Damaged Facilities in Public Schools Essay

Introduction A. Background of the Study Students in public schools acquire sickness from he dirty environment. Frombroken chairs to unventilated rooms, this can be to them uncomfortable and thus, each student’s mood and concentration. see more:lack of school facilities affect students performance The no.1 facility that causes problem for the students is the comfort room. The comfort room in public schools nowadays is an eyesore. The odor that the comfort room releases causes illness in students and visual pollution every time the students visualizes the comfort room.The no.2 facility that has serious problem are the classrooms where the students have their classes at. You can see vandalized area in every angle of the classroom and Insufficient ventilation which made the atmosphere in the classroom very uncomfortable that the students can’t focus on the class discussion any more. The students deals with that kind of atmosphere instead of listening and focusing on the class discussions but the students focus on complaining how the classroom is so hot , and the odor inside the classroom that are caused by unmaintained cleanliness inside the classroom. The hot aura from insufficient ventilation in the classroom is another reason for a bad odor that are spreading inside the classroom and another reason that there’s a higher possibility that the students may acquire illness from the unbalanced environment. The common students that suffers from this kind of environment are the students have colds, asthma and students that have a kind of ill that are not meant to adapt in this kind of environment. The decorations in the classroom also affects each student’s moods, if the classroom is maintained properly it lightens the moods of the students in the classroom and if the classroom is not maintained properly, you’ll notice how each students in the classroom if they would behave properly or not. The students are commonly irritated and annoyed from what they are seeing and from what they are feeling inside the classroom because of the unwanted view. For this reason, the researchers decided to conduct a study about the damaged facilities in public school because they want to help the students to focus in their study, have much time to listen in their lesson and to avoid such that illness and even destruction to their surroundings. To make each students healthy once again and for the next generation that will use the facilities and to keep it in a better way. B. Statement of the Problem In this study damaged facilities of Cayetano Arellano High School was conducted. It is for the purpose of getting information about the effects of damaged facilities. Specifically, the study will seek answers to following questions : 1. Do the damaged facilities affect the health of students? 2. What is the cause of the damaged facilities? 3. Are the students aware of the damaged facilities? 4. How do students survive the rooms with damaged facilities? 5. What are the reactions of all teachers that have lots of damaged facilities? C. Significance of the Study The researchers conducted this problem because the school has so many damaged facilities like the comfort room of the boys and girls. There are no doors, not enough water, lots of trash and sometimes there are wastes in the toilet bowls. Students are irritated of the unpleasant smell and vandalized walls causing the students not to use the comfort rooms. Decaying environmental conditions such as peeling paint, crumbling plaster, non – functioning toilets, poor lighting. Inadequate ventilation, and inoperative heating and cooling systems can affect the learning as well as the health and the morally of staff and students. Also, there are damaged rooms, lack of chairs, damaged blackboards, no electric fans, and vandalized walls. That’s why some students are not comfortable to listen in class discussions and study their lessons. D.Hypothesis * There are many damaged facilities in Cayetano Arellano High School * There are no damaged facilities in Cayetano Arellano High School A. Scope and Limitations This research will cover chosen 4th year students from section 1 to 6 only. The guards, teachers, guidance councilors and the principal are not involved in the research. Chapter II A. Review of Related Literature The No Child Left Behind Act defines a healthy , high performance school building as one in which the design, construction, operation and maintenance is energy efficient, cost effective, provides good air quality and protects and conserves water(Healthy Schools Network, Inc., 2003). School facilities include the physical surroundings of the school ,construction of materials, technology available, amount of space available for students, teachers and staff, size of classrooms, and a clean and healthy environment that fosters safety(Lemasters, 1997). School principals have the responsibility of ensuring that the above infrastructure factors are emphasized and met as it relates to the quality and standards of educational facilities(Agron, 2000). A survey of a large sample of teachers in Washington, D.C. and Chicago found that school facilities conditions were shown to have direct effect on teaching and learning(Buckeley,Schneider and Shang, 2003). The findings of another study also concl uded that when teachers are allowed to teach and facilitate learning in environments that are well maintained and healthy , they are able to be more effective, which inevitably affects the academic achievement of students being taught at that particular school(O’Neill and Oates,2000). Deficiencies in school facilities negatively influence the student achievement for minority and poverty stricken students(Earthman,2002). A study of the District of Columbia school system found, after controlling for other variables such as as a student’s socioeconomic status, that students standardized achievement scores were lower in schools with poor building conditions. Students in school buildings in poor condition had achievement that was 6% below schools in fair condition and 11% below schools in excellent condition(Edwards, 1991). The relationship between building condition and student achievement in small, rural Virginia high schools. Student scores on achievement tests, adjusted for socioeconomic status, was found to be up to 5 percentile points lower in buildings with lower quality ratings. Achievement also appeared to be more directly related to cosmetic factors than to structural ones. Poorer achievement was associated with specific building condition factors such as substandard science facilities, air