Provides seven case studies of districts where superintendents and school boards are instituting policies and creating practices that allow charter schools to take over or occupy underutilized and unused public buildings. This report also identifies strong policies to ensure charter schools have equitable access to surplus school district space. 36p.

This paper presents an assessment, spreadsheets and floor plan as evidence that the DOE needs to carefully reconsider its recommendation to extend the co-location of the PAVE Charter School in the PS15 school building. 15p.

Summarizes an analysis of space utilization of Brooklyn's PS-15 elementary school, a facility that houses a traditional and a charter school, as well as community services. The report reveals that the traditional classrooms are typically undersized and crowded, while the charter school classrooms are somewhat better. The report also addresses space for special education, impending issues for shared spaces (cafeteria, gymn, auditorium), and the inadequacy of the school library. 6p.

None of the 29 Los Angeles Unified charter schools examined in this study met state and federal standards for making campuses accessible to disabled students, some lacked wheelchair-friendly bathrooms and walkways, and one contained no compliant features whatsoever. 5p.

Provides a step-by-step guide for integrating sustainable building features into a charter school facility. The guides includes an overview of the benefits of green schools, worksheets, advice on critical issues, organizational tips and other useful information vital for the project. Sections cover determining project goals, developing the plan, designing the facility, building commissioning, and financing. Seven case studies and a glossary of green terminology are included. 71p.

Provides a summary of research on small schools and shared facilities showing that, on average, smaller schools provide a safer and more challenging school environment that leads to higher academic achievement and graduation rates, fewer disciplinary problems, and greater satisfaction for families, students, and teachers. Also includes 22 case studies of public schools in 11 states, representing urban, suburban, and rural communities; district-run and charter public schools; and co-housing of almost 50 schools and social service agencies. These studies document the ability of smaller schools to improve academic achievement and behavior in safe, nurturing, and stimulating environments. The studies further suggest that sharing facilities with other organizations can enable schools to offer broader learning opportunities for students, provide higher quality services to students and their families, and present a way to efficiently use tax dollars. 68p.

Presents the plans for an upgraded Washington, D.C., elementary school campus which will subsequently host a renovated 40-year old school and a new public charter school. A project summary, plans aerial views, perspectives, project schedule, LEED approach, and budget are included. 22p.

A team of clients, architects, and a contractor discuss how they worked together to turn an abandoned laundry building into a vibrant new charter high school. The process created a school that feels like home to the students, and helps revitalize their New Jersey community. The different phases of the project are explained using a series of online videos, models of the project, photographs of the before and after, and photographs of the final project.

Profiles the innovative design of the Denver School of Science and Technology and how it supports learning. The 17-minute video and accompanying resource guide provide background information, design strategies, and additional resources for viewers, and introduces school design concepts that can help improve student achievement. The text describes concepts of flexible and inspiring learning spaces, community participation in design, a healthy school indoor environment, security through design, thorough technology integration, a building that is part of the learning process, personalized attention in a small school environment, access to the natural environment, and use of the school as a community center. 27p.

Profiles this successful Boston high school that includes apartments for the tutors who work there, receiving a stipend and free housing for their work. 2p.

Offers guidance on construction of a new building, addition, or renovation of a magnet or charter school. Twelve exemplary projects are described, followed by guidance on funding, finding a home for the charter school, designing for autistic students, specialized school design, technology, site design and landscape architecture for urban schools, acoustics, indoor air quality, sustainable design, and design-build project delivery. A draft charter school operations plan and 36 references are included. 228p.

A plan for the renovation of and improvements to the Nichols Avenue School building and site in the District of Columbia, for the future home of Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter School. This "how-to" manual is designed for individuals interested in modernizing or building new public school facilities in their neighborhoods. Modeled after an innovative public-private development partnership, this tool details the importance of school facilities and community involvement, then explains the five basic steps to planning a new school or renovating an existing building: assessment, envisioning, planning, development and implementation. [Author's abstract] 46p.

With funding from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative Green Buildings Program and the design expertise of HMFH Architects Inc., the Media and Technology Charter High School has incorporated many green design features into its building. One of the main green features and the focus of this web site is the utility interactive photovoltaic (PV) system designed by Solar Design Associates, Inc. on the roof of the school.

Presents a conceptual plan for locating a law-related charter high school to a small, historic neighborhood school building. The deficiencies described include lack of administrative, physical education, cafeteria, and assembly spaces, and sufficient classroom space. Site plans illustrate the design remedies and are accompanied by cost estimates. 59p.

This provide text and images of the Camino Nuevo Charter Academy in Los Angeles, California. This charter school was founded by a non-profit community support group in Westlake. It was created by reusing and renovating an abandoned stucco mini-mall, warehouse buildings, and a parking lot. The primary design goal of the charter school was to create buildings that are inviting and invigorating to the whole community.

