Any public, private, independent, charter or international school can use START.

START’s current iteration was designed for US-based schools. However, non-US schools can use START if they choose (baring in mind START uses the imperial system).

START was designed with the whole school community in mind. However, at least one adult must have the role of ‘School’s Primary START User’.

If a parent wishes to run START at their school, they must submit written permission from the school administrator granting them permission.

No, at this time START is not a certification program. However, it is complementary to the Green Ribbon Schools program and can also be used by schools for collecting data and storing files in a structured format to support external certification programs.

START incurs costs for the Green Schools Alliance to maintain and develop, so there is a marginal cost associated with using the tool.

START costs $50 USD per school, per month, or $500 per school, per year. (You can add as many users to your school’s account as you want, at no extra cost).

There is a sliding scale for U.S. public school districts - the more schools in a district using START, the lower the cost.

If your school wants to use START but is unable to afford it, please contact start@greenschoolsalliance.org.

Yes! START has a range of different access levels, including view-only permissions.

Unfortunately, with thousands of schools across the country, the GSA is unable to help schools implement START on the ground. Once your school has a START account, it is up to you to run and implement the program as you choose. However, START’s resource library, collaborative spaces and discussion forums can help you implement sustainable solutions at your school.

Any adult with an interest in advancing sustainability at their school can run the START program with their administration’s permission.

That’s up to you! Schools can use START at their own pace. To benchmark your school’s sustainability levels, you will need to answer 53 yes-or-no questions. For some schools, they may already know all the answers to the questions, but for others, it may take some time to find out all the information they need. Some schools may even task students with collecting data as part of a school subject. As for progressing through START’s 3 tiers, you determine the sustainability actions you implement in your school.

START was designed to provide program continuity and a roadmap and incentive towards achieving Whole School Sustainability. Ideally, your school should use START until it achieves all the points in START, and thereafter you can still use the program for annual sustainability audits, student engagement resources, and to keep track of your energy, waste, water and emissions data.

The Green Ribbon School (GRS) recognition program provides a standard suggested questionnaire as to how schools nationwide can become more environmentally sustainable. Many states have amended the GRS application to tailor it to their own needs. For instance, Kentucky follows the U.S. Department of Education’s guidelines verbatim, while California’s is extremely extensive, with over 100 pages of criteria. The autonomy that these states have in the application can be positive when regional and geographical differences impact the ways in which environmental standards are assessed. However, it also leads to a lack of uniformity, making the GRS recognition program less of a baseline standard with the variance.

The START program is different in a few critical ways. With START, there is much more emphasis on coordination, governance and planning than in GRS’s application. This puts the scope of sustainability in the long term, ensuring that implemented programs are carried through change over in students, faculty and administrators. START recognizes that often the onus of environmental sustainability is disproportionately placed on only a few individuals in a school district. This has led to a third of the metrics being placed within the category of “organizational culture,” which includes creating a Sustainability Committee as well as identifying a coordinator. Another key difference is that START includes different tiers for each metric. This recognizes the stages of striving towards an ultimate goal and gives more credit to the process of reaching environmental sustainability. Finally, START provides thorough mapping as to how schools can obtain these goals. The program is accompanied with “How-To Guides” that advise schools on how to reach the goal of a greener school and ultimately district.

Like Protostar, the START program guides schools on their way to a more sustainable environment. A school provides START with its sustainability performance through a series of questions to assess which areas a school can improve upon.

However, the START program not only details the school’s progress in sustainability, but it also offers a plethora of detailed guides a school can implement to boost its environment. In this way, schools know exactly what they can do to improve their sustainability rating without the confusion that may come with how one can become more environmentally-friendly.

Another feature of START that distinguishes it from Protostar is the conveyance of how seamless the track of sustainability really is. START provides step-by-step guides, sorted by cost, difficulty, and impact, for various aspects of sustainability that can be followed by both students and faculty alike.

Maalka and ESPM use the same benchmarking process, but using Maalka in conjunction with Energy Star Portfolio Manager makes the analytics (with data validation) more accessible and more clearly expressed to district decision-makers. Maalka also makes it easier to manage the benchmarking process by allowing for an easier user interfaces for setting baselines and targets at the portfolio (district) level.