The Collaborative for High Performance Schools- Greener, brighter learning environments

Report cards are no longer just for students, a new program is holding builders to higher standards as well. The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) is the first green building rating program in the U.S. to target schools in the K-12 range and progressively more states are adopting the new program.

According to CHPS, there are currently 86 CHPS-certified schools across the U.S. and the number is growing with Colorado, Texas, New York, Washington, California, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island and more recently, Virginia and Hawaii now on board.

Nonprofit CHPS was founded in 1999 as a collaboration of California’s major utilities to address energy efficiency in schools and the program quickly expanded into all aspects of school design, construction and operation. Today, more than 225 organizations are members of the collaborative, including utility companies, professional design and construction firms, product manufacturers, other nonprofits, schools, school districts and professional societies.

To date, more than 200 schools have been gone up under the CHPS high performance school standards, reflecting individually per state specifically adapted for climate and local building codes. The CHPS Best Practices Manual is a benchmarking system that defines the attributes of a high performance school. Criteria range from materials selection to energy and water efficiency, indoor environmental quality to innovation, performance and integrated delivery.

CHPS’ Operations Report Card (ORC) provides the entire school community with the tools to make an informed decision about how best to improve their school. The good news is its free! Register here for the upcoming webinar on Tuesday, May 13, 2014 to learn more and see case studies of schools and districts that have used the CHPS ORC.