Test Scores and Indoor Air Quality Are Linked

Is there a link between cognitive functioning / learning / test scores and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in schools? Here’s what we know: there is a large body of research out there regarding test scores and IAQ. I’ll simplify the discussion by using the term “test scores” because test scores are more concrete than cognitive functioning or learning. Here are a few of the many studies on this subject. Green building rating systems typically address the importance of IAQ in schools.

If you’re only going to read one study on the benefits of green schools, this is a good one to read. This study links a lot of different sustainable strategies in schools and student success. Greening America’s Schools, was written by Gregory Kats, produced by Capital E and co-sponsored by the American Institute of Architects. http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=2908 .

One study often referred to is that done by Dr. Richard Shaughnessy, et. al. (Dr. Shaughnessy has served as Program Director of Indoor Air Quality Research at the University of Tulsa since 1987), and published in the Journal of Indoor Air (December 2006), and is titled Association Between Substandard Classroom Ventilation Rates and Students’ Academic Achievement. The study was done to see if there was a relationship between increased ventilation and test scores. It was discovered that indoor air quality had a significant impact on test scores. This study used data from 55 Fifth grade elementary school classrooms, with student performance based on standardized math and reading tests. Ventilation rates were calculated from CO2 concentrations. Other factors such as male/female ratios, free lunch program, limited English, gifted student percentage, absenteeism rate and ethnicity were all neutralized.

Basically when you bring sufficient outdoor air into classrooms you alleviate the concentrations of allergens, viruses, and toxins from things like art and science materials. Also if students are falling asleep in certain classrooms but not others it can be due to large concentrations of carbon dioxide. Common sense stuff but it seems school designers aren’t doing a good job of providing sufficient air flow in schools. (This also helps with what teachers report as smelly students coming into class after P.E.).

The study showed that increased ventilation rates had a significant impact on math and reading test scores. With a ventilation volume of less than 5 cubic feet per minute the mean math scores were 56.32 and the mean reading scores were 47.73. When ventilation rates were over 10 cubic feet per minute mean math scores were 64.46 and reading scores were 54.27. This represented a 14.7% increase in math scores and a 13.7% increase in reading scores with improved ventilation.

A 2002 study involved Charles Young Elementary School in Washington, DC. The school had increased the Indoor Environmental Quality in their school through a comprehensive program and achieved the following results: (Source: Healthy School Environment and Enhanced Educational Performance – The Case of Charles Young Elementary School, Washington, DC, Carpet & Rug Institute, January 2002.):
Reading scores at basic or above increased from 59% to 75%; math scores at basic or above increased from 51% to 76%; and school attendance increased by 4%: from 89% to 93%.

And you can check your school in this USA Today Special Report on pollution near schools: http://content.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/smokestack/index .


Shaughnessy study: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0668.2010.00686.x/abstract
Charles Young study: http://www.carpet-rug.org/pdf_word_docs/020112_Charles_Young.pdf
Kats study: http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=2908