Almost no educators understand how school buildings can undermine the success of both students and teachers. Lack of fresh air lowers brain function – leading to lower standardized test scores, even among the brightest students.
Generally speaking, there are four generations of school buildings. All have unique features that either help learning, or hurt it. In the oldest generation of buildings, there is no machine to bring in fresh air. If you wanted the kids to get fresh air, you either opened a window, and/or a hallway door, or you sent them outside. Now the windows are nailed shut for security and caulked to save energy, the kids eat in the cafeteria, often have recess in the gym, and take a bus home. And their brains do not work well.
Your child can suffer poor grades no matter how good the teacher is if your child’s classroom has poor indoor air quality.
Children’s brains are slowed down by poor indoor air quality in schools in ways that few parents or school administrators understand.
Poor classroom air quality can cost students one or two letter grades on their report card. This has a life long impact, because failure to learn basic things undermines future learning, which can lead to loss of potential scholarships, and make it harder to get good paying jobs.
This is particularly true in older rural or inner city school buildings where ancient air conditioning systems have not been replaced or upgraded. Because the average parent usually thinks of comfortable temperature as the goal, if the stuffy air is “comfortable”, there is no pressure on the school system to fix the building – because no one knows that the kid’s brains are not working as good as they could. You can have a building with poor amounts of oxygen, but it can ‘feel’ fine.