Summary of the No Child Left Inside Act H.R. 3036 and S.1981 1. State Environmental Literacy Plans NCLB Title II To qualify for environmental education grant monies under Title II and Title V, a state educational agency must develop and submit a K-12 plan to the United States Department of Education for peer review and approval that will ensure that elementary and secondary school students are environmentally literate. The plan will be submitted by the state educational agency in consultation with state natural resource and environmental agencies and with input from the public. A state educational agency may submit an existing state plan that has been developed by or in cooperation with state environmental organizations provided that the plan meets specified requirements. State plans must include: relevant content standards, content areas, and courses or subjects where instruction will take place; a description of the relationship of the plan to state graduation requirements; a description of programs for professional development of teachers to improve their environmental content knowledge, skill in teaching about environmental issues, and field-based pedagogical skills; a description of how the state educational agency will measure the environmental literacy of students; and a description of how the state educational agency will implement the plan, including securing funding and other necessary support. A state educational agency may use state funds for the development of the State Environmental Literacy Plan 1. 2. Grants for Enhancing Education through Environmental Education NCLB Title II Creates an environmental education grant program for teacher professional development and student programs (modeled on the Math/Science Partnership in Title II of NCLB). The purpose of this grant program is to ensure the academic achievement of students in environmental literacy through the professional development of teachers and educators and outdoor learning experiences for students. One hundred million dollars are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this grant program and the state environmental literacy plans (2) for fiscal year 2008 and each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years. The United States Department of Education awards grants to state educational agencies, to whom eligible partnerships apply for these grants. Eligible partnerships include a local educational agency and may include: a teacher training department of an institution of higher education; an environmental department of an institution of higher education; another local education agency, a public charter school, a public or private (3) elementary school or secondary school, or a consortium of such schools; a state environmental or natural resource management agency or a local environmental or natural resource management agency (4); a business (5); or a nonprofit or for-profit organization of demonstrated effectiveness in improving the quality of environmental education teachers, such as through outdoor environmental education experiences (6). 3. Environmental Education Grant Program to Help Build National Capacity NCLB Title V Creates an environmental education grant program to help build national capacity by providing funds for the development, improvement, and advancement of environmental education. This grant program also supports the dissemination of proven environmental educational models, studies of national significance, and the development of new state or national financing sources for environmental education. Eligible recipients of these grants from the United States Department of Education include nonprofit organizations, state educational agencies, local educational agencies, or institutions of higher education that have demonstrated expertise and experience in the development of the institutional, financial, intellectual, or policy resources needed to help the field of environmental education become more effective and widely practiced. 1 Sentence not included in S.1981. 2 Phrase not included in H.R.3036. 3 Word not included in S.1981. 4 Phrase not included in H.R.3036. 5 Word not included in S.1981. 6 Phrase not included in H.R.3036. ******* Climate changes, depletion of natural resources, air and water problems, and other environmental challenges are pressing and complex issues that threaten human health, economic development, and national security. Finding wide-spread agreement about what specific steps we need to take to solve these problems is difficult. Environmental education will help ensure our nation's children have the knowledge and skills necessary to address these complex issues. For more than three decades, environmental education has been a growing part of effective instruction in America's schools. Responding to the need to improve student achievement and prepare students for the 21st century economy, schools throughout the nation now offer some form of environmental education. Thirty million students and 1.2 million teachers annually are involved in programs ranging from environmental science courses to an interdisciplinary approach that uses the environment as an integrating theme throughout the entire curriculum. Yet, environmental education is facing a national crisis. Many schools are being forced to scale back or eliminate environmental programs. Fewer and fewer students are able to take part in related classroom instruction and field investigations, however effective or popular. State and local administrators and teachers point to two factors behind this recent and disturbing shift: the unintended consequences of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), and a lack of funding for these critical programs. Conceptually, NCLB has taken a positive step forward by giving states and schools greater authority and flexibility in exchange for more accountability regarding student performance. According to environmental education organizations, one unintentional consequence of the law's testing requirements has been that many schools have abandoned environmental education programs to invest more time and resources in math and reading instruction. In the classroom, NCLB causes science teachers to bypass environmental science when it does not appear to relate directly to state tests. Beyond the classroom, teachers have to forego valuable, hands-on field investigations rather than take time away from test-related instruction. The American public recognizes that the environment is already one of the dominant issues of the 21st century. A National Science Foundation panel echoed that conviction, noting in 2003 that "in the coming decades, the public will more frequently be called upon to understand complex environmental