The Center for Early Education, an independent school in West Hollywood, Calif., has been recognized by the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) as the first “Operations Report Card High Performance School.”
The Center achieved the honor by scoring above a 70 (out of 100) in five categories on the Operations Report Card, a CHPS reporting program that the school used to collect information about the performance of its buildings.
“The Center for Early Education has demonstrated that they are committed to maintaining a high-quality learning environment that is healthy, energy efficient, well-lit, and comfortable,” says Bill Orr, Executive Director at the Collaborative for High Performance Schools.
The CHPS describes the Operations Report Card (ORC) as an online tool that enables schools and districts to measure the performance of their campuses and target areas for improvement. Schools submit information, measurements and survey results, and receive scores on a 100-point scale in five categories: indoor air quality, acoustics, lighting, thermal comfort and energy efficiency.
The Early Education Center was the only one of several schools piloting the ORC tool to achieve scores meriting recognition.
“The ORC establishes a baseline from which to measure future endeavors,” says Karen Illig, director of finance at The Center. “Now, when we complete a capital project, we can take new measurements and quantify the impact.”
The recognition from CHPS is evidence of The Center’s efforts to green its urban site. The school is using hanging planters and vertical gardens to provide more foliage on the campus To irrigate the plant life, The Center uses some of the more than 4,000 gallons of excess groundwater pumped from beneath the school’s underground garage each day.
The Center has about 540 students from pre-school through sixth grade.
