Environmental Influences on Student Achievement in North Carolina

Dana McCalla, AIR

Saugat Pandey, AIR

Tom Snyder, AIR

Environmental conditions play an increasingly important role in shaping how students learn and perform in school. This study brings together statewide standardized test results from the North Carolina Department of Education and more than 200 environmental measures to understand how the places where schools are located influence academic outcomes.

Using a Bayesian modeling approach, the analysis accounts for both student‑ and school‑level characteristics while also modeling spatial and temporal patterns. The findings show that environmental disadvantage—especially limited food access, economic hardship, and lower community resilience—has a measurable impact on student achievement. These results are shared in a white paper and research brief.

Data and Methodology

The study integrates data on:

Air quality (EPA, PurpleAir);
Vegetation and land characteristics (NASA MODIS);
Food access (U.S. Department of Agriculture); and
Community resilience (U.S. Census Bureau).

All variables were aligned to the school level. Out of 229 total environmental indicators, 35 were included in the final statistical models.

Key Findings

Environmental factors reduced unexplained geographic variation in student outcomes in 10 of the 13 models. This suggests that environmental exposures help explain achievement differences that remain after accounting for school characteristics.
Food access, the Area Deprivation Index, and sociodemographic indicators were consistently linked with student performance. Schools in areas with limited food access and weaker community resilience had lower 3rd‑grade math scores.
Interestingly, higher mean family income was associated with increased absences, indicating that wealth does not uniformly translate to higher engagement and may interact with attendance in complex ways.

Implications

For more information about the findings and implications of the brief, please contact Rachel Carroll.

The results emphasize the importance of place‑based educational strategies. Improving access to healthy food, addressing economic gaps, and investing in community resilience may support stronger academic outcomes statewide.

Overall, this work reinforces that students’ learning environments extend beyond the classroom—and that addressing environmental and socioeconomic disparities is essential for ensuring high‑quality education for all.