In times of severe budget constraints how is a school to work on increasing Indoor Environmental Quality? Here are some resources for all school districts.
One resource is the US Green Building Council, a nonprofit organization, originator of the LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) rating system. The organization’s goal is to have every student in a green school in this generation. I know I’ve said it before but this is a wonderful goal, similar to putting a man on the moon, only better. With many volunteers in Green Schools Committees in most states, the USGBC is a great resource for green schools, for new construction and for renovations. A program developed here in our North Texas Green Schools Committee is Green in a Box, which contains information and Indoor Air Quality handheld testing tools in a lending library, so schools are able to check out a Green in a Box (GIB) kit that includes “7 Steps to a 21st Century Building Performance Using Your 20th Century Building”. This lending library is available to all schools, public and private, K-12 and higher education. A volunteer comes with each Green in a Box checkout. Green in a Box was developed in response to the question, “As a green building resource, what is the one thing the Committee can do to help schools with their needs?” Volunteers educate on the importance of providing a healthy place for students and staff while reducing expenses.
Volunteers are also available to speak to your group: administrators, school boards, school nurses, facilities and maintenance departments, teachers, students, PTA’s, parents, and the community to help educate on hows and whys of LEED and green schools.
A new program within the US Green Building Council is the Center for Green Schools. (I was thrilled to be invited to Washington DC to attend the formal launch of the Center for Green Schools in 2009.) The Center for Green Schools is envisioned as the resource that will help green schools become a reality. Check out the website for information.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency operates a Schools section to help schools to understand and develop IEQ programs. Their Tools for Schools program is a step-by-step aid, and their Healthy SEAT is a software program that is used to log data for IEQ programs. EPA also has student and teacher education opportunities.
Both USGBC and EPA can help schools implement green cleaning.
Many districts hire consultants when they’re in the planning stage of a project in order to help them achieve better learning outcomes by going green. However, many districts have no money for consultants yet want to go green. Here are some links as to how to obtain resources.
The EPA provides no-cost Green Schools Symposiums around the country - check their website. There is one in the planning stages for North Texas that is scheduled for April 23-24, 2012. We volunteers are working to provide scholarships for hotels for school personnel who want to attend, yet have no travel budget. Please stay tuned.
www.usgbc.org
www.centerforgreenschools.org
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/resources.html
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/pubs.html
Showing posts with label Indoor Environmental Quality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indoor Environmental Quality. Show all posts
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
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
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
Monday, August 15, 2011
Three Easy Things
Do you know anyone with asthma or allergies? You most likely do. Here in Texas one in four children, on average, suffers from asthma. As we discuss Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) there are some easy solutions to begin your school’s journey to provide a healthy environment. To alleviate anxiety while we journey through the world of healthy schools, here are some easy solutions.
First step: get rid of air fresheners. Think of it this way. One of the things you’re going to start doing is paying attention to smells in your school. People who have asthma and allergies can have serious problems, and even be hospitalized, by things that are in our environment for no other reason than to “smell good”. On a microscopic level anything that smells is emitting molecules of that particular smell. As the air freshener disappears, those molecules are floating in the air, waiting to inflame the lungs of innocent passers-by. You want the air in your school to be neutral. If you’re masking another smell then you’re going to need to treat the source of the smell. In IEQ lingo, that’s called “source control”.
Second step: More source control: Keep it clean. The three most common sources of indoor air contamination are dust mites, cat dander, and cockroach droppings. Dust mites and cockroach droppings are typically generated on-site, while cat dander is coming to school on clothing and personal belongings like backpacks. Doctors who specialize in allergies and organizations like the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America www.aafa.org and the American Asthma Foundation www.americanasthmafoundation.org have information to help you develop an asthma action plan. In the meantime you’ll want to clean often and clean deep. This means you want to keep your school clutter-free so your facilities and maintenance staff can do their jobs. You’ll then want to clean soft surfaces, (at some point reducing soft surfaces) cleaning window coverings, cleaning horizontal surfaces (including mini-blinds), and steam-cleaning carpets, if you have them. (Eventually you’ll want to take a serious look at removing carpet.)
If you need to keep soft surfaces in parts of your building, there are steps you can take to help. For example, in kindergarten classes there tend to be stuffed animals, curtains, soft chairs, and carpeting. Wash the stuffed animals often, wash curtains often, and steam clean carpets and fabric furniture.
