Education Workgroup

Environmental Literacy Indicator Tool (ELIT)

The Chesapeake Bay Watershed Environmental Literacy Indicator Tool (ELIT) was developed to monitor the capaciy and progress of public school distrcits toward meeting the Environmental Literacy Goal in the 2014 Watershed Agreement. The ELIT monitoris school districts' progress toward the Student, Sustainable Schools, and Environmental Literacy Planning Outcomes, collecteing data within four topics:

  • School district preparedness to implement a comprehensive and systemic approach to environmental literacy education;
  • Student participation in MWEEs during the school year;
  • Systainability practices at schools;
  • School district needs to support further improvements in environmental literacy education.

The ELIT is administered biennially to all local education agencies (LEAs) in six jurisdictions: the District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Environmental Literacy Summit

The mid-Atlantic region is leading the nation in implementing sound policy that ensures our students will graduate environmentally literate citizens.  To advance environmental literacy in the region, the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office convenes a biennial Environmental Literacy Summit on behalf of the Workgroup.  These summits provide an important forum for dialogue, collaboration, and coordination between federal, state, and non-governmental leaders about the future of equitable environmental education in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Environmental Literacy Forum

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. This allows educators to better understand, advocate for, and deliver these important programs that contribute to the Environmental Literacy outcomes of the watershed agreement.