Connection between school design, grades

Study: School Design Can Significantly Affect Children’s Grades – UK study of primary schools finds that the design of the physical learning environment can influence children up to 25%.

The results, published in Building and the Environment, revealed that the architecture and design of classrooms has a significant role to play in influencing academic performance. Six of the environmental factors — color, choice, connection, complexity, flexibility and light — were clearly correlated with grade scores.

The research was conducted by the University of Salford’s School of the Built Environment and architecture firm Nightingale Associates.

The results are particularly interesting as the coalition government has introduced a controversial range of standardized templates for new school buildings, with the expressed purpose of reducing the costs of hiring architects.