This nationally vetted and easy-to-read guidebook describes the characteristics and benefits of high-performance school buildings and details the process to help school planners ask the right questions of their design professionals to ensure the best school design possible. Written primarily for those who make decisions about the design and construction of K-12 schools, the 96-page Guide is useful for community leaders, parents, teachers, architects and engineers, and anyone else advocating for school buildings that are cost-effective, sustainable, and healthy and productive for students, teachers, and staff.

The book’s principal author is Deane Evans, FAIA, Director of the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Center for Architecture and Building Science Research. Mr. Evans is an accomplished architect with over 25 years of experience in architectural design, construction technology, and building performance research. He has served as an instructor for SBIC’s High-Performance School Buildings workshops and is currently serving as the Council’s Vice Chair.

The third edition features:

• A new introduction to going Beyond Green^TM with high-performance schools
• A Beyond Green^TM Focus Area: Accessibility in K-12 Schools
• A Beyond Green^TM Case Study: Radnor Middle School
• New Photographs, resources, and Web links

The book is organized into three core sections. Section 1 provides an overview and two interrelated discussions: What Is a High-Performance School Building? and Why Is a High-Performance School Building Valuable? Section 2 is the Process Guide, which provides issue-specific questions for decision makers to ask their architectural/engineering teams at each stage of the design process in order to drive projects toward the highest levels of performance. Section 3 describes 17 key “Building Blocks” that, when integrated, result in a high-performance building.