Even this basic list shows the importance of a vision that can recognize and maximize the potential synergies. For example, new safety glass technology incorporates a fire-retardant gel, which dramatically increases safety, but which also improves acoustic performance. Some advanced window products feature operable blinds built into the glass, which has a number of benefits including significantly improved indoor air quality compared to classrooms with dusty, grungy blinds and curtains. The timing and selection of new HVAC equipment can be considered not just in terms of immediate payback, but for how it will integrate with - and possibly be sized down as a result of - new, more efficient daylighting systems and controls.

An additional consideration is that piecemeal improvements made without an overall vision, while almost always providing immediate paybacks in energy savings, can subtly work against long-term sustainability, by delaying or even taking the place of more integrated improvements. The U.S. Green Building Council has released a new publication, "Paid-from-Savings Guide to Green Existing Buildings," making the case that schools should "bundle" green retrofits, using savings from low-cost system upgrades to pay for more comprehensive "deep" improvements.

These are all additional arguments for keeping the "big picture" of high performance clearly in mind when planning school improvement projects, whether they are done one summer at a time or as part of a full scale major renovation or addition.

In that spirit, what follows are examples of common school modernization measures that start in two places - inside and out.

Inside, it is settled science that the wired glass used for decades in the interior glass in schools presents a clear and immediate danger for students and all other occupants, but wired glass is still in place in hundreds of schools, and just "switching it out" is not a simple matter. New glass technology can make it possible for these improvements to contribute not just to greater safety but to better daylighting and design flexibility, as well.

On the outside, window replacement is one of the most basic and common modernization projects schools undertake every year. But those new windows will determine the performance of the school building for decades to come, and will influence almost every aspect of the building's energy use and the occupants' comfort and productivity for decades to come − positively, if those making the decisions are paying attention to high performance.