But Are They Learning?

America spends billions annually to build and renovate schools. How much of that money actually improves learning?

By Prakash Nair

America spends more than $20 billion annually to build and renovate schools. And that figure is expected to grow steadily over the next several years. In an era of educational reform and accountability, it seems reasonable to ask, how much of this money will be spent to improve learning outcomes?

Most people would agree with the proposition: School buildings have an impact on student learning. But few, especially among politicians and school construction officials, have stopped to ponder why this is so. Much of the public discussion about the need for more construction money centers around the consensus that children need "a safe, clean, and comfortable environment" to learn. Beyond that, one would be hard pressed to find a public official saying what it is about new school buildings that improves learning.

The truth of the matter is that school buildings have been and continue to be places to warehouse children. New schools just do it in more comfortable settings. If we look at the way most government agencies handle the "business" of school design and construction, we find that the system seems literally designed to weed out any potential for a completely creative solution. There are many arguments for why this is so—why so many new schools look so much alike. But none is sillier, to my mind, than the one about equity. I have heard a superintendent, for example, argue against building an innovative school in his district because he was afraid it would make his other schools look bad. Rather than use the new school as an opportunity to pilot a new way of teaching and learning, this school leader preferred to pretend that the...