Green School Facilities and Their Effect On Educational Outcomes

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Green School Facilities and Their Effect On
Educational Outcomes

• Sheila J. Bosch, Ph.D., LEED AP
• GreenArk Inc.

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School Challenges

• Average age of schools is 42 years
• Many are outdated, uncomfortable and even unsafe
• Opportunity to improve schools to enhance
  learning and other desired outcomes

Lakeside High, built in 1967
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School Building Boom

• 150 billion to be spent on new, retrofit and
  addition construction from 2004 through 2006
  (nationwide)

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What are Green Schools?

• Green schools optimize learning environments
  and enhance natural environments

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Designing/Rating Green Schools

• LEED
• National Best Practices Manual for Building High
  Performance Schools
• Washington Sustainable School Design Protocol
• Collaborative for High Performance Schools
• City of New York High Performance Building
  Guidelines
• Poudre School District Sustainable Design
  Guidelines (CO)

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• Consensus based
• Buildings rated at one of 4 levels Certified,
  Silver, Gold, Platinum
• Categories include Sustainable Sites, Water
  Efficiency, Energy Atmosphere, Materials
  Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, and
  Innovation Design Process
• Rating systems for both new and existing
  buildings
• See www.usgbc.org for rating system details

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Perceptions About Green Schools

• More then 4/5 are familiar with green/high
  performance schools
• 2/5 familiar with CHPS, 2/3 with LEED
• Nearly 2/3 believe they cost more, but 7 is
  acceptable
• 2/3 have incorporated green practices
• Daylighting, automated lighting controls and
  energy management are most common
• 3/4 believe green schools can serve as teaching
  tool

Source (2004) Green Building White Paper
Research Schools. Building Design
Construction and Reed Research Group.
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Benefits of Green Schools?

• Reduced operating costs
• Improved behavior
• Better attendance
• Higher test scores
• Reduced teacher turnover
• Greater student and parent satisfaction

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The Green Schools Agenda

• Minimal or no increase in first cost
• Lower operating costs
• School building as a teaching tool
• Healthy indoor air quality
• Improved acoustics
• Thermally comfortable
• Minimal use of natural resources

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Guess What

• Green is NOT enough

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Other Important Facility-Related Issues

• Changing pedagogy
• Safety
• Increasing public access
• Rapidly increasing student populations
• Class size reduction
• Deferred maintenance
• Historic preservation
• Technology
• ADA compliance
• Facility equity

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What do we know about how school facilities
affect educational outcomes?
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The BICE Report

• The National Research Council appointed the
  Committee to Review and Assess the Health and
  Productivity Benefits of Green Schools.
• Committee charged with reviewing, assessing, and
  synthesizing available studies on green schools
  and determine the theoretical and methodological
  basis for the effects of green schools on student
  learning and teacher productivity.
• Final report due out in a few months

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Limitations of Existing Data

• No rigorous studies of green schools vs
  traditional re educational outcomes
• Results scattered
• Most studies not replicated
• Measurement of variables not standardized
• Effect of physical environment appears to be
  small compared to SES and other variables

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Lighting

• Visual conditions in most schools are adequate
• Good daylighting shown to increase math and
  reading scores by 20 and 26 (Heschong Mahone
  Group 1999)
• Teachers should try to create both well-lit and
  dimly lit areas in the classroom and encourage
  students to sit where they are most comfortable
  (Dunn 1985)

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Lighting

• lighting does seem to have some effect on
  childrens behavior, cognitive performance,
  visual fatigue, and possibly health. (Fletcher
  1983)
• the visual environment affects a learners
  ability to perceive visual stimuli and affects
  his/her mental attitude, and thus, performance
  (Tanner Jago 1999)

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Thermal Comfort

• The presence of air conditioning was shown to
  improve test scores in vocabulary on the Iowa
  Test of Basic Skills in a study of eighth grade
  students from 191 public schools in Georgia (Chan
  1980)
• Teachers believe thermal comfort affects teaching
  quality and student achievement (Lackney 1999)

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Thermal Comfort

• Several studies supporting the notion that when
  temperatures and humidity levels are in the
  moderate range (68-74 ?F and 40-70,
  respectively) students are best able to perform
  mental tasks (Schneider 2002)
• Inconsistent evidence on temperature and
  performance, more findings associating higher
  temperatures above the comfort envelope with
  decreased performance in adults and children
  (Mendell Heath 2003)
• Temperatures between 68-74 ?F were shown to be
  the best for learning reading and math (Harner
  1974)

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Acoustics

• Sufficient evidence exists to conclude that there
  is an association between decreased noise levels
  in schools and improvement in student achievement
  
• Higher student achievement is correlated with
  lower noise levels (Earthman Lemasters 1998)
• Increased outdoor noise associated with student
  dissatisfaction (Earthman Lemasters 1998)
• Excessive noise causes student stress (Earthman
  Lemasters 1998)

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Acoustics

• Studies demonstrate links between acoustical
  conditions and spelling and reading ability,
  behavior, attention, concentration, blood
  pressure, feelings of helplessness, and a lack of
  persistence on tasks (Schneider 2002)
• Excessive background noise even a problem in new
  schools (U.S.Architectural and Transportation
  Barriers Compliance Board 1999)

