Last week in the first part of the Environmental Literacy series, I defined environmental literacy and mentioned that many states in the US are in some stage of crafting Environmental Literacy Plans (ELP). What is an ELP? The site EE for Everyone defines it this way:
An environmental literacy plan creates the framework for standards, achievement, professional development, assessment, and leadership for individuals and organizations to thrive and achieve innovation in education.
The drive to create ELPs in each state across the country can be directly tied to the No Child Left Inside legislation; if the NCLI bill gets passed into law, it will likely include funding for environmental education.
The bill currently includes $500 million to equip teachers with the skills, knowledge, and confidence needed to integrate the environment into their existing curricula. Only states with qualifying Environmental Literacy Plans will be eligible for a percentage of this funding.
All 6 states in New England either have ELPs written already, or are in the process of creating one. If you would like to see what each state is working on in their ELP’s visit the New England Environmental Education Alliance’s State ELP page, which provides a link to all 6 states ELPs, except for Massachusetts’. The Massachusetts ELP is under construction, but the state has an interim document created in 2002 called the Massachusetts Environmental Education Plan, which will be the foundation for the state’s ELP.
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