cy fair isd-open concept (Sugar Land, Katy: school districts, cabinets, live in)

[ehutch79]

Does anyone have anything good to say about Open concept. If not, why do they keep doing it?

[charris911]

I have made several post about open-concept (this is a past post)
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I actually think that open-concept classrooms are more quiet. You are not able to have loud conversation, the TV cannot be loud...etc etc. But again, I was not infavor of the idea myself, because I was not raised in an open-concept elementary school. What I did notice is that the parents notice the open-concept more than the students.

Another side note, is just because the classroom is CLOSED, does not free students from distractions, also if the teacher is NOT teaching in an open-concept classroom, EVERY other teacher and administrator knows it.

I will put this idea to you also, if you ask a precentage of parents of students in a closed-concept elementary school, you will have about the same number tell you that it has not worked for them.

There are no stats that show that students to better or worse in either concept of classrooms...what is probably comes down to now is building design and parents perception.

My wife attended KISD's West Memorial Elementary (way-back-when) as open-concept elementary (it converted to traditional in 2005), then when she was in 4th Grade she was rezoned to Cimarron Elementary as closed-concept...she will report she does not even remember the classroom being different. I am sure her parents did.
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Another, positive is that in open-concept, the teacher cannot get away with shutting the door and not teaching for the day or hour...or whatever. Everyone knows what is going on. As a male teacher at an elementary school, I felt much more confortable with the open-concept design.

Cy-Fair keeps open concept, because their schools rank far above many closed-concept school districts, why throw out something that works? Why would they change now? Their students outpreform, other district students at the same rate or better in the long-term.

[Danoman]

I love the open concept. Whenever you restrict children to a room, they start getting fidgety and have less attention span. Same applies to adults, if we have feeling of open space, our eye can wander from time to time and helps to refocus on task in hands - concentrating on the teacher.
The only down side I fear is every parent's worst nightmare these days of a shooter in the school in which case open concept would be a disaster area. Arm and train as many teachers as are willing to volunteer I say.

[tstone]

Interesting, I never really thought of this as an issue.

Growing up (Fort Bend ISD), my elementary school (early 80s) was mixed open and closed for grades 1-5, depended on the classroom. Built-in cabinets that were about 5' tall blocked the outer classes from the halls. But Kindergarten was strictly closed. However the accordian walls could fold in and grade K could be open just among itself.

Sugar Land MS was completely open up through the mid-90s, and then they renovated it to strictly closed.

Then when I got to high school, this was strictly closed.

I guess the idea of a shooter in the school never occured when I was younger. Seems like this is (ironically) a big concern nowadays if you live in a white, middle to upper class area. Katy comes to mind.

[Star97137]

I posted on the other thread so I'll keep this short. I've only had 3 weeks of experience to base my opinion on, but so far, my kids are thriving in an open concept school.

[charris911]

Originally Posted by tstone

I guess the idea of a shooter in the school never occured when I was younger. Seems like this is (ironically) a big concern nowadays if you live in a white, middle to upper class area. Katy comes to mind.

A *shooter* has absolutly nothing to do with it. Its all about architecture, money and learning styles.

[tstone]

Originally Posted by charris911

A *shooter* has absolutly nothing to do with it. Its all about architecture, money and learning styles.

That's what I was thinking... I was just quoting what someone else said above. I think a shooter would go and do what he does regardless, and any school would be a disaster area.