Do School Facilities Affect Academic Outcomes?

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Mark SchneiderNovember 2002On any given School day, about twenty percent ofAmericans spend time in a School building. Theaverage age of our schools is close to fifty years,and studies by the General Accounting Office havedocumented widespread physical deficiencies in many ofthem. Faced with an aging building stock and growing,shifting student enrollments, states and communities areworking hard to build and modernize K 12 involved in School planning and design see this asan opportunity to enhance Academic outcomes by creat-ing better learning environments. Their logic is com-pelling how can we expect students to perform at highlevels in School buildings that are substandard? We all know that clean, quiet, safe, comfortable, andhealthy environments are an important component ofsuccessful teaching and learning. But which facilityattributes Affect Academic outcomes the most and inwhat manner and degree?A growing body of research addresses these of it is good, some less so; much of it is inconclu-sive.

Do School Facilities Affect Academic Outcomes? 3 National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities 1090 Vermont Avenue, N.W., Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20005–4905 888–552–0624 www.edfacilities.org ©2002, National Institute of Building Sciences

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