Despite the influx of federal funding around indoor air quality for K-12 schools, the most common ventilation strategies over the past year remain lower-cost options: fixing existing HVAC systems, opening windows and doors, or just taking the class outdoors.
The CDC recently examined reported ventilation improvement strategies among a sample of K-12 public schools in the United States using data collected from the National School COVID-19 Prevention Study (NSCPS), a web-based survey administered to school-level administrators beginning in the summer of 2021. The CDC examined wave 4 (420 schools) data from February 14-March 27, 2022. The study examines 11 ventilation improvement strategies in schools and on school-based transportation. The percentage of students eligible for free or reduced priced meals during 2019-20 served as a proxy for school poverty level. School locale was categorized as city, suburban, town, or rural according to NCES.