Small Learning Communities and Building Design

Readers: what follows is the second half of the report I gave to the Board last night. It's an extension of my April 13th post on "Professional Learning Communities"

One of the presentations I attended at NSBA's April conference was by a school district that – like State College - was facing the imperative of significant renovations to their high school facility. Marysville School District in Washington state decided this was an opportunity for them to re-vision what a 21st century high school might look like.

With a guiding committee of about 50 teachers, parents and students, Marysville began by brainstorming a "day in the life" of a high school student.  This lead to the establishment of a set of guiding principles.

The central principal centered on relationships.

•     Students should be known, valued and inspired to perform at their highest potential.
•     Collaboration (at all levels) personalizes learning.
•     Every student should have an adult advocate.

In addition to relationships, they also stressed the importance of interest-based, collaborative learning experiences; and school-community partnerships that include internships and community projects. In addition, each of their learning communities should have a distinct, well-articulated vision and focus. This vision should encompass and impact curriculum, instructional approaches, professional development, as well as building design.

Their year of planning included virtual tours of successful schools, along with site visits.

One of the things they discovered was that if you ask people what they want in a new school, they'll tell you that what they want is what they've always had. This made clear the importance of giving as many people as possible the opportunity to experience successful educational systems in other communities. Most people need to see an actual example in order to imagine doing something different from what they already know.

As a result of student and faculty surveys, Marysville ended up with eight high school options: This included five "interest-area" schools of about 400 students each:

•     Construction and Engineering
•     The Bio-Med Academy
•     International School of Communications
•     School for the Entrepreneur
•     Arts and Technology

When it came time for students to select the school they wanted to attend, they didn't ask students, "what do you want to do for a living?" Rather, they found it was better to frame the question as "what interests you enough to make you want to go to school?"

Four of these learning communities will be located in separate buildings on a new 1600 student campus, surrounding a “Community Commons” area that houses shared functions such as physical education and food service. The academic buildings are designed for future flexibility, with the load-bearing walls and plumbing located around the perimeter. This makes it easier to rearrange the interior spaces, should that become necessary.

Their Arts school and their Heritage school - this is an area with a large Native-American population - are located at a second facility. The Mountainview school, which is somewhat analogous to our Delta program, has its own building. Eventually, their original high school building will serve the approximately 1200 students who want the opportunity to explore several options.