How state policymakers can address unequal access to adequate school facilities National—OCTOBER 07, 2026 School building environments matter for student learning
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Assessments School facilities can be measured based on the critical factors that affect the quality of school buildings and grounds. These factors are:
- SITING of schools –their location
- DESIGN of the school building and grounds
- UTILIZATION of the school building and grounds--how crowded and community accessible
- CONDITION of the school building and grounds - the age and condition of systems, components, fixtures, finishes, and structures
A variety of assessment tools are need to determine the quality of school facilities. The most common type of assessment is an engineering assessment. However, surveying end users--students, teachers, principals, and other staff--of facilities can provide essential information as to the health, safety, and education suitability of school buildings and grounds.
Resources for surveying end users on facility adequacy-- National : Organization: National Center on School Facilities [ abstract] Included here are reports on facility adequacy surveys of teachers and principals, copies of the surveys used in Chicago, District of Columbia, New Jersey, and with National Samples of schools, as well as a new draft of a facility adequacy survey developed at the National Center on School Infrastructure.
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School Facilities: Condition of America's Schools-- National : Organization: GAO_Government Accounting Office [ abstract] In 1994 GAO set out to determine the amount of funding needed to improve inadequate facilities and the overall physical condition and prevalence of schools that need major repairs, we surveyed a national sample of schools and augmented the survey with visits to selected school districts.
The survey was sent to a nationally representative stratified random sample of about 10,000 schools in over 5,000 school districts. The sample was designed for the Department of Education’s 1994 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), which is sponsored by the National Center for Educational Statistics
On the basis of the survey results, GAO estimated that the nation’s schools needed $112 billion to complete all repairs, renovations, and modernizations required to restore facilities to good overall condition and to comply with federal mandates.
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