Do Replacement Public Schools Deliver on Promises after Construction?

Abstract

Public school construction represents a significant portion of all construction spending, ranging 7 percent to 9.5 percent annually from 2008-2013. This study sought to answer four essential questions regarding replacement magnet schools in Houston ISD based upon building and student data gathered during the 2011-2012 school year.

This study examined whether construction, building age, and building condition had an impact on magnet applications, enrollment, attendance, and student achievement measures. Demographic data including minority ethnicity and economically disadvantaged percentages were used to control for other factors impacting dependent variables.

Twenty-eight magnet elementary schools in a large urban school district were chosen for analysis. The experimental group includes all of the magnet elementary schools rebuilt under the 1998, 2002, and 2007 school bond programs between 2004 and 2012. They were not randomly assigned. The control group includes randomly selected elementary schools from the remaining magnet elementary schools not rebuilt.

Multiple and Linear regressions were done on all research questions. For the first three research questions, there was not an observable predictive effect on magnet applications, student enrollment or student attendance evidenced by the predictors of building composite score and building age in the experimental and control schools. However, student achievement was positively impacted by building composite score as evidenced by the ability to predict state percentile ranking. Finally, an exploratory question was examined and it was found that statewide ranking of a school is predicted by composite building score and percent African-American and Hispanic students among all elementary schools rebuilt.