Examining the effects of green space accessibility on school performance for 3421 elementary schools

This study assesses green space accessibility and school performance at Ontario elementary schools (n = 3421), including green space on school property and in the school’s 1.6 km and 5 km neighbourhood boundaries, to understand the potential effects of green space on student achievement. School addresses, enrollment numbers, socioeconomic factors, and standardized test scores were obtained from the Ontario Ministry of Education website. Each address was geocoded and manually validated using satellite imagery. Property boundary data was obtained from Ontario’s comprehensive parcel boundary data, which required manual validation and digital editing in a GIS. Remote sensing was used to identify green space, calculated using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) thresholds on Landsat 7 and 8 data. School performance data were based on province-wide standardized test scores at the third- and sixth-grade levels in reading, writing, and mathematics from the year 2018. Student performance was regressed against green space with beta regression models. Socioeconomic factors were included as confounding factors in the statistical analysis. Our findings suggest that a greater proportion of greenness at the 5 km neighbourhood level is negatively associated with higher school performance in Ontario elementary schools (p < 0.01 and 0.001); however, an association was not demonstrated at the school boundary and the 1.6 km neighbourhood boundary. The statistical association between green space and school performance in various boundaries within Ontario schools is essential for maintaining and improving green space and youth development.