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http://magazine.good.is/articles/aleutia-solar-classroom-in-a-box-kenya?upw Every County in Kenya is About to Receive One of These Amazing “Solar Classrooms in a Box” by Rafi Schwartz 2918 194 35 August 18, 2015 Share on Facebook Click me! Share on Twitter Click me! Copy Link image via @aleutia // twitter In rural communities, where resources and infrastructure are often at a premium, it is often children who bear the brunt of those scarcities. With that in mind, U.K.-based tech firm Aleutia have developed a flatpack, ...
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....on relationship of quality educational facilities and student achievement. Kindly send what you have seen of value in the last year or two. Many thanks, Alberto
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Two years ago I began writing Disaster Recovery plans for 25 school districts in Arkansas. Initially, this was to insure their compliance with Legislative Audit, but as the process evolved, the "need" became evident. Today, I am assisting districts in truly being able to see the importance of having a plan for "after" a disaster. A way to reconstitute their district or devolution plan of where students would need to go during the recovery process. These plans account for everything from natural to technological disasters. Then, in December of 2012, another type of disaster hit public schools; though not the first, it was indeed one of the most tragic. The ...
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Have you talked to teachers with "reform fatigue?" Have they experienced a “Pod” or “House” organization in the past and reverted back to classrooms due to a lack of s upport? Have you observed bored students in classrooms? What was really missing for those teachers and students? The teachers are mostly alone in their classroom, and the students are being taught as if they’re all the same, yet only individually if they have issues. What I think they’re missing is a sense of a) belonging – the concept of one leader and 25-30 followers all the same is an arbitrary one, not based on human need. And b) a sense of control over their teaching and learning. ...
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Interesting reading on The National School Shield Report of the National School Shield Task Force - by Asa Hutchinson, April 2, 2013. This report was funded by the NRA. http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/670907-133630146-nra-s-national-school-shield-report.html#document/p1/a97899 In 225 pages that cost the NRA more than $1 million, the report recommended eight target goals to improve school safety, including a 40-60 hour training program for school resource officers and armed school personnel, revisions to state laws allowing personnel to carry guns, improving cooperation between law enforcement officials and schools, giving schools access to online ...
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Today's top story in "Education Week Update" features a short video and comments from Irene Nigaglioni. I thought the article was well written and highlights the many efforts underway by educational facility planners to change the way school buildings are being constructed and operated. I was pleased that the article acknowledged, "Even though not all school districts are constructing new buildings, experts say many of the same principles can be applied to existing buildings." Click Here to View Article
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http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2013/03/SXSW-Innovation-and-Technology-in-Education#.UTkzhHlg7-g.twitter
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Locked Vestibules

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I believe we can make the greatest impact on school safety by managing access. Guilford County Schools revised their design standards for new construction to include locked vestibules that direct visitor traffic into the main office during the school day. I am aware of many school districts that have implemented similar designs to enhance campus security. When combined with thorough administrative controls and visitor management systems, schools have a much better chance of monitoring building security.
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safe schools

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It may be that the safety protocols at Sandy Hook worked, and worked well. It appears at the moment, on what little info we have, that the lock down procedure protected many of the classrooms. As horrible as it is to think about, without those procedures many more of the classrooms may have been accessed by the killer, with consequential results. 20 children were killed, several hundred were not. Schools are designed with a heavy emphsis on fire safety, which means you can get out easily. Every exit is also an entrance. Doors and windows included. Even if we wanted to convert E occupancy to institutioanal restrained, an I don't think we do, it would take ...
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As you may know, Perkins+Will, an integrated design firm serving clients from twenty-three offices around the world has teamed with Triumph Modular Inc., a Northeastern US provider of high-quality relocatable and permanent modular buildings. Their intent is to offer Sprout Space™, a modular classroom designed to compete afford-ably with more traditional “modular classrooms” and school buildings. Sprout Space can be ganged together to create a school solution that will compete particularly well where schools have a 3 to 5 year need for additional space , or if uncertainty exists in the longer term planning process. Much of the preconstruction planning process ...
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Computer Education: it's not rocket science (from abc.net.au) 30/07/2012 , 1:25 PM by john Thompson-Mills Dr Kevin Donnelly was one of the first teachers to introduce computers to a class of Australian school children. That was back in 1984. A lot has changed since then and today toddlers are playing with computers for years before they even get to school, most classrooms have computer driven whiteboards and the vast majority of students of all ages have internet access at school and home. But the big question being asked now is are the children of today better or worse off when it comes to their own brain power ? Kevin Donnelly has just written ...
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fabulous video

