However, this sector is unique among all those studied by McGraw-Hill Construction in our series of green SmartMarket Reports because the impact of green buildings on the health and well-being of their students is as important as energy in encouraging new green investments.
In fact, the level of green work is so high in this sector because so many report seeing the financial, health and well-being, and productivity benefits that they seek.
- Two-thirds report that their school has an enhanced reputation and ability to attract students to their green investments.
- 91% of K-12 schools and 87% of higher education state that green schools increase health and well-being.
- 74% of K-12 and 63% of higher education respondents report improved student productivity.
Student productivity meaning test scores. It should be noted that most of those questioned by McGraw-Hill suggested that green buildings had only a small impact on test scores, but that the impact was decidedly positive, especially when the school achieved green building certification, thus verifying the implementation of the environmentally beneficial strategies.
With the sharp increase in green school building in the construction industry (Chicago alone saw over twenty new green schools in just the past four years, with one-hundred percent of new Chicago Public School buildings built green since 2005), more data will become available to verify the perceived improvements in health, well-being, and productivity of teacher and student. With the recent discussions of teacher evaluation criteria, considerations of merit pay, and dismissal of "non-performing" teachers based upon test scores, we should see teachers using environmental conditions in the classroom as a way to set expectations for student performance. This might open a crack for advocates of green building practices to link the qualitative benefit of better school buildings with more quantitative measures like student attendance, teacher retention and absenteeism, in addition to energy and water savings.
As a former school administrator, I recognize that scarce resources mean we cannot always do everything we might want to do to make our schools optimal for learning...especially public schools in poorer districts. That said, when the digital revolution hit, we prioritized and made sure that students had access to technology so that they would not be left behind in their education. The time has come for us to put the priority back on the health and learning environment for our students.
With the sharp increase in green school building in the construction industry (Chicago alone saw over twenty new green schools in just the past four years, with one-hundred percent of new Chicago Public School buildings built green since 2005), more data will become available to verify the perceived improvements in health, well-being, and productivity of teacher and student. With the recent discussions of teacher evaluation criteria, considerations of merit pay, and dismissal of "non-performing" teachers based upon test scores, we should see teachers using environmental conditions in the classroom as a way to set expectations for student performance. This might open a crack for advocates of green building practices to link the qualitative benefit of better school buildings with more quantitative measures like student attendance, teacher retention and absenteeism, in addition to energy and water savings.
As a former school administrator, I recognize that scarce resources mean we cannot always do everything we might want to do to make our schools optimal for learning...especially public schools in poorer districts. That said, when the digital revolution hit, we prioritized and made sure that students had access to technology so that they would not be left behind in their education. The time has come for us to put the priority back on the health and learning environment for our students.
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