Three Years Later:  Great Schools by Design Participants See Results

"School design is an area in which superintendents have no expertise. It was great to marry architecture and new buildings to teaching and learning. This should be a required class for all superintendents."

Dr. Sylvester Small

Former Superintendent

Akron Public Schools

Beginning in 2008, The American Architectural Foundation (AAF) undertook a comprehensive external evaluation of the Great Schools by Design (GSbD) program to determine successes and areas for improvement in the program. According to participant responses, superintendents and other K-12 Public school leaders who attend GSbD Institutes experience transformational thinking about design, which bolsters their ability to effectively convey design ideas to stakeholders, and, ultimately, has a positive impact on the design of their schools. 

Evaluation results indicated that participants valued the direct feedback from architects and planners about their project plans.  In early 2006, Dr. Susan Gourley, Superintendent of Lincoln Public Schools in Nebraska, attended a school design institute.  Her goal was to look for additional collaborative opportunities to share public space and add community services to new schools.  She came to the institute with optimism for her dream, but also with many questions, recognizing that historically such partnerships had presented challenges.  Dr. Gourley left the institute with clear strategies to address and balance all the competing factors, and feeling braver about practical solutions to address design issues.  Nearly three years later, Lincoln has two boldly designed schools under construction that will share space.  One elementary school will collaborate and share space with a branch of Lincoln City Libraries.  A middle school, in the first such collaboration in Nebraska, will serve as a site for a new YMCA.

Dr. Bill Vogel, Superintendent of Seminole County School District in Florida, was challenged to develop an arts magnet school. His experience at a February 2008 institute helped him realize that the school needed to be located and designed to serve as a gateway to the community. He also realized how much design affects one’s attitude about a school. Dr. Vogel notes that "the Institute challenged us to make it look like an arts magnet school not just focus on getting a structure up. It challenged us to make the physical building reflect the [school’s] philosophy."

Most participants reported feeling empowered by learning new concepts and vocabulary. Dr. Pamela Moran, Superintendent of Albemarle Schools in Virginia, brought an elementary addition project to the institute for feedback. She left with ideas that influenced not just the elementary project but also transferred to another project, a high school math/science academy facility also on Albemarle’s design table. As a result of her experience at the institute her district’s design went from being a "little innovative" to being far more "advanced"; from aiming for a Silver LEED designation to seeking Platinum LEED. Adding a green roof, uncovering mechanicals and structural elements as teaching tools, and rethinking how to infuse flexible learning spaces created a very different academy design than the original proposal.  Buildings, in Dr. Moran’s eyes, have become a very different and powerful thing.

Great Schools by Design (GSbD) is a national initiative of the American Architectural Foundation that seeks to improve the quality of America’s schools and the communities they serve by promoting collaboration, excellence and innovation in school design. Following the 2006 National Summit on School Design, AAF has conducted forums to gather concepts, current perspectives, and best practices on a number of topics recommended by the Summit participants. AAF appreciates the continuing support of Great Schools by Design’s presenting sponsor Target.

Click here to learn more about Great Schools by Design.