The CHESS project, led by researchers at Boston University, uses data-driven, community-engaged, actionable research to promote healthy indoor air quality, sustainability, and climate resilience in all schools.
Classroom Air Quality Affects Students’ Health and Learning
- Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) refers to the presence of substances such as mold, pollen, and pollution in the air, plus qualities such as noise and temperature. Research has demonstrated that good IEQ is key to students’ health and learning (Jones, 2024).
This graphic demonstrates pathways from exposure to indoor environmental stressors to reduced learning. These pathways are relevant to teachers and can impact teaching quality in similar ways.
School Buildings Play a Key Role in Classroom Air Quality
With students spending approximately 6.5 hours a day in schools, IEQ in classrooms is a growing public health concern.
- To achieve good IEQ, school buildings must be well insulated and have mechanical ventilation, heating, cooling and filtration systems (HVAC). (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2023)
- More than 41% of US school districts – lack adequate HVAC systems to ensure good classroom IEQ. (U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2020)
Viruses, mold, air pollutants, volatile organic compounds, high temperatures, and relative humidity are just some of the many environmental stressors found in classrooms. People, cars, buildings, and climate contribute to the generation and accumulation of these stressors in classrooms. Currently, there are limited standards for indoor environmental quality in schools, although many schools follow guidelines such as EPA Tools for Schools.
If you cannot measure IEQ, you cannot improve it
A first step in improving IEQ is knowing what the conditions are in classrooms. Since the pandemic, many schools have increased environmental monitoring in their buildings. Boston Public Schools installed approximately 4,400 IEQ monitors in their classrooms. The monitors help administrators promptly notice and address issues. The IEQ classroom data is publicly available and has also been used to support funding applications for school IEQ improvements.
Accurately measuring IEQ helps us improve student health & learning
Schools need to balance IEQ, SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and energy management goals. Informing these needs based on the billions of data points generated by the monitors is complex and requires strong building science, environmental health, and data analytics expertise.
We’re collaborating with Boston Public Schools to create data analytics to advance IEQ in all schools across the district.
Our CHESS team at BU’s Sustainable Built Environment Lab is:
- Turning school data into meaningful information
- Developing new tools to manage
- Analyzing and visualizing IEQ data trends
- Studying how IEQ affects students health and learning
- Informing school policies and investments
If you’d like to learn more about this collaboration, check out this video and article.
SBEL is part of the Center for Climate and Health at BUSPH and BU’s Institute for Global Sustainability.
If you’d like to collaborate or learn more, please mail us at sustainableschoolsBU@gmail.com
Illustrations: Pilar Botana Martinez
