Recently, Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) has become a hot topic in communities across Texas. For us educators, we know SEL as best practices that promote the soft skills that contribute to well-rounded students and productive citizens. For others, it has become a political platform. Because the process is crucial to teaching and learning, we […]

Our partnership with The University of Texas at Tyler continues to develop, providing insightful information to direct our practice of architecture. Teacher efficacy is interesting to me, as those who perceive themselves as difference makers have the ability to instill a strong sense of the same in their students. Beliefs that guide students to learn […]

The manuscript that follows, Teachers’ Instructional Decisions and Student Agency in New Purposefully Designed Learning Spaces, is the second scholarly study from the broader research conducted at a high school of choice in Houston Independent School District in Houston, Texas, in partnership with The University of Texas at Tyler. The authors designed this study to understand further how student […]

As a part of our continued partnership with The University of Texas at Tyler, VLK Architects was interested in studying the perceptions of students who moved from a repurposed school into a newly designed high school. This study was of particular interest to the firm, as purposeful design was employed to support the intended curricula […]

VLK Architects partnered with the University of Texas at Tyler to conduct a study resulting in original research titled, The Impact of Learning Environments on Student Engagement. Uniquely, VLK Architects was awarded the design assignment for two replacement elementary schools that, while located in separate districts, would be rebuilt on their same sites; thereby, serving the same student […]