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This article first appeared in The Journalist’s Resource and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted indoor air quality in schools and the importance of good ventilation.
He also drew attention to a long-standing problem in many American classrooms: air pollution, ranging from animal dander and paint fumes to mold, metals and formaldehyde.
For many years, schools facing investment shortages have postponed costly projects that would improve indoor air quality and ventilation, such as replacing roofs and upgrading their heating and cooling systems. When the federal government announced last year that it would distribute $123 billion in emergency relief budget to help schools prevent the spread of COVID-19 and recover from its impact, school districts had delayed renovation and maintenance delays.
Education officials have great flexibility in how they use this money, most of which remains unspent, according to a recent Washington Post analysis. Public health officials, researchers and advocacy organizations have suggested they devote a portion to indoor air quality.
“As government pandemic assistance becomes available to schools, there is an unprecedented opportunity to address a decades-long neglect of school building infrastructure,” write members of the COVID-19 Lancet Commission Working Group on Workplace Safety, School Safety and Travel. Security. Report published in April 2021.
The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and PreventionU. S. officials have noted that increased ventilation is to help save you from COVID-19 in schools. The deadline for school districts to spend the budget under the U. S. bailoutThe U. S. Air Force in law, signed into law in March 2021, is September 2024.
As the media examines school spending and covers the progress of those projects, it is vital to perceive the existing state of school buildings and heating, ventilation and air conditioning or HVAC systems. Journalists also want to know what studies say about interiors. air quality in schools and how air pollutants can affect students’ fitness and cognitive development.
Children are vulnerable to physical disorders similar to poor air quality.
“Exposure to air pollutants in school buildings has the potential to seriously harm students’ fitness because they inhale a greater volume of air commensurate with their body weight than adults,” writes an organization of 19 researchers in an October 2022 paper, “Indoor Air Quality and School Health: A critical review to develop the roadmap for the future school environment.
To count journalists’ coverage, we’ve compiled and summarized educational studies and government reports that read about those issues in the U. S. U. S. and abroad.
Together, they propose:
Learn more about those findings below. At the back of the page, links to other useful resources were included and investigative journalism projects focused on indoor air quality in schools were added.
School districts are aware of several building systems that need improvement or replacement in the United States. Government Accountability Office Report, June 2020.
An estimated 41 percent of U. S. school districts are in the U. S. U. S. citizens will have to upgrade or upgrade HVAC systems in at least a portion of their schools, meaning at least 36,000 public schools have defective or replaced HVAC systems, according to the U. S. report. U. S. Congress.
The report highlights a number of non-unusual problems in national public school buildings that can affect student learning, fitness and safety. in six states: California, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico and Rhode Island, from June to September 2019.
Some of the wonderful takeaways:
Site visits revealed that in the colder parts of the country school schedules had to be replaced or air conditioning systems installed as the weather warmed.
“Officials in a Michigan [school] district said about 60 percent of their schools were not air-conditioned and, in 2019, some schedules were temporarily adjusted due to excessive heat,” according to the report. some schools with air conditioning, but did not update the pipes and insulation that power HVAC systems, which caused moisture and condensation problems in those buildings. Officials were involved in how moisture and condensation can lead to air quality problems and mold, but said solving the problem Personal disruptions can charge more than a million dollars for construction.
The problem of ventilation in schools: a review of the literature William J. Fisk. Indoor Air, November 2017.
Ventilation rates in study rooms around the world fall short of minimum standards, concludes this article from Berkeley Lab, a laboratory at the U. S. Department of Energy. UU directed by the University of California.
Ventilation rates refer to the amount of air allowed in a building. In the United States, a popular commonly used ventilation for study rooms requires a minimum ventilation rate of about 7 liters per moment or 15 cubic feet per minute per occupant. says senior scientist William J. Fisk.
In this article, Fisk reviews the clinical literature published between 1995 and 2016 on school ventilation and carbon dioxide levels in study rooms in several countries, and adds the United States, China, Greece, and Sweden. comparison with benefits in terms of students’ physical fitness and educational performance.
“The search for a trade-off between greater student functionality and higher ventilation rates is compelling,” he writes. “There are reduced respiratory fitness effect arrangements and reduced student absences with higher ventilation rates. “
Fisk notes that schools’ energy prices would rise if they improved ventilation in their classrooms. Many schools would also want to upgrade or repair their HVAC systems.
“The economic price of expanding student functionality and fitness and reducing absences is easily quantifiable,” Fisk writes. Ten dollars consistent with consistent conson. “
Asthma prevalence and mold grades in the northeastern United StatesEvin J. Howard, et al. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, March 2021.
The researchers analyzed dust samples taken from 32 schools in densely populated areas of the northeastern United States and found that they contained several types of mold. They also found that the degrees of mold in classroom dust exceeded the degrees of mold found in dust collected from local homes.
The researchers analyzed samples taken from a total of 114 study rooms, bedrooms and living rooms in 33 homes between 2014 and 2018. They tested 30 types of mold, 26 of which are related to water damage and 10 are related to sources.