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Indoor Air Quality

• Poor IAQ associated with increased absenteeism
  (BICE Report Draft 2006)
• Robust body of evidence indicating that the
  health of children and adults can be affected by
  air quality in a school (BICE Report Draft 2006)
• The reduction of pollutant loads has been shown
  to reduce the occurrence of building-associated
  symptoms and to improve the health and comfort of
  people occupying the buildings (BICE draft report
  2006)

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Indoor Air Quality

• Microbiological and chemical exposures from
  indoor sources, have been related to
  respiratory infections and asthma, which are
  health outcomes documented to increase
  absenteeism and also likely to decrease
  performance (Mendell Heath 2003)
• Indoor microbiological and chemical pollutants
  as well as a variety of HVAC and building
  characteristics, have been related to a broad
  range of additional health outcomes allergic
  alveolitis, atopy, lung inflammation, for which
  links to decreased performance or attendance are
  possible but have received little assessment
  (Mendell Heath 2003)

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School As Teaching Tool

• Henry Ford Museum/Greenfield Village, Dearborn,
  MI
• 400 student charter school located in a museum
• Students learn math skills by calculating window,
  wall, and ceiling areas

Source http//www.ed.gov/inits/construction/9scho
ols.html
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School As Teaching Tool

• Ohio Foundation for Environmental Education
• 200 photovoltaic systems are being installed to
  offset energy loads
• Web-based tools allow students to analyze power
  generation and consumption
• Other curricula connections in math and science

Source http//www.solarschools.org
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What Do We Need to Know?
Study Design
PHASE II Identify Important Measures of Success
(MOS) (i.e., Educational Outcomes)
PHASE I Analyze Literature to Identify Physical
Variables and Educational Outcomes
PHASE IV Identify Gaps and Develop Research
Priorities
PHASE III Identify Physical Variables Plausibly
Related to MOS and Develop Hypotheses
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Literature Review

• Purpose identify educational outcome and
  physical variables to identify those previously
  studied
• Sources
• Primarily correlational and review studies (27)
• Scope included spatial features (large vs.
  small, open vs. traditional plan), building
  quality maintenance,visual comfort, thermal
  comfort, acoustical comfort, indoor air quality
• Method review articles to identify variables and
  the relationships between them

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Literature Review

• Most studies are correlational and do not
  evaluate how
• Wide variety in methods used
• Most focus on the outcome achievement

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Identifying Important Educational Outcomes

• Purpose identify educational outcomes that are
  important to educators
• Participants educators (17)
• Method concept mapping
• a type of structured conceptualization which can
  be used by groups to develop a conceptual
  framework which can guide evaluation or planning
  

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Identifying Important Educational Outcomes
Support Services
Teacher attitude and behavior
Health
Collaboration
Facilities
School climate
Parental Involvement
Student Behavior
Community
School factors
Student attitude
Post secondary concerns
Final Cluster Rating Map
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Identifying Important Educational Outcomes
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Identifying Research Priorities

• Purpose Identify plausible relationships between
  physical school environment and important
  measures of success to identify research
  priorities.
• Participants experienced researchers (17)
• Method Delphi technique using 4 questionnaires

Outdoor learning space
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Identifying Research Priorities

• Several of the priority hypotheses can be
  addressed through green design

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High Priority Hypotheses

• Quiet, reflective space
• The provision of quiet, reflective space for
  students and teachers will result in improved
  student and teacher satisfaction, reduced
  off-task behavior, and improved student social
  development and affective performance

Outdoor gazebo
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High Priority Hypotheses

• Circulation spaces with niches, seating areas,
  and natural light
• The provision of circulation spaces with niches,
  seating areas, and natural light provides
  opportunities for informal interaction among
  students and teachers, resulting in an improved
  social climate that will lead to a more
  student-friendly environment, greater sense of
  school connectedness, improved student academic
  growth, student attendance, affective
  performance, and teacher retention

Circulation space with benches
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High Priority Hypotheses

• Daylit classrooms
• The provision of predominantly daylit classrooms
  is correlated with higher student academic
  achievement, lower absentee rates, fewer student
  suspensions, and improved teacher satisfaction
  when compared with predominantly artificially lit
  classrooms

Skylight
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High Priority Hypotheses

• Level of maintenance and building quality
• Students in buildings that are well maintained
  and of good quality will perform higher on
  measures of achievement, create fewer
  disciplinary problems, and have higher attendance
  rates

Maintenance
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High Priority Hypotheses

• School integration into local community
• When a school is well-integrated into the
  community, students will feel more valued by the
  school and will experience greater social
  development, improved job opportunities, reduced
  transience, and greater satisfaction

Students volunteer in local community
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Literature Reviews

• Higgins, S. et.al. (2005). The Impact of School
  Environments A Literature Review. For The
  Design Council.
• Earthman, G. (2004). The Walls Speak.
• Mendell, M.J. and Heath, G.A. (2003). Do Indoor
  Environments in Schools Influence Student
  Performance? A Review of the Literature. LBNL
  51780.
• Schneider, M. (2002). Do School Facilities
  Affect Educational Outcomes? NCEF.

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Best Resources

• National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities
  (Impact of School Facilities on Learning page)
• www.edfacilities.com
• Council of Educational Facility Planners,
  International www.cefpi.org
• DesignShare, www.designshare.com
• School Design Planning Lab, www.uga.edu/sdpl

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For More Information About Designing Green Schools

• Contact
• TFPG
• 706-614-1338

TFPG 2351 College Station Road Suite 407 Athens,
GA 30605