Do Trees Grow Ac
cademic
Achievement?
Frances E. ((Ming)
g) Kuo
University of Illinois, Urbaana
ana--Champaign
NUCFAC, 2010
Thanks to …
‹ XiaoYing
Wu, XinLin Yu
u
‹ Johanna
Weber, Bryce Harrop, Amy Ritter, Ada
Morgan, Nakeita Lawson
n
‹ US
Forest Service and NU
UCFAC, CREES
Do Trees grow Ac
cademic
Achievement?
A hi
t?
Who cares?
Schools care
‹ Under
NCLB, schoolss need costcost-effective ways
to grow test scores
‹ Many
schools at risk of losing federal $
‹ Federal $ important part
p of school budget
‹ And
landscaping is under
u
school control
Parents, communities care
‹ Academic
“
“success”
”
achievemen
nt predicts income,
‹ Communities
and neiighborhoods with good
schools are highly sou
ught after
‹ Property values, prop
perty taxes
Scientists care
‹ Expanding
the range of vegetation studied
‹Extremely low leve
els
‹Mostly dormant
‹Minimal
Mi i l contact
‹ Expanding the effects
s of nature studied
Do trees grow ac
cademic
achievement?
hi
t?
Why might they?
?
Nature exposure Î Attention…
‹ Concentration
perform
mance in girls living in
public
bli housing
h
i (Faber Taylor
T
et al, 2002)
‹ Less inattentive behavior
(Martensson et al 2009)
in greener schools
‹ Recess increases atten
ntive
2009; Mahar et al 2009)
behavior (Barros et al,
… and Attention Î Test Scores
‹ Inattentive
children show
s
22--10x more scholastic
i
impairment
i
(Rodriguez et al 2007; Giannopulu et al, 2008)
‹ Synergy
in classroom
ms
‹ Cumulative
effect oveer months,, y
years
Related evidence
‹ School
landscaping enhancements improve
math
h scores (Lopez et al 2008)
‹ Outdoor education cu
urricula improve
(Bartosh 2003; Lieberman & Hoody, 1998)
test scores
Do Trees grow Ac
cademic
Achievement?
A hi
t?
Why might they not?
n
Unanswered questiions
‹ Do
classroom views of
o nature distract?
‹ Does dormant vegeta
ation (2/3rds of AY) help?
‹ Do
D
‹ Do
( i h) kid
(rich)
kids need
d atttention
i restoration?
i ?
extremely low lev
vels of vegetation (in poor
schools) help?
In Chicago, recess is related to school
poverty
‹ Proportion
of highhigh-po
overty schools (>95% low
income children) thatt have recess: 10%
‹ Proportion
of lowlow-pov
verty schools (<30% low
income children) thatt have recess: 86%
The Chicago Reporter, 1999
Three Questions…
‹ Does
“Green” increasse test scores, when
poverty is
i taken
k into
i
account??
‹ For
whom?
‹ For
how long?
g
… and an opportun
nity
‹ Chicago
Campus Park program: 100 schools
‹ High
High--resolution aeria
al photos of schoolyards,
over multiple years
‹ Test scores: objectiv
ve standardized,
ve,
standardized
repeated measures
‹ School and student characteristics
c
available
‹ Cross
Cross--sectional
and longitudinal, largelarge-scale,
highly controlled stu
udy
Do Trees grow Ac
cademic
Achievement?
A hi
t?
Method
Cross--sectional Analyses
Cross
‹ 440+
schools
‹ Aerial photos from 00
0-01, 0202-03, 0303-04
‹ 750,000+ test scores fr
rom those years
Longitudinal Analys
ses
‹ 470+
schools
‹ 500K+ students
‹ 1.7 M test scores over ten years
Measuring Greenne
ess
‹ Aerial
photos at .6m resolution
r
‹ .82 agreement betwee
en independent raters
‹ Compared
C
d
‹ Rich
Low (1
( 2 3)) vs. High
i h (4
( 5)) Greenness
G
schools: Low an
nd High Green
‹ Poor schools: Low Gr
reen
Aerial photo of
High
Greenness
school
Aerial photo of
High
Greenness
school
Aerial photo of
Low
Greenness
school
Aerial photo of
Low
Greenness
school
Test Scores
‹ Iowa
Test of Basic Sk
kills (ITBS)
‹Used to determine
e who is held back
‹Given in all grades
s until 2005
‹ Illinois
Standardized
d Achievement Test (ISAT)
‹No Child Left Beh
hind criterion test
‹Given in grades 3, 5, and 8 until 2005
Other factors we to
ook into account
‹ Student
characteristiccs: gender, grade,
ethnicity,
h i i special
i l ed,
d free
f
llunch,
h bilingual
bili
l
status, previously helld back
‹ School
characteristicss: size, percent free lunch
eligible, pupil teacher ratio, percent African
American
Do Trees Grow Academic
A
Achievement?
A hi
t?
Results
Do Trees Grow Testt Scores…
When other factors are taken into
account?
ITBS Reading
225
Mixed SES
220
215
210
Very low SES
205
200
Year of Test
z 04-05
195
Low
Hi h
High
Greenness
z 02-03
z 00-01
ITBS
S Math
230
225
220
215
210
205
Year of Test
z 04-05
200
Low
Hi h
High
G
Greenness
z 02-03
z 00-01
ISAT Rea
161
158
155
152
149
146
143
Year of Test
z 04-05
140
high
low
Greenness Le
z 02-03
z 00-01
ISAT Mat
M
163
160
157
154
151
Year of Test
148
z 04-05
high
low
e
Greenness Le
z 02-03
z 00-01
Greenness = higherr scores
‹ In
every measure
‹ In every year
‹ But not among the po
oorest schools
Greening = higher scores
s
‹ In
every measure
‹ Across ten years
‹ Among
g all schools
Do Trees Grow Testt Scores…
For whom?
?
All students benefitt
‹ Boys,
girls, different ages
a
‹ Poor, bilingual, disad
dvantaged ethnicities
‹ Special ed
Disadvantaged stud
dents benefit most
‹ Poor,
Poor
bilingual,
bilingual disad
dvantaged ethnicities
‹ But not special ed
Do Trees Grow Aca
ademic
Achievement…
For how long?
Reading
Math
Greening = higher scores
s
‹ In
first couple years after
a
greening
‹ In years 3
3--4
‹ In years 5
5--10
‹ In
both math and read
ding
Do Trees Grow Academic
A
Achievement?
A hi
t?
Conclusions, Imp
plications
Greening schools grows
g
academic
achievement
‹ Among
all children, all
a schools -- especially
those who need it mo
ost
‹ The
initial investmen
nt continues delivering
returns for at least 55-10
1 years
Effects of trees on human
h
cognition
‹ Dormant
trees, too!
‹ Plumbing
the lower limit
l
Burning questions?
?
‹ What
vegetation gives the most bang for the
buck?
‹ Modeling
brink
effects for schools,
s
students on the
‹ Residential,
school grreen, obesity, achievement
Dissemination
‹ WCISA
‹ Science
‹ ???
as a test audience
Practice
Green schools to
‹ Raise test scores
‹ Attract
tt act homebuyers,
o ebuye s, a better
bette workforce
o o ce
‹ Raise real estate value
es, property tax revenues
‹ Create communities that
t
support optimal
human functioning