Bond Projects:
Educational Specifications Committee

What are Educational Specifications?

      In order to determine what different groups see as an important part of the educational process, many school districts create educational specifications (ed specs). Ed specs have been defined as a method of communication between educators and design professionals that identifies the specific ways that educators see a school facility as supporting and enhancing the instructional program.

During the ed specs process, a facilitator brings together groups of people that should have input into the development of the school. These people include: teachers, parents, students, administrators, custodial staff, maintenance technicians,, architects, community members, and project managers. Each of these groups are considered "stakeholders" in the process of designing a new school.

In these meetings, the key people (listed above) who will use this facility have a chance to express their program needs and specific program requirements in writing and verbally with the group, in order to integrate all of the needs into the final design concept for the school.

Throughout this process, the educational process of students and staff are considered to be the most important factor in the design, and these specifications are required to work within the framework of the organization's mission statement or educational philosophy.

Who is on the Educational Specifications Committee?

      At Snohomish School District, we have had two separate groups working on ed specs. These groups have consisted of administrators, certificated and classified staff members, parents and community members. Members of our architecture firm, Northwest Architectural Company (NAC) have also been on these committees. One was the high school ed specs group, with their considerations being integrated into both the design of the new high school, and the remodel/modernization of Snohomish High school. The other group was the elementary ed specs group, and their ideas will be integrated into the new elementary school, as well as the remodel of many elementary schools throughout the district. These groups met on several occasions, and visited newly built schools throughout the state. They have also reported their findings and ideas to the community at forums in the past month.