What makes this place so special? And how do we sustain and transmit that school culture? These were the animating questions for Dr. James Bushman as University High School in Fresno, CA, moved into its newly constructed school campus. Part of the answer was inviting students to join in the work of moving boxes into the beautiful new facility.
The physical design of a school is one factor that shapes school culture, argue James Spillane and Matthew Shirrell at Education Next. "For too long," they write, "our field has ignored how the physical infrastructure of schools influences school staff interactions about instruction." When you intentionally engage faculty and students in defining and transmitting school culture and have the privilege of designing the physical design of the building—as Dr. Bushman did—the results can be remarkable.