conditioning, locker conditions, classroom furniture, more graffiti, and noisy external environments(Cash, 1993). Similarly, study of large, urban high schools in Virginia also found a relationship between building condition and student achievement. Indeed, Hines found that the student achievement was as much as 11 percentile points lower in substandard buildings as compared to above standard buildings (Hines’, 1996). A study of North Dakota High Schools, a state selected in part because of its relatively homogenous, rural population, also found a positive relationship between school condition (as measured by principal’s survey responses) and both student achievement and student behaviour(Earthman, 1995). Heating and air conditioning systems appeared to be very important, along with special instructional facilities (i.e., science laboratories or equipment) and color and interior painting, in contributing to student achievement. Proper building maintenance was also found to be related to better attitudes and fewer disciplinary problems in one cited study (McGuffey, 1982). Research indicates that the quality of air inside public school facilities may significantly affect student’s ability to concentrate. The evidence suggests thst youth, especially those under ten years of age, age more vulnerable than adults to the types of contaminants (asbestos, radon, and formaldehyde) found in some school facilities (Andrews and Neuroth, 1988). A study of overcrowded schools in New York City found that students such schools scores significantly lower on both mathematics and reading exams than did similar students in underutilized schools. In addition, when asked, students and teachers in overcrowding negatively affected both classroom activities and instructional techniques (Rivera-Batiz and Marti, 1995). As for scientific evidence for ventilation’s effect on performance, two percent papers examining talk times for register nurses in call centers found that ventilation levels had only a small negative effect on productivity(federspiel et al. 2002, Fisk et al. 2002). The physical characteristics of the school have a variety of effects on teachers, students and the learning process. Poor lighting, noise, high levels of carbon dioxide in classrooms, and inconsistent temperatures make teaching and learning difficult. Poor maintenance and ineffective ventilation systems lead to poor health among students as well as teachers, which leads to poor performance and higher absentee rates (Andrews & Neuroth, 1988et al.), These factors can adversely affect student behavior and lead to higher levels of frustration among teachers, and lower job satisfaction. All these factors interact to hinder the learning process and perpetuate the shortage of teachers (Brouwers & Tomic, 1999; Borg & Riding, 1991; Byrne, 1991a; Ingersoll, 2001). The problem stems in part from the trend toward more energy-efficient buildings. Since the energy crisis of the 1970’s in the United States, school buildings have been built tighter, with more insulation, fewer windows, and relaxed ventilation standards in order to conserve energy. This has created a serious health hazard in some school systems where dust, mold spores, chemical fumes, and other allergens can be detected indoors at levels several times that of the outdoors (Sterling & Paquette, 1998). Impacts on health, well-being and performance may be hard to recognize. But indoor pollution levels may be 2-5 times, and occasionally 100 times, higher than outdoor levels, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Studies indicate most Americans spend about 90 percent of their time indoors. Children are especially vulnerable because of the amount of time they spend indoors during the school day. (Ostendorf , 2001) The physical characteristics of aging or poorly designed schools can also inhibit learning with poor lighting, plumbing, and temperature control systems. The decision to build educational facilities with fewer windows in favor of fluorescent lighting may have reduced the amount of heat loss, but may also have created a more serious risk to health and performance. Natural light and artificial full-spectrum lighting has been found to minimize mental fatigue as well as reduce hyperactivity in children, while students tend to react more positively to classr ooms that have windows. Further, it has been found that fluorescent lighting may be related to greater amounts of hyperactivity in learners. Thermal comfort is also an important issue in relation to school facilities. Lackney (2000) states that classroom temperatures affect task performance and students’ attention spans (Lackney, 2000). Leaky plumbing systems in poorly ventilated schools contribute to the growth of mold on bathroom surfaces (Davis, 2001). The affects of mold in the environment can be as minor as simple irritation of the sinuses or much more serious depending on the duration of the exposure and the susceptibility of those suffering from the effects. Some people experience temporary effects which disappear when they vacate the premises, while others may experience long-term effects (Davis, 2001). Certain health effects, such as those related to allergic reactions like irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, dermatitis, exacerbation of asthma, and respiratory distress, have been proven to be associated with mold exposure. Other reported effects such as fever, flu-like symptoms, fatigue, respiratory dysfunction (including coughing up blood), excessive and regular nose bleeds, dizziness, headaches, diarrhea, vomiting, liver damage, and impaired or altered immune function have been identified in persons who have been exposed to mold via inhalation (Davis, 2001). These maintenance and design issues can have a serious negative effect on the learning environment for students and the working environment for teachers; it is a health hazard for all who spend significant amounts of time in the building. These effects: poor student behavior, lethargy, and apathy are some of the most consistently identified stressors for teachers (Abel & Sewell, 1999; Blasà ©, 1986; Dewe, 1986; Stenlun d, 1995). Beyond the direct effects that poor facilities have on students’ ability to learn, the combination of poor facilities, which create an uncomfortable and uninviting workplace for teachers, combined with frustrating behavior by students including poor concentration and hyperactivity, lethargy, or apathy, creates a stressful set of working conditions for teachers. Because stress and job dissatisfaction are common pre-cursors to lowered teacher enthusiasm and attrition (Friedman, 1995; Rosenholtz & Simpson, 1990; Shann,1998), it is possible that the aforementioned characteristics of school facilities have an effect upon the shortage of teachers. What is lacking in the body of research related to the effects of school facilities upon student achievement and the performance of teachers is analysis of key characteristics such as lighting, ventilation, acoustics and temperature control in relation to measures of both student performance and teacher satisfaction. According to Schneider (2002), most studies have focused on single environmental media, neglecting the critical issue of interaction effects between day lighting, air quality, noise, thermal comfort, or other factors. It is possible that relationships exist between all three areas of the school environment: the quality of the school facility, behavior of students, and teacher satisfaction. Certainly, more research is needed in this area. In fact, the federal government may act as a catalyst for such research. Section 5414 of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 calls for more research into the health and learning impacts of environmentally unhealthy public school buildings on students and teachers (U.S. Congress 2002). Just as changes in the design of school buildings constructed during the energy crisis were driven by budget concerns created from rising energy costs, any future changes in school design trends are likely to be affected by the cost to taxpayers. Logic suggests the need for research into the specific effects of certain characteristics of school design for which tax monies will be spent before these changes will be realized. There is considerable debate as to the relationship of funding to academic achievement. According to Schneider (2002), and Hanushek (1989), there is little correlation between capital expenditures and academic achievement. Conversely, Hedges, Laine, and Greenwald (1994), and Lockwood and McLean (1993), state that a correlation between spending and academic achievement does exist. An analysis by Hanushek (1989) of 37 research articles on the direct effects of spending on achievement stated that â€Å"detailed research spanning two decades and observing performance in many educational settings provides strong and consistent evidence that expenditures are not systematically related to student achievement†. However, Hedges, Laine, and Greenwald (1994) re-analyzed data from the same 37 articles and found that there was strong evidence to support a systematic positive relationship between resource input and school output. Lockwood and McLean (1993) proposed that when the basic requi rements of the educational process have been adequately funded, additional monies do improve the educational process. Their study concluded that once a base level of funding has been provided, the result of judicious spending on the instructional program should be evidenced in improved achievement (Lockwood & McLean, 1997). However, a study in Great Britain by Pricewaterhouse-Coopers (as cited in Schneider, 2002) analyzed the effects of capital investment on academic achievement, teacher motivation, school leadership, and other issues and found that relationships were weak. Stricherz (2000) noted that student achievement suffers in inadequate school buildings, but there is no hard evidence to prove that achievement rises when facilities improve beyond the norm. Schneider (2002) summarized the debate, stating that existing studies on school building quality generally point to improved student behavior and better teaching in higher-quality facilities; however, â€Å"what is needed is more firm policy advice about the types of capital investments that would be most conducive to learning and to good teaching†. The lack of consensus is evidence of a need for further research of the specific effects of school building maintenance and design issues, not only on the student, but also the teacher and his or her job satisfaction, enthusiasm, and commitment to the profession. Should the study of these factors yield significant correlations to student achievement and overall levels of job satisfaction among teachers, it would provide justification to the allotment of monies for the renovation of existing facilities and the design of new facilities to include natural lighting, optimum acoustic and air quality in the classroom, and better temperat ure control, as well as proper maintenance. B. Preparation of study Materials Questionnaire Survey IV – 1 students IV – 6 students IV – 5 students IV – 4 students IV – 3 students IV – 2 students Statistical Analysis Collection of Data Paradigm Chapter III Methodology A. Description of the Study Area This Case Study is all about the damaged facilities in public schools. This research has been conducted for a certain purpose, to discuss in fixing the damaged facilities in every public schools. The common problems that the facilities in public schools that are facing are lack of materials and a simple cleaning materials couldn’t be provided well, students couldn’t provide those things because they don’t have enough money. Most students in the public schools are poor which is another reason that led for this kind of problem. This problem can be treated if the students would cooperate and so as the principal and the teachers. The principal can ask for government support for renovating some facilities in the school, this can gain improvements in the school easily if the government will give donations or by sending the materials directly in the school and to be used in some facilities. Students can help by simply following the rules in every classrooms and what their teachers told them to do. Cleaning is the best way to express their cooperation with this problem. Teachers can assign rules in every classroom that students has to follow to maintain the proper cleanliness and can make the classroom in right order. This research will help the problem that every public schools are facing. Solving this problem will make a big difference in every public schools. B. Preparation of Questionnaire In preparing the questionnaire for this research is difficult. Thinking how much will the questionnaire help this research and what would be the effect of the people’s answers in this problem. The researchers kept flooding their heads with questions that are important and will be a big help to their research. Answers from the surveys will be analyzed and be tallied by the researchers to find what other opinions that the people gave to them. Some of their answers will be used in the research to add some points for the topic.