DOI: 10.3886/icpsr37515.v1
title: 21st Century School Study Neighborhood Audit Data, Baltimore, Maryland, 2016
title: Version 1

description: Over half of public school buildings across the country fail to provide adequate conditions for students to learn and school staff to work. Prior research has established an evidence base of associations between high-quality school building facilities and student, staff, school, and community health and education outcomes. Recognizing this research and the need for facility improvements, Maryland has approved the 21st Century School Buildings Program, which is paid for by Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools), the State of Maryland, and the City of Baltimore. The program will invest close to $1 billion to renovate or replace over two dozen school buildings. City Schools, with support from the Fund for Educational Excellence, selected the RAND Corporation to study the impact of new school buildings on student, staff, school, and community outcomes. The goal of this first phase was to collect data prior to the start of the Baltimore 21st Century Building Program and conduct initial exploratory analyses of data from treatment schools (i.e., schools slated for renovation or rebuilding) and comparison schools (i.e., schools with similar student and school characteristics but not slated for renovation or rebuilding). The data compiled here are audits of the street segments immediately surrounding those target schools. These observations from Spring 2016 were collected in an effort to document the conditions and features of the neighborhoods prior to school building renovations. This data collection describes baseline neighborhood characteristics prior to the 21st Century Buildings School Program. For more information about the Baltimore City Schools and the 21st Century School Building Program, please visit the 21st Century Schools website.
description: In this multi-phase project, RAND researchers examined whether and how the rebuilding and renovating of school buildings in Baltimore City Public Schools affected student, teachers, schools, and the surrounding community. The data available here are from the first phase of the project, and describes community conditions prior to the renovation and rebuilding effort. Street segments were selected in 2016 around nine treatment schools (i.e., schools slated for renovation or rebuilding) and nine comparison schools (i.e., schools with similar student and school characteristics but not slated for renovation or rebuilding). Street segments selection included all streets along the perimeter of each school and 4 additional segments randomly chosen within a tenth-of-a-mile from each school. Using the Street Segment Observation Form, two data collectors rated the features of the schools' surrounding environment during the school day. The tool captured street characteristics that could influence physical activity: safety signs (e.g., pedestrian crossing), building conditions (e.g., bars on windows), amenities (e.g., benches), advertising (e.g., alcohol), and land use (e.g., integration). In addition, the observation tool was used to capture social environment and physical disorder, economic development, air and noise pollution. The primary goal of this project was to document the status of conditions that may be affected by the renovation, in both treatment schools that will eventually receive new school buildings, and in matched comparison schools that are not currently slated to receive a renovated school building. Specifically, the purpose of this data collection is to evaluate the baseline neighborhood safety, aesthetics, economic development, and social disorder characteristics prior to school renovations.
description: Four data collectors were trained in a three-day session on the Street Segment Observation Form. The Street Segment Observation Form is an audit tool that was adapted from the Bridging the Gap Street Segment Tool to capture features of the schools' surrounding environment that could be affected by school renovation. Data collectors were provided maps of the street segments they were to observe and worked in teams of two to complete the audits making observations about the streetscape, buildings, amenities, traffic features, and outdoor advertising on the segments.
description: <strong>The Street Segment Audit Data</strong> contain 5 variables derived to capture <em>features of the neighborhood</em> surrounding each of the schools. These variables include: <strong>BARS</strong> Bars on Windows<br> A measure for the proportion of the street segments with buildings that have bars on the windows. <strong>VACANT</strong> Vacant Property<br> A count for the number of vacant properties on the street segment. <strong>PHYSDIS</strong> Physical Disorder<br> An index to measure physical disorder on the street segment. <strong>SOCDIS</strong> Social Disorder<br> An index to measure social disorder on the street segment. <strong>POORSIDEWALK</strong> Poor Quality Sidewalk<br> A measure for the proportion of the segments around the school where the sidewalk is of poor quality.
description: Street segments selection included all streets along the perimeter of each school and 4 additional segments randomly chosen within a tenth-of-a-mile from each school.<br> A street segment extends from one street intersection to the next and encompasses both sides of the street that are contained on both sides of that block.<br> The final sample was 156 unique segments and an average of 8.7 segments per school.<br> More information may be found in the provided <strong>Street Segment Sampling Plan</strong> and the <strong>Street Segment Coding Manual</strong>.
description: Datasets: DS1: 21st Century School Study Neighborhood Audit Data, Baltimore, Maryland, 2016
description: Street segments surrounding study school buildings. Smallest Geographic Unit: Block
description: coded on-site observation