There Can Be No Doubt
There is more than 35 years of research that shows facilities, and the learning environment have
a definite impact on a student’s ability to learn and
an instructor’s ability to teach. And there is constantly
more research being released on this subject. Following
are a sample of just a few of those resources.
Mental Health
Children in classrooms with
inadequate material resources and children whose
teachers feel they are not respected by colleagues
exhibit more mental health problems than students
in classrooms without these issues. (Journal
of Health and Social Behavior, March 2011. American
Sociological Association study shows Negative
Classroom Environment Adversely Affects Children’s
Mental Health.)
Performance
An online survey of 800 district
administrators or school board members reveal that
almost 90 percent of school leaders see a direct link
between the quality and performance of school facilities,
and student achievement. (Honeywell and
Education Week Research, 2010 School Energy and
Environment Survey 2010; Data & Analysis.)
Indoor Air Quality
Children are inherently
more vulnerable to environmental hazards because
their bodies are still developing. Substandard environmental
conditions in schools, such as insufficient
cleaning or inadequate ventilation, can cause serious
health problems for children. Evidence continues to
mount demonstrating that indoor air quality, or IAQ,
directly impacts student academic performance and
health. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2010,
How Does Indoor Air Quality Impact Student Health
and Academic Performance?)
Recruit and Retain
Parents and prospective
students often select an institution based on its
facilities. According to a study by APPA about how
facilities affect student recruitment and retention
the facilities noted as “extremely or very important”
in students’ selection process were those
related to their major (73.6 percent), followed by
libraries (53.6 percent), classrooms (49.8 percent)
and residence halls (42.2 percent). The overall rejection
of a campus due to an inadequate facility
is 26.1 percent. The overall rejection of a campus
due to a poorly maintained facility is 16.6 percent.
(APPA Facilities Manager, 2006. The Impact of Facilities
on Recruitment and Retention of Students.)
Achievement
The research is unequivocal:
Poor school building conditions are a serious threat
to the health and academic performance of students.
Achievement is significantly lower in schools
with poor conditions. (Building Minds, Minding
Buildings, American Federation of Teachers, 2006.)
Teachers
While clearly important, teacher
salaries are not all that matter. Teacher preferences
across a range of job and school conditions may be
just as important as salary in the retention decision.
According to this study, “teachers might be
willing to take lower salaries in exchange for better
working conditions.” (Buckley, Schneider, Shang,
2004. The Effects of School Facility Quality on Teacher
Retention in Urban School Districts.)
Health
Overall evidence strongly suggests
that poor environments in schools, primarily due
to effects of indoor pollutants, adversely affect the
health, performance and attendance of students.
(U.S. Department of Education, 2004. A Summary
of Scientific Findings on Adverse Effects of Indoor
Environments on Students’ Health, Academic Performance
and Attendance.)
Acoustics
Research indicates that high levels of
background noise, much of it from heating and cooling
systems, adversely affect learning environments,
particularly for young children who require optimal
conditions for hearing and comprehension. (U.S.
Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance
Board and the Acoustical Society of America, 2002)
Attendance
Children miss more than 10 million
school days each year because of asthma exacerbated
by poor IAQ. (American Lung Association,
2002, Asthma in Children Fact Sheet.)
Behavior
This study demonstrated a positive
relationship between upgraded school facilities
and math achievement. Physical environmental attributes
of school facilities play an important role in
students’ academic performance, attitudes and behavior.
(Maxwell, 1999. School Building Renovation
and Student Performance, Syracuse City Schools.)
Daylighting
Students with the most daylighting
in their classrooms performed 15 to 20 percent
better on math tests and 19 to 26 percent better on
reading tests than those with the least daylighting.
(Hershong Mahone Group, 1999. Daylighting in
Schools: An Investigation into the Relationship Between
Daylighting and Human Performance.)
Achievement
Student achievement was as
much as 11 percentile points lower in substandard
buildings, as compared to above-standard buildings.
(Hines, 1996. Building Condition and student
achievement and behavior.)
Priorities
The depressed physical environment
of many schools is believed to reflect society’s lack of
priority for these children and their education. (Poplin
and Weeres, 1992. Voices from the Inside: A Report
on Schooling from Inside the Classroom)
Achievement
Students in school buildings in
poor condition scored six percent below students
that were in schools in fair condition and 11 percent
below students in schools in excellent condition.
(Edwards, 1991. Building conditions, parental
involvement and student achievement in the D.C.
public schools.)
Working Conditions
A study of working conditions
in urban schools concluded that “physical
conditions have direct positive and negative effects
on teacher morale, sense of personal safety, feelings
of effectiveness in the classroom, and on the
general learning environment.” Building renovations
in one district led teachers to feel “a renewed
sense of hope, of commitment, a belief that the
district cared about what went on that building.”
(Corcoran et al., 1988. Working in Urban Schools)
Safety and Security
Crime sprouts from a disorderly
environment plagued by broken windows,
graffiti and similar disruptions because criminals
get the message that “no one cares what happens
here.” (Wilson, 1982. Broken Windows)
This article originally appeared in the issue of .