Survey questions school size
Schools need to make some basic improvements to their facilities and reduce their sizes to positively influence student achievement. Those were the conclusions of the Millennium School 2000 survey, commissioned by Heery International, an Atlanta-based engineering and construction management firm, as a follow-up to a 1998 survey that asked educators what schools in the new millennium should look like.
The 2000 survey asked educators how their schools’ facilities affect students’ learning and what improvements they would suggest. The results provide some insight into how schools can improve the work environments for their employees and the learning environments for their students. Less than one-quarter of the educators surveyed gave their schools an “A.”
Surprisingly, technology was not at the top of the list of facility needs. Instead, according to respondents, adequate heating and air conditioning, proper lighting and sufficient electrical outlets are the elements that teachers need most to make their environments comfortable for learning.
Some respondents were frustrated by the inability to control classroom temperature, and almost all participants agreed that natural light from windows would improve the classroom environment. Additionally, they reported that, even when they have computer resources to use with their students, electrical outlets are inadequate in many rooms. Participants also said they would like classrooms with sinks, phones and soundproofing.
With regard to safety, the majority of respondents said that their schools are safer or about as safe as they were two years ago. However, when given options to improve school safety, 66 percent of respondents agreed that limiting the number of entrances to school buildings would enhance current security measures.
Additionally, survey respondents want smaller schools. They recommended 500 students as the maximum enrollment for an elementary school, 500-800 students for a middle school, and 900-1,400 students for a high school. Eighty percent of respondents preferred smaller schools because they have a closer sense of community than larger ones, while only 13 percent preferred larger schools because they can offer more extra-curricular activities and a greater variety of courses.
Beth Schapiro & Associates, Atlanta, conducted the survey, which included focus groups and telephone polls. More than 1,600 urban and suburban public school K-12 teachers and principals in Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Seattle participated in the survey.
For a copy of the Millennium School 2000 survey results, contact Heery Corporate Communications, 999 Peachtree St., N.E., Atlanta GA 30367, (404) 881-9880.