CHPS - Collaborative for High Performance Schools

1. Assess project eligibility: Confirm the project is a K–12 school facility in the United States. Review the CHPS criteria and best practices manual (now hosted via USGBC) to understand applicable prerequisites and credits for your project type (new construction or renovation).

1. Assemble your project team: Bring together the key stakeholders — architect, mechanical/electrical engineer, facility manager, and school district representative — who will be responsible for documenting and implementing CHPS criteria.

1. Register the project: Register your school project through the CHPS or USGBC platform (as the transition to USGBC is underway, check chps.net or usgbc.org for current registration instructions). Pay the applicable registration/application fee.

1. Conduct a gap analysis: Use the CHPS credit checklist to evaluate your current design or existing building against the rating system's prerequisites and optional credits across energy, water, indoor environment quality, materials, and site categories.

1. Design and document to CHPS criteria: Integrate CHPS requirements into the design and construction process. Collect documentation — calculations, specifications, commissioning reports, and product data — for each credit pursued.

1. Submit documentation for review: Upload all credit documentation to the project platform for second-party review by CHPS/USGBC reviewers. Respond to any reviewer comments or requests for clarification.

1. Receive certification decision: Once the review is complete and sufficient credits are achieved, the project is awarded CHPS certification. The school receives recognition as a high-performance learning environment and may be listed on the CHPS/USGBC online registry.

CHPS evaluates school buildings across several core performance categories, each containing prerequisites (mandatory requirements) and optional credits that contribute to the overall score. The rating system is tailored specifically to K–12 environments and goes beyond general green building standards to address conditions that directly affect student health and learning.

Energy Efficiency: Credits address building envelope performance, HVAC system efficiency, lighting controls, renewable energy, and energy monitoring. Schools must meet minimum energy performance thresholds as a prerequisite, with additional credits available for exceeding baseline requirements.

Water Efficiency: Criteria cover indoor plumbing fixture efficiency, irrigation reduction, and water metering. Schools are evaluated on both potable water consumption and stormwater management.

Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ): This is one of the most heavily weighted and school-specific categories. It includes minimum ventilation rates, low-emitting materials (adhesives, paints, flooring, furniture), daylighting and views, acoustic performance (background noise levels and reverberation times), and thermal comfort. These criteria directly address conditions known to affect student concentration, health, and absenteeism.

Materials and Resources: Credits evaluate construction waste management, use of recycled-content and regionally sourced materials, and avoidance of hazardous substances such as lead and asbestos.

Site and Location: Criteria address site selection, proximity to transit, stormwater management, heat island reduction, and light pollution.

Innovation and Regional Priority: Bonus credits are available for exemplary performance, innovative strategies not covered by existing credits, and regionally significant environmental priorities.

CHPS shares substantial credit overlap with LEED for Schools, particularly in energy, IEQ, and water categories, but places greater emphasis on school-specific health and acoustic requirements.

CHPS occupies a specialized niche within the U.S. green building certification landscape, focusing exclusively on K–12 school facilities. While LEED for Schools is the dominant green building standard for educational facilities nationally and internationally, CHPS has established a strong foothold in states with active sustainability mandates for public schools — most notably California, where it originated and where many state-funded school construction projects have pursued CHPS certification. Several other states, including Massachusetts, New York, and Washington, have also seen meaningful CHPS adoption.

The program's integration with USGBC, announced in the early 2020s, represents a significant strategic shift. This merger is intended to expand CHPS's reach by leveraging USGBC's national infrastructure, member network, and LEED platform, while preserving the school-specific technical rigor that differentiates CHPS from general-purpose standards. The transition has raised some questions among existing CHPS stakeholders about continuity of the rating system and membership benefits, but USGBC has committed to maintaining the CHPS brand and criteria.

Demand for healthy school environments has grown significantly in the wake of COVID-19, with increased attention to indoor air quality, ventilation, and occupant health in educational settings. This trend benefits CHPS, which has long emphasized IEQ as a core pillar. However, LEED for Schools remains the more widely recognized credential for school projects seeking broad market recognition, and Fitwel and WELL are gaining traction for health-focused building certifications. CHPS's competitive advantage lies in its depth of school-specific criteria and its strong relationships with state education agencies and school districts that prioritize a purpose-built standard over a general-purpose adaptation.

CHPS was founded in 1999 as a California-based nonprofit collaborative, initially formed through a partnership between the California Energy Commission, the California Department of Education, and several other public agencies and design firms. The founding mission was to improve the quality of K–12 school facilities by creating a comprehensive, school-specific framework for high-performance design — one that addressed not just energy efficiency but also indoor air quality, daylighting, acoustics, and student health outcomes. The program emerged in response to a wave of school construction in California and growing evidence that poor building conditions were negatively affecting student health and academic performance.

The CHPS Best Practices Manual was first published in 2002, providing detailed technical guidance for architects, engineers, and school districts. Over the following decade, CHPS expanded beyond California, developing state-specific criteria for Massachusetts, Washington, Texas, and other states with active school construction programs. The program gained recognition as the leading school-specific green building standard in the United States, with hundreds of schools certified or verified across multiple states. In the 2020s, CHPS announced its integration with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the organization behind LEED, marking a major milestone in the program's evolution. This merger is intended to strengthen the program's long-term sustainability and expand its national reach while preserving its school-specific technical standards.