Physical Place:

Indoor Environmental Quality

START Metric #36:

Indoor Air Quality

Guides & Resources

‘How To’ Guides

  • Healthy, Green Purchasing for Asthma Prevention

    From the US Center for Green Schools, a guide to help schools & districts introduce and implement health-informed purchasing practices into school policy.

  • 5 Step Guide to Check Ventilation Rates in Classrooms

    From Harvard, learn how to improve ventilation through 5 steps: measure the classroom dimensions, perform preliminary checks, measure outdoor ventilation rates, compare results and consider strategies.

  • How to Improve Indoor Air Quality

    Created by a GSA student intern, this guide includes steps and resources to improve indoor air quality, including easy-to-access links from the EPA.

  • Indoor Air Quality and IPM Guide

    From Missouri Green Schools, step-by-step guidance for creating healthier learning environments through Integrated Pest Management, including additional resource links.

Additional Resources

  • Case Study: Districts Switch to Green Cleaning Products

    From RAMP, success stories from three California school districts who made the switch to green cleaning and improved air quality.

  • IAQ Factsheet: Germicidal Ultraviolet

    From US Center for Green Schools, an explainer of how germicidal ultraviolet can be used as an effective non-chemical method to disinfect surfaces.

  • EPA Ventilation Checklist

    Facilities and maintenance staff can use this checklist to help examine outdoor air intakes; system cleanliness, outdoor air supplies, air distribution, exhaust systems, & quantity of outdoor air.


 Contact us at guides@greenschoolsalliance.org if:

  • You have a free resource to contribute or recommend that can help schools take action around this specific sustainability metric.

  • You authored a guide included here and have information about the Cost, Difficulty or Impact rating.