Over the past decade, SMMA’s Educational Planning Group has conducted over 40 master plans and feasibility studies, and programmed, designed, and implemented nearly $1.8 billion in Massachusetts and Rhode Island school construction. While all are different, each of these master plans provide an opportunity to reconsider how schools can impact and inspire children’s education, and create and define community identity.
Community Engagement
A successful master plan uses engagement techniques and data analysis to encourage community support and participation – we have a responsibility to see that public opinion informs the planning of these buildings, ensuring that they have a positive impact for decades to come. Our engagement process begins at public meetings where we invite conversation about neighborhood and community issues and tie them to central design considerations for delivering quality education.
A Data Driven Process
Alongside these meetings, we collect quantitative and qualitative data, from facility effectiveness to operations and efficiency, to community surveys. The results of our analysis are conveyed in a digital data driven final deliverable, a hands-on roadmap for our clients. We know that master plans are not meant to sit on a shelf; they should be dynamic and support continued community involvement.
21st Century Education
Teaching and learning has significantly changed over the years, moving from a stand and deliver approach to more student-centric and personalized delivery methods. Significant methods include project based learning, and differentiated and blended learning. Educational planning needs to not only accommodate but enhance these pedagogies.
We consider building layouts and room adjacencies that reflect educational pathways and support 21st century skills: communication, collaboration, creativity, creativity, critical thinking and problem solving.
Grade Configuration Options
Is your current configuration the best for your community?
Grade configuration options can be a daunting topic. It can be tempting to try to fit students into certain schools based on convenience, rather than consider which grade configurations will best support their learning, growth and development. We guide our communities through a detailed consideration process, leaving them comforted that, in the end, they explored all options.
SMMA also benefits from three Accredited Learning environment Planners (ALEP): Philip J. Poinelli, Michael van Hamel, and Kate Jessup. As educational planning experts, they ensure that the final study supports a visionary educational framework that meets the needs of the entire school-age population, educators and the community
