The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides technical resources for school design, construction, operations and maintenance standards through its extensive design criteria programs and project reviewers.
Our mission
Our mission is to improve student physical health, academic performance, mental well-being, and environmental stewardship by creating the best high-performance school environment through educational resources, design criteria and verification.
Who we are
CHPS is a collaborative of school districts, architects, builders, building scientists, health professionals and consultants dedicated to fostering healthy learning environments.
Our priorities
CHPS helps facilitate and inspire change in our educational system. Our goals are to fundamentally change the design, construction, and operation of schools to:
- Maximize the health, well-being, and performance of students, educators, and staff
- Conserve energy, water, and other resources to minimize greenhouse gas emissions and reduce operating costs
- Practice good stewardship within schools to achieve community environmental and social goals
Our work
CHPS provides resources – in many cases, free resources – to schools, school districts, and professionals about all aspects of high performance school design, construction, and operation. CHPS develops tools that help make schools energy, water and material efficient, well-lit, thermally comfortable, acoustically sound, safe, healthy, and easy to operate. These resources include a well-respected six-volume best practices manual, training and conferences, a high performance building rating and recognition program, and other tools for creating healthy, green schools.
Our impact
- There are over 700 completed CHPS schools across America.
- There are approximately another 300 schools underway in the U.S. seeking CHPS recognition.
- 60 school districts, representing millions of enrolled students and billions of dollars in school constuction funding, have committed to building new schools or modernizing to the CHPS high performance building standard or using CHPS resources.
- Twelve states have state or region-specific high performance school building Criteria, including California, Washington, New York, the Northeast States (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont, and Maine), Texas, Virginia, and Hawaii. Colorado has adopted the national US-CHPS Criteria.
Our responsibility
CHPS believes in the collaborative approach for the development of all of its resources. To this end, our Board of Directors and Technical Committee are made up of representatives from all aspects of school design, construction, and operation. All of CHPS resources are subject to two public reviews before they are released for public use.
If you'd like to contribute to our mission with a donation, click here. DONATE
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 as a means of reducing operating costs. Soon after, CHPS quickly expanded to address all aspects of school design, construction, and operation.
