COMMITTEE CHAIR: Dr. Patricia Miller

TITLE: EXAMINING SCHOOL FACILITIES AND THEIR IMPACT ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

ABSTRACT: Facility management systems affect the quality of the environment, which in turn impacts the performance of students, teachers, and staff (How K-12 Facilities Impact Student Learning and Health 2022). Thus, it is likely that students attending healthy school buildings will perform better than those attending unhealthy ones. To ascertain whether this is true, this quantitative study will examine the impact of school facilities on student performance in a large urban school district in Texas. There is a growing body of work linking educational achievement and student performance to healthy school buildings (Health & Academics, 2019; Health Schools-CDC; and How K-12 Facilities Impact Student Learning and Health 2022, sitelogiq.com). One seminal perspective about what constitutes a healthy school is the nine foundations of a healthy building (Allen, 2017). The nine foundations of a healthy building are air quality, thermal health, moisture, dust & pests, Safety & security, water quality, noise, lighting & views, and ventilation (Allen, 2017). This study examined whether students are less likely to attend schools in need of structural repair, schools that use temporary structures, and schools that are old and outdated, compared to modern, updated, and healthy school buildings. School districts that wish to maximize students’ learning and minimize students’ days out of school should provide students, teachers, administrators, and communities with high-quality school structures. For students, school facilities affect health, behavior, engagement, learning, and achievement (Penn State University College of Education, 2015). There are some issues with the variety of possible outcomes. However, in the context of this study, positive learning outcomes will include high standardized test scores, high achievement, and significant graduation rates. Adverse learning outcomes will be associated with, but not exclusive to, student attendance and student behavior. The researcher analyzed the impact of school facility conditions on student achievement, providing an overview of the data analysis methodology to set the stage for understanding the findings. This quantitative study included standardized test performance, attendance rates, and graduation rates for rebuilt and renovated high schools in a large urban school district in the State of Texas. Data from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) will be used, along with Allen’s nine foundations of a healthy building, as the building blocks of this study.

Keywords: Facility management, student achievement, healthy buildings

Location Online:

Zoom Link: https://pvpanther.zoom.us/j/93227299285?pwd=OOloasWfECUpBLNMZQeJqnbiG2JqDa.1

Meeting ID: 932 2729 9285

Passcode: 982062