School greenspace is associated with enhanced benefits of academic interventions on annual reading improvement for children of color in California
School greenspace may bolster the effects of instructional interventions for students with high academic support needs
Numerous studies indicate that children living in low-income situations and ethnic minority children generally have the highest academic support needs and the least access to green spaces. Research also supports the idea that nature exposure can increase attention restoration and thus contribute to improved academic achievement. This study investigated whether surrounding school greenspace accentuates the benefits of a literacy intervention program for children with delayed reading skills and adds to prior research in a number of ways. Previous studies generally used aggregated school-level performance data in reporting outcomes. This study analyzed individual child outcomes. Other features of this study not generally found in related studies include (1) an examination of academic performance over time, (2) inclusion of “dose” (or number of reading sessions) in analyses, (3) the use of school tax parcel boundaries versus buffer measures around school to quantify school greenspace, (4) use of different types of greenspace (shrub, herbaceous, trees), (5) a focus on children or color, and (6) an examination of interactions – not just main effects – between greenspace and other school-related factors on academic performance.
Information gathered and analyzed for this study included (1) gains in individual literacy scores for 6080 elementary children (kindergarten through sixth grade) after participating in a year-long literacy intervention program, (2) the total number of literacy tutoring sessions each student received between the initial and final assessments, (3) estimates of each student’s experience of nature in their school environment, and (4) a number of other school- and home-level variables, including level of poverty and population density. All of the children received the same literacy enrichment program and attended predominantly low-income schools. The students were from 85 different schools located in a variety of urban contexts throughout the State of California. Calculating greenness around the schools included attention to the extent and type of vegetation. Three different types were considered: shrub, herbaceous, and trees.
The extent and type of greenness around the schools varied widely. Overall results showed that, “on average, reading interventions conducted in schools with greater greenspace were more efficacious in improving individual students’ reading outcomes over a one-year period than reading interventions conducted in schools with less greenspace.” Results also showed that herbaceous and tree cover each enhanced the effect of the reading intervention more than shrubs or shrub cover. Another important finding showed that the cumulative interaction between total school greenspace and academic interventions had a greater effect on reading improvement and was more significant than any single green element. There was no direct link between total school greenspace and student academic improvement; greenspace affected reading outcomes only through amplifying the effect of the reading intervention.
This research shows that school greenspace can play a supportive role in academic settings “by bolstering the effects of instruction on academic achievement.” This added support can be especially important for low-income students of color who tend to have high academic support needs and the least access to nature-rich environments. Conducting educational interventions in nature-rich environments may be one way to add strength to the efficacy of such interventions.
Citation
Rahai, R., Wells, N. M., Evans, G. W., (2023). School greenspace is associated with enhanced benefits of academic interventions on annual reading improvement for children of color in California. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 83
