The START Framework:

Whole School Sustainability

When the Green Schools Alliance first set out to create a sustainability benchmarking tool for schools, we were determined to build it on a strong foundation of evidence-based approaches.

And when we came across the Whole School Sustainability (WSS) Framework* — a research study performed by the Institute for the Built Environment at Colorado State University — it was clear that we had found the gold standard for comprehensive and effective school sustainability.

The Whole School Sustainability framework is founded on the imperative that in order to be successful, schools must adopt a whole-system approach that integrates sustainability into all aspects of a school organization, specifically its Educational Programs, Organizational Culture and Physical Place.

*Adapted from original schematic in the Whole School Sustainability Framework, by Barr, S., Cross, J., Dunbar, B. (2014) at the Institute for the Built Environment, published by the U.S. Center for Green Schools (2014).

In 2016, the Green Schools Alliance convened an inclusive committee of school-specific experts from independent and public schools across the US, including administrators, teachers and facilities managers, as well as data quality analysts, to collectively design a blueprint that would map out the full scope of Whole School Sustainability across actionable metrics and progressive levels of achievement.

In collaboration with building analytics experts Maalka, this blueprint was used to develop START: Sustainability Tracking and Roadmap Tool, a long-needed standardized benchmarking tool designed to help pre-K to 12 schools methodically create healthier, more sustainable and equitable learning environments.

Read the Whole School Sustainability Framework*.

*Barr, S., Cross, J., Dunbar, B. (2014). The Whole School Sustainability Framework. Retrieved from US Center for Green Schools Website.