Term Paper on "Relationship of School Facilities Conditions to Academic Achievement and Teacher Retention"

Term Paper 20 pages (5393 words) Sources: 30 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Relationship of School Facilities Conditions to Academic Achievement and Teacher Retention

"The Walls Speak: The Interplay of Quality Facilities, School Climate, and Student Achievement" states that entering into recently public discourse is "the condition of our nation's schools." (nd) This work relates that a "growing body of literature...provides evidence to a link between school building adequacy and students achievement. One examined link between school facilities and student achievement may be school climate. School climate may be a mediating variable, explaining, at least in part, the deleterious impact that poor school facilities has on learning." (nd) This work states that of all the schools in the United States at least "twenty-one percent...are more than fifty years old and another fifty percent are at least thirty years old. These schools now require a total of $127 billion dollars in new construction and retro-fitting." (nd) This specific report is of a case study involving 82 participants from middle schools in the state of Virginia who completed surveys. Two measures are reported to have been used in this study: (1) School-climate Index; and (2) Quality of facilities Scale.

The School Climate Index (SCI) is stated to be a "new measures of school climate adapted from the work of Hoy and his colleagues." (nd) Four subscales comprise the School Climate Index: (1) academic press; (2) teacher professionalism; (3) collegial leadership; and (4) community engagement. The 'Quality of Facilities' measure is a scale which asks teachers concerning their view of how well the facilities are maintenanced and how attractive the facilities are. This study states preliminary findings indicate "that quality facilities were significantly positively related to all of the school climate variables: collegial leadership, teacher professionalism, academic press, and community engagement. The quality of facilities was unsurprisingly uncorrelated to student SES, although resource support was related to SES. Resource support and quality facilities were related, indicating that where resources were adequate, facilities also tended to be of higher quality. As in earlier research, both facilities quality and climate were found to be related to student achievement. Future analyses will examine school climate as a mediating variable between facilities quality and student achievement." (nd)

The work of Buckley, Schneider and Shang (2004) relates a study of teacher retention and its relation to school facilities and state that it is argued among many analysts that "...current school staffing problems are caused as much by teacher attrition as by the failure to attract new teachers." (Buckley, Schneider, and Shang, 2004) it is stated that school conditions "may be just as important as salary in the retention decision." (Buckley, Schneider, and Shang, 2004) the work of Rosenholtz and Simpson (1990) are stated to "offer a detailed analysis of how organizational factors contribute to teacher's commitment to the workplace. Their evidence shows that school management of student behavior and the burden of non-teaching obligations affect new teachers' commitment much more than it does experienced teachers." (Buckley, Schneider, and Shang, 2004) Additionally stated to contribute to the job dissatisfaction of teachers is "the lack of resources in a school..." And it is stated that this type of job dissatisfaction "can lead to attrition." (Buckley, Schneider, and Shang, 2004)