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I am the author of a book "LINKING ARCHITECTURE AND EDUCATION: SUSTAINABLE DESIGN OF LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS. (UNM Press, 2009) I am very impressed with the student input for the School of the Future. Response to the community is wonderful. Now the question is, will the school board build this school. And who was the architect or architectural firm that helped the children of Wasilla. And, why don't we have architects and engineers teaching in the schools? Anne Taylor, Ph.D.
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Is there any interest among cefpi members in Steiner Waldorf education? I would like to connect with other members with experience in planning Waldorf schools so that this method of education gets a mention within Cefpi. The Steiner method was originally developed by Rudolf Steiner in Germany in 1919 and adopts a fully-integrated form of education that uniquely focuses on nurturing all aspects of each child in relation to his or her ‘ Head, Heart & Hands ’. This holistic approach fosters a lifelong love of learning where children become ‘ educated for life ’. Today, there are over 1,000 schools across 5 continents and over 1,600 kindergartens in 60 ...
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sharing

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Love idea of sharing. There is more need and opportunity than we as individuals can ever fulfill. Collaboration allows us to create transcending value.
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Below is a link for a case study on the Ecole Lawrence Grassi Middle School in Canmore, Alberta. http://www.wood-works.org/NR/rdonlyres/A9C433C8-B188-4B8D-A2A5-7A1D3F491F6C/0/EcoleLawrenceGrassi.pdf
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Major Updates to Academic, Athletic, Environmental and Technological Capabilities (WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Mayor Vincent C. Gray today celebrated the transformation of the old Woodrow Wilson High School into a 21 st -century, high-tech campus. Along with students and staff from Wilson, Mayor Gray was joined by representatives from the Office of the City Administrator (OCA) and the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization (OPEFM). Read more......
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In recent months the question of how Functional Capacity is calculated has been discussed by School Board members and Government Officals. In particular the question of the "90% rule" has come to light. By definition, the 90% rule is applied to the functional capacity because not all classrooms can be used every period of the day. A board member asked why 90%, where did that number come from? I frankly was at a loss so I called Sue Robertson. She stated that she was not quite sure where the number came from. In the past, she had asked several other members where the number came from and they were not sure either. She state that the number that is applied ...
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Labor and Buildings

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The recent 2010 elections in the U.S. yielded much more than a change in party control for half of the U.S. Congress (House of Representatives) and an increase in Republican representation in the Senate. The changes in state houses and local boards of education were far more sweeping than at the federal level and in addition to sweeping budget reforms which will undoubtably affect the school environment business on most levels, we are seeing a new movement that involves public sector labor. (i.e. the recent Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Florida, Rhode Island, etc. legislative initiatives to overhaul teacher pay and collective bargaining.) My question for ...
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While preparing for an article that I will be contributing to the American Society of Association Executives, I chose to open a discussion for input and comment from the members of CEFPI on the subject of face-to-face meetings vs. technology. As I communicate through both electronic and face-to-face meetings with members of CEFPI, I keep hearing a recurring theme. Travel is very difficult, expensive and in some cases, out of the question for our members. So, I pose the question- are face-to-face meetings necessary, or can we replace the majority of those meetings using technology? I get a wide variety of answers when I ask that question to ...
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This comment exists on the CEFPI Blog: "Green schools not only make a big impact on the district’s budget, but also create green scholars as test scores rise for those surrounded by healthy environments." Please show the hard, research data to back up this claim, especially the notion that "test scores rise" in green schools.
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