Education Reform Efforts and the Environment

School systems across the country are establishing state standards for curriculum and state achievement tests to measure student performance. While some see this as the death knell for supplemental activities like environmental education, others see the enormous opportunity for the environment to provide the structure and the relevance to engage youth in meaningful education. The State Environmental Education Roundtable sponsored research to identify and quantify outcomes of using the environment as an integrating context for educational programs. Environmental educators with a variety of state and federal programs are correlating their programs to state curriculum standards. Educational goals such as critical thinking, citizenship, and workforce preparedness can be achieved through well designed, dynamic environmental projects. Extension agents could play a leadership role in linking schools and educators to local resources and programs.