planning for the future of Anchorage School District Districtwide Educational Specifications: High Schools _____________________________________________ September 2012 B r a i n S p a c e s I n c. Educational Facility Planning www.BrainSpaces.com Information retrieved from ASD Online is referenced throughout this document. www.asdk12.org Anchorage School District Educational Specifications: High Schools 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..........................................................................1-1 2.0 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................2-1 2.1 DISTRICTWIDE EDUCATIONAL SPECIFICATIONS....................................................................2-1 2.2 PROCESS...........................................................................................................................2-2 2.3 PARTICIPANTS ...................................................................................................................2-4 3.0 EDUCATION ............................................................................................3-1 3.1 VISION & GOALS ................................................................................................................3-1 3.2 STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS ..............................................................................................3-2 3.3 EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS .................................................................................................3-2 4.0 PLANNING & DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS ..............................................4-1 4.1 GRADE CONFIGURATION ....................................................................................................4-1 4.2 SCHOOL CAPACITY ............................................................................................................4-1 4.3 ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGIES...........................................................................................4-6 4.4 BUILDING DESIGN STANDARDS...........................................................................................4-8 4.5 GENERAL DESIGN GOALS ..................................................................................................4-8 4.6 SAFETY & SECURITY ..........................................................................................................4-9 4.7 COMMUNITY USE & COLLABORATION ...............................................................................4-13 4.8 SITE PLANNING ................................................................................................................4-15 4.9 SUSTAINABILITY & ENERGY EFFICIENCY ...........................................................................4-18 5.0 TECHNOLOGY .........................................................................................5-1 5.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................5-2 5.2 TECHNOLOGY-SUPPORTED STUDENT LEARNING .................................................................5-2 5.3 TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION ...............................................................................................5-3 5.4 TECHNOLOGY COMPONENTS ..............................................................................................5-4 5.5 ADDITIONAL TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS ................................................................................5-15 6.0 SPACE REQUIREMENTS .........................................................................6-1 6.1 SUMMARY & CALCULATIONS ..............................................................................................6-1 6.2 FACILITY PROGRAM ...........................................................................................................6-2 6.3 VARIANCES:.....................................................................................................................6-11 Table of Contents BrainSpaces Inc. September 2012 Anchorage School District Educational Specifications: High Schools 7.0 PROGRAM COMPONENT DETAILS ......................................................... 7-1 7.1 CORE ACADEMIC CLASSROOMS .........................................................................................7-3 7.2 SPECIAL PROGRAMS ........................................................................................................7-50 7.3 LIBRARY/INSTRUCTIONAL MEDIA CENTER .........................................................................7-82 7.4 VISUAL ARTS .................................................................................................................7-110 7.5 PERFORMING ARTS ........................................................................................................7-130 7.6 PHYSICAL EDUCATION....................................................................................................7-180 7.7 CAREER & TECHNICAL EDUCATION.................................................................................7-228 7.8 ADMINISTRATION............................................................................................................7-278 7.9 STUDENT & RELATED SERVICES.....................................................................................7-340 7.10 DINING & FOOD SERVICES..............................................................................................7-374 7.11 BUILDING SERVICES: MAINTENANCE & CUSTODIAL .........................................................7-398 7.12 GENERAL BUILDING AREAS............................................................................................7-430 8.0 APPENDIX & REFERENCES .................................................................... 8-1 8.1 GLOSSARY.........................................................................................................................8-1 8.2 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ...................................................................................................8-3 8.3 LESSONS LEARNED............................................................................................................8-4 Table of Contents BrainSpaces Inc. September 2012 planning for the future of Anchorage School District Districtwide Educational Specifications: High Schools ________________________________________________________ 1.0 Executive Summary ________________________________________________________ B r a i n S p a c e s I n c. Educational Facility Planning www.BrainSpaces.com PAGE INTENTIONALLY BLANK Anchorage School District Educational Specifications: High Schools 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction Our school facilities are a tangible symbol of our commitment to education. The Districtwide Educational Specifications document is a tool to describe the program and design requirements for all future high school planning in the district, and is applicable to both renewal projects and new schools, although it is not expected that a new high school facility will be planned in the near future. The goals for the Districtwide Educational Specifications include: To link educational goals and the design of school facilities; To promote consistency of school facilities throughout the district; To be flexible to adjust to individual school and community needs; To reflect a collaborative effort with the groups involved in planning and designing, building, managing and using the facilities. Creating a responsive school environment isn’t rigidly defined by square-footage or a construction budget; more importantly, it’s about making a thoughtful connection between learning and facilities. This document is intended to be used in conjunction with the educational, operational, administrative and functional goals of the district. As these goals and strategies evolve over the life of this document, design team responses must adjust accordingly. This updated version of the Ed Specs addresses the changing needs of Anchorage School District and of the students and communities it serves. While there is no “one-size-fits-all” model that will work for every school, there are spaces, organizational strategies and building components that should be common to high schools in the district. These commonalities support districtwide equity among schools and districtwide consistency among facilities. Common parameters are defined herein, including both broad considerations and detailed data. Also included are guidelines for using the Supplemental Educational Specifications process to address the customization of individual schools to accommodate their various, unique needs. In addition to programmatic parameters, the Districtwide Ed Specs define requirements for building organization, design standards, safety and security, community use, sustainability and technology. The predominant operational strategy for ASD high schools uses groupings of students organized into smaller learning communities - SLCs. Each SLC includes core curriculum teachers and classrooms (Language Arts, Math, Social Studies and Science) as well as specialist teachers and professionals for select electives, exploratory learning and focused interventions. The latter are accommodated in a selection of separate, often smaller, specialized spaces and, wherever possible, through inclusion in the core classrooms. The approach to teaching is student-centered, addressing the needs of each student. To this end, teachers within each SLC collaborate to plan educational opportunities for students, both collectively and individually. This concept provides an effective transitional