Third step: more source control: look in places like art studios, shop classes, science classes and science prep areas, janitor closets, and kitchens. Many teachers like to keep cleaning products in their classrooms. Reduce the number and quantity of chemicals in your school. Research a green cleaning protocol.
Your school district may want to begin a comprehensive IEQ program. If so, start by gaining consensus from parents, teachers, students, and administration.
First step: get rid of air fresheners. Think of it this way. One of the things you’re going to start doing is paying attention to smells in your school. People who have asthma and allergies can have serious problems, and even be hospitalized, by things that are in our environment for no other reason than to “smell good”. On a microscopic level anything that smells is emitting molecules of that particular smell. As the air freshener disappears, those molecules are floating in the air, waiting to inflame the lungs of innocent passers-by. You want the air in your school to be neutral. If you’re masking another smell then you’re going to need to treat the source of the smell. In IEQ lingo, that’s called “source control”.
Second step: More source control: Keep it clean. The three most common sources of indoor air contamination are dust mites, cat dander, and cockroach droppings. Dust mites and cockroach droppings are typically generated on-site, while cat dander is coming to school on clothing and personal belongings like backpacks. Doctors who specialize in allergies and organizations like the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America www.aafa.org and the American Asthma Foundation www.americanasthmafoundation.org have information to help you develop an asthma action plan. In the meantime you’ll want to clean often and clean deep. This means you want to keep your school clutter-free so your facilities and maintenance staff can do their jobs. You’ll then want to clean soft surfaces, (at some point reducing soft surfaces) cleaning window coverings, cleaning horizontal surfaces (including mini-blinds), and steam-cleaning carpets, if you have them. (Eventually you’ll want to take a serious look at removing carpet.)
If you need to keep soft surfaces in parts of your building, there are steps you can take to help. For example, in kindergarten classes there tend to be stuffed animals, curtains, soft chairs, and carpeting. Wash the stuffed animals often, wash curtains often, and steam clean carpets and fabric furniture.
Third step: more source control: look in places like art studios, shop classes, science classes and science prep areas, janitor closets, and kitchens. Many teachers like to keep cleaning products in their classrooms. Reduce the number and quantity of chemicals in your school. Research a green cleaning protocol.
Your school district may want to begin a comprehensive IEQ program. If so, start by gaining consensus from parents, teachers, students, and administration.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Introduction and Indoor Environmental Quality
My name is Karen Benson and I've been interested in and involved in green building since the early 80's. I'm excited about helping the American Clearinghouse on Educational Facilities spread the word about ways to increase Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in schools. Part of the purpose of this blog is dedicated to answering questions about school IEQ and IAQ, so please feel free to ask questions.
Q: What's the deal with IEQ and IAQ and why should anyone care?
A: Numerous studies connect learning, teacher retention, abseenteeism, and test scores with IEQ. Twenty percent of the population of the United States spends their day in a school. That translates into a lot of opportunity to breathe either good or bad air. Think back on what your school smelled like - I'm remmbering some funny smells in the schools I attended. Funny smells = particulate matter in the air. Newer schools don't have asbestos or lead paint, but they are much more air-tight, and some of the materials they're constructed or furnished with can be hazardous to human health. A statistic commonly cited is that indoor air quality can be two to seven times worse than outdoor air quality. (Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/ .)
Next: Children are at a disadvantage when it comes to Indoor Environmental Quality. And 3 simple ways to increase your schools' IAQ.
Q: What's the deal with IEQ and IAQ and why should anyone care?
A: Numerous studies connect learning, teacher retention, abseenteeism, and test scores with IEQ. Twenty percent of the population of the United States spends their day in a school. That translates into a lot of opportunity to breathe either good or bad air. Think back on what your school smelled like - I'm remmbering some funny smells in the schools I attended. Funny smells = particulate matter in the air. Newer schools don't have asbestos or lead paint, but they are much more air-tight, and some of the materials they're constructed or furnished with can be hazardous to human health. A statistic commonly cited is that indoor air quality can be two to seven times worse than outdoor air quality. (Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/ .)
Next: Children are at a disadvantage when it comes to Indoor Environmental Quality. And 3 simple ways to increase your schools' IAQ.
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