issues, assess risk, evaluate proposed environmental plans and understand how individual decisions affect the environment at local and global scales. Creating a scientifically informed citizenry requires a concerted, systemic approach to environmental education…" In the private sector, business leaders also increasingly believe that an environmentally literate workforce is critical to their long-term success. They recognize that better, more efficient environmental practices improve the bottom line and help position their companies for the future. The reauthorization of NCLB this year provides Congress with the opportunity to make changes that will strengthen the Act and better prepare students for real-world challenges and careers. NCLB must provide schools and school systems with the incentives, flexibility, and authority to develop and deliver environmental education programs. About the No Child Left Inside Coalition The Coalition was created in 2006 to find new ways to encourage kids to experience nature and learn about the environment. To meet the goals, we support the No Child Left Inside Act, which would provide new federal funding for outdoor learning activities and high-quality environmental education. We are confident that once they are up close with nature, kids will become more engaged with the outdoors and care more deeply about protecting their environment. Stronger environmental education will pay unexpected dividends in the classroom. We believe we must better prepare young people to understand and overcome major environmental challenges, including global climate change. We were driven by the recognition that America's young people are growing increasingly disconnected from nature spending more time inside and not outside playing, exploring and learning. This is a disturbing trend that is contributing to a host of problems, including childhood obesity and nature deficit disorder. Even outdoor recess is in jeopardy according to the National PTA. As author Richard Louv has documented, students who take part in environmental learning do significantly better in school. Why? Because the best learning takes place when all the senses are engaged, and that happens most readily outside in nature. Kids who get caught up in the wonders of nature will also be far more engaged when it comes time to learn about science in school. Today the Coalition has grown to over 600 member organizations, representing more than 40 million people, including environmental, education, public health and business groups, all of whom appreciate the value of getting kids outside. http://www.cbf.org/site/PageServer?pagename=act_sub_actioncenter_federal_nclb_coalition Our hopes are on our children. To be able to leave them some legacy of Mother Nature and the environment, we need to educate them about what an important task we have on hand. Raising their awareness about environmental issues and their impact on global warming will help them to understand the urgency and need to act now. 1.Recycling is the first step to teach your children about the environment. Encourage your children to recycle. Show them where to put paper, plastic, glass and metal in the proper bins. You can even take them to recycling centers. Offer to take their friends with them too. Explain the importance of reduce, reuse and recycle. 2.PLANT TREE with your child. Let your child pick the tree and the location. Not only will it be exciting for your child because children are excited about watching things grow, it will also be an excellent way to explain the importance of growing trees and the effect they have on the environment. 3.You can even show your child how to form a compost heap. Food waste from the kitchen can be combined with garden waste like dried leaves and twigs to make compost. Not only will your plant do better with the rich humus soil formed, it saves the environment too. Once, or if time permits, few times a week walk your child to school. Besides bonding, it is an excellent way to explain about the reducing pollution on the environment when we use the car. 4.Spend quality time with your kids. Maybe once a week or fortnightly TURN OFF THE TV AND THE COMPUTER and instead have a family game together. Either play board games or even just go to the park. Teach them about energy conservation. Tell them to turn off lights and fan when they leave the room 4.Teach your children to SAVE WATER. No running taps when brushing teeth. Take showers instead of bath. Baths typically use 50 gallons of water per bath, opposed to about 25 to 30 gallons for a 10 minute shower with a water-saving shower head. The best way to teach our children is through setting good examples. Involve your children by encouraging them to participate with you on activities at home and outdoors that relate to the environment. In our everyday lives, always explain to them the task at hand and the impact it will have on the environment. Children are fast learners. June 17, 2009, Climate change has transformed over the years from simply gossip, frowned upon by those who thought that people who worried about melting glaciers were buying in to scientific and media propaganda based upon inconclusive evidence, into something very real. Society has begun making the effort to change their lifestyles, but there are still many who do not see the changes around us. Schools are going out of their way to teach children about the environment, becoming green schools, but we are only scratching the surface. Children need to learn to not only to take care of the environment but to respect the lives of the animals and plants that live here too. I have noticed more and more animal abuse cases with children as the abusers. Along with environmental change is evidence that recent generations of children were fighting diabetes and weight problems at a significant higher rate then in the past. There is now legislation called the No Child Left Inside Act created to combat this. The purpose is to educate children in the environment by getting them in to the thick of it, hands on! Steve Irwin believed when he was alive, that if you are able to get people excited and passionate about the environment they will protect the environment and animals out of love. Foundations like Wyland (http://www.wylandfoundation.org/) are international teaching children through art about the environment, getting them active and learning about health of our water systems. I view him as a role model in this aspect, and I hope in the coming years that I can follow in his foot steps and educate children about the environment by doing instead of cruising an art museum or learning about it in a classroom. More to come in the coming months... Thanks, Sabrina Burkindine