The classrooms had higher grades of these fungi, related to water damage: aureobasidium pullulans, eurotium amstelodami and penicillium crustosum.
The classrooms also had higher grades of those molds, related to sources: alternaria alternata, cladosporium cladosporioides 1, cladosporium cladosporioides 2, cladosporium herbarum, epicoccum nigrum and penicillium chrysogenum.
For most other types of mold, the differences were statistically significant.
When the researchers looked for links between mold levels and asthma rates among schoolchildren living in the area, they found that asthma was more common in schools with higher levels of outdoor mold, for example, those found on the ground and leaf surfaces.
“Thus, differences in asthma prevalence were not indicative of significant differences in mold expansion as a result of indoor water damage, but the points were related to higher degrees of entry and accumulation of externally sourced mold in schools,” the researchers write. They add that 30 of the 32 schools studied did not have air conditioning.
“In addition to alternating current, the frequency with which windows and doors are opened can also cause levels of [exterior] mold,” they write. “The frequency and thoroughness of cleaning can also lead to mold buildup [outdoors] in boarding schools. “
Association between inner-city allergen exposure and asthmatic morbidity in studentsWilliam J. Sheehan, et al. JAMA Pediatrics, January 2017.
This study, which also focuses on the northeastern United States, found high levels of mouse allergens in 37 elementary schools. It concludes that children with asthma exposed to high levels of mouse allergens, found in mouse urine, hair and dander, were more likely to have higher asthma symptoms and decreased lung function.
The researchers analyzed dust samples from the study rooms and rooms of 28four students, aged 4 to 13, who had been diagnosed with asthma and had attended one of 37 elementary schools from March 1, 2008, to August 31, 2013. The researchers analyzed allergens related to mice, rats, dogs, cats, cockroaches and dust mites.
The mouse allergen is the most prevalent. It detected in 99. 5% of school samples and 96% of household samples. However, levels of mouse allergens were higher in schools than at home.
Allergens from cats, dogs and dust mites were also not unusual in schools and homes, at much lower levels. For example, researchers discovered cat allergens in 94. 8 percent of school samples and 79. 4 percent of family samples. unusually undetectable” in either location, the researchers write.
They note that allergen levels and the amount of allergens provided in schools differ depending on the climate of the region.
“In the schools at the center of our study, mouse allergen was the primary exposure, while allergen levels of cockroaches, pets, and dust mites were undetectable or low,” they write. “In contrast, other cities with warmer climates and other structural situations have demonstrated high levels of cockroach allergens at school. The low levels of mites and cockroaches in our study are likely due to the long, dry, and very bloodless winters in the study area, as those pests need moisture and heat to survive.
Sources and exposures to PM2. 5 in study rooms in inner-city schoolsAleshka Carrion-Mattaa, et al. International Environment, October 2019.
For this study, researchers visited 32 schools in densely populated spaces in the Northeast to measure degrees of fine particles in the air with a diameter of 2. 5 micrometers or less (PM2. 5). Previous studies have shown that this air pollutants are linked to cognitive impairment and exacerbation of asthma.
The researchers analyzed PM2. 5 grades in boarding schools every fall, winter and spring from 2009 to 2013 and compared them to grades. They found that indoor and PM2. 5 concentrations were comparable, “demonstrating the penetration of indoor pollutants. “He learned that PM2. 5 levels in boarding schools vary by season and contain a variety of pollutants from cars, roads, soil, burning plants and other sources.
Motor vehicle pollutants were highest in the fall and winter, the researchers write.
“Activities around the school during the winter, such as using motorized appliances/vehicles to clear snow and spraying salt, and autumn, such as leaf cleaning, would likely have caused these differences to other sources,” they explain. “In addition, a greater contribution from winter biomass burning is likely related to wood burning near schools. “
Of the 32 schools studied, 4 had air conditioning systems, 15 had “natural ventilation” radiant heat, and the rest had vents or a mixture of ventilation types.
Indoor air quality and health in schools: a critical review for the development of the roadmap for the future school environmentSasan Sadrizadeh, et al. Journal of Building Engineering, October 2022.
This article summarizes 50 years of studies on air quality in classrooms conducted in 40 countries on six continents and concludes that pollutants pose a serious danger to student health.
Indoor air quality in schools “is characterized by a cluster of pollutants,” including mold, bacteria, volatile biological compounds, debris, and traffic metals, the researchers write. They note that several studies have found that levels of certain air pollutants are higher schools than in homes and advertising buildings.
“Exposure to inhalation of air pollutants has increased infant mortality, acute respiratory illness, and asthma,” they write. construction syndrome. ‘”
This article is in a review of 304 study reports and articles published between 1970 and 2022. It provides a comprehensive review of studies examining types of contaminants. He finds, for example, that volatile biological compounds—an organization of chemicals used to complete and upholstery—are one of the most harmful pollutants found in the air.
