Forum

Design Matters

Thank you for your comments regarding beautiful schools affecting people—both students and teachers, and communities as a whole ("Designs for Learning: School Architecture," summer 2001). I am an architect in Charlotte, North Carolina, and I often get discouraged when school leaders' only focus is on the dollar. We don't have to break the bank but—like you say—we do need courage to explore ways architecture and places can have a positive effect on students and teachers and how they perform. If you know of other resources that reinforce this idea, I would love to have it as ammo to take to our customers and school leaders.

Tom Balke, AIA
Senior Associate
Little Diversified Architectural Consulting
Charlotte, North Carolina

Editor's note: A helpful Web site for those interested in school design is offered by the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities at www.edfacilities.org. The site, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, features separate sections on design and construction with numerous case studies and information on everything from color theory to outdoor learning environments and roof selection. Also, Business and Professional People for the Public Interest (at www.bpichicago.org) recently published a book on their national design competition for Chicago public schools. The competition, called "Big Shoulders, Small Schools," drew more than 100 entries from top architects around the country and focused on accessibility issues and small school design.

More Resources on Native Education

I enjoyed reading your issue on Native students. I thought you might be interested in two recent related publications. The first is American Indian Education: A History, which you can read about at www.oupress.com/bookdetail.asp?isbn=0-8061-3593-X. The second is Nurturing Native Languages, the full text of which is online at http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/NNL/.

Jon Reyhner
Professor of Education
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, Arizona

Inspiration for Students With Dyslexia

This article ("From Personal Advocacy to Public Activism," spring 2003) was truly inspirational to me. I have a 10-year-old dyslexic student whose greatest wish is to be "normal." She doesn't believe she is as smart as her peers and is struggling to appear as if she has no reading problems. I got some great ideas from this article. Thanks so much. I feel like there is hope!

Rashonda Gudger
Teacher
Jefferson High School
Portland, Oregon

We want to hear from you! Send your letters to the editor, article ideas, and tips on places where good things are happening to nwedufeedback@nwrel.org. Letters may be edited for length or clarity.

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