community Consolidated School District 62 in suburban Chicago, Westerhold has led a three-year master plan with a $109 million facilities upgrade, narrowed the achievement gap between low-income and other students, and kept a AA+ bond rating--the highest…

There is excitement in the air at Clarke Central High School in anticipation of a $28 million renovation planned on its 27-acre, urban campus located just minutes from the University of Georgia in Athens. This extensive construction aims to fulfill a board of education mandate to provide equity among the Clarke County school facilities and will…

Gone are the days when green campus initiatives were a balm to the soul and a drain on the wallet. Today's environmental initiatives are all about saving lots of green--in every sense of the word. The environmental benefits of green campus projects--whether wind turbines or better insulation--are pretty clear. Unfortunately, in today's…

When school populations grow to the point where districts must consider new construction, many district administrators face a fork in the road: renovate or opt for new construction? The importance of this decision should not be taken lightly; it can have serious ramifications for years to come. Each situation is unique. Just as no two students are…

This article asks the following questions: (1) Is there a link between new construction and student achievement? (2) What role does socioeconomics play in the answer? Data were collected for seven academic indicators and two behavioral indicators. The high schools ranked in the lowest wealth quartile were then divided into two groups: schools with…