Building Condition and the Influence on Student Learning
The national School Plant
Management Association (NSPMA)
and SchoolDude are partnering
for a comprehensive research study that will
examine student academic performance of
mean scaled math and language arts standardized
test scores, while taking into account
the condition of school buildings around the
United States. There is a need for further study of the correlation
between students and their learning environment. There have
only been fragments of studies performed and there is a need for a
comprehensive study across the country. Several research studies
have been conducted in Virginia, through Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University, which have revealed clear evidence
that school building condition does have an impact, with other
controlled variables, on student learning.
Facilities matter. There has been research that concludes that physical
environment plays an important part in how well children learn. There
has been much discussion about how to truly identify the best method to
measure the school building condition. Dr. Carol Cash, professor at Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University, developed a very concrete tool
that allows the school building administrator or principal to conduct the
physical assessment of the school building. There is also building maintenance
software that can assist operations departments in tracking key
building performance maintenance indicators.
There has been much discussion about how to truly identify the
best method to measure the school building condition. Dr. Carol
Cash, professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,
developed a very concrete tool that allows the school building
administrator or principal to conduct the physical assessment
of the school building. This assessment has been used in many
research studies in Virginia. There is also building maintenance
software that can assist operations departments in tracking key
building performance maintenance indicators.
SchoolDude has served public schools for over 13 years through
their software programs supporting maintenance operations and
the tracking of key performance indicators such as reactive and
preventative maintenance, deferred maintenance backlogs, energy
consumption and conservation an safety as a few examples. Their
software is used in operations management in school districts in
more than 35 percent of the United States. Schools in several states
including Arkansas and New Mexico use their facility management
software statewide. This type of software can provide an unique
opportunity to track how well school buildings are maintained
through general and preventative maintenance. This may provide
the needed tool to standardize a true measurement that defines
whether a school building is deemed standard or substandard.
There have been seven states identified where SchoolDude’s
software is predominant as the program used for schools operations
maintenance. These states include Arkansas, Michigan, New
Jersey, California, Virginia, New Mexico, Texas and the state of
Washington. A random sample will be taken in each state and the
building condition will be evaluated through preventative maintenance
statistics, completion rates of work orders and deferred
maintenance. Once the building condition is defined by measurable
performance building indicators, the mean scaled scores
in language arts and math will be evaluated for the randomly
selected schools in each of these states. Several controls will need
to be in place to make the research findings valid. Socioeconomic
status and other variables will be controlled to make the research
as robust as possible.
The physical environment in which children learn is still of compelling
interest, especially in correlation to the influence of student
learning. Funding must continue to be appropriated to maintain and
enhance our school buildings so our students and teachers have a
suitable environment for optimal academic achievement.
This article originally appeared in the issue of .
About the Author
John A. Bailey, Ph.D. is the director of School Plants for Chesapeake Public Schools and a National School Plant Managers Association board member, representing Virginia, and a Virginia School Plant Managers Association board member, representing Region II, in Virginia.