Understanding the Relationship Between Student Achievement and the Quality of Educational Facilities: Evidence From Wyoming

Picus, Lawrence O.; Marion, Scott; Calvo, Naomi; Glenn, William J.

doi:10.1207/s15327930pje8003_5

Cited by 59 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…64 This study conflicts with the established research literature that school facility quality is associated with student performance, but agrees with anecdotal evidence like that stated by a parent advocate: “Transplanting an ineffective school from an old building to a new one is not going to change the quality of education. No one would be upset about school construction if students were already receiving a top-flight education.” 65 Perhaps this is because there is not a significant amount of variation in quality of school building in Wyoming: the study found only 7% of school facilities to be inadequate in Wyoming, and no correlation between the socioeconomic status of students and the school building quality was found.…”

Section: Why Do Education Policymakers Care About the Physical Schoolcontrasting

confidence: 42%

Achieving Healthy School Siting and Planning Policies: Understanding Shared Concerns of Environmental Planners, Public Health Professionals, and Educators

Cohen

2010

New Solut

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Policy decisions regarding the quality of the physical school environment—both, school siting and school facility planning policies—are often considered through the lens of environmental planning, public health, or education policy, but rarely through all three. Environmental planners consider environmental justice issues on a local level and/or consider the regional impact of a school. Public health professionals focus on toxic exposures and populations particularly vulnerable to negative health outcomes. Educators and education policymakers emphasize investing in human capital of both students and staff. By understanding these respective angles and combining these efforts around the common goals of achieving adequacy and excellence, we can work towards a regulatory system for school facilities that recognizes children as a uniquely vulnerable population and seeks to create healthier school environments in which children can learn and adults can work.

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Section: Why Do Education Policymakers Care About the Physical Schoolcontrasting

confidence: 42%

Achieving Healthy School Siting and Planning Policies: Understanding Shared Concerns of Environmental Planners, Public Health Professionals, and Educators

Cohen

2010

New Solut

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“…In addition to saving energy, “high‐performance” buildings may improve learning ability and test scores, contribute to staff retention and employee satisfaction, reduce distraction and enhance learning. However, the current understanding of the linkage between ventilation and school health is incomplete . Many studies have reported CO 2 concentrations, a simple indicator related to crowding and ventilation for which upper limits from 1 000 to 1 500 ppm have been suggested .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ventilation rates in recently constructed U.S. school classrooms

Batterman

Wald

et al. 2017

Indoor Air

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Low ventilation rates (VRs) in schools have been associated with absenteeism, poorer academic performance, and teacher dissatisfaction. We measured VRs in 37 recently constructed or renovated and mechanically ventilated U.S. schools, including LEED and EnergyStar-certified buildings, using CO and the steady-state, build-up, decay, and transient mass balance methods. The transient mass balance method better matched conditions (specifically, changes in occupancy) and minimized biases seen in the other methods. During the school day, air change rates (ACRs) averaged 2.0±1.3 hour , and only 22% of classrooms met recommended minimum ventilation rates. HVAC systems were shut off at the school day close, and ACRs dropped to 0.21±0.19 hour . VRs did not differ by building type, although cost-cutting and comfort measures resulted in low VRs and potentially impaired IAQ. VRs were lower in schools that used unit ventilators or radiant heating, in smaller schools and in larger classrooms. The steady-state, build-up, and decay methods had significant limitations and biases, showing the need to confirm that these methods are appropriate. Findings highlight the need to increase VRs and to ensure that energy saving and comfort measures do not compromise ventilation and IAQ.

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“…Additionally, there was a four percentage point difference in the graduation rates of a student in a worse condition, older school, in comparison to a reported "best condition", newest school (Blincoe, 2008). Contrastingly, a report conducted in Wyoming public schools found no discernible relationship between test score and building condition scores (Picus, Marion, Calvo & Glenn, 2005). The variances in these reported results of building conditions on a measure of student achievement, such as test scores, implied that building condition was not a reliable sole determinant of student achievement.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 70%

What is the Value Added by High-School Infrastructure and Teacher Qualities on Student Grades?

Soares¹,

Bandyk²

2016

ASSRJ

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The assumption that high-school infrastructure and teacher quality have positive impacts on academic attainments was challenged when Massey and Fischer disclosed a double paradox. First, infrastructure quality has a negative effect on high school GPA (Massey, Charles, Lundy, and Fischer, 2003) and a positive effect on college GPA (Fischer, 2007). And second, teacher quality does not impact GPA, but teachers' disciplinary practices do. How can the same infrastructure have opposite effects on grades when one looks at high school versus college? And why does teacher quality not matter, but disciplinary behavior does matter, to academic performance? Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen, this study analyzes particular measures of school infrastructure to ascertain their effects on grades in high school and college. Our results suggest that the aspect of infrastructure quality that positively affected freshman GPA was overall school quality, while the aspects that negatively affected high school GPA were library quality and school's reputation in the community. Further, teacher quality was not found to be a positive and significant predictor of GPA at either the high school or university level. However, teachers' disciplinary practices, when perceived as either "fair" or "strict" by students, did matter. When discipline was perceived as "fair", there was a positive correlation with high school GPA, and conversely when it was perceived as being "strict" there was a negative impact on high school GPA. This research provides new evidence regarding how particular aspects of infrastructure and teacher qualities precisely affect GPA at both high school and college levels. Studies that do not work with these measures will misestimate the impact of school resources on outcomes.

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Understanding the Relationship Between Student Achievement and the Quality of Educational Facilities: Evidence From Wyoming

Cited by 59 publications

References 4 publications

Achieving Healthy School Siting and Planning Policies: Understanding Shared Concerns of Environmental Planners, Public Health Professionals, and Educators

Achieving Healthy School Siting and Planning Policies: Understanding Shared Concerns of Environmental Planners, Public Health Professionals, and Educators

Ventilation rates in recently constructed U.S. school classrooms

What is the Value Added by High-School Infrastructure and Teacher Qualities on Student Grades?

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