This article presents case studies from three districts implementing green cleaning. In 2008, Missouri passed legislation requiring state education officials to convene a committee of stakeholders with the purpose of developing green cleaning guidelines and specifications for schools. The guide, published by the Department of Elementary and…

The nation's major city public school districts have substantial construction, renovation, modernization, and deferred maintenance needs because of the age and size of their school buildings, shifting populations, and the need to devote substantial resources to instructional personnel to meet their core academic mission. For instance, the average…

A recent study developed efficiency indicators (grouped into price, personnel, productivity, and policy categories) as part of an ongoing internal benchmarking process to help six affluent New York school districts manage their facilities maintenance and operations processes. Based on data analysis, the greatest area for potential savings (from…

This report summarizes some of the recent reports on school building needs and describes the initiatives in New York State's budget designed to address them. It also describes the environment in which school building and maintenance decisions are made, with particular attention to factors discouraging or impeding successful strategies for school…

The attrition of both new and experienced teachers is a great challenge for schools and school administrators throughout the United States, particularly in large urban districts. Because of the importance of this issue, there is a large empirical literature that investigates why teachers quit and how they might be better induced to stay. Here we…