Buckley, Schneider, and Shang report that interviews with public school teachers in New York City reveals that "a large percentage of teachers said they did not have access to adequate basic supplies. Most teachers had to use their own money to equip their classroom. Of the teachers interviewed 26% report spending $300 to $1,000 of their own funds on classroom supplies over the year, 14% spent $100 to $200 and 12% $50 to $75." (Buckley, Schneider, and Shang, 2004) New York City teachers reported that "they do not have enough textbooks or the textbooks they do have are in poor condition. In turn, photocopying materials becomes a considerable part of their tasks, but school copy machines are frequently broken, and teachers have to rely on family, friends or other private resources to reproduce the materials." (Buckley and Schneider, 2004; citing Tapper, 1995) it would be lax of this study not to mention the findings that the NCLB has contributed to failure of schools to retain teachers in that "erratic government education policies and unresponsive education bureaucracies are a significant source of frustration for new teachers." (Buckley, Schneider, and Shang, 2004) Because teachers render their practice "in a specific physical location (a school building) and the quality of that location can affect the ability of teachers to teach, teacher morale, and the very health and safety of teachers. Despite the importance of the condition of school buildings, serious deficiencies have been well-documented particularly in large urban school districts." (Buckley, Schneider, and Shang, 2004) Buckley, Schneider, and Shang relate that there are a variety of factors that affect the quality of school buildings "and, in turn, affect the quality of teacher life and educational outcomes." (2004) the example provided is 'poor indoor air quality...is widespread and many schools suffer from 'sick building syndrome' which in turn increases student's absenteeism and reduces student performance." (Buckley, Schneider, and Shang, 2004) Buckley, Schneider, and Shang state that another area of school facilities that has been linked to the performance of teachers is "thermal comfort." (2004) it is stated that the work of Lowe (1990) states findings that "the best teachers in the country emphasized their ability to control classroom temperature as central to the performance of both teachers and students." (Buckley, Schneider, and Shang, 2004) Phillips (1997) is stated by Buckley, Schneider, and Shang to have stated findings that classroom lighting plays a particularly critical role in student performance." (2004) in fact, "seventeen studies from the mid-1930s to 1997 states findings that "appropriate lightning improves tests scores, reduces off-task behavior, and plays a significant role in the achievement of students." (Buckley, Schneider, and Shang, 2004) it is additionally related by Buckley, Schneider, and Shang that there has emerged a "renewed interest in increasing daylight in school buildings." (2004) in fact, the primary method of lighting schools until the 1950s was through use of natural light however, at the time the cost of electricity was decreasing unlike today's rising prices of electricity. Buckley and Schneider state that changes recently "including energy efficient windows and skylights have renewed recognition of the positive psychological and physiological effects of daylight. The study indicated that students with the most classroom daylight progressed 20% faster in one year on math tests and 26% faster on reading tests than those student who learned in environments that received the least amount of natural light."(2004) Buckley, Schneider, and Shang also report the work synthesis of Lemaster conducted in 1997 of 53 studies pertaining to school achievement which states findings that "student achievement and studies behavior reports that daylight fosters higher student achievement." (2004) Buckley, Schneider, and Shang also review the condition facility relating to noise levels in the school and state that "...research linking acoustics to learning is consistent and convincing: good acoustics are fundamental to good academic performance." (2004) the work of Earthman and Lemaster (1997) is reported to have stated three 'key' findings which include: (1) higher student achievement is associated with schools that have less external noise; (2) outside noise causes increased student dissatisfaction with their classrooms; and (3) excessive noise causes stress in students." (Buckley, Schneider, and Shang, 2004) it is additionally that importance is attached by teachers to "noise levels in classrooms and schools" and that the work of Lackney (1999) states findings that "teachers believe that noise impairs academic performance."(Buckley, Schneider, and Shang, 2004) Buckley, Schneider, and Shang report the use of a multivariate model in testing "the extent to which facilities quality affects teacher retention." (2004) the factors that may affect retention are listed along with the percentages of teacher responses in the study reported by Buckley, Schneider, and Shang in the following table labeled Figure 1 in this study

Factors that May Affect Retention

Number of Observations = 835

Source: Buckley, Schneider, and Shang (2004)

The work of Olson and Carney entitled: "Sustainable K-12 Schools" published in January 2006 states: "Housing nearly 20% of Americans on a typical school day, school buildings have enormous potential to consume natural resources. Furthermore, recent trends in school construction reflect the nationwide phenomenon of sprawling development, with new schools and most commonly being single-story structures on large sites at the end of communities. These factors together highlight the significant effect that school buildings can have on the environment." (Olson and Carney, 2004) the World Commission on Environment and Development defines sustainability as 'meeting the standards of today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own special needs'. (p.5) Sustainable building is reliant upon an approach stated as one that is a "whole building...fully integrated...to design, construction and operation." (Olson and Carney, 2004) This approach is also known as 'green' or high performance' building design and are facilities with the following benefits:

Provide optimal environmental and economic performance;

Increase efficiencies, saving energy, water, and other resources;

Provide satisfying, productive, quality indoor spaces;… READ MORE

How to Reference "Relationship of School Facilities Conditions to Academic Achievement and Teacher Retention" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

Teacher Efficacy Term Paper

Teacher Efficacy

Connecting Teacher Efficacy and Student Achievement in Higher Education Business Classes

Academic achievement is an important step in obtaining one's life goals. Education is a two-way street. It… read more

Term Paper 30 pages (10102 words) Sources: 25 Topic: Education / Teaching / Learning

---

Benefits of Year-Round School vs. A Regular Calendar Research Proposal

Round School vs. A Regular Calendar School Year

The Benefits of Year-Round vs. Traditional Calendar Year School

Continued interest in improving educational achievement has prompted school districts across the nation… read more

Research Proposal 40 pages (10557 words) Sources: 20 Style: APA Topic: Education / Teaching / Learning

---

Teaching Techniques to Motivate Students Literature Review

Teaching Techniques to Motivate Students

Today, university teaching is initiating a process of change as consequence of European convergence, new curricula and the influence a new educational paradigm in which… read more

Literature Review 11 pages (4053 words) Sources: 15 Style: APA Topic: Education / Teaching / Learning

---

Public Policy Term Paper

Public Policy-Making: Public School Funding (K-12) in New York State

The objective of this work is to demonstrate an understanding of the policy process as well as key policy terminology… read more

Term Paper 15 pages (4206 words) Sources: 5 Topic: Education / Teaching / Learning

---

Teaching Today: An Introduction to Education Term Paper

Teaching Today: An Introduction to Education

On the question of teaching there are various factors that enable the teachers to perform in a manner that will perform the best education… read more

Term Paper 15 pages (5989 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Education / Teaching / Learning

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>