Devan Cantrell Addison-Turner

All Publications

• Infrastructure Literacy: A Conceptual Framework for Understanding How Construction Career Students Think About Environmental Justice Addison-Turner, D. C. EdArXiv / Open Science Framework. 2026 ; EdArXiv Preprints

  Abstract

  Construction career and technical education (CTE) programmes prepare workers who build the physical infrastructure shaping community health outcomes, yet these programmes do not address how infrastructure decisions create or remediate health disparities in Disadvantaged Communities. A three-layer content analysis of dominant construction curricula across three national systems (United States, Australia, United Kingdom), comprising binary keyword coding, near-synonym expansion, and a thematic audit of 431 learning outcomes, confirms this equity-silence: zero per cent of audited outcomes address environmental justice, community health equity, or the distributional consequences of infrastructure decisions. Existing constructs—environmental literacy, critical consciousness, health literacy, civic engagement, and technological literacy—each capture important dimensions but none integrates built environment specificity, health equity orientation, professional situatedness, and action orientation into a single framework. Following Jabareen's (2009) conceptual framework methodology, this paper proposes infrastructure literacy comprising three mutually reinforcing mechanisms: problem recognition, design integration, and advocacy activation. The paper presents a measurement specification matrix, empirical signatures, and draft assessment items. Grounded in United States construction career education but drawing on internationally documented patterns of environmental injustice, the framework offers a foundation for cross-national vocational education and training (VET) inquiry. A registered randomised controlled trial (NCT07315919; Institutional Review Board (IRB) #84369) with a pre-registered protocol under peer review (bmjopen-2025-115716) is underway.

  EdArXiv Preprint
• Quantifying the Impacts of Building Energy Efficiency Retrofits and Nature Exposure on Chronic Student Absenteeism Addison-Turner, D. C., Li, Y., Daily, G. C. Elsevier . Social Science Research Network (SSRN). 2026 ; Social Science Research Network 95

  Abstract

  Chronic absenteeism—defined as missing 10% or more of school days—affects over 14 million United States students, with rates nearly doubling since the COVID-19 pandemic and disproportionately impacting disadvantaged communities. Schools function as socioeconomic hubs where compounding barriers related to housing, transportation, health, and environmental conditions converge to shape attendance outcomes. While socioeconomic and demographic factors are established risk factors, the role of equitable infrastructure investments in addressing these interconnected barriers remains underexplored. This study provides the first large-scale evidence linking school energy efficiency retrofits funded through California's Proposition 39 Clean Energy Jobs Act to attendance outcomes. We quantified the impact of retrofits and nature exposure on chronic absenteeism across 2,686 K-12 schools (2020–2024) using Multivariate Imputation by Chained Equations with Bayesian inference and optimal propensity score matching, controlling for 16 equity and sustainability covariates. Nature exposure demonstrated the largest standalone effect, with schools exhibiting 6.88% lower chronic absenteeism (d = 0.44, p < .001; n = 2,035). Combined lighting, pumps, motors, and drives retrofits with nature exposure were associated with 5.49% lower chronic absenteeism (d = 0.41, p < .001; AUC = 0.716). Preliminary evidence suggests pumps, motors, and drives retrofits alone were associated with 5.58% lower chronic absenteeism with medium effect size (d = 0.60, p < .05; n = 18), though limited sample size necessitates replication before definitive conclusions. Nature exposure achieved the highest return on investment (16.1%, 6.2-year payback), with estimated annual savings of $37,525 and 3,191 recovered instructional days annually—the only intervention meeting the 10-year policy benchmark. These findings position K-12 schools as strategic socioeconomic hubs where equitable infrastructure investments simultaneously reduce chronic absenteeism, improve indoor environmental quality through enhanced ventilation and thermal comfort, and advance SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 7 (Clean Energy), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities), and SDG 13 (Climate Action) while supporting Paris Agreement commitments, particularly in disadvantaged communities.

  SSRN Preprint
• Integrating planetary health and environmental justice into high school construction career education: protocol for a randomized controlled trial of the Ecosystem Justice Translator Addison-Turner, D. C., Daily, G. C. medRxiv. 2026 ; medRxiv

  Abstract

  Introduction: Climate change disproportionately affects disadvantaged communities, yet construction workforce education rarely addresses interconnected pathways linking energy efficiency, nature exposure, and public health. Green-blue infrastructure delivers co-optimized benefits: reducing building energy consumption 15–30% while decreasing heat-related mortality by approximately 3.9% per degree Celsius of urban cooling (Gasparrini et al., 2017)—epidemiological benchmarks that inform the dose-response functions embedded in the Ecosystem Justice Translator (EJT). This protocol describes, to our knowledge, the first randomized controlled trial evaluating a curriculum intervention designed to develop planetary health competencies and environmental justice awareness among high school students pursuing construction careers. Methods and analysis: This two-arm, parallel-group randomized controlled trial targets enrollment of N=200 high school students (ages 14–18) from construction career pathway programs in the San Francisco Bay Area (over-recruitment target N=250; 25% buffer for attrition). Students are individually randomized 1:1 to intervention (Community-Centered Design curriculum integrating the Ecosystem Justice Translator) or control (traditional Virtual Design and Construction curriculum), stratified by school site using block randomization. The 6-month intervention features the Ecosystem Justice Translator (EJT)—a computational system using large language models to translate community health equity concerns into quantifiable investment priorities. The EJT's 51-theme health equity taxonomy was derived from validated public health frameworks (CDC Social Vulnerability Index, EPA EJScreen, Healthy People 2030). Primary outcome is Health-Integrated Equity Consciousness Index (HI-ECI), measured at baseline, 3, 6 (primary endpoint), and 12 months. Analysis uses intention-to-treat linear mixed-effects models with random intercepts for participants. The minimum required sample (n=26 per arm; G*Power, two-tailed α=0.05, 80% power, Hedges' g=0.80) is exceeded by enrolled N=200, which provides >99% power at Hedges' g=0.80 and supports multi-site confirmatory factor analysis. Ethics and dissemination: This protocol has been approved by Stanford University Institutional Review Board (IRB eProtocol #84369, approved February 13, 2026). Parental consent from a parent or guardian and written assent from each student participant are required prior to enrollment. All instruments, curriculum materials, and EJT source code will be released open-source under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, permitting free use for educational, research, and non-profit purposes, concurrent with primary publication. Commercial licensing may be pursued separately through Stanford University Office of Technology Licensing (OTL docket S25-565). Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07315919. Pre-results. Protocol version 4.0, June 2026.

  medRxiv Preprint