Sociodemographic variations in the association between indoor environmental quality in school buildings and student performance

Environmental and building characteristics of educational facilities are associated with student learning and achievement. We examined the effect of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in schools on standardized test scores, accounting for individual and community-level sociodemographic factors. We explored data from a Colorado school district which included individual student achievement metrics (reading and math test scores), and IEQ characteristics of school buildings measured by Operation Report Card scores (ORC). We estimated associations between ORC increase and changes in test scores using mean-based and quantile regression (QR) models, and examined heterogeneity of associations within sex and racial/ethnic subgroups. Confounder-adjusted QR models revealed differences across test distributions suggesting overall that improved IEQ may mitigate negative effects on academic achievement among students who experience social and economic risks. For example, a one unit increase in ORC for Latinx students was associated with up to a 2.7% (95% CI: 0.4%, 5.1%) increase in math score at the 90th percentile of the score distribution but a 0.4% (95%CI: 3.1%, 2.2%) decrease at the same percentile for White students. Our observations provide evidence not only on the overall importance of school IEQ on academic achievement, but also suggests a greater vulnerability or response to improved IEQ among socioeconomically disadvantaged students.