DOCUMENT RESUME ED 467 253 EF 006 132 Tuttle, James B., II AUTHOR Reconstructing School Renovation: A Study of the Renovation TITLE of Johnson-Williams Middle School, Berryville, Virginia. Building Blocks to Better Learning Series, Volume Six. Virginia Univ., Charlottesville. Thomas Jefferson Center for INSTITUTION Educational Design. 2002-00-00 PUB DATE NOTE 45p. Reports Research (143) PUB TYPE EDRS Price MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE *Educational Facilities Improvement; Educational Facilities DESCRIPTORS Planning; Facility Case Studies; Middle Schools; Satisfaction; School Buildings; School Construction *Clarke County Public Schools VA IDENTIFIERS ABSTRACT This document provides a case study of the renovation of Johnson-Williams Middle School in Clarke County, Virginia. Chapter 1, "Planning and Designing a School Renovation," describes considerations for measuring the quality of a school renovation project, including its value to users and its imapct on learning. It summarizes the research methods and rationale used in this study of the renovation, presents the condition of the school prior to renovation, and articulates the planning phases of the construction processes. It concludes by delineating the projected outcomes and expected benefits of the renovation project to its stakeholders. Chapter 2, "Undertaking the Construction Process," discusses the guiding principles of the project and the punch-list phase of construction. Chapter 3, "Outcomes of Renovation," discusses the results of the renovation in terms of industry standards of renovation quality, user perceptions of facility quality, changes in social interactions and school relationships, and student achievement outcomes. The concluding chapter provides thoughts on educational facilities research and implementing school renovation. Appendices contain a list of the primary sources and architectural plans of Johnson-Williams Middle School. (Contains 102 references.) (EV) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. en 44 RECONSTRUCTING SCHOOL RENOVATION: A Study of the Renovation of Johnson-Williams Middle School, Berryville, Virginia AVAILABLE BEST COPY James B. Tuttle II, Ph.D. Thomas Jefferson Center for Education Design U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND Office of Educational Research and Improvement yit ATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS ED CENTER (ERIC) BEEN GRANTED BY This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization Monica Gillespie originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Points of view or opinions stated in this INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. 1 RECONSTRUCTING SCHOOL RENOVATION: A Study of the Renovation of Johnson - Williams Middle School, Berryville, Virginia James B. Tuttle II, Ph.D. University of Virginia Thomas Jefferson Center for Educational Design Volume Six in the Building Blocks to Better Learning Series Published by: Thomas Jefferson Center for Educational Design University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903 ©Copyright 2002, Thomas Jefferson Center for Educational Design. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from the copyright holder. Table of Contents 1 Acknowledgements 2 Chapter 1: Planning and Designing a School Renovation Overview How can we best measure the value of a school renovation? How is leadership identified? Who will be included in designing the renovation? How can we assess our current facilities? Renovate or rebuild? How are funding and community support secured? What benefits can we expect? 14 Chapter 2: Undertaking the Construction Process Guiding Principles Punch Lists 18 Chapter 3: Outcomes of Renovation Industry Standards of Renovation Quality User Perceptions of Facility Quality Changes in Social Interactions and School Relationships Student Achievement Outcomes 28 Chapter 4: Conclusions On Educational Facility Research On Implementing School Renovation 31 References 39 Appendix A: Primary Sources 40 Appendix B: Plans of Johnson-Williams Middle School Acknowledgments The Virginia Computer Foundation sponsored this study, and I am grateful to its principals, Mr. Robert Moje of VMDO Architects (VA) and Dr. Eleanor Smalley, Superintendent of Clarke County Public Schools (VA), for the opportunity to study the renovation of the Johnson-Williams Middle School. I would also like to thank Dr. Daniel Duke, Director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for Educational Design, for the indispensable guidance he has provided for this and other research adventures. I cannot adequately express my thanks for the research opportunities made available to me through the Thomas Jefferson Center for Educational Design. To Mr. Doug Wrenn of construction management team SPN, I express thanks for helping me to understand the school in its past and present conditions, and for helping me navigate the construction site. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the assistance of the students, teachers, staff members, parents, contractors, architects, and community members of Johnson-Williams Middle School, who own this renovation and without whose help this study would not have been possible. Particularly, I would like to thank Mr. Rick Catlett, Mrs. Joann Leobold, Mrs. Jennifer Fiore, and Mrs. Kim Kemp for being available to answer questions, help locate data, coordinate data collection, and access information. Page 1 Planning and Designing a School Renovation Chapter 1: Planning and Designing a School Renovation Overview There are two design processes at work when renovating a school. First, the architectural plans must be developed, and then the blueprints must be implemented. Enacting construction plans within the constraints of a school in session poses additional challenges. Many stakeholders need to be included in the design process. Occupants need the facility to be operational. Without careful planning, continuous communication, and strong leadership, the process of renovating a school can be highly disruptive for teachers and students. Work must be carefully scheduled and executed efficiently in order to maximize the productivity of various groups. Funding is often difficult to secure and may fluctuate