March 30, 2024

In Philadelphia, news headlines are riddled with school disruptions from aging infrastructure – asbestos, mold abatement and ineffective heating and cooling systems. These issues are rife in many urban districts.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from Drexel University, including Félice Lê-Scherban, PhD, MPH, associate professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Dornsife School of Public Health and Zach Fusfeld, MPH, PhD(c), doctoral student in Epidemiology at Dornsife, along with the global design firm Perkins Eastman worked together to uncover the benefits of school modernization in a new study they hope will help educators and administrations build a stronger case for the importance of funding school modernization. Yvonne Michael, ScD, SM, professor and interim chair, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, served on the study's advisory committee.

The report, “Addressing a Multi-Billion Dollar Challenge” (pdf) evaluated more than two dozen schools — both modernized and non-modernized — across the District of Columbia and Baltimore City. The findings suggest that school modernization has a significant positive impact on key educational indicators, including test scores, graduation rates and enrollment over time.

Read a full Q&A about the study's findings with Bruce Levine, JD, clinical professor and director of the Educational Policy Program in Drexel’s School of Education and co-principal investigator, on the Drexel News Blog:  Are Some Modernized School Features More Effective Than Others?