Portable Classrooms: Socioeconomic Context and Implications for Academic Achievement
Keywords:
Portable Classroom, School Overcrowding, Ontario, School BoardsAbstract
Across many educational jurisdictions, school boards use portable classrooms to accommodate students in overcrowded schools. Despite their popularity, neither the socioeconomic contexts of their utilization nor their effects on academic achievement are well understood. This article expands the incipient literature on portable classrooms by reporting on a study that examined portable classroom use in the 27 largest school boards in Ontario, Canada. Through a combination of statistical strategies, this research reports on (a) the socioeconomic factors that increase the odds of having a high number of portable classrooms and (b) the factors associated with portable classroom use that affect academic achievement. Based on these findings, this article offers recommendations for policy and practice.
Downloads
References
Belfield, C., Farquharson, C., & Sibieta, L. (2018). 2018 annual report on education spending in England. The Institute for Fiscal Studies. https://ifs.org.uk/publications/2018-annual-report-education-spending-england
Blackmore, J., Bateman, D., Loughlin, J., O’Mara, J., & Aranda, G. (2011). Research into the connection between built learning spaces and student outcomes (Paper No. 22). Education Policy and Research Division, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, State of Victoria. https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/programs/infrastructure/blackmorelearningspaces.pdf
Branham, D. (2004). The wise man builds his house upon the rock: The effects of inadequate school building infrastructure on student attendance. Social Science Quarterly, 85(5), 1112–1128. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0038-4941.2004.00266.x
Butler, J. K., Kane, R. G., & Cooligan, F. R. (2019). The closure of Rideau High School: A case study in the political economy of urban education in Ontario. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 191, 83–105. https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cjeap/article/view/58375
Byers, T., Mahat, M., Liu, K., Knock, A. & Imms, W. (2018). A systematic review of the effects of learning environments on student learning outcomes (Technical Report 4). Learning Environments Applied Research Network, The University of Melbourne. https://rest.neptune-prod.its.unimelb.edu.au/server/api/core/bitstreams/aace6be7-5cb2-5332-8add-5318ed49d221/content
Chan, T. C. (2009). Do portable classrooms impact teaching and learning? Journal of Educational Administration, 47(3), 290–304. https://doi.org/10.1108/09578230910955746
Cheng, L., & Sun, Y. (2015). Interpreting the impact of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test on second language students within an argument-based validation framework. Language Assessment Quarterly, 12(1), 50–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/15434303.2014.981334
Cleveland, B., & Fisher, K. (2014). The evaluation of physical learning environments: A critical review of the literature. Learning Environments Research, 17(1), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-013-9149-3
De Smith, M. J., Goodchild, M. F., & Longley, P. A. (2018). Geospatial analysis: A comprehensive guide to principles, techniques and software tools (6th ed.). The Winchelsea Press.
Drury, K. (2014, May 7). ‘They have to go’: The environmental and health costs of portable classrooms. InvestigateWest. https://www.invw.org/2014/05/07/portables
Education Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E.2 (1990). https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90e02
Education Act, R.S.O. 1990, O. Reg 20/98: Education Development Charges (2022). https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/980020
Filardo, M. (2016). State of our schools: America’s K–12 facilities. 21st Century School Fund, National Council on School Facilities, & The Center for Green Schools. https://www.usgbc.org/sites/default/files/2022-06/2016-state-of-our-schools-report.pdf
Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (2021). Ministry of Education: Spending plan review. https://www.fao-on.org/web/default/files/publications/FA2102%20Education%20Estimates/Education%20Spending%20Plan%20Review-EN.pdf
Grissom, J. A., Redding, C., & Bleiberg, J. F. (2019). Money over merit? Socioeconomic gaps in receipt of gifted services. Harvard Educational Review, 89(3), 337–369. https://doi.org/10.17763/1943-5045-89.3.337
Gulson, K. N., & Symes, C. (2007). Knowing one’s place: Space, theory, education. Critical Studies in Education, 48(1), 97–110. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508480601123750
Harrell, F. E., Jr. (2015). Regression modeling strategies: With applications to linear models, logistic and ordinal regression, and survival analysis (2nd ed.). Springer.
Hayashi, F. (2000). Econometrics. Princeton University Press.
Jackson, C. K., Wigger, C., & Xiong, H. (2021). Do school spending cuts matter? Evidence from the Great Recession. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 13(2), 304–335. https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20180674
Jenkins, P. L., Phillips, T. J., & Waldman, J. (2004). Environmental health conditions in California’s portable classrooms. California Air Resources Board California & Department of Health Services.
