Education Workgroup
The Education Workgroup’s goal is to enable students in the region to graduate with the knowledge and skills to act responsibly to protect and restore their local watershed.
Upcoming Meetings
Education Workgroup Meeting - Jan 2025
Monday, January 27, 2025 from 10:00am - 12:00pmScope and Purpose
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 and Resources
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.
Publications
Chesapeake Bay Watershed 2022 Environmental Literacy Report - Delaware
Published on April 10, 2023Chesapeake Bay Watershed 2022 Environmental Literacy Report - District of Columbia
Published on April 10, 2023 in ReportRelated Links
Bay Backpack
The Education Workgroup's teacher resource website is THE source for Chesapeake Bay and environmental education resources, lesson plans, field studies, trainings, and funding information
Watershed Agreement
Environmental Literacy Goal
Members
Shannon Sprague (Chair), Education Workgroup Coordinator, NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Email: shannon.sprague@NOAA.GOV
Phone: (410) 267-5664
Elise Trelegan (Coordinator), NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office
Britt Slattery (Coordinator), Fostering Chesapeake Stewardship Goal Implementation Team Coordinator, National Park Service (NPS)
Meredith Lemke (Staffer), Environmental Management Staffer, Chesapeake Research Consortium
Adrienne Farfalla, District of Columbia Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE)
Alexandra Konsur-Grush, Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit
Amy Wyant, Otsego County Conservation Association
Angel Burns, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
Anna Davis, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC)
BeKura Shabazz, First Alliance Consulting LLC
13708 Cedar Cliff Ter.
Chester, Virginia 23831
Email: firstallianceconsutling@gmail.com
Phone: (804) 602-9166
Betsy Ukeritis, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Brianne Studer, DC Environmental Education Consortium (DCEEC)
Candace Lutzow-Felling, University of Virginia
Blandy Experimental Farm
400 Blandy Farm Lane
Boyce, Virginia 22620
Email: lutzow-felling@virginia.edu
Carrie Evick, Delaware Department of Education
Cassi Camara, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
Chelsea McClure, Towson University
Christen Miller, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
600 East Main Street, 24th Floor
Richmond, Virginia 23219
Email: Christen.Miller@dcr.virginia.gov
Christopher Kemmerer, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (PA DCNR)
Coreen Weilminster, Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (CBNERR) - Maryland
Tawes State Office Building
580 Taylor Avenue, E-2
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Email: coreen.weilminster@maryland.gov
Phone: (410) 260-8744
Courtney Hallacher, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
7870 Villa Park Drive
P.O. Box 90778
Henrico, Virginia 23228-0778
Email: courtney.hallacher@dwr.virginia.gov
Phone: (804) 389-4424
David Pragoff, Delaware Nature Society
Elise Trelegan, NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office
Ellen Powell, Virginia Department of Forestry
900 Natural Resources Drive
Charlottesville, Virginia 22903
Email: ellen.powell@dof.virginia.gov
Emily Stransky, Chesapeake Bay Trust
Erin Sullivan, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Region 3
Grace Manubay, DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education
Jeff Chandler, Nature Forward
Jemima Clark, Washington College
485 S. Cross Street
Semans-Griswold Environmental Hall
Chestertown, Maryland 21620
Email: jclark5@washcoll.edu
Julie Travaglini, Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Educators (PAEE)
Kathleen Banski, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
Kendall Tyree, Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts
7308 Hanover Green Drive
Suite 100
Mechanicsville, Virginia 23111
Email: kendall.tyree@vaswcd.org
Phone: (804) 559-0324
Kendra Bierman, Anacostia Watershed Society
Kim Hanson, NatureBridge
Laura Casdorph, Virginia Department of Education
Laura Johnson Collard, Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE)
3430 2nd Street
Suite 300
Baltimore, Maryland 21225
Email: director@MAEOE.org
Phone: (410) 777-9530 x162
Lindsey Walker, National Wildlife Federation
Melinda Brooks, Experience Learning, Inc.
Olivia Wisner, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Payton Hesse, Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE)
Rachel Eades, West Virginia Department of Education
Sarah McGuire, Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (CBNERR) - Virginia
Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Virginia Institute of Marine Science
PO Box 1346
Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062
Email: mcguire@vims.edu
Phone: (804) 684-7878
Stephanie Banik, Cacapon Institute
Stephanie Tuckfield, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Susan Cox, U.S. Forest Service (USFS)
Tamara Peffer, Pennsylvania Department of Education
Todd Klawinski, Caesar Rodney School District
Tom Ackerman, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Philip Merrill Environmental Center
6 Herndon Avenue
Annapolis, Maryland 21403
Email: TAckerman@savethebay.cbf.org
Trena Ferrell, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Goddard Space Flight Center
8800 Greenbelt Rd.
Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
Email: trena.m.ferrell@nasa.gov