The condition of the high school facilities in the Commonwealth of Virginia's metropolitan school divisions and the relationship to teacher satisfaction

With the increasing age and extensive growth of our nation's school systems, school administrators and building designers have become more concerned with the effects of building conditions and those who work there. This study was undertaken to assess the condition of the high school facilities in the Commonwealth of Virginia's metropolitan school divisions and to determine whether or not there was a direct relationship between teacher satisfaction and building conditions. Two survey instruments were utilized to answer the proposed research questions. The Commonwealth Assessment of Physical Environment (CAPE) survey was designed by Cash (1993) and provided an accurate representation of the physical environment for school buildings. The Teacher Opinionaire of Physical Environment (TOPE) survey designed by Ruszala (2006), measured teacher satisfaction in relationship to specific school building conditions. The CAPE and TOPE surveys were mailed to 25 randomly selected metropolitan school divisions Virginia's Commonwealth. Fifteen school divisions (60%) participated in the study. A total of 23 principals completed the CAPE and 851 (79%) teachers completed the TOPE. The CAPE findings indicated that almost half of the principals scored their high school as standard and almost half of the principals scored their school as above standard for an overall building condition rating. The majority of principals scored their school as having an upper cosmetic and structural condition rating. The TOPE findings were grouped by age and averaged. Schools 19 years of age and newer were identified as above standard, schools between 20 and 49 were identified as standard, and schools that were 50 years and older were identified as substandard. One observation noted is that schools between 20 and 49 years of age consistently fell below the average in all categories. The Pearson correlation coefficient indicated that a moderate positive correlation was found between the overall building condition as reported by the CAPE and overall teacher satisfaction as reported by the TOPE. Teachers were in pretty strong agreement with the principals on the condition of their school building. Due to the findings of the Pearson correlation coefficient, an exploratory multiple regression analysis was undertaken. Paint emerged as a significant predictor