Education Workgroup

The Education Workgroup seeks to enable students to graduate with the knowledge and skills they need to protect and restore their local watershed.

Meetings

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About

The Education Workgroup seeks to enable every student in the region to graduate environmentally literate, with an emphasis on:

  • Increasing Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEE) and other inquiry-based, outdoor education;
  • Increasing the number of school districts with policies and practices in place to support environmental education and sustainable schools;
  • Building student awareness and understanding of environmental careers and the in-demand skills and pathways to access these opportunities;
  • Delivering training and resources to the education community to advance environmental education, sustainable schools and workforce development; and
  • Developing and sustaining federal, state and regional environmental literacy networks.

To support these objectives, the Education Workgroup provides technical assistance for state network development through the Regional Outdoor Learning Network (ROLN), maintains the Bay Backpack website to distribute key resources and information, and convenes communities of practice around MWEE implementation, school district planning and workforce development. At the direction of the Policy Steering Committee, the workgroup convenes a biennial Education Summit with leaders from around the region to advance the education-related outcomes of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. The workgroup also convenes forums to help practitioners work towards these outcomes. To track its progress, the workgroup works with states to distribute the Environmental Literacy Indicator Tool (ELIT) to school districts every two years.

Education Workgroup members include strategic representatives from state agencies, federal agencies and regional catalysts, such as:

  • Key officials from state departments of education and natural resource agencies;
  • Representatives from federal agencies providing funding, resources and technical assistance; and
  • Leaders from organizations actively engaged in building capacity and partnerships across the region.

Projects

Environmental Literacy Indicator Tool (ELIT)

In Progress

The Chesapeake Bay Watershed Environmental Literacy Indicator Tool (ELIT) was developed to monitor the capacity and progress of public school districts toward meeting the Environmental Literacy Goal in the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. The ELIT is administered biennially.

Education Summit

In Progress

Education Summits are convened biennially to share innovative practices, collaborate and coordinate between federal, state and non-governmental leaders about the future of environmental education in our region.

Education Forum

In Progress

The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office hosts training forums to build the skills of educators to plan and implement Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs) and sustainable school programming at the classroom or school district level, among other topics. This allows educators to better understand, promote and deliver important programs that contribute to the environmental literacy outcomes of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement.

Publications

Related Resources

  • Bay Backpack

    Bay Backpack provides educators with the tools they need to support Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences, or MWEEs, for their students. Explore Bay Backpack for teaching resources, action projects, and funding opportunities related to the Chesapeake Bay.

Our Watershed Agreement Goals & Outcomes

Engaged Communities Goal

Our Members