Ten Educational Trends Shaping School Planning and Design

Schools are expensive and last a long time. When we build new schools or modernize existing ones, it is important to consider the trends that are changing how we think about and deliver public education. Although no one can predict the future, we have an obligation to identify evolving attitudes and practices and to try our best to understand how they might affect the physical settings we use for learning. This publication examines ten educational trends that should be considered in the planning, design, and modernization of schools. The trends were identified by reviewing research on the relationship of school facilities to student outcomes, by performing a general environmental scan of current trends, issues, problems, and initiatives in education, and by reviewing demographic patterns emerging out of the 2000 U. S. Census.