Four years ago, LAUSD officials asked researchers to find out how much L.A. Unified’s $19.5 billion school construction effort improved learning.
The results are in and UC Berkeley researchers have determined that elementary school students benefitted the most from the new school construction.
The improved student achievement, they said, was like adding 65 days of instruction to their learning year.
"It’s not [just] the shininess, the fresh paint, the cleaner hallways," said study co-author Bruce Fuller. "It’s also that these new schools are smaller communities at the elementary level attracted the younger, better trained teaching staff.”
Researchers also found improvement was more or less the same regardless of a new school’s price tag.
Learning achievement was weaker for high school students who moved from a crowded school to a new facility.
This is the first major study of learning outcomes from L.A. Unified’s massive construction project. It was commissioned by the school district, but run and funded independently.