Eric Hastings, Utah State University
Psychology
Does building a new school facility change the quality of the school learning environment? If so, how enduring are these effects? Research shows some correlation between the physical environment of a school and student outcomes to. However, research fails to demonstrate that drastic changes to the environment through reconstruction influence those same outcomes. To investigate this relationship a group of newly built/reconstructed schools was identified and looked at longitudinally to measure the quality of the school’s learning environment two years before construction and four years after construction. To measure the school’s learning environment this research used the Indicators of School Quality survey (ISQ); a comprehensive survey system for school administrators to evaluate and monitor school improvement and accreditation efforts which provides information on the status of the schools learning environment, year to year progress and details about the conditions for learning produced in the classrooms. ISQ does this by measuring parent, teacher, and student perceptions of things such as parent support, teacher excellence, student commitment, school leadership, instructional quality, resource management, and school safety. In addition to the impact of school construction on a school’s learning environment, this analysis was extended to student attendance, safety, and student academic achievement. Data collected to this point supports the argument that school construction only has short term effects on a school’s learning environment, but no long lasting effect. Instead of investing in new facilities, schools and districts would be wise to first consider giving more attention to maintaining student and teacher relationships.