Congressional testimony is presented concerning school buildings and their connection to student health, behavior, and learning, including a review of selected empirical studies conducted over the past 30 years showing an explicit relationship between physical characteristics of school buildings and educational outcomes. The factors responsible for student achievement are ecological in that they act together as a whole in shaping the context within which learning takes place. The testimony includes brief examinations on student behavior, health, and academic achievement as influenced by the use of natural lighting, the reduction of noise through proper location and siting of schools, optimal indoor climate, sick buildings and indoor air quality, school and class size, schools placed close to their neighborhoods, and the overall condition and management of the school building. (Contains 26 references.) (GR)