Mackenzie, H. (2017). Shortchanging Ontario students: An overview and assessment of education funding in Ontario. Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario. https://etfocb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Shortchanging-Ontario-Students-An-overview-and-assessment-of-education-funding-in-Ontario.pdf
Ministry of Education. (2018). Draft pupil accommodation review guideline. Government of Ontario. https://efis.fma.csc.gov.on.ca/faab/Memos/B2018/B02_attach_EN.PDF
Ministry of Education. (2023). Facts about elementary and secondary education. Government of Ontario. https://www.ontario.ca/page/facts-about-elementary-and-secondary-education
Newcombe, D. (2022, August 31). London’s newest public school will open with 12 portables. CTV News. https://london.ctvnews.ca/london-s-newest-public-school-will-open-with-12-portables-1.6050913
People for Education. (2018). The new basics for public education: People for Education annual report on Ontario’s publicly funded schools, 2018. https://peopleforeducation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/AnnualReport18_Web.pdf
Ready, D. D., Lee, V. E., & Welner, K. G. (2004). Educational equity and school structure: School size, overcrowding, and schools-within-schools, Teachers College Record, 106(10), 1989–2014. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9620.2004.00424.x
Reardon, S. F., Kalogrides, D., & Shores, K. (2019). The geography of racial/ethnic test score gaps. American Journal of Sociology, 124(4), 1164–1221. https://doi.org/10.1086/700678
Reid, A. (2020). Changing Australian education: How policy is taking us backwards and what can be done about it. Routledge.
Rezai-Rashti, G. M., & Lingard, B. (2021). Test-based accountability, standardized testing and minority/racialized students’ perspectives in urban schools in Canada and Australia. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 42(5), 716–731. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2020.1843112
Richards, M. P. (2014). The gerrymandering of school attendance zones and the segregation of public schools: A geospatial analysis. American Educational Research Journal, 51(6), 1119–1157. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831214553652
Riveros, A. (2023). The overreliance on portable classrooms in Ontario schools: New evidence for the study of austerity and disinvestment in Canadian public education. Canadian Journal of Education, 46(3), 570-596
Riveros, A., & Nyereyemhuka, N. (2023). Conceptualizing space in educational administration and leadership research: Towards a spatial justice perspective. International Journal of Leadership in Education: Theory and Practice, 26(4), 666-679
Robertson, S. L. (2010). ‘Spatializing’ the sociology of education: Stand-points, entry-points, vantage-points. In M. Apple, S. Ball, & L. A. Gandin (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of the sociology of education (pp. 15–26). Routledge.
Rushowy, K. (2019, November 6). Repair backlog in Ontario schools hits $16.3 billion. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2019/11/06/repair-backlog-in-ontario-schools-hits-163-billion.html
Sancton, A. (2021). Canadian local government: An urban perspective (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Shendell, D. G., Prill, R., Fisk, W. J., Apte, M. G., Blake, D., & Faulkner, D. (2004). Associations between classroom CO2 concentrations and student attendance in Washington and Idaho. Indoor Air, 14(5), 333–341. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0668.2004.00251.x
Sosina, V. E., & Weathers, E. S. (2019). Pathways to inequality: Between-district segregation and racial disparities in school district expenditures. AERA Open, 5(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419872445
Statistics Canada. (2022, September 9). Population and dwelling counts: Canada and population centres. Statistics Canada https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810001101
Statistics Canada. (2022, October 26). Immigrants make up the largest share of the population in over 150 years and continue to shape who we are as Canadians. The Daily. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/221026/dq221026a-eng.htm
Tieken, M. C., & Auldridge-Reveles, T. R. (2019). Rethinking the school closure research: School closure as spatial injustice. Review of Educational Research, 89(6), 917–953. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654319877151
Tranjan, R., Oliveira, T., & Robinson, R. (2022). Catching up together: A plan for Ontario’s schools. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. https://policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/Ontario%20Office/2022/02/Catching%20Up%20Together.pdf
Wulff, J. N., & Ejlskov, L. (2017). Multiple imputation by chained equations in praxis: Guidelines and review. The Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 15(1), 41–56. https://academic-publishing.org/index.php/ejbrm/article/view/1355
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Augusto Riveros, Chenyang Zhou
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
a. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
b. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
c. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
