Steven Bingler

is an architect who specializes in school design

The School District of Philadelphia's ambitious school building plan is the kind of opportunity that comes come along once in several decades. It brings the promise of equity for so many residents and children who have lived for years with outdated public facilities.

One source of opportunity lies in where schools are built and how they are configured. For various reasons, urban schools have often been built too big and too far away from the parents who send their children to them.

Recent research indicates that urban students learn better in smaller, more intimate settings than in the large, factory-like schools created during the industrial age. Yet, school populations of 2,000 to 3,000 students remain common.

Philadelphia has a chance to move away from the factory model and build smaller schools whose designs reflect the most current research in curriculum and instruction.

Research also indicates that learning blossoms when parents and citizens are more involved in schools. Innovative school design can nurture that involvement. When people feel their ideas and dreams have been incorporated into a design, they do more to support the school and protect it.

Examples of such designs can be found across the nation. Let me tell you about a couple of schools that my firm, Concordia, has been involved with.

In a challenging urban neighborhood in Providence, R.I., stands the MET, a public school that was designed hand-in-hand with students, parents and neighbors. Neighbors noted that most buildings in the neighborhood had porches; why couldn't the school have porches? Done. The community said it needed a fitness center and a community room; the school's gym and auditorium were designed to incorporate those uses. Kids wanted a climbing wall. Done. The community didn't want the school surrounded by an isolating chain-link fence. Done.

The results? The school is No. 1 in the state in parent involvement, school climate, and teacher availability. Its test scores exceed its No Child Left Behind target - for 2007. Its graduation rate is among the highest in the state and 100 percent of graduates have been accepted to college. Crime and vandalism on this urban campus are almost non-existent. The school's success has spawned a wave of development in its neighborhood.

In Dearborn, Mich., the Henry Ford Academy has been created within an existing museum. This high school of 400 school students demonstrates the value of integrating learning with an existing community asset. It cost a quarter of what a new, stand-alone school would have.

Since its launch in 1997, the Academy has a retention rate of 92 percent, an indicator of strong parental support. By contrast, the retention rate in the Detroit public schools as a whole is less than 50 percent. The academy's state test scores also outpace the Detroit average by a huge margin. A hallmark of the academy is its many partnerships with a wide range of civic organizations.

Philadelphia is capable of new success stories of this type.