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National Overview: State Level EE Legislation/Policy
States with A By-law or Requirement for K-12 EE instruction
State |
Details |
Arkansas |
Department of Education Standards for accreditation |
California |
Assembly Bill 1548, Chapter 665, Statutes of 2003
(www.calepa.ca.gov/Education/AB1548) |
Hawaii |
Hawaii Revised Statutes Act 247 Section 4 encourages all public schools to teach environmental ethics to all students in grades K-12. |
Iowa |
Iowa Administrative Code, Education Section says that EE must be a part of all K-12 science |
Illinois |
The legislative record says that conservation education will be taught in the schools (http://dnr.state.il.us/entice/partners/ELIL.htm) but it isn’t enforced. |
Kansas |
Kansas has a Legislative Mandate for EE |
Maryland |
(www.msde.state.md.us) |
North Carolina |
Earth/Environmental Science requirement for high school (www.dpi.state.nc.us/curriculum/science/standard/114earth.html) |
Oregon |
Very old bill passed by Oregon legislature - unfunded. Not current. |
Pennsylvania |
State-wide standards for environment and ecology k-12. It may be taught as a separate subject or integrated into existing curriculum. |
Washington |
Washington State Mandates: WAC 180-50-115 and RCW28A.230.020 |
Wisconsin |
The Legislature enacted a curriculum planning standard requiring that school districts develop and implement a K-12 environmental education curriculum by 1990. (State statutes 121.02(1)(k)1,2, and 3) |
Note: Arizona passed a K-12 mandate in 1990 and then rescinded it in 1994. Montana’s State Office of Public Instruction is planning to re-write state standards to include EE.
States which Require EE Teacher Training Prior to Teacher Certification or Licensing
The following are states where EE preservice training is required for teachers desiring to teach certain subjects or grade levels that provides instruction in and ensures competencies in environmental/ecological concepts, the range of instructional and assessment methodologies used with EE and effective approaches for infusing or inserting EE into the curriculum.
State |
Details |
Arkansas |
There is an old law requiring this but it is not enforced. |
Pennsylvania |
Department of Education requires certification for those who teach courses entitled Environment or Ecology. PA has an environmental education k-12 certification program through the Pa Dept of Education.
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Wisconsin |
1935: Wisconsin Conservation Education Statute requires adequate instruction in the conservation of natural resources in order to be certified to teach science or social studies. 1983: State DPI Superintendent Herbert Grover promulgates a new teacher EE certification rule requiring newly certified early childhood, elementary, agriculture, secondary science and social studies teachers to be able to demonstrate four content area and three methodology competencies. Teacher preparation institutions are required to have programs in place to achieve this by July 1, 1985. |
States with Assessments that Includes EE
States that apply assessment “tools” (including standardized testing, authentic/performance assessment measures and other evaluation methods) to determine the extent to which EE curriculum and instruction is having the desired impact on students. Again, these are usually not stand-alone (and thus not driven by environmental literacy) but embedded in science assessments.
State |
Details |
Idaho |
Idaho Standards Achievement Tests, especially science component |
Illinois |
One third of the questions on the science portion of the state assessment are related to EE |
Missouri |
MS and HS programs often include environmental sciences (may be electives) |
New Jersey |
DOE includes environmental science questions in their state tests for 4th, 8th and 11th grades. |
Nevada |
Science Criteria Reference Test includes significant reference to Environmental Science (www.doe.nv.gov/sca/testing/crt/) |
Ohio |
New state standards have EE related questions that are included in state proficiency tests and the new state achievement tests. |
Pennsylvania |
PDE is developing a student assessment of E&E in conjunction with science and technology. It has been developed and tested several times and will be implemented in 2007. |
Washington |
Pacific Education Institute; Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction: Washington State Environmental Education Needs Assessment (2001) |
States with Formal EE Learner Objectives/Outcomes
Learner Objectives/Outcomes are intended to assist educators in developing specific instructional plans and assessment strategies for incorporating EE in given subject areas. Within many of the states, these found within science and social studies standards.
State |
Details |
Arkansas |
Department of Education Benchmarks |
California |
See the Education and the Environment state plan document.
www.cde.ca.gov |
Florida |
Teaching Naturally/ Florida Sunshine State Standards (www.firn.edu/doe/curriculum/environ/teaching_naturally.html) |
Iowa |
Each district must have its own standards showing how the Iowa Admin Code is met. |
Illinois |
Illinois State Board of Education Illinois Learning Standards and Green Standards (www.isbe.net/ils/) |
Kansas |
Kansas Department of Education website has non-tested ee standards including objectives and outcomes listed on their website; so does the KACEE website (www.kacee.org) |
Massachusetts |
‘Benchmarks On the Way to Environmental Literacy’ K-12 www.eetap.org/media/pdf/Benchmark.pdf |
Maryland |
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Minnesota |
Three statutes related to environmental education in the Waste Management Act (Chapter 115A). www.seek.state.mn.us/eemn_g.cfm |
Montana |
In progress |
New Jersey |
NJ's revised science and social studies core curriculum content standards include an environmental studies standard in science and a geography/environmental standard in social studies, both for grades K-12. (www.nj.gov/njded/aps/) standards available at DOE home page. |
New Mexico |
Instructional Strategies for the Implementation of NM Content Standards and Benchmarks. Science Content Standards include Environmental Science, not other subjects, at www.doe.nv.gov/sca/standards/standardsfiles/science/index.html |
Ohio |
There are no specific standards for EE, however there are strong EE related indictors that are embedded in the Science, Social Studies and Technology as well as in English, language arts, and math academic standards. EL Connections Focus Group www.okcel.org |
Pennsylvania |
PA has a matrix by grade category which gives examples of what a student should know at what grade level related to the EE standards. (www.state.pa.us keywords: academic standards) |
Texas |
TEA web site - Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills |
Washington |
Pacific Education Institute Technical Report 1 and 2 |
Wisconsin |
Wisconsin's Model Academic Standards for Environmental Education. www.dpi.state.wi.us/standards/index.html |
West Virginia |
WV Science Content Standards, WV Department of Education. http://wvde.state.wv.us (look under CSOs ex. SC.3.4.3) |
SOURCE: National Environmental Education Advancement Project 50 State Survey
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