The Wave of 21st Century Schools

With 21 years of experience as an architect, facility planner, and strategic consultant, James Brady, AIA, REFP, is the outgoing president of the Council for Educational Facility Planners International. It is no surprise that CEPFI-the primary advocate and resource for planning effective educational facilities-would chose to have Mr. Brady at its helm. Brady’s philosophy emphasizes real-life specialization in our educational models and actual schools, be it a Texas high school or an institution of higher learning in Northern Ireland. In addition to his commitment to CEFPI, Mr. Brady is vice president, director of educational facilities, at PageSoutherlandPage in Dallas, Texas. In the past, he has provided consulting services on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education and the AASA National Academy for School Executives. In this interview, Mr. Brady expounds upon his belief and first-hand knowledge of project-based instruction and collaborative planning, two keys to effectively prepare all students for entering the dynamic work-world of the 21st century.

Hava Leisner: Could you explain how an architect or planner would implement project-based instruction?

James Brady: I think the opportunity for a planner or project architect to implement project-based instruction is to, first of all, respond to a district’s curriculum needs, but in the context that they are able to bring in examples. When you start looking at project-based instruction there are really different strategies for learning and different strategies in the facility, so it’s really an opportunity for the visionary planner and architect to bring examples and solutions that allow classrooms to evolve into project-based instruction.

HL: What exactly does a collaborative planning process entail, how would that be carried out, and could you share an example with us?

JB: As education evolves into project-based instruction and authentic learning, collaborative planning leading to those solutions really is a critical direction-in that there will be a lot of partners with school districts now and in the future. And so, in the collaboration it’s about teachers, it’s about administrators, it’s about students, it’s about business, it’s about industry coming together and articulating what it is that students will need to know when entering the world of work.

So it’s the process of all the stakeholders to give power to assure the success, not only the financial success, but also the program success. The collaborative model brings the whole community into that process.

One example of just incredible collaboration is the Irving Academy in Irving, Texas. Here is where a community had authorized the building of a [grades] 9-12 academy that was based on specialization. And that specialization allowed doctors, lawyers, hospitals, business people in the community, technology, travel and hospitality [industries], to come and engage in different curricula discussions. They talked about what skill sets are needed for entry-level students entering those professions, if it’s going on to higher education or an entry-level position in those professions upon graduation from high school. The collaborative model had key business professionals involved in the curriculum and thus the facility responds to that curriculum. It’s form following function.

HL: Was the gathering of people-in the industry, in the community, and in the design realm-occurring before the school was actually built?

JB: It is critical to have these collaborative opportunities before the solution is put in place. These are concepts on paper, but people are identifying the kinds of activities that need to happen in a learning environment. Some of them are off-campus, some of them are on-campus, some of them are collaborative with community colleges, and so this is a planning process before an elevation or floor plan is developed.

Irving Academy is a brand new high school that opened this year with 1,300 students. It has a real doctor’s office and real courtrooms. It has authentic learning opportunities. So it’s the application of knowledge around themes-hospitality and tourism, technology, visual arts, medicine, and law. These are examples of thematic, multi-disciplinary approaches vs. departmental approaches, subject matter.

[At Irving Academy] not only is the curriculum very different than a traditional comprehensive high school but also the structure of support, that work-like atmosphere. The facility feels more like a dot.com. It’s about work being a collaborative, enjoyable process. It’s about engaging students in lifelong patterns of learning and cooperative working. It’s about a facility for them, not about a facility for adults to teach them. It’s about students learning and engaging-from the cafeterias that are more like discos or an electronic café-Irving Academy has an electronic café. It’s more about young adults engaged in their own learning paths, guided by community and facilitated by teachers.

HL: Can you tell me about what you learned when you were an education consultant abroad in Belfast at the Institute of Future and Higher Education?

JB: I think the trends we are seeing across the states are also going around the world. And the opportunity I had working in Northern Ireland was to look at how the university system and their vocational education system needed to evolve-again to more authentic lifelong learning processes. In the past, for many, a career was chosen as a very young teen and many of those careers don’t exist any more.

So what’s important is that there is this looping of the process of learning and gaining knowledge, and the application of knowledge, the expiration of knowledge, and the connection from the traditional vo-tech kinds of learning and the higher ed., that goes into a lifelong learning process. Again, working with the community’s idea of which skill sets are needed for people in the 21st century.

HL: So, for a lay person, who perhaps has not traveled abroad, would you say that the Belfast Institute of Future and Higher Education is more along the lines of a university or of a vocational school or a combination.

JB: I think it’s about a vocational school in a different context; let’s call it a career educational facility. Vocation often times was limited to agriculture and shop, and some of the verbiage of the past. This is really more around specialization.

HL: Drawing on your work as an editor for the Action Team Leaders Guide for Strategic Plan with the Texas Association of School Boards, can you impart to our readers some of the tips you learned?

JB: One of the critical aspects is having a plan-to-plan. Time is really valuable and as we move to collaborative planning processes there really needs to be, first of all, empowerment to the committee; there needs to be specific outcomes; there needs to be a schedule; there needs to be a facilitator. A real critical piece is having a thoughtful plan-to-plan so when the participants come [together] they are successful in this engagement.

This [guide] is a tool kit for the person putting together a planning process or a specific planning strategy. There are tools available for prioritizing, [how you] move the discussions along to focus on objectives and success because committee action often times becomes non-productive. The key at the very beginning is making sure that you are structured for success, and not structured for meetings with no outcomes.

The guide was a layperson’s guide to lead subcommittees in a larger process, where you didn’t necessarily have a skilled facilitator but the need to have one was still there. As we look at collaborative planning, the role of the facilitator is so critical. A non-bias person who is listening and pulling out the strong ideas, and getting people to process and prioritize and get feedback. The empowerment of these [committees] in connection to the decision makers are so critical because people get very burned out working in [a] committee structure that does not have access to the decision makers or isn’t authorized by the decision makers. Some keys include writing objectives and the process of writing an action plan. If we can’t come to closure on the critical issues, and really spend our time on the critical issues, then the minutia takes over and we aren’t being successful.

In a planning process, I think it’s very important to orchestrate the process and articulate it so the people who are going to authorize it also know the timeframe, how many people are going to be involved, and the expectations. You can move quicker and you don’t have to make it up as you go.

HL: Lastly, can you tell School Construction News about the process of conducting facility assessments at 44 schools in the growing San Antonio, Texas, area.

JB: I think assessment is really a critical aspect of facility planning because you need to establish some benchmarks of standardization for a district. And so, in this particular case, there were 44 campuses and as a district puts together its bond program they want to focus their limited resources on areas that need the most attention. You have to start first with the district’s instructional goals and what it is they need to deal with, whether it is safety or capacity or a new program thrust. But given those kind of parameters there is the opportunity to go and assess individual facilities as to how they measure up and compare to each other so if you only have $1.98, you know where you can get the most for your money.

A quick assessment doesn’t need to be so detailed that you count every outlet in every classroom. But they can go in and understand whether the light level is appropriate for kids to read in this school vs. adequate [lighting] at another school. As we have changed use of buildings or done something to lower energy costs, maybe we covered up half the window so we lost our daylight. Well, if the goal is to help kids read, the amount of light on those desks is really important.

So you need to be able to go in and do some very quick assessments to really see where the critical needs are and make sure all kids-and I think this is what is important, it’s not just some kids-have quality or adequate learning environments; it’s all about kids.