The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between building conditions and student achievement of students identified in the subgroups of poverty and minority in high schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The targeted population was identified by using the study conducted by Crook (2006) which included information obtained from seventy-two high schools across the Commonwealth of Virginia. Building conditions used in the study were based upon the responses received from principals on the Commonwealth Assessment of Physical Environment (CAPE) form.

The scaled scores of economically disadvantaged students and minority students on the Standards of Learning tests administered in grades nine through eleven during the 2004-2005 school year were used to measure student achievement. The status of economically disadvantaged students was controlled by the classification of a student receiving free and reduced-priced lunch during the 2004-2005 school year. The status of minority students was controlled by ethnicity as reported by the individual schools to the Virginia Department of Education for the 2004-2005 school year.

Two basic research questions guided this study and the researcher used t-tests to compare dependent variable means across independent variables. The research questions include: Is there a significant difference between the scores of economically disadvantaged students housed in building conditions rated substandard and those housed in buildings rated standard in the high schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia? Is there a significant difference between the scores of minority students housed in buildings rated substandard and those housed in buildings rated standard in the high schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia?

This study found an inconsistent relationship between building conditions and the achievement of economically disadvantaged students. Therefore, the conclusion is that the condition of the school building does not apparently influence the achievement of economically disadvantaged students when they are housed in inferior buildings. In addition, this study found a positive relationship between building conditions and the achievement of minority students in the majority of the achievement measures. Therefore, the conclusion is that the condition of the school building does in fact influence the achievement of minority students when the building is in poor condition.