Education Workgroup

The goal of the Education Workgroup is to have every student in the region graduate environmentally literate having participated in meaningful watershed educational experiences in elementary, middle, and high school that were supported by teachers who have received professional development in environmental education and schools that are models of environmental sustainability. The Education Workgroup provides a forum for cross-jurisdictional coordination and support on all aspects of environmental education with an emphasis on:

Increasing Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEE) and other place-based, outdoor education
Supporting training for teachers and environmental education professionals in content, pedagogy, and outdoor-learning techniques related to environmental topics
Encouraging green infrastructure and operations on school grounds
Supporting federal, state, and regional environmental literacy planning, including providing an ongoing forum to collaborate on the goals and objectives of the federal Executive Order and the nonprofit community Regional Roundtable.

The Education Workgroup is tasked with evaluating and recommending policies related to PK-12 bay education, maintaining the Bay Backpack website, and tracking state implementation of the MWEE in elementary, middle, and high school. The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office also convenes a biennial Environmental Literacy Summit on behalf of the Workgroup to advance environmental literacy activities in the region.

The 2014 Watershed Agreement outlines the Environmental Literacy Goal and three Outcomes: Student, Sustainable Schools, and Environmental Literacy Planning.

Projects

Environmental Literacy Indicator Tool (ELIT)

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 Watershed Agreement. The Environmental Literacy Goal has 3 Outcomes: Student Outcome, Sustainable Schools Outcome, Environmental Literacy Planning Outcome.

The ELIT tool was modified in 2022 to reduce the reporting burden on school districts by removing questions about sustainable school practices, as relevant data can be obtained through other means. The ELIT contributes to monitoring public school districts’ progress toward these outcomes, collecting data about:

School district preparedness to implement a comprehensive and systemic approach to environmental literacy education;
Student participation in MWEEs during the school year;
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.