Gracye Cheng, Steve English and Mary Filardo, 2011. Acute disparities in the access of public school students to adequate facilities, coupled with the compelling evidence of how poor quality school facilities are implicated in lower student achievement, make it imperative that any inquiry into the nature of inequity of education in the United States include an understanding of the conditions, design, utilization and location of public school facilities. In the attached paper, we provide background on the role and impact of school facility condition and recommendations to the U.S. Department of Education Excellence and Equity Commission. We are joined in expressing our concern about inequity in facility conditions by: Center for Cities and Schools, UC Berkeley, California; National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities, Washington, DC; Innovative School Facilities, Portland, Oregon; Public Education Network, Washington, DC; Healthy Schools Network, New York; Designs for Change, Chicago, Illinois; and the ACLU of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland.
