New Education for Sustainability Benchmarks Developed to Guide Adoption, Implementation
Originally posted by Green Schools National Network on June 15, 2017.
Why, What, and Where are the Education for Sustainability Benchmarks?
Education for a Sustainable Future Benchmarks for Individual and Social Learning was published by The Journal of Sustainability Education on Earth Day 2017. This 70-page account is authored by and represents the current and best thinking of forty-two of the major scholars and practitioners in the EfS field. The Benchmarks include the Big Ideas, Thinking Skills, Applied Knowledge, Dispositions, Actions, and Community Connections that define EfS. Following the Benchmarks are Supporting Instructional Practices and Perspectives, Organizational Policies and Practices, and an Afterword. Several Appendices provide information about the topics often associated with EfS: contributing disciplines, aligned innovations, preliminary research findings on the impact of EfS, and a bibliography.
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New Support for "Sustainablizing" your Curriculum: EfS K-12 Scope and Sequence
There are many options when it comes to designing curriculum that educates for sustainability. Some educators prefer to "sustainablize" their curriculum by working with the commencement edition of The Cloud Institute’s EfS Standards and Performance Indicators and cross walking and embedding them where and when appropriate. This also involves determining which ones are developmentally appropriate at each grade level. Others prefer we do that for them. If you would like to see how we would "sustainablize" our K-12 curriculum from the first quarter of Kindergarten to the last quarter of 12th grade, check out our new EfS Scope and Sequence.
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Long Awaited Education for Sustainability Benchmarks Released on Earth Day
Educating for a Sustainable Future: Benchmarks for Individual and Social Learning will be released by The Journal of Sustainability Education on Earth Day, April 22, 2017. This 70-page account is authored by, and represents the current and best thinking of forty-two of the major scholars and practitioners of the field of Education for Sustainability (EfS). The Benchmarks include the Big Ideas, Thinking Skills, Applied Knowledge, Dispositions, Actions, and Community Connections that define Education for Sustainability. They embody the essential elements that administrators, curriculum professionals, faculty, board and community members need to adopt Education for Sustainability; to align with it; to self-assess their own performance, and to intentionally and effectively educate for the future we want by design. In addition, The Benchmarks embody the consensus that the field needs to demonstrate the impact of EfS and to catalyze wide spread implementation.
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PNW BOCES: A Regional Approach to EfS
In previous blog posts, we’ve featured stories about schools or districts across the country that have integrated EfS into their curriculum. Today, we’d like to tell you about Putnam and Northern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services (PNW BOCES), a regional education agency whose innovative approach to EfS is worth exploring.
New York State’s PNW BOCES is a regional collaborative serving approximately 60,000 pre-K through 12th graders in 18 school districts. In 2008, the PNW BOCES Curriculum Center undertook the development of a K-12 web-based Education for Sustainability curriculum to address the question, “How are we all going to live well within the means of nature?” The curriculum development project was a multi-year undertaking that included capacity building for administrators to lead in this area as well as support for teams of teachers to develop the cutting edge sustainability education curriculum. To implement the project, PNW BOCES assembled a diverse group of sustainability, curriculum design, and instructional technology experts to work with the educators in involved in the project.
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16-year-old Sues The Government Over Climate Change
Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez is not your average 16-year-old. He’s busy mobilizing an army of teenagers in over 50 countries to demand greener policies from world leaders. He’s also in a race to save climate change data before the Trump administration can destroy it.
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New Jersey: An Unexpected Leader Emerges in Sustainability Education
As the new administration in Washington questions the role of the federal government in protecting the environment, there is a growing sense of urgency for all parts of society to step up to the plate, and they are. As Einstein said, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved with the same thinking we used to create them.” We need new ways of thinking, not just to solve today’s problems, but to lead us to a healthy and regenerative future. Now imagine that schools could prepare young people to think about the world in this entirely new way. Here’s the good news—it’s happening. Right now, all over the state of New Jersey.
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EFS in Schools: Trevor Day School
Today we’d like to introduce you to Trevor Day School, a Pre-K through Grade 12 independent day school located in New York City. Trevor’s commitment to sustainability is evident inside and outside the classroom. Jaimie Cloud has been working with the school since 2009, providing training and resources to help the school integrate Education for Sustainability across grade levels and academic disciplines.
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