once construction has started. Many school functions require full access to the building. Rushed, compromised, or omitted work may result if everything is not skillfully orchestrated. Achieving a successful school renovation is a difficult task that requires developing a carefully coordinated plan that involves stakeholders and construction personnel over a substantial period of time. The purpose of this chapter is to describe considerations for measuring the quality of a school renovation project, including its value to users and its impact on learning. The chapter begins by summarizing the research methods and rationale used in this study. It presents the condition of the school prior to renovation and articulates the planning phases of the construction processes at the site: Johnson-Williams Middle School in Clarke County, Virginia. The chapter concludes by delineating the projected outcomes and expected benefits of the renovation project upon its stakeholders. How can we best measure the value of a school renovation? It is difficult to accurately and comprehensively measure the value of a school renovation to a community, since educational benefits are difficult to quantify. Contractors (as well as taxpayers and their elected or appointed representatives) have traditionally measured the Page 2 6 Planning and Designing a School Renovation quality of a school renovation based on three principles: time, budget, and quality. These are limited measures because they do not address the larger question of the educational value of the renovation. Educational researchers have attempted to address this problem by drawing correlations between building quality and standardized test scores. Because of the host of variables involved in the complex relationship between building quality and test scores, linear comparisons of cost and test scores are spurious (see Tuttle, 2001). Previous research has been largely retrospective. Quality measures of school renovations and achievement scores were collected after, sometimes long after, construction was completed. This study benefits from having been conducted concurrently with the renovation. Categories for assessing value were identified before the construction began. Data were gathered before, during, and after the completion of the project. A mixed method approach was used to assess the renovation. It yielded two advantages, as compared to previous studies. First, research and construction happened simultaneously, allowing the renovation to be studied in much greater detail. Also, by patterning this study after the collaborative model put in place by renovation project leaders, this study was more comprehensive than previous studies. It allowed for measurement not only of performance, but of various perceptions before, during, and after the renovations were completed (see Appendix A for a complete description of primary sources). How is leadership identified? Clarke County Public School (CCPS) superintendent Eleanor Smalley began the planning of the renovation project by contacting VMDO Architects of Charlottesville, Virginia. VMDO specializes in building and renovating educational facilities. Throughout the project, the architects and school superintendent remained at the center of the planning team. Architects at VMDO noted, 'We are the architects and designers of the renovation, but I think it started even before then in program determination. We tried to help [CCPS] determine Page 3 7 Planning and Designing a School Renovation what they needed to do to the building to bring it up to date, not only in terms of capacity but in terms of educational offerings that we One of the aspects that makes any school were trying to help them achieve within the budget that was available good is its sense of community, its sense of itself; and there's nothing that fosters that to do so." From the outset of the project, the core project leaders community sense of school like the mapped out the necessary architectural changes and communications participation in the creation of it. So U. network among the stakeholders. During this initial planning phase, you're there during construction andyou're the construction management firm, SPN, was hired because of their involved in the decision, you have ownership in it and that makes that bond. That, I experience in renovating hospitals while occupied and in use. think is so critical for the spirit of the school. It's hard to s,ay exactly how that translates Who will be included in designing the renovation? within each of the educational pieces. But, Multiple individuals and groups effect or are affected by a school the faculty of the schools that have had input renovation, yet too often many of these voices are never heard. are more likely to be successful in your school Traditionally, renovations are designed by architects and enacted by because they understand why it was done It was that way and how to use it. contractors without input from the users of the school facility. astounding to me how many times you look Those served by the renovation are teachers, students, administration at a school building, and it's obvious that and building staff. When their input is ignored, renovations may not somebody had something in mind when they meet educational needs. designed something, but the people using it don't have a clue orjust missed it, or whatever, so they wind up working against In the first phase of planning the renovation of Johnson-Williams, the way it was all laid out to be used I Clarke County school leaders, identified multiple constituent think by having that kind of involvement, perspectives. They then developed communication channels so these and that particpation, that changes that individuals and groups could become collaborators both in the design whole dynamic completely. Particularly in a and execution stages of the renovation project. Dr. Smalley noted renovation, where there are a lot of decisions going into the design of the school; in a that, from the beginning, 'We had three committees who participated renovation there are millions of decisions and in the design of the renovation. One was a citizens' committee, one millions of compromises, and then once you was the entire committee, and