Daylighting in Schools: Improving Student Performance and Health at a Price Schools Can Afford (Preprint)

Over the next seven years, at least 5,000 new schools will be designed and constructed to meet the needs of American students in kindergarten through grade 12 schools. National efforts are underway to encourage the use of daylighting, energy efficiency, and renewable energy technologies in school designs, which can significantly enhance the learning environment. Recent rigorous statisticalstudies, involving 21,000 students in three states, reveal that students perform better in daylit classrooms and indicate the health benefits of daylighting. This paper discusses the evidence regarding daylighting and student performance and development, and presents four case studies of schools that have cost effectively implemented daylighting into their buildings.