United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Communications,
Education, and Media Relations
(1704)
EPA-171-F-98-006
November 1998
&EPA
Educator Training
Environmental Education and Training Program
NCEET products:
Introduction
Under Section 5 of the National Environmental
Education Act of 1990, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) awards a multi-year
cooperative agreement to a consortia of universities and
nonprofit organizations to deliver training and related
support to education professionals (e.g., K-12 teachers,
nonformal educators, and state and local education and
natural resource officials). The ultimate goal of the
program is to increase the public's ability to make
responsible environmental decisions by providing ,
training on how to develop and implement quality
environmental education (EE) programs. Through this
program, EPA and its partners also seek to advance the
field of EE by demonstrating how EE can help achieve
state and local goals for education reform, improving
training opportunities for educators who work with
low-income and culturally-diverse audiences, and using
the latest Internet technology. This fact sheet describes
the evolution of this program and its accomplishments.
National Consortium for Environmental Education
and Training (NCEET)
The first phase of the training program was initiated in
1992 with a three-year award of $5.4 million to the
National Consortium for Environmental Education and
Training (NCEET) led by the University of Michigan.
During this phase, NCEET accomplished the following:
Needs assessment — Conducted research to assess EE training needs.
"EE Toolbox" — Developed the "EE Toolbox" of resource materials for
teachers and trainers on such topics as how to design effective workshops,
approach environmental issues in the classroom, integrate EE into the school
curriculum, reach urban audiences, use community resources and computers in
the classroom, and evaluate EE materials.
Training — Provided training for teachers and teacher trainers.
"EE-Link" — Increased access to EE information and resource materials
through "EE-Link" which is an electronic database linked to other sources of
information through the Internet.
"EE Toolbox" — Resource materials for teachers and
trainers. Obtain the "EE Toolbox" by contacting
Kendall-Hunt Publishing at 1-800-228-0810. Some
units are available on "EE-Link."
"EE-Link"— Internet site containing EE
information and resource materials. Visit "EE-Link"
on the World Wide Web at http://eelink.net/
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Environmental Education and Training
Partnership (EETAP)
EPA initiated the second phase of the program with a
five-year award of $9 million in 1995 to a consortium
of nonprofit organizations and universities led by the
North American Association for Environmental
Education (NAAEE). The current program builds
upon and includes the work initiated by NCEET and
is called the Environmental Education and Training
Partnership (EETAP). EETAP expects to deliver
training to over 75,000 teachers and other education
professionals. The program focuses on the activities
discussed below.
Program Activities
• Training — Delivering training to
teachers and other education profession-
als primarily by building on established
training programs.
• Access to quality EE information and
materials — Improving access to quality
EE materials by 1) expanding and linking
existing EE databases through
"EE-Link," the ERIC Clearinghouse for
Science, Mathematics and EE, and the
Eisenhower National Clearinghouse; and
2) developing and disseminating three
sets of guidelines for EE materials,
learner outcomes for grades 4, 8, and 12,
and educator preparation.
• Partnerships — Sustaining training
efforts over the long term by
strengthening partnerships and networks.
EETAP partners include:
Council for EE/Project WILD
EE-Link
NAAEE
National Project WET
Northern Illinois University
Ohio State University
Project del Rio
Project Learning Tree
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
WestEd
EETAP is advancing the EE field by:
• Building state-level capacity to sustain
EE over the long-term
• Linking EE to education reform goals
• Reaching diverse audiences, including
educators who teach students and
communities of color
• Improving the quality of EE through
guidelines
• Improving access to EE information
and materials through the Internet
• Strengthening partnerships to leverage
resources and reduce duplication
Core Themes
Through this training program, EPA and EETAP are
striving to improve and advance the field of EE by
integrating several "core themes" throughout the
program:
• State-level capacity building —
Supporting the "infrastructure" needed to
develop leaders and organizations that can
ensure the coordinated delivery of
comprehensive EE programs statewide.
• Education reform — Using good quality
EE, which emphasizes the development of
problem-solving and critical-thinking
skills and the use of sound science, as a
catalyst to advance state and local goals to
improve student learning.
• Diversity — Reaching traditionally
underserved education professionals (e.g.,
nonformal educators, high school teach-
ers, educators who work with low-income
and culturally diverse audiences, and state
and local education and natural resource
officials).
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Quality — Improving the quality of
EE through the development and
dissemination of the EE guidelines
discussed above and improving
communication on what constitutes
good quality EE (e.g., programs that
develop analytical and critical-thinking
skills, are scientifically sound, are
relevant to the real world, and do not
advocate a specific position).
Technology — Making use of the latest
Internet technology to enhance and link
existing EE databases to give educators
greater access to EE information and
resource materials.
Synergy — Promoting partnerships among
key EE providers within EETAP and
between EETAP and others in the field to
leverage resources, improve efficiency, and
reduce duplication of effort.
For additional information,
visit the EETAP home page on the World Wide Web at
http://www.eetap.org
Kathleen MacKinnon
EPA Project Officer
(202) 260-4951
E-mail:
mackinnon. kathleen @ epa.gov
WWW:
http://www.epa.gov/enviroed
Or contact:
Augusto Medina
EETAP Project Manager
(416) 467-7983
E-mail:
gmedina@web.apc.org
Mike Kaspar
EETAP Training Coordinator
(202) 884-8788
E-mail:
mkaspar@aed.org
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