This document offers 19 case studies that show how people across the United States have kept historic schools as vital parts of their communities. The case studies offer concise summaries of information that architects, contractors, and school administrators have shared with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. They describe projects that illustrate reasonable solutions to: building code compliance, structural problems, deferred maintenance, mechanical-HVAC upgrades, safety issues, compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, integration of 21st-century technology, adaptation to modern educational programmatic needs, and sympathetic additions to historic structures. Contact information provided in each "success story" gives school facility decision makers and neighborhood preservationists the opportunity to talk directly with experts who have overcome vexing problems in school rehabilitation. The schools profiled are: (1) St. Helena Elementary School, St. Helena, California; (2) Portland Middle School, Portland, Connecticut; (3) The Thomas A. Edison Charter School, Wilmington, Delaware; (4) William McKinley High School, Honolulu, Hawaii; (5) Boise High School, Boise, Idaho; (6) Evergreen Academy, Chicago, Illinois; (7) William H. Ray Elementary School, Chicago, Illinois; (8) Carl Schurz High School, Chicago, Illinois; (9) The Shakespeare School, Chicago, Illinois; (10) East Boston High School, Boston, Massachusetts; (11) Fairhaven High School, Fairhaven, Massachusetts; (12) Sidney Pratt School and Community Education Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota; (13) Edward Lee McClain High School, Greenfield, Ohio; (14) Logan Elementary School, Columbia, South Carolina; (15) St. Louis School, Castroville, Texas; (16) Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas; (17) Appomattox Regional Governor's School, Petersburg, Virginia; (18) St. Andrew's School, Richmond, Virginia; and (19) Latona Elementary School, Seattle, Washington. 61p.

Provides brief case studies of 22 public school buildings in 12 states, representing urban, suburban, and rural communities, including both district-run and charter public schools. The studies demonstrate these schools' ability to improve academic achievement and behavior in safe, nurturing, and stimulating environments. Case study analysis reveals that on average, smaller schools can provide a safer and more challenging school environment that creates higher academic achievement and graduation rates, fewer disciplinary problems, and greater satisfaction for families, students, and teachers. The studies also suggest that sharing facilities with other organizations can enable schools to offer broader learning opportunities for students, provide higher quality services to students and their families, and present a way to efficiently use tax dollars. 64p.

This booklet offers four two-page case studies of schools demonstrating exemplary facilities design. The institutions profiled are: Beverly Elementary School in Allen, Texas; Charles Young Elementary School in Washington, DC; Robert L. Mueller Charter Elementary School in Chula Vista, California; and Ridgeland High School in Northwest, Georgia. 11p.

Profiles this charter school on Chicago's south side, with classrooms featuring two glazed walls each, one facing the outdoors and one facing the interior corridor.

Profiles this Lennox, California, facility. The small site near a freeway was addressed with an inner courtyard design, featuring 650 solar panels. A list of project participants, photographs, and plans are included.

Profiles the conversion of an abandoned 1905 power house in Chicago into a charter high school. Extensive photographs and plans illustrate the transformation that left a significant amount of the original industrial fabric in place.

Profiles Detroit's Henry Ford Academy, a grade 6-12 charter school in an historic building in Detroit’s New Center district. The Art Deco structure was designed by Albert Kahn in 1928 for General Motors, and it housed the first design department in the history of the auto industry. The structure takes up an entire city block, and when GM relocated its headquarters more than a decade ago to the Renaissance Center on the waterfront, the building joined the growing number of vacant sites in downtown Detroit.

Profiles this charter school that renovated a 100 year-old former public school. Project information, plans, and photographs are included.

Describes the conversion of a Worcester, Massachusetts, factory into a charter public high school. The cleanup of the facility, the sophisticated technology installed, and the cost savings over building new are highlighted.

Profiles California's Lewis Center for Educational Research Academy for Academic Excellence. The K-12 charter school features a radio telescope, greenhouses, fish ponds, and a "mission control" room modeled after NASA.

Describes the technology-rich learning environment of the future, using Sacramento’s Tracy Learning Center as an example. The K-12 charter school has no classrooms or textbooks, with students working at computer stations and in digital projection areas.

Recognizes 44 outstanding new and renovated K-12 and higher education facilities. Each entry contains photographs, a text description, and summarized project data. Architect and manufacturer indices complete the supplement.

Presents ten school patterns and design examples, revealing some of the most relevant trends in educational design, drawn from research on charter schools. An interdisciplinary team of students in architecture, urban planning, business, education, and psychology have complied this series of case studies of best practices, as well as profiled charter schools locally, to develop patterns and guidelines for the facility planning and educational development of charter schools. This research addresses the connections between the designed physical environment and the learning innovations it supports, while encouraging the entrepreneurial charter school vision, emphasizing creativity in the renovation, adaptive reuse, and non-traditional use of existing buildings, efficiently maximizing student safety and learning, and adhering to best-practice standards of ecological design.

