Quality Teaching and Learning Environments | Benefits | Research | Literature | Clients | Q&A

Quality Teaching and Learning Environments

Ameresco has evolved from an Energy Renewal Company to a company whose new mission is “working together with you to enrich educational experiences by enhancing Quality Teaching and Learning Environments” (QTLE). Within the Canadian K-12 educational landscape, parents, administrators and politicians continue to demand better results. Educators have been working systematically to refine their collective efforts and enhance their results. Within this context we have asked the following questions:

• "What about school facility conditions?"
• "Are facility conditions connected to learning?"

The primary mandate of K-12 educational institutions is to optimize student outcomes. Learning outcomes are influenced by many different factors. We contend that facility conditions have contributions that are both consequential and manageable. In other words, enhanced facility conditions contribute to the quality of teaching and learning environments. Metrics like the Facility Condition Index (FCI) gives us a ‘property management’ perspective. Through an extensive Canadian research initiative we have developed a new metric called the School Learning Index (SLI). This index enables us to look at facility conditions from an educator’s perspective. When these two viewpoints are considered together, they enable us to collaboratively develop a plan that — when implemented — will contribute to an enhanced teaching and learning environment.

Our evolution and discovery that facility conditions contribute to the quality of teaching and learning environments has only been made possible by working collaboratively with school boards across the country for over 35 years.

Research Supports the Importance of Quality Facilities

Our strategy is based on national research connecting school facilities and learning environments. The findings indicate that building quality and maintenance, lighting, thermal comfort, acoustics and indoor air quality each affect student learning. Moreover, these effects on learning are both direct (through students’ experience) and indirect (through teachers’ experience).

Sod Turning Marks Start of Construction of New Green School in Sudbury

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Rainbow District School Board Partners With Ameresco to Build First Green School in Northern Ontario.

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