“Building materials, furniture such as desks and shelves, wood product resins, adhesives, glues, paints, cleaning chemicals, and carpets are major sources of emissions [volatile biological compounds] in schools,” the researchers write. or newly renovated school buildings may be significantly higher than environmental levels. “
The paper also discusses points that influence indoor pollutant levels, such as ventilation, temperature, wind speed, and classroom cleaning protocols.
Scholars note that studies show a link between indoor air quality and student success. The studies “confirm that poor air quality affects typical student schoolwork, i. e. , functionality in learning responsibilities such as math and language exercises and student test scores and end-of-year outcomes,” they write.
Are dampness and mold in schools healthy? Results of a meta-analysisWilliam J. Fisk, Wanyu R. Chan and Alexandra L. Johnson. Indoor Air, November 2019.
While studies suggest that students are at a higher risk for respiratory disorders when there is moisture and mold in schools, renovations to remove moisture and mold do not alleviate those fitness disorders, according to this Berkley Lab analysis.
To improve fitness situations related to mold and dampness in schools, the researchers combined and analyzed insights they gathered from 11 studies on the challenge published between 1995 and 2016. What they learned: Maximum evidence strongly suggests that coughing, wheezing, and nasal symptoms are linked to mold and dampness in schools.
When Berkley Lab researchers analyzed 4 other studies on renovations to correct moisture and mold in schools, they found combined results. One such study reported improvements in some, but not all, of students’ fitness symptoms after a complete renovation. For example, there was no statistically significant replacement in the number of student headache court cases. The study, which focuses on 4 schools in Finland, also found that “a partial renovation was not particularly good. “
Berkley Lab researchers note that efforts to decrease moisture and mold could be more effective if there were accepted criteria for distinguishing problematic degrees of moisture and mold.
“Ideally, school districts looking to reduce moisture and mold in their buildings should have transparent criteria that define damp and mold situations that elicit corrective action,” the researchers write. “However, the studies cited have used a variety of definitions for moisture and mold and sometimes there are no accepted criteria to distinguish a wetness and mold hotspot, which adversely affects health, from a non-problematic point of moisture and mold. “
Association between traffic-related air pollutants and cognitive progression in elementary school children: a prospective cohort studyJordi Sunyer, et al. PLOS Medicine, March 2015.
Children attending schools in parts of Barcelona, Spain, where there were high levels of pollution from car traffic, showed less progress on cognitive tests than young people attending schools with low traffic pollution, according to the study.
For example, students in the most polluted spaces demonstrated a 7. 4% increase in their career memory over the course of a year, on average. Meanwhile, students in the least polluted spaces registered an average increase of 11. 5%.
The researchers note that there were also gender differences.
“Children gave the impression of being more susceptible to air pollutants, both children and women showed a negative relationship of school air pollutants with cognitive development,” they write. “Although the effects were possibly due to chance, in animals, men were more sensitive to metals in the air than females, possibly due to a sex-specific alteration in dopaminergic function. “
Thirty-nine schools participated in the study. A total of 2,715 students aged 7 to 10 took computer tests every three months for a year so researchers could measure their inattention and ongoing memory development.
The researchers also collected data on the degrees of three types of pollutants (carbon, nitrogen dioxide and ultrafine waste) in indoor study rooms and outdoors in schoolyards.
The researchers note that air pollutants are highest in a wealthy area of Barcelona and that most of the schools in high-traffic spaces that participated in the study are located there. siblings and fewer behavioral disorders than young people who attend schools in more polluted spaces.
The researchers suggest that the harms of air pollutants may remain with children into the future.
“Impairment of higher cognitive function has serious consequences for educational performance,” they write. “Thus, reduced cognitive progression in young people attending the most polluted schools can lead to a disadvantage of intellectual capital, which can have a lasting effect on the life course. “
Air pollutants and student in the United States Michael Gilraine and Angela Zheng. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper, May 2022.
Improvements in air quality over the past two decades have higher test scores for students, according to the analysis, which also concludes that cleaner air would help reduce long-standing differences in test scores between black and white children.
To investigate dating between air quality and student performance, the authors analyzed satellite measurements of fine particulate matter, or PM2. 5, and other pollution-related knowledge from 2002-03 to 2018-19. They then connected knowledge about air quality with mathematics. and reading scores for more than 11,000 U. S. school districts. U. S. school years for school years 2008-09 through 2017-18.
The authors also took into account the proximity of forced plants and year-to-year diversifications in production in individual plants.
They decided that concentrations of fine particles fell nationally during the constant testing period, basically due to reduced coal use. For students, on average, PM2. 5 concentrations dropped 3 micrograms per cubic meter.
The authors note that the results of the checks, measured in deviations, have increased, but not as much as they could have.
“However, substantial innovations in student functionality and fairness in the air are still possible,” they write.
An assignment from the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center and the Carnegie-Knight Initiative, The Journalist’s Resource organizes, summarizes, and contextualizes studies on existing public policy issues. Foundation, the National Institute of Health Care Management (NIHCM) Foundation, and individual collaborators.