One of a series of papers prepared by members of the American Institute of Architects Committee on School and College Architecture and by selected specialists to make laymen aware of school building problems and trends and to stimulate discussion. The article sees the educational park concept as deriving from, in its simplest form, the consolidated school concept and especially the rural consolidated school. The patterns of planning which have emerged as well as the reasons educators have advanced for considering the educational park concept are cataloged and briefly discussed. The main concerns of those who are in dissent are stated. After summarizing the hopes for the kind of educational program and intellectual environment the concept will afford, the article cites the four basic needs a functionally planned facility must meet i.e. sufficient space, efficient relationships between spaces, preservation of the individual identity of the student through subschools, and space for outside persons who come to the school to assist with various parts of the curriculum. (FPO)