Profiles three historic schools that were renovated into effective modern learning environments, as well as one classroom annex that was created in an early 20th-century industrial building.

Profiles the creation of the DC Prep charter school in an 1970's abandoned and run-down former District of Columbia school. In only 40 days, the window- and wall-less open classroom plan was converted into individual classrooms with abundant and inviting common areas featuring vibrant colors and partial illumination from clerestory windows.

Presents the United Teachers of Los Angeles concerns on co-location of charter schools within public school facilities.

Reviews two adaptive reuse projects involving Colorado schools. In the first, a corporate office was converted into a K-12 charter school. In the second, a former high school was converted into a higher education arts center.

Reviews recommendations for these specialized schools. These include selection of sites accessible by students from many areas, or close to supporting institutions; subtle differences between classroom and lecture hall designs for different subjects; special accommodations for student projects and flexibility of furnishings; and community access.

Profiles the The Denver School of Science & Technology, a charter school with open and flexible spaces that accommodate collaborative learning, team teaching, and small learning communities . The extremely energy-efficient building boasts thorough technology integration and functions as a part of the learning process. Plans, photographs, and a list of project participants are included.

Profiles this Bronx charter elementary school, built into a former meatpacking factory and daylit via abundant skylights.

Profiles this Oakland charter school for grades 6-12 that provides every 11th- and 12th-grade student with an individual workstation in an open office equipped with computers, a fax machine, telephones, a printer, and a copier.

Profiles this unusual science and math magnet school in Los Angeles, designed by Thom Mayne of Morphosis. The charter elementary school has joined up with the California Science Center’s professional educational training and community outreach program (the Amgen Center for Science Learning) in operating the facility. The history of its planning and funding, as well as its innovative design are detailed. Photographs, plans, and a listing of project participants are included.

Presents a post-occupancy evaluation of this charter school created within an adapted industrial building in a blighted neighborhood. The avant-garde building houses public services and features ten classrooms with storage covered by sliding whiteboards. Graffiti problems are being addressed with vines along the building exterior.

Case studies, including project description, project team, and photographs, of the following schools: Perspectives Charter School, Chicago, IL, Perkins+Will; Perth Amboy High School, Perth Amboy, NJ, John Ronan Architect; Community School of Music and Arts, Mountain View, CA, Mark Cavagnero Associates; Benjamin Franklin Elementary School, Kirkland, WA, Mahlum Architects; Lick Wilmerding High School, San Francisco, CA,Pfau Architecture, Ltd; Clifton Middle School, Monrovia, CA Osborn; Building 9, Wildwood Elementary School, Los Angeles, CA, Cigolle X Coleman; Architects; and Bronx Charter School for the Arts, Bronx, N.Y.,Weisz + Yoes Architecture;

Describes the Denver School of Science and Technology, grand prize winner in this competition. The charter school building was selected for its well-thought out floor plan, with open and flexible spaces that accommodate collaborative learning, team teaching, and small learning communities.

Describes this Chicago school that takes advantage of its tight and unusually-shaped triangular site with a building that features daylighting and balconies overlooking a heavily-used multipurpose room "commons." Building statistics, a listing of the design and construction participants, plans, and photographs are included.

Describes the transformation of an auto shop, print shop, and metal shop into a charter school for high-tech career training. The flexible and open plan fuses educational and professional environments to help give students a feel for a contemporary workplace environment. Details of the sustainable design and state-of-the-art furnishings are included.

Describes The Accelerated School in Los Angeles, a charter facility in a distressed urban setting that features high security without looking like a fortress. The educational program was successfully compressed into a small site, a nearby park is used for athletic activities, and daylighting is featured throughout the building. Photographs, plans, and a list of project participants are included.

Eco-charter schools with environment-focused and project-based programs are springing up throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota and other states. Environment and sustainability are the integrating qualities of learning in "green," high-performance charter schools. Includes links to several "green" charter schools.

Describes Chicago's "Renaissance 2010 Neighborhood Schools Program," which aims to turn around the city's most troubled elementary and high schools by creating 100 new small neighborhood schools by 2010. One-third of the schools will be run by Chicago Public Schools, the other two-thirds as charter or contract schools. Civic and corporate entities are contributing financial and technical support.

