The overlooked half of a large whole: the role of environmental quality management in supporting the educational environment.

The management of environmental quality of school buildings has, for too long, been the overlooked half of the larger whole of the strategic educational planning process. This paper examines the changing role of environmental quality management from its traditional operationally-based role, to an expanded, more dynamic role in strategic educational planning activities at the local, site-based level. First, a brief review of the state of knowledge concerning the impact of environmental quality on the educational process is presented. Second, the trend toward site-based management (SBM) in schools is discussed in light of the potential opportunities for developing a whole-system process of strategic educational planning that encompasses and integrates environmental quality management. Third, an action research study is presented in order to first illustrate the complex relationship that exists between day-to-day environmental quality management and educational instructional activities in many urban schools, and second, suggest a potential mechanism for drawing school and community representatives into the strategic planning and evaluation process at local school sites. The paper concludes that educators can be trained to collaborate in an environmental diagnostic process in which environmental quality concerns can be identified, prioritized and addressed in such as way as to be congruent with educational activities and goals, and that this process can be integrated within existing facility management decision making frameworks such as SBM school improvement teams.