Windows and Classrooms: A Study of Student Performance and the Indoor Environment

Report / October 21, 2003 / Building Innovation

This study investigates whether daylight and other aspects of the indoor environment in elementary school student classrooms have an effect on student learning, as measured by their improvement on standardized math and reading tests over an academic year.

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The study uses regression analysis to compare the performance of over 8000 3rd through 6th grade students in 450 classrooms in the Fresno Unified School District,located in California’s Central Valley. Statistical models were used to examine the relationship between elementary students’ test improvement and the presence of daylight in their classrooms, while controlling for traditional education explanatory variables, such as student and teacher demographic characteristics.

A study was also done to expand and validate this research.
Reanalysis Report