Case study of the Media and Technology Charter High School (MATCH) in Boston, Massachusetts. The new charter school was designed as a renovation and adaptive reuse of a concrete-framed building. The three-story structure was built in 1918 as a showroom for the Lincoln Motorcar Company, but for the last three decades has housed a retail auto parts store. The building's historical integrity and aesthetics were preserved while a functional, high-tech, and cost-effective green space was created. The school installed 22 kW of solar photovoltaic panels on its roof to provide electricity to the building. The school building has won awards from the 2003 Northeastern Green Building Awards, the 2002 Boston Preservation Alliance Achievement Awards, and DesignShare's 2002 Awards for Innovative Learning Environments.

Describes a permanent modular addition to the Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter School of Philadelphia, which was built in six months, including sixteen weeks of factory construction. The addition maintains the architectural integrity of the existing building and of the downtown Philadelphia site.

Charter schools have proven an effective tool for urban economic development by reviving communities, providing services, and renovating older buildings. Because charter schools are not provided with a building, they are purchasing or leasing vacant, dilapidated properties and renovating them into spectacular new schools and community centers. Includes several case studies in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Newark.

The Pembrook Pines, Florida charter network has built seven new charter schools, accommodating 5,200 students. With red-tile roofs and pastel exteriors that locals now call "charter peach," the city has one K-5, four elementaries, a middle school, and a high school, all designed and built by the same company in the same Mediterranean style. [Free subscriber registration is required.]

Description of the Escondido Charter High School in San Diego, a $10 million school that will serve 1,000 students. The school features a state-of-the-art technology building, a two-story administration building, two science labs, two two-story classroom buildings, a 6,500-square-foot library and an athletic field for softball, football and soccer.

Describes the title school building, a middle school housed in an 8,500-square-foot, one-story former warehouse and an adjacent 10,500-square-foot, three-story former office building. Building statistics, a list of the project participants, cost details, a floor plan, and photographs are included.

Describes the design and construction of the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in West Las Vegas, a charter school for underprivileged children. Includes various project data.

Narrates the planning and design of this charter school for impoverished children in Indianapolis. The description of the process is followed by details of the design of the K-4 section and then the fifth grade addition. The school expects to add a grade each year until it is a K-12 facility.

Describes four successful renovations, two of which were of buildings not previously used as schools: 1) The Media and Technology Charter High School (MATCH), Boston, 2) Arts and City Magnet High School, Lowell, 3) Arts and City Magnet High School, Newport, 4) High Tech High, San Diego.

Case study of the design for the Harbor City International School, a public charter school in downtown Duluth, Minnesota. The floor plan includes a social team area, quiet team area, student work stations, science project lab, seminar/incubator, and a presentation forum.

Describes how several small schools have collaborated with the community and shared facilities, such as a former church, a former carriage factory, a medical complex, and a community college. Some of these small schools use social-service agency staff, others create schools-within-schools, and still others become charter schools.

Project overview of a grades 9-12, 11,440 square foot 200-student, public charter school that occupies the third floor of an 1860 industrial building in Duluth's central business district. Includes information on the floor/furniture plan, images, and building materials. This school won a 2002 Award for Innovative Learning Environments, sponsored by School Construction News & Design Share.

This article describes how modular construction enabled Newark Charter School in Newark, Delaware to meet its deadlines, tight budget, house 435 students between the fifth and seventh grades, and fulfill the community's needs for after-school activity and meeting space.

Describes the redesigned features of the Edison Schools of New York, a for-profit company which runs 113 public charter schools in "partnership" with local school districts. Designs are modular assemblies focused on technology with no blackboards, bookcases, or windows. Photos are included.

Discusses how an architectural firm took an abandoned mini-mall in Los Angeles and converted it into a charter school that helped revive the neighborhood in the process. Describes the title school building, including the educational context and design goals. Includes information on the architects, manufacturers/suppliers, and construction team; a general building description; and a commentary on the design. Also includes the floor plan and photographs. [Free subscriber registration is required.]

Case study and photographs of a 38,000 square foot charter high school that houses an animation lab, biochemistry and engineering labs, and flexible classroom space, all connected to an advanced electronic infrastructure. Clusters of personal computer workstations and group-study areas promote learning and teamwork.

Pembroke Pines, Florida, is to have the first municipally run open-enrollment charter school, with turnkey educational services being provided by a division of the Haskell Company, a design-build company delivering the school. According to Alex Fekete, mayor of Pembroke Pines, project costs for the Haskell Charter School are $6,800 per student station, whereas the state's average is $13,000 per student station.

Describes the charter school located within the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, and discusses theories of school design that should reflect the input of all stakeholders, including the school, the students, and the community.

Case study of an 8,000-square-foot technology and learning environment for the Guajome Park Academy, a charter school in Vista, California. The project was the result of a public-private partnership including Guajome Park Academy, the city of Vista, the Eastridge Companies, Norstan Communications, and Creative Learning Systems. Includes project description and photographs.