High Performance SchoolsBenefits of a High Performance School

• Higher Test Scores. A growing number of studies are confirming the relationship between a school’s physical condition, especially its lighting and indoor air quality, and student performance. One recent study of school districts in California, Washington, and Colorado indicates a strong correlation between increased daylighting and improved student performance. In the California district, for example, students in classrooms with the most daylighting progressed 20% faster on math tests and 26% faster on reading tests in one year than those in classrooms with the least amount of daylight. This study confirms what teachers, students, and parents have known anecdotally for years: a better facility—one with appropriate acoustics, lighting, indoor air quality, and other high performance features—will enhance learning and may improve test results.

• Increased Average Daily Attendance (ADA). A high performance school provides superior indoor air quality by controlling sources of contaminants, providing adequate ventilation, and preventing moisture accumulation. small increase can significantly boost the operating budget.

• Reduced Operating Costs. High performance schools are specifically designed—using life-cycle cost methods—to minimize the long-term costs of facility ownership. By using less energy and water than standard schools, overall operating costs are lower—particularly helpful in times of rising and uncertain energy prices—and with good operation and maintenance will remain so for the life of the facility. School districts can save 20–40% on annual utility costs

• Increased Teacher Satisfaction and Retention. High performance classrooms are designed to be pleasant and effective places to work. Visual and thermal comfort is high, acoustics are good, and the indoor air is fresh and clean..

• Reduced Liability Exposure. Because they are healthy and emphasize superior indoor environmental quality, high performance school buildings reduce a district’s exposure to health-related problems,

• Reduced Environmental Impacts. High performance school buildings are consciously designed to have low environmental impact. They are energy and water efficient.

(See References 2: US Environmental Protection Agency)

Reflection activity:

• Read the information provided.

• Consider the factors that contribute to improving professional practice and making your school a high performance environment?

Spaces, places and future learning resources

Reflection activity

• Is your school’s infrastructure including IT, policies, learning spaces and budgets supporting the quality learning of students and staff professional practice?

• What’s working? What needs improving?

• Will you need to think ‘beyond the school boundaries’ for schooling in the next 5 years? What will be the implications of this? Is this likely to change if you look further into the future?

“Spaces, Places and Future Learning” conference

• “This year’s Futurelab conference, held appropriately at Rich Mix in London, brought together a diverse gathering of teachers, policy makers, academics, designers, architects and IT developers to discuss the need to think imaginatively about the learning spaces of the future. The conference provided an opportunity to challenge our preconceptions of the environments in which we learn; to imagine learning taking place anywhere, in the school, home, work and community; and to reflect on the possibilities for transforming those learning spaces with innovative tools such as computer games and mobile, tangible and embedded technology.”

• Excerpt from Design Share (see References 2)

Building School Capacity Matrix Tool Components affecting the educational adequacy of the

instructional or teaching program include:

• Capacity of core facilities: libraries, administration areas, technical aspects (15%)

• Support for programs: specialist areas for specific classroom programs such as music, gym, multipurpose (20%)

• Technical: infrastructure, data distribution/storage & equipment, classroom or laboratory setting, emerging technologies, local area network cabling (20%)

• Support and Security: security fencing, lighting (10%)• Instructional Aids: teacher storage, sinks,

demonstration tables, fixed audio/video, counter heights (20%)

• Physical characteristics: size and shape of individual teaching areas, ceilings, adequacy of teaching space (5%)

• Learning Environment: comfort, lighting, odour-free (5%)

• Relationship of space – proximity to library, rest rooms, recreation, eating areas (5%)

(See References 4: Magellan)

Activity: Use the Building School Capacity matrix (including suggested percentages and Building School Capacity Adequacy Criteria (see link) as tools.

Think about the educational adequacy of these aspects in your school. As per the example, establish a score from 0-100 for each component. Then using the given percentages, work out the score for each aspect and overall score out of 100, with under 35 being poor and over 75 being positive.

Which aspects in terms of educational adequacy need further work in terms of capacity building in your school?

Building School Capacity Adequacy Criteria(From Magellan: See References 4)

School of the Future

(from FutureLab 2006 – see References 4)

• Reflection: Is this the kind of school you imagine for the future? What would be the implications for leaders in the management of staffing, facilities, curriculum, professional learning and budgets?

Now go to Collaborative Visioning for Future Schooling

Assertions

1. School leaders believe that how they develop their own and others’ professional practice has a direct bearing on the learning outcomes of their students

2. School leaders gain commitment from the whole community to develop a high performing school

3. School leaders involve others in building school capacity

4. School leaders build, support and work with high performing teams

5. School leaders use data-guided planning processes, to improve their own and others’ effectiveness

6. School leaders improve their own performance and that of all staff through explicit professional learning and performance management

7. School leaders value members as experts and provide appropriate professional direction