This week, Center for Green Schools Director Rachel Gutter traveled to Beijing, China for the 8th International Conference on Green & Energy Efficient Building. Rachel spoke to the audience about the importance of green schools, a topic that is gaining a lot of momentum in China. Check out the video below of Rachel giving her presentation, and also take a look at our Facebook page for lots of great photos from her trip!

By Judy Marks
Director, National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities

The National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF) recently published a new study looking back on the designs of school buildings, identifying trends in energy consumption, ventilation, heating, air quality, lighting and acoustics. The study,"A History of School Design and its Indoor Environmental Standards, 1900 to Today" was written by Lindsay Baker, a doctoral candidate in the Building Sciences program of the Architecture department at the University of California, Berkeley. The publication is available for free on our website.

While you are visiting the Clearinghouse website, check out the NCEF ...

By Barb Worth
Director of Strategic & Private Development, CEFPI

Integrating visual arts learning throughout all disciplines significantly engages students. The School of the Future Design Competition (SOTF) offers an opportunity to illustrate the kind of creativity that students bring to the design process. The competition challenges middle school students to conceptualize or redesign their schools to enhance learning, conserve resources, be environmentally responsive and engage the surrounding community.

The SOTF competition integrates all subject areas and provides opportunities for students to ask questions, problem solve, collaborate and develop an eye for beauty and design. The multi-disciplinary solution requires students ...

By Rachel Gutter
Director, Center for Green Schools

It goes without saying, every parent wants their child to be healthy and safe. And teachers too, always have the best interest of our kids at heart. But sometimes what we don’t know can hurt us.

My little sister is a teacher, and in one of her first positions, she was the aid in a kindergarten class. She called me one day to complain about how “totally ungreen” her classroom was. “It doesn’t even have windows,” she bemoaned. A few months later, I had the opportunity to visit her classroom. When I ...

Note: This blog is reposted from THE Journal and was written by Bridget McCrea

USGBC Looks To Refine the Green Classroom Concept

One chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council is taking a first step in a wide-scale classroom "greening" project for public K-12 schools nationwide.

By Bridget McCrea

03/19/12

Intent on increasing the number of green classrooms in California's K-12 schools the Orange County chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is retrofitting a Costa Mesa classroom that it hopes will serve as a model for a more widespread, national effort.

The Davis Magnet School classroom will be ...

By Anisa Baldwin Metzger
Center for Green Schools Fellows Manager

This past Monday, Center for Green Schools Director Rachel Gutter and I presented plaques to the first four LEED certified schools in New Orleans. These four schools represented not only a huge accomplishment for the Recovery School District and the city, but also for Louisiana, with these schools being the first in the state to become certified. It was great to be back in New Orleans, and with the commitment to rebuild all 80 schools in its master plan to LEED Silver minimum, I expect to return many times over ...

By Dustin Davis, USGBC-AR Chapter Green Schools Committee Chair
Architect, Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects

The first annual Arkansas Green Schools Challenge is coming to a close, and a great article was recently published on the program in February’s Arkansas Green Guide magazine.The Challenge was a joint effort between the USGBC-Arkansas Chapter and the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators (AAEA). Arkansas K-12 Grade schools were challenged to form a student team to find ways to green their school, while working with a USGBC member or green building professional as a mentor to implement the projects. The overall goal is to empower ...

By Jaime Van Mourik
Director, Higher Education

On Feb. 29, the District of Columbia’s Mayor Vincent Gray was joined by local university presidents to sign the District of Columbia Mayor's College and University Sustainability Pledge. The Mayor’s goal is for the nation’s capital to become the ‘Greenest College Town in America’ – ambitious, yet attainable with the collective energy of local universities. The higher education community in the district has been making great strides towards creating sustainable communities not just for their faculty, students and staff, but also the neighborhoods around each campus. This pledge will help to knit those ...

By Rachel Gutter
Director, Center for Green Schools

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a screening of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax before it hit theaters. The showing, sponsored by NEA and Mocha Moms, brought hundreds of DC kids to view the movie and learn an important message about the environment.

One of the reasons why I like the Lorax book so much is because it’s about each of us can improve the environment around us. I used to think that saving the environment was something that didn’t have a lot to do with me. To me, the ...

By Anisa Baldwin Metzger
Center for Green Schools Fellows Manager

If you pay attention to the news and chatter about education policy and schools, you’ve undoubtedly heard the heated debates over the best way to hire and compensate teachers and the most appropriate way to institute rigorous curriculum. The who and the what of education often get front stage in the conversation over how to make our schools more effective at preparing students for being active, engaged citizens. However, the places our students go to learn—the where of education—also have bearing on student outcomes, and recent research has focused on ...