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.

High Tech High Chula Vista is organized into neighborhoods to promote team teaching as well as provide a sense of ownership and place. Novel approaches such as this help the charter school get results. One-hundred percent of the culturally diverse school’s graduates have been admitted to college. Students and faculty contribute to the school’s ongoing sustainability and sense of community by participating in carpooling, on-site recycling, composting and vermiculture. Extensive daylighting and a hybrid ventilation system contribute to an annual energy use index of 23.8 kBtu/ft2 and an ENERGY STAR rating of 94. Factory-made modular components reduced construction time, costs and waste.

An innovative adaptive reuse project transforms an ancient industrial building into a 21st-century charter school.

For public charter schools, expanding their school facilities or constructing a new school building can be a challenging experience. More than half of all U.S. charter schools are located in dense urban areas, where few buildable sites are available and developable land carries a hefty price tag. One option is to consider the revitalization and repurposing of older building stock. At first blush, planning a school in a building that was never meant for educational uses may seem counter-intuitive. However, the benefits of bringing back older buildings in core urban areas can serve the community in many ways. While their original purpose may be obsolete, comprehensive renovations to an existing structure can both offer a cost-effective alternative to building new and incorporate modern sustainable improvements to prepare older buildings for the future.

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.