External Resources
U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools (ED-GRS) is a federal outreach initiative structured as a recognition award that helps to promote effective school sustainability and collaboration. By highlighting schools, districts, and postsecondary institutions’ cost-saving, health-promoting, and performance-enhancing sustainability practices, the program seeks to encourage other institutions to adopt these practices as well.
2025 Green Ribbon Schools
- 2025 Program Overview
- 2025 Application Schedule
- 2025 Application Instructions
- 2025 District Application
- 2025 School Application
NC Past Honorees
NC Award Winning Examples (Districts)
- Wake County District Award (2021)
- Cherokee County District Award (2015)
- Chapel Hill - Carrboro District Award (2015)
NC Award Winning Examples (Schools)
- Abbotts Creek Elementary School - Wake County (2019)
- Douglas Byrd High School - Cumberland County (2019)
- Imaculata Catholic School - Durham (2019)
US Department of Education (Program Information)
NCDPI Contact
- For more information, email Jon Long, AIA or call 984-236-2923
The Association for Learning Environments is a professional 501 (c)(3) non-profit association whose sole mission is improving the places where children learn. The Association for Learning Environments believes that:
- Facilities impact the learning, development and behavior of the facility user;
- The planning process is essential for quality facilities;
- Sharing and networking improves the planning process; and
- There is a standard by which to measure.
The Association for Learning Environments (A4LE) was first established in 1921 as the National Council on Schoolhouse Construction (NCSC) then becoming Council of Education Facility Planners International (CEFPI) in 1971. The organization took its current name in 2015.
The National Council on School Facilities works to give state officials access to the most current and critical research on K-12 school facilities. The mission of the National Council on School Facilities is to support states in their varied roles and responsibilities and to advocate for support mechanisms and processes that equitably deliver safe, healthy, and educationally appropriate public school facilities that are sustainable and fiscally sound.
Whenever it is contemplated that a school may be closed, the local board of education should review, with an attorney, the applicability of General Statutes 115C-72 and 115C-518(a) to the proposed action, as well as the applicability of other statutes.
A facility evaluation shall be undertaken when it is apparent that physical condition will influence the decision to close a school. The evaluation should be performed by an individual qualified to make technical judgments, such as an architect, engineer, or another appropriate consultant.
School Planning prepares numerous guides and reference publications on various aspects of K-12 school planning and design. These publications are updated periodically and current versions are organized by topic in appropriate areas of the School Planning website. Listed below are certain 'out-of-print' publications that remain useful to K-12 facility planners for reference purposes.
- Publication
- Publication