School design

I designed and opened the Pittsburgh Science & Technology Academy, a sixth through twelfth grade school designed to prepare all students for college regardless of prior academic preparation. I started the project as a graduate student with a team of colleagues and led it through its opening as a public magnet school. Today, it’s the most innovative, integrated, and highest performing public high school in the city. Recently, through one of my courses, a team of graduate students went back through the archives of everything we used to open this school, and worked with me to build a school design toolkit. Then, we applied this toolkit to a new school design project in partnership with The Pittsburgh Promise™. I’m also exploring even more outside-the-box school designs that would have been hard to even envision five years ago but may soon be within reach.

School Design Toolkit

• Program summary – Communicating a detailed vision
• Process plan – Outlining how the school will be brought to life
• Budget – Detailing various cost drivers and scenarios
• Master schedule – Framing how the program will work for students and teachers

Pittsburgh Science & Technology Academy

• About SciTech – What makes this school different
• Research and process summary – The thinking behind the design
• Introductory materials – Summaries of some of the school’s selling points
• Program graphic – How students move through the Academy