July 2008 — News
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U Michigan To Explore Link Between Pollution and K-12 Performance
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Is there a link between air pollution and student performance in K-12 schools? That's what University of Michigan researchers said they hope to discover as they embark on a three-year research project to determine correlations between air quality and performance benchmarks like absenteeism, test scores, and dropout rates.
The researchers, operating out of U Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE), said that adequate information about the links between pollution and student performance does not exist at present, despite children's vulnerability to pollution.
Researchers will be using census data, air quality data, and information supplied by Detroit Public Schools to look for links between student performance and the environment. The study will cover 194 schools and more than 100,000 students enrolled in the 2007-08 school year. They will also model data from the 837 other public schools districts in Michigan to create a more complete picture of the links between pollution and student performance.
"Currently, information about the effects of air toxics on Michigan's school-aged population is largely anecdotal," said Paul Mohai, an SNRE professor and the project's lead researcher, in announcing the new study. "We do not know whether schools in the state are located in areas that are more--or less--polluted than their surrounding communities. It is also uncertain which schools are most at risk from air-toxics exposure and whether such exposures are related to health outcomes, absenteeism, school performance and dropout rates."
The researchers also said they'll investigate whether air quality should be a factor in determining where schools should be built. The research is being funded by the Kresge Foundation to the tune of $485,000. The study will begin this summer.
"Potentially," according to the researchers, "the findings could be used to re-evaluate state and local policies that lead to the siting of new schools in areas with already high concentrations of pollution. At a minimum, the data-crunching and analysis will help identify schools requiring further investigation."
