Started fourteen years ago the Minnesota New Country (Charter) School serves 120 students in grades 6 through 12. Students represent the full range of abilities and family demographics, except for one thing: right now 40% of students are Special Ed students. The school’s facilities show us the future of school design. Ron Newell, co-founder of the school and now Director of Evaluations for EdVisions, a non-profit co-operative focusing on school reform, says “We could not do this kind of educational delivery in a traditional school building.” Instead the building is a series of learning spaces surrounding the central gathering/presentation/ display space. What is most striking about this plan is how little space is devoted to corridors.
Ninety-five percent of the building area is usable for learning, a 30% efficiency improvement over the more typical 70% factor. Whether that means the building is smaller than a building would be for standard educational delivery, or whether there are more learning experiences packed onto the building, the increased value is the same. Imagine this applied to all schools at a time when we want both increased learning and more cost effective facilities.
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