Educational Leadership

Dr. Oliveras-Ortiz & Dr. Jones explore the need for an intellectual space for scholars and practitioners to engage in discourse about diversity and social justice.  They also share their vision for the new online journal, Diversity, Social Justice and the Educational Leader.

Through a conceptual framework focused on student engagement, and modern learning environments, this paper explores students’ and teachers’ perceptions about the impact the design of learning environments has on student engagement.  The data were​ collected at two Texas replacement elementary schools where the entire learning community, all teachers, administrators, staff, and students, moved from an old building to a new building. Through student focus groups and teacher surveys, the study explores the attributes of design and spaces that students value and perceive as having an impact on their learning and engagement. Students’ and teachers’ perceptions demonstrate that learning environments impact student engagement. The attributes of the spaces valued by learners must be further explored by school designers and educational leaders.

Scholars have generally accepted the notion that context and students’ response to the environment influence their engagement in learning.  Hence, a qualitative study was conducted to explore the impact purposefully designed learning spaces have on student engagement in a career-inspired high school.  Focus groups were conducted before and after the move to a new high school. Through the group interviews, students engaged in discourse about the impact purposefully designed learning spaces have on their engagement in learning.  The findings indicate that the students recognized the instructional importance and the impact of their new spaces.  The student voices provide educators and architects insight into the design elements students value. For educators, the student voice informs educational processes and has implications for curricular design and delivery, leveraging purposely designed learning spaces and student preferences to achieve the best education possible.  For architects, and other design professionals, these student voices detail the types of spaces that should be incorporated in order to ensure learning efficiency, learning preferences, and interdependence space.