CHPS is dedicated to improving the performance of all K-12 U.S. schools.
Who we are: CHPS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit collaborative of school districts, architects, builders, building scientists, health professionals and consultants dedicated to fostering healthy learning environments.
What we do: For 25 years, we have been revolutionizing education by providing technical resources for school design, construction operations and maintenance through our extensive design criteria programs and project reviewers.
Our mission
Improve student physical health, academic performance, mental wellbeing, and environmental stewardship by creating the best high-performance school environments.
Our vision
Better school design is the rule, not the exception. Every K-12 student in America has equitable access to school facilities that foster their academic performance, wellbeing, and safety.
What is a high-performance school?
A high-performance school is a term used to describe a facility that helps students to achieve high levels of academic performance, typically as measured by standardized test scores, graduation rates, and college attendance. High-performance schools are also characterized by a strong culture of achievement, a safe and supportive learning environment, and effective leadership. Additionally, these schools are designed to be energy, water, and material efficient, well-lit, thermally comfortable, acoustically sound, safe, healthy, and easy to operate — promoting health and sustainability for students, the community, and our climate.
Our history
CHPS was founded in 1999 as a collaboration of California’s major utilities to address energy efficiency in schools. The program was developed specifically to reduce energy consumption in California’s K-12 educational facilities to reduce operating costs.
Identifying the need to go further, CHPS expanded their work to address all aspects of high performance school design, construction, and operation. Successful school projects in California served as a powerful proof of concept that the CHPS criteria could scale to districts in other states. The organization expanded its partnerships and today, is used by more than 70 school districts and has influenced 750 projects nationwide — directly impacting half a million students.
Our future
While CHPS is proud of our impact to date, it merely scratches the surface of the change needed in our schools. We are expanding our strategic programs and partnerships to meet the needs of millions of students nationwide.
“When CHPS was founded in 1999 in California, it was an early leader in school performance at a time when it was barely on society’s radar. I got involved with CHPS in 2002 when I was recruited by Los Angeles USD to launch the nation’s first — and still biggest — CHPS program. Soon after, other states started using the criteria and CHPS became national. This rich history gives us a strong foundation to stand on as we move into the next chapter where we aspire to do more to help all districts realize the multiple benefits high performance schools can provide for their students, staff, and unique communities.”
— John Zinner, Senior Advisor, ZC Sustainability; Board member, recent Chair, CHPS Board of Directors