METRICS WORKGROUP January 8, 2013 Washington, DC

Working Group Charge 1.Explore common metrics and indicators and existing research, as well as new research opportunities, linking environmental health conditions in schools to children’s health and academic performance 2.Identify research questions, existing data sets, and what data are needed regarding pediatric environmental health and exposures in schools 3.Develop a white paper summarizing the state of the art in metrics and surveillance and identifying gaps for future action and research by federal agencies and other organizations

Children’s Health Policy Recommendations  Develop a coordinated federal strategy for the states to help their schools rapidly improve facility design, construction, and maintenance  Set up programs to test and remediate for hazards and to phase in safer products  Develop a systematic means for collecting information about exposures in the school setting

Children’s Health Policy Recommendations  Build the capacity of agencies such as EPA, CDC and state authorities to respond to and evaluate risks to children’s health that occur in school settings.  Implement an environmental public health tracking system in sentinel school systems

Childrens Health Policy Recommendations  Adequately fund research so that standards for indoor environmental quality for vulnerable children in school settings can be promulgated  Encourage the development of enforceable state regulations regarding indoor environmental quality

Childrens Health Policy Recommendations  Identify an appropriate state level agency for oversight and enforcement  Engage private sector organizations like PEHSUs to facilitate on site inspections of child care centers and schools  Review and publish school closures that have occurred for health and safety reasons

Childrens Health Policy Recommendations  Determine if current laws and regulations are sufficient for protection of public health and make recommendations for improvement  Adapt guidelines for states to use to allow access to federal, state and local laws and regulations and pest practices related to schools

Childrens Health Policy Recommendations  Create mechanisms for cooperation between DHHS, DOE, DOJ, legal experts and child health advocates to discuss research and data collection in and about schools and school children.  Review barriers that FERPA represents

Metrics and Measures Next Steps  “Ground truth” these measures to see if data are available  Determine if anyone is using facilities measures to track children’s health in schools  Continue to flesh out possible health in schools measures

What gets measured gets done Learning Children’s Health Metrics Facilities

Average public school is over 40 years old 40% are in bad to poor condition $271B to bring to decent standard Disparity of funding One way forward is to go green Popular Press

Courtesy of National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities Green Schools: Attributes for Health and Learning

Source: Stanton, Hedge et al. (2004) Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics, CRC Press Why is Indoor Environmental Quality Important?

Metrics/Measures Elements Outcomes  Student Learning  Student Health  Indirect – Teacher and Staff Health – Teacher/Staff Effectiveness/Productivity – Teacher Retention

Metrics/Measures Elements Level  Region  State  County or City  Community or Neighbor  District  School  Building  Classroom

Metrics/Measure Elements Uses:  Policy  Practitioners  Surveillance

Facility/Building Characteristics  Current generation of green building and high performance schools began in 1999  The first studies of the actual performance of these projects began to emerge in 2009

Gaps and Limitations Acoustics Standards for background noise and reverberation time are well established, but adoption and compliance are low. Verification protocols need to be standardized and utilized The role of amplified sound to ensure maintaining sign to noise ratio is contentious Frequency - metrics for high frequency impact sounds and low frequency are problematic

Gaps and Limitations Indoor Air Quality National standards do not exist for particulates

Gaps and Limitations Lighting  How natural daylight affects learning  Glare is qualitative

Gaps and Limitations Facility Condition Assessments  No coordinated review of how states are using the assessments and/or assessing the facilities themselves  We need mechanisms to validate the actual performance of high performance schools beyond the use of energy

Gaps and Limitations Children’s Health and Safety  Models for capturing child health data that reference school attendance are needed  More measures relating environmental conditions in schools to health are needed  Health levels of many individual chemicals do not exist  Synergistic and cumulative effects of chemicals are not well defined