Our team consisting of researchers, designers and a statistician are working to establish statistically reliable and valid survey instruments for use in post building occupancy for schools housing students and educators in grades nine to twelve. Two indexes are being created, a Student Engagement Index© and a Teachers Engagement Index©. Our research question is, “Can we demonstrate that the design of the built environment for grades 9-12 impacts student academic engagement levels?” The sample for this survey was four high schools in the USA, in fall 2017. A time-honored Post- Occupancy methodology was used. Findings had strong indicators showing the buildings’ design makes a statistically significant difference regarding student academic engagement levels. Results were excellent on reliability and have convergent validity, with the exception of the last two questions. Statistical evidence from students and educators across all schools, grades, and genders that the buildings’ designs impact their academic engagement levels (p<.0001). When active learning is used students recognize the impact. Concluded that for educators, the overall “culture” of the school is a far more important factor for teacher engagement than the physical layout. Seen as a real effect, all respondents acknowledged that the physical environment impacted engagement in their teaching and learning practices (p<.0001), significant result indicating that space makes a difference and increases student academic engagement levels.

New evidence builds upon the Student Engagement IndexTM and Teacher Engagement IndexTM research (Scott-Webber, Konyndyk, &amp; French, 2019; Scott-Webber, Konyndyk, French, &amp; French, 2018; Scott-Webber, Konyndyk, French, Lembke, &amp; Kinney, 2017) determining post-occupancy answers to, &ldquo;Can we demonstrate that the design of the built environment for grades 6&ndash;8 impacts student academic engagement levels post-occupancy?&rdquo; The early studies used respondents from grades 9&ndash;12. This one is from users in grades 6&ndash;8 (&lsquo;alpha&rsquo; pilot). All studies were conducted in the USA as convenience samples. Engagement performance is a high predictor of student success across multiple domains and learning/work experiences. Specifically, &ldquo;Research that shows that engagement, the time and energy students devote to educationally purposeful activities, is the best single predictor of their learning and personal development&rdquo; (Anonymous, NSSE, 2010, p. 2), and thus our research focus. From both the students and educators perspectives, design of the built space impacts engagement performance (p &lt; .0001).

Our research question was, ‘Can we demonstrate that the design of the built environment for grades 9-12 impacts student academic engagement levels?’ A pilot study was conducted using a convenience sample, a high school (grades 9-12) in the USA’s mid-west with a four-year old design solution. To answer the question we designed two online survey instruments, one for students and one for educators, enabling us to construct engagement indexes for each. We then correlated the level of self-reported engagement, as measured by our indexes, with the perceptions of the built environment. A mixed-methodology research technique was used for this research project. Focused interviews used K-12 architects (n=6), administrators (n=3), teachers (n=35), students (n=25). A fifteen (15) question ‘Alpha’/pilot survey was then designed, developed, pre-tested and then submitted to the full membership of the school. Findings revealed that both students and educators agreed that the design of the built environment makes a difference relative to their engagement at both the macro (i.e., Overall) and micro (i.e., Classrooms) at a high level of significance (p<.0001); spatial design makes a difference. The survey proved to be both reliable and valid. Finally, we pay particular attention to questions relating to “movement” and learning.

This paper explores the relationship between student academic engagement and student satisfaction with the school building, both with the classroom and the building overall in the effort to build two new measurement instruments. This work was the third in a series investigating this same topic, each survey being a refinement of its predecessor. Consistent with the previous two trials, we showed that academic engagement and satisfaction with the school building's design tends to go hand-in-hand, as measured by our surveys,. Of particular interest is the fact the effect of school design on engagement was consistent across schools, gender, and grade level. We also achieved very good results for survey reliability, and we are confident that the surveys are valid.