Relevance

Within the U.S. public school system, fewer than one in five low-income students attend college nationally.  Since its conception in 1994, the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) has worked to challenge this status quo, empowering students from underprivileged communities by developing alternative educational programs through a national network of 82 charter schools serving roughly 20,000 students.  KIPP’s approach to education has created an innovative model that is making a positive impact in communities. All this has been done without a comprehensive facilities design framework. As the KIPP network prepares for significant expansion in both quantity and in new models of elementary and high schools (in addition to their existing middle schools), the development of such an infrastructure could be a critical tool in advancing the overall KIPP model. In 2009, the KIPP Foundation approached Public Architecture about collaborating to develop such a framework.

Prototype

The framework will consist of a series of products and systems, ranging from model facilities guides to formal linkages with relevant firms within Public Architecture’s 1% pro bono design network. The first product under production is a model facilities guide for elementary schools. The majority of KIPP schools developed to date are middle schools. Elementary and high schools are now beginning to be developed across the network. Yet much of the institutional knowledge that does exist around facilities is around middle schools, whose physical layout is ill suited to elementary education. Thus, this guide will serve as a critical resource. Included in the publication are high level strategies for developing and improving elementary facilities such as aligning the school program plan with facilities needs, understanding space considerations, and engaging in issues of sustainability. The guide also provides links to more technical resources. KIPP regional leaders, regional operational staff, and elementary school leaders are all intended to be the audience of this publication.  The goal is to provide a highly flexible framework which will be applicable KIPP as an evolving organization with a diversity of facilities needs in an extensive network of schools.

For the model elementary school guide, Public Architecture is working in partnership with OWP/P Cannon Design, one of our 1% firm participants and a firm with a considerable portfolio in K-12 education. In addition to significant design experience, OWP/P Cannon Design has been a leader in educational research, producing most recently The Third Teacher in collaboration with Bruce Mau Design and VS International.  The publication looks at the relationship between learning experience and physical environments.

Advocacy

A school can be more than a container for educational activities; it can be a highly effective and engaging tool in increasing the capacity for healthier learning environments and educational success. To that end, Public Architecture is also working with KIPP to identify opportunities where elements of the facilities framework (e.g., facilities guides, 1% pro bono network, etc.) can serve as resources for the larger charter school movement. Most recently, Public Architecture participated in the Green Charter Schools Summit, ,a high level workshop, sponsored by NCB Capital Impact (creator of “The Answer Key”) and the Walton Family Foundation. Centered around an initial review of the forthcoming “Green Charter School Facilities Guide,” a technical how to publication that will exist as the addendum to “The Answer Key”, the summit provided the opportunity to interface with various leading stakeholders within the charter school movement and strategize how our work with KIPP could inform and engage a larger comprehensive system.

The KIPP Schools project was undertaken as a fee for service project by Public Architecture.