AIA|LA & LAUSD - Design Excellence Promotes Academic Success
Last Updated: August 11, 2010
AIA|LA & LAUSD - Design Excellence Promotes Academic Successs
-research and reference material provided by Jubany NAC Architecture-
The following summaries of research link school facilities to academic success with the specific hard data on each of them. This was prepared by Greg Stack, Principal K-12 Thought Leader from Jubany NAC Architecture. Please note that exact titles of the studies were not always used for the sake of brevity. They can all be found in the enclosed studies themselves.
To access the full reports, please click on the following links:
Greening America's Schools - Costs & Benefits: by Gregory Kats
Do School Facilities Affect Academic Outcomes?
Research on the Impact of School Facilities on Students and Teachers
Green Schools: Attributes for Health and Learning
"School Facilities Affect Academic Outcomes"
- National Clearing House on Educational Statistics -
1. Indoor Air Quality
a. Poor indoor air quality makes teachers and students sick-and sick students and teachers can't perform as well as healthy ones (EPA 2000, Kennedy 2001, Leach 1997).
b. Further, the American Lung Association (ALA) found that American children miss more than ten million school days each year because of asthma exacerbated by poor IAQ (ALA 2002, EPA 2000).
c. Absenteeism dropped from 8.31 percent in year one to 3.75 percent in year two in a study on the use of electrostatic air cleaners at one school (Rosen and Richardson (1999).
2. Ventilation Effects on Performance
Increased carbon dioxide levels owing to poor ventilation cause headaches, drowsiness and the inability to concentrate. Myhrvold et al. (1996) found that increased CO2 levels in classrooms decreased student performance on concentration tests and increased student complaints of health problems as compared to classes with lower CO2 levels a statistically significant amount (3%-5%)
3. Thermal Comfort
The best temperature range for learning reading and math is 68o to 74o F. Harner (1974) The ability to learn is adversely affected by temperatures above 74o. Student's achievement and task performance deteriorate as attention spans decrease. King and Marans (1979), McGuffey (1982).
4. Building Age, Quality and Aesthetics
Bowers and Burkett (1987) found that students in newer buildings outperformed students in older ones and posted better records for health, attendance, and discipline. The Study attributed approximately 3% of the variance in achievement scores to facility age, after considering socio-economic differences in student populations. Similar findings were collected by Phillips (1997) and Jago and Turner (1999)
5. School Size
a. Raywid (1999) aptly summarizes the value of small schools. She says that students in these (small) schools "make more rapid progress toward graduation, are more satisfied with small schools, fewer of them drop out than from larger schools, and they behave better in small schools." Raywid concludes that: "All of these things we have confirmed with a clarity and at a level of confidence rare in the annals of education research." (Also see Howley 1994, Irmsher 1997, and Cotton 1996,2001)
b. Fowler and Walberg (1991) found that school size (smaller schools) was the best predictor of higher test scores in 293 New Jersey secondary schools, even considering widely varying socio-economic factors.
c. Keller (2000) showed that small schools consistently outperformed large ones, based on evidence from 13,000 schools in Georgia, Montana, Ohio, and Texas.
"Research on the Impact of School /Facilities on Students and Teachers"
A Summary of Studies Published Since 2000 - 21st Century School Fund. The 21st Century School Fund reviewed an extensive number of studies since 2000 and selected those that met their criteria for scientific rigor. From these they were able to conclude that there is a statistically significant (3% - 5%) improvement in student performance attributable to school environmental factors.
The research below is the basis for this conclusion:
1. Blincoe, J.M. (2008) - in Texas high schools student performance improves between 4-9% in schools in the best conditionvs. those in the worst condition. There is a 5-9% performance improvement for students in the newest schools vs the oldest schools. Graduation rates are 4% higher in schools in the best condition vs. those in the worst condition.
2. Boese, S., & Shaw,J. (2005) IN New York State School Facilities suspension rates are 2-9% higher, attendance rates in middle and high schools are 2-3% lower, and test scores are nearly 5% higher in schools with fewer unsatisfactory building systems.
3. Buckley,J. Schneider, M. & Shang, Y. (2004) LAUSD School Facilities and Academic Performance. Changing from the worst to the best facility Overall Compliance Rating (OCR) leads on average to a 36 point increase in a school's test scores (API).
4. Buckley,J. Schneider, M. & Shang, Y. (2005) School Facility Quality and Teacher Retention in Washington DC - Teachers are approximately 5% more likely to stay in a building in "A" condition than in "F" condition.
5. Bullock,C.C. (2007) Student achievement at the middle school level in Virginia - 2.2 to 3.9% more students passed state exams in English, mathematics and science in standard buildings than in substandard building as measured by the Commonwealth Assessment of Physical Environment.
6. Crampton, F.E. Spending on School Infrastructure - Study of trends in all 50 states. Results would predict an increase in NAEP scores of .236 points per additional dollar/pupil invested in infrastructure.
7. Lewis, M. (2000) Facility Condition and student test performance in Milwaukee public schools - Facility measures explained 10-15% of the difference in student test scores across schools after accounting for student demographics.
8. Schneider, M. Linking School Facilities Conditions to Teacher Satisfaction and Success in Washington D.C. and Chicago - A shift from the best facilities to the worst decreases student test performance by 3%.
MDRC Study on Small High Schools in New York City (June, 2010)
1. After the first year of implementing small schools, 58.5% of Small School students were on track to graduate compared to 48.5% of those in standard size schools.
2. By the fourth year of high school small schools increased overall graduation rates by 6.8% which represents 1/3 of the gap in graduation rates between white students and students of color in NYC.
Green Schools: Attributes for Health and Learning
- Committee to Review and Assess the Health and Productivity Benefits of Green Schools by the National Research Council of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. (2007)
- This study reviewed, assessed and synthesized the results of available studies on green schools to determine the theoretical and methodological basis for the effects of green schools on student learning and teacher productivity. The study represents a consensus among study participants (authorities from several fields) based on review of available data. As such it is not in the form of statistics that quantify benefits. Instead it draws "conclusions" supported by the evidence it has found. The conclusions are in the form of findings and recommendations. The Study delineates which aspects of green schools are likely to have significant effects on enhancing student achievement.
EPA - Scientific Summaries of research linking school facilities to academic performance (2010)
- This web site links to a number of studies tying school facilities to academic performance. There are more available than it is possible to summarize here, but it is a good resource for further investigations.
What you find in looking at this subject is not that much different from an examination of research in physics, chemistry, and biology - there are many studies and they sometimes have conflicting results. As more and more data is accumulated trends appear which allow researchers to say: "The preponderance of the evidence supports...". This is clearly the case when looking at the affect of school facilities on academic performance. At this time the best thinking is that school facilities factors can represent a 3-5% increase in student performance. Studies with more and more rigorous scientific methods are continuing to occur, but it is safe to conclude that this link exists.
For more information, please contact:
Helena L. Jubany, AIA, LEED AP, Managing Principal
www.nacarchitecture.com
P 323 859-3100
F 323 859-3110
Helena Jubany
Will Wright
Director, Government & Public Affairs
AIA Los Angeles
3780 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 800
Los Angeles, CA 90010
(213) 639-0777
Will@aialosangeles.org
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