we had a student committee. Each get into the process there are going to be group really talked about what their interests and desires were, and many issues that come up. Getting people then VMDO worked with them to develop them into sets of goals. involved in the process helps. Mr. Robert Moje, VMDO VMDO then took that input and came back to the [school] board with issue proposals. The board listened to the proposals, and they chose based on what they thought was the best proposal." To remain informed about school renovation issues and progress, the Clarke County Board of Supervisors also appointed one of its members as a representative to the School Board during the design phase. This participatory design process provided constant feedback from multiple sources and fostered a community of trust among key constituents. Page 4 8 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Planning and Designing a School Renovation The following groups became active participants in the planning I think that one of the things that is and construction stages of the renovation: students, teachers, staff really important to have work on any members, and Johnson-Williams administrators, parents of construction site, is that the architect and children at the school, community members (whose taxes financed the construction team work together, and the project), the Clarke County school board, and the county's that the owner, the school people, that we work together. And I think that we've board of supervisors. Project leaders frequently gathered input had a very good working relationship. from these parties, and kept them abreast of the costs, schedules, The school board allowed us to have the and options available during the renovation phases. flexibility to make decisions without having to come to them in official meetings. In fact, the school board told us Many ideas from representative groups were present in the final to make these decisions because at first, design. Administrators and faculty decided to cluster students, we were having so many meetings with especially Ch graders, by grade level within the school. Students them till we earned their trust. But all of selected the hall and floor tile pieces and color patterns. Art students that I think goes together to make a good created individual tiles to be showcased in the school's new gallery, working relationship. Everybody was getting along okay, and the give and take which included the new art room. According to the architects, "The was helpful. whole notion of the big gallery in front is a response to basic student Dr. Eleanor Smalley concerns about it being crowded and there not being a place for Superintendent, CCPS students in there, and the whole point of that is to provide a social space for the students every day as they enter the building and exit the building, a place where they could display their work and not just be forced through corridors right to where they start their day." Space requests made by faculty were incorporated into the design. In addition to items on the needs According to Mr. Catlett, the principal, "The first thing we wanted to assessment, one big factor was working do was to maximize the number of classrooms we could get, so we with the faculty and the students wanted to be very efficient with the use of spacethat's first and throughout, discussing different ideas in foremost, we need more classrooms. But along with that, we wanted the design phase, from outlandish ideas to leave open some convertible space in the gallery and in the like Star Wars battle stations, to whatever. But all those things had cafeteria." influence on the projectgetting them involved and getting different pieces of it, Interviews with teachers indicated that most felt included in the down to art students painting on the process, especially in the design and early construction phases; one construction barriers, sort of decorating teacher perceived less involvement and some miscommunication them for the time of the construction, and doing other things that were part of the after renovations had begun. One teacher reported that she construction. periodically talked with the construction workers to understand the Mr. MO exact time frame for phases of work on her room. One department head noted that Mr. Catlett and construction management Page 5 9 Planning and Designing a School Renovation encouraged teacher input even when changes were made to original plans: "Mr. Catlett would come to me; I in turn would ask the teachers in my department: should this be here, or should this be there? I would give him input, and as far as I know that was passed on, and a lot of those things I see in the building." How can we assess our current facilities? Clarke County Public Schools identified the need to renovate the Johnson-Williams Middle School in its Capital Plan for a period of ten years before construction began. The CCPS Capital Plan identification was enhanced by a needs assessment commissioned by CCPS and conducted by Samaha Associates in 1998. The Samaha report listed six "space addition and modification" recommendations and twelve "system upgrade and modification" items. In all, their recommendations addressed every area and physical plant system in the building. `The need for renovation dearly was identified based on the needs of the students." The population at Johnson-Williams had outgrown its outdated facilities. The Samaha report recommended the modification of existing spaces and the addition of approximately 24,500 square feet to meet projected student enrollment in 2010. More importantly, there was insufficient space for conducting the school's primary business of teaching and learning. According to Mr. Catlett, "Our building was strapped to capacity, we were teaching out of closets, we had high class sizes, we'd run out of space for our specials like musicband and choruswe were using every available space, and needed to expand." The Samaha report also made the following area-specific recommendations: Renovate and expand administration, guidance and clinic offices. Expand cafeteria to seat 350 students, and renovate cafeteria to include a kitchen. Expand gymnasium locker rooms and renovate lockers, toilets and showers. Page 6 10