The ancient Athenian "agora" functioned as a marketplace for ideas and commerce and offered an ideal place for teaching and learning. This digest suggests adapting such a model to modern needs and describes successful small schools that have done so while reducing costs. Research shows that small schools offer many advantages for…

After a quarter of a century of rapid and sometimes spectacular growth, an increasing number of school systems are finding themselves faced with shrinking enrollments. The problems have changed from what to do about overcrowding, double sessions, and temporary facilities, to what to do about empty classrooms. The report examines this…

This manual is intended for use by the Alberta, Canada, school boards, administrators, consultants, education staff, and other individuals involved in school building projects. The purpose of the School Capital Plan, funding, and Alberta Education's funding framework are detailed. The school building project components of the School Capital Plan…

This review cites documents and journal articles previously announced in the ERIC catalogs regarding the conventional aspects of site development, as well as some new trends in schoolhouse design. Economic necessities and changing educational practices suggest that the traditional concept of the school as a separate island within the community is…

This document reports the result of a 5-day meeting held to recommend the structural building adaptations and the curriculum organization necessary to the renovation of Concourse Plaza Hotel into a high school. According to the planning committee, the hotel has many features adaptable to a school, which would permit a meaningful departure from the…

This annual report reviews fiscal year 1999 for institutions serviced by the Minnesota Higher Education Facilities Authority. The report notes a slight decline in new financing activity, although the $87.7 million financed during the 1999 fiscal year was the second highest annual total for the Authority. Following some introductory material, the…

This plan was presented to the Minneapolis Board of Education as an informational report. The plan proposes long-range educational goals and the procedures and criteria for making school building decisions, presents the school-related components of the long-range comprehensive plan for the city, provides physical plant data for the schools and…

Volume II of a two-volume manual of design criteria, based primarily on biological safety considerations. It is prepared for the use of architect-engineers in designing new or modified microbiological facilities for Fort Detrick, Maryland. Volume II is divided into the following sections: (1) architectural, (2) heating, ventilating, and air…

Some of the problems of renovating school buildings and in particular the modernization of mechanical services in existing facilities are discussed. According to school management publications, approximately 42 per cent of our elementary and 59 per cent of our secondary schools are 15 years old or older. School plants, which were built 12 to 15…

A computer simulation model for allocating facilities and physical space is presented as a means of optimally allocating available educational resources. The model allows the decisionmaker to change specific program allocations, system parameters, and other controllable variables in order to determine the effects, both cost and utility, of these…

The purpose of this report is to study the transition from school to surplus property and the consequences for the immediate neighborhood. From the 53 schools closed in New York City since 1975, six schools were selected for study. Of the six schools, three are vacant, two are used by private organizations, and one by the board of education. Data…

This publication attempts to simplify the complex issue of declining enrollment and surplus school space. Part 1 is devoted to a thorough discussion of enrollment decline. Text and tables are used to explain enrollment projections, large city public school enrollment decline, birthrates, population mobility, expenditures for education, and the…

Methods in use in industry are suggested for providing vocational facilities that are flexible and adaptable to changing conditions. Academic and vocational activities are allowed to intermix in order to implement interdisciplinary educational situations. A systems approach to construction enabling specification of building components to fulfill…

A synthesis of ideas and proposals that have emerged in the course of recent Programme on Educational Building activities places emphasis on issues relating to the economic management of existing building resources. In recent years the development and administration of educational building policies have been affected by changes in the organization…

Seven schools located in and around an impoverished West Philadelphia community are highlighted. While all seven schools are representative of a movement toward the decentralization of authority, the involvement of people in their schools, and the humanization of the educational process, each is innovative in its own way. The authors first discuss…