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The 21st Century School Fund
Mary Filardo, executive director, 21st Century School Fund, and director, Building Educational Success Together
(BEST) collaborative
The mission of the 21st Century School Fund is to build the public
will and capacity to improve urban public-school facilities so they
support high-quality education and community vitality—through
innovation, planning, and advocacy.
We have facilitated public-private development partnerships to
rebuild schools; established an online information service for
patrons of the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS);
published a facilities information management guide for state and
local education agencies; developed decision-support software for
long-range educational planning; and participated in the
development of the DCPS master plan.
The 21st Century School Fund organizes and advocates to build a
broad constituency committed to improving public education
infrastructure; to providing “listening” leadership by
translating community aspirations, values, and concerns; and to
building collaboration toward specific policy and budget
goals.
Building Educational Success Together
The partners in Building Educational Success Together (BEST) were
chosen to provide a national base:
- 21st Century School Fund (Washington, D.C.)
- Education Law Center (Newark)
- KnowledgeWorks Foundation (Cincinnati)
- Neighborhood Capital Budget Group (Chicago)
- New Schools Better Neighborhoods (Los Angeles)
- New Visions for Public Schools (New York)
- National Trust for Historical Preservation (Washington,
D.C.)
- National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (Washington,
D.C.)
- Mark Schneider (State University of New York, Stonybrook).
BEST’s mission is threefold: constituency building,
research, and communications. It has researched and disseminated
model policies related to the
- Integration of community involvement in facilities
planning
- Design and operation of schools as centers of community
- Effective and efficient facility management and oversight of
facility planning, design, construction, modernization, and
maintenance
- Equitable and adequate funding for capital improvements and
maintenance.
KnowledgeWorks Foundation
Barbara Diamond, Esq., vice president for communities and
school facilities and for public policy, KnowledgeWorks Foundation
The KnowledgeWorks Foundation works in two major areas—college
access and school improvement—to empower communities to
improve public education. It is based in Ohio, where it is active
at the community and state levels to support community involvement,
good design, and information sharing. Recognizing the value of the
national community for Ohio schools, KnowledgeWorks has become
involved in advocacy at the national level. It has partnered with
the American Architectural Foundation as well
as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Its
national work includes convenings, alliances, federal policy and
the National Search for Excellence (www.nationalsearch.org), which focuses on
schools as centers of community.
Like the 21st Century School Fund and other BEST partners,
KnowledgeWorks encourages architects to become involved in advocacy
at the state and national levels. We need your voice, and you
can’t do it alone. Reaching out is important to all of us if
we are to see the policy changes that will make schools great
places to learn and centers of community strength.
Research: Understanding the
Relationships
Mark Schneider, PhD, distinguished professor of political
science, State University of New York, Stony Brook;
and partner, BEST (Building Educational Success Together)
Collaborative
Research findings about the relationship between school buildings
and educational outcomes include some “news you can use”
to get school boards to think about the relationship between
facilities and achievement. Three recent studies, available on the
National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF) Web site
(www.edfacilities.org), investigated the
effects of facility condition and design on teachers, in
Washington, D.C., and Chicago; school condition and the role of the
principal, in New Jersey; and the relationship between
environmental compliance and student achievement, in Los Angeles.
The overall conclusion is this: Facilities matter.
In the mid-1990s, a Government Accounting Office study found that
one in five American schoolchildren, more than 8 million students,
were affected by poor indoor air quality in their schools. Poor
outcomes are driven by adverse health effects. Poor facilities also
affect the health and productivity of teachers. The Chicago study
linked approximately $4 million in lost teacher time to facility
issues. It also found facility condition is a factor in teacher
retention, more critical than ever under the No Child Left Behind
Act. Both findings could be effective “hooks” if you were
talking to a school board about the need to address facility
issues.
Children require a greater volume of air, in proportion to their
body weight, than adults do; and poor ventilation is associated
with lower mental acuity as well as allergies and respiratory
problems. The wrong temperature can inhibit learning, and the
ability to control room temperature is a significant issue for
teachers. Mold is a growing problem, associated with many health
problems; it can also cause significant, and costly, damage to
buildings.
Appropriate lighting has been linked to higher academic
performance. Daylighting is best, so school designs now incorporate
more windows. Full-spectrum lighting has proven ineffective, and
costly. Good acoustics are important to teacher performance and
morale, and they are linked to better academic performance and
classroom behavior in students.
We know well-maintained buildings are associated with lower rates
of vandalism, absenteeism, and violence and with better academic
performance, but additional research is needed to identify the
specific factors that matter.
There is evidence that, within any class of schools, small is
better. There is a debate about what “small” means, but
the consensus is 300 to 400 students in an elementary school and
less than 1,000 students in a high school. The Gates Foundation is
a strong advocate for small schools, but questions about their
effectiveness remain. The intuitive belief that small schools work
better appears to be true, but we don’t have the research to
identify the critical factors.
We know small schools are associated with higher student
achievement, greater safety and order, less truancy, lower dropout
rates, higher extracurricular participation, stronger affiliation
with the school community, and attenuation of the negative academic
effects of poverty. They are also linked to higher levels of parent
and community involvement and satisfaction, more positive teacher
attitudes, and greater teacher satisfaction. Public opinion favors
small schools; surveys find that most parents and students
want small schools.
The impact of significant class-size reduction is stunning, and the
effects are stronger for students from lower socioeconomic-status
backgrounds. However, if we reduce class sizes by one-third, where
do we put those students? People have not yet calculated the costs
of small schools and small classes in terms of new schools and
additional teachers.
The Need for Research and Advocacy
Mary Filardo, 21st Century School Fund and BEST
We ask far too many teachers and students to spend hours of their
day in environments in which we would never work. However the legal
environment will compel states to face inadequate school
infrastructure, and discussions of educational adequacy
increasingly include school facilities.
We have spent $169 billion on school construction—to what
effect? Current research is focusing on how that money was spent.
Which students benefited—by race, family income, region, and
school size? Which schools benefited—by achievement level,
grade level, and size? Which neighborhoods benefited—by
income, home ownership, and mother’s education? Which states
benefited—by school funding and legal environment? BEST is
working with a number of partners and data sources to answer these
questions.
We are seeking partners in your community. Constituency building is
important work, and we need all the allies we can get. As
architects, your voices will be important not just locally—but
also at the state and national levels.
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