National Project for Excellence in Environmental Education

1. NationalProject forExcellence in EnvironmentalEducation

2. Presenters • Bora Simmons National Project for Excellence in EE • Ed McCrea Environmental Education & Conservation Global • Bill Seaman University of Florida

3. Quick Tour of Adobe Connect

4. Primary Sponsors: U.S. EPA • Office of Environmental Education EECapacity • EPA funded national EE training program housed in Cornell University’s Civic Ecology Lab

5. Other Partners • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service • U.S. Forest Service • National Environmental Education Foundation • State EE Associations • Organizational partners – such as EECG, Project Learning Tree, Arbor Day Foundation, Project WILD, Keep America Beautiful, Project WET

6. Tell us a bit about yourself…

7. Promoting excellence in environmental education

8. Our Collective Wisdom • Developed Guidelines through a public participatory process • Engaging educators in a deep discussion about quality environmental education practice • Building EE as a profession

9. Guidelines for Excellence Publications

10. Nonformal Environmental Education Programs: Guidelines for Excellence

11. How familiar are you with the guidelines?

12. Nonformal Environmental Education Programs • A Resource That Provides: • Recommendations for developing and administering high quality nonformal EE programs • A tool that can be used to ensure a firm foundation for new programs or to trigger improvements in existing ones • Developed through a broad-based review and comment process

13. Nonformal Environmental Education Programs Six Key Characteristics 1) Needs Assessment 2) Organizational Needs and Capacities 3) Program Scope and Structure 4) Program Delivery Resources 5) Program Quality and Appropriateness 6) Evaluation

14. Nonformal Environmental Education Programs 1) Needs Assessment 1.1) Environmental Issue or Condition 1.2) Inventory of Existing Programs & Materials 1.3) Audience Needs

15. Nonformal Environmental Education Programs 2) Organizational Needs and Capacities 2.1) Consistent with Organizational Priorities 2.2) Organization’s Need for the Program Identified 2.3) Organization’s Existing Resources Inventoried

16. Nonformal Environmental Education Programs 3) Program Scope and Structure 3.1) Goals and Objectives for the Program 3.2) Fit with Goals and Objectives of EE 3.3) Program Format and Delivery 3.4) Partnerships and Collaboration

17. Nonformal Environmental Education Programs 4) Program Delivery Resources 4.1) Assessment of Resource Needs 4.2) Quality Instructional Staff 4.3) Facilities Management 4.4) Provision of Support Materials 4.5) Emergency Planning

18. Nonformal Environmental Education Programs 5) Program Quality and Appropriateness 5.1) Quality Instructional Materials & Techniques 5.2) Field Testing 5.3) Promotion, Marketing, and Dissemination 5.4) Sustainability

19. Nonformal Environmental Education Programs 6) Evaluation 6.1) Determination of Evaluation Strategies 6.2) Effective Evaluation Techniques & Criteria 6.3) Use of Evaluation Results

20. Excellence in Nonformal EE: Guidelines Embraced in an Unlikely Place

21. Communities of Faith Stepping Up in Earth Stewardship Alliance of Religions and Conservation (11 faiths of the world) Mainline U.S. denominations all engaged Ecological Society of America: ‘Faith community is one of three key partners that science will have to engage…to address…disruptions’

22. Case study for applying EE nonformal guidelines Earth Care Congregations program, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Since 2010, >80 “certifications” “Earth Care Congregations: A Guide to Greening Presbyterian Churches” http://gamc.pcusa.org/ministries/environment/earth-care-congregations/

23. NAAEE Roundtable40th Annual Conference, October 2011 A note concerning methods… Table constructed, listing the six Characteristics, all 22 Specific Actions, and 65 of the 100+ Indicators Content and format of a selected Earth Care Congregation and the national denomination program assessed against the Indicators in the table (6 pages) See website: http://eelinked.naaee.net/n/guidelines/topics/Earth-Care-Congregations

24. Matching EE Guidelines and Program Performance… 1. Needs Assessment (1 example) Specific Action (SA) 1.1. Three levels of confirming need for program Denomination headquarters Local church “environment committee” Local church governing body (Session) 2. Organizational Needs and Capacities (1 ex.) SA 2.1. Goals and priorities of parent organization Adoption of landmark document, “Restoring Creation for Ecology and Justice,” for denomination Earth Care Congregations guidebook, training, etc.

25. Matching EE Guidelines and Program Performance… 3. Program Scope and Structure (2 examples) SA 3.2. Overall EE fit The four strands and “The Last Mountain” movie—Questioning, Knowledge, Skills, Responsibility SA 3. 4. Partnerships EPA Energy Star Congregations program invited Presbyterian Church to partner in national webinar 4. Program Delivery Resources (1 example) SA 4.2. Training Attend NAAEE!

26. Matching EE Guidelines and Program Performance… 5. Program Quality and Appropriateness (1 ex.) SA 5.1. Soundness “Pedagogic soundness””Staffing” Adult Education Committee: Former school board member, master’s level Director of Christian Education, classroom teachers, Girl Scout leader 6. Evaluation (not necessarily the weak link) SA 6. 2. Use results Community potluck, trash fairy, and recycling guilt! SA 6. 3. Share results Town Landcare Comm. Membership

27. Lessons & Benefits Of 65 Indicators, 94% conformance (surprise!) Using in hindsight: Better late than never; gaps spottedrevise practices (“improvements”) Front end: Planning guidance for new effort (“foundation”) Engagement with “literacy”: Access to NAAEE resources Entrée for this stakeholder with mainstream practices and potential partners (e.g., local colleges, Town, professional societies) Finally…a morale booster; thanks, NAAEE!

28. TWO WAYS TO USE THE NONFORMAL GUIDELINES TO EVALUATE PROGRAMS • Self evaluation of the program by staff • Outside evaluation of the program by an independent evaluator

29. SELF EVALUATION by STAFF PROS— • Involves the people who know the most about the program • Allows the staff to gain an understanding of what a good program actually is as they work through the evaluation • Facilitates collaboration and discussion among staff about the quality of their program

30. Self Evaluation by Staff (cont.) PROS – • Encourages the staff to consider needed improvements and how to implement them • Less pressure and little senses of “gotcha” • Provides material for a more detailed look at the program using the guidelines

31. Self Evaluation by Staff (cont.) CONS— • Brings out the rose colored glasses • Requires a motivated and willing staff with at least some knowledge (and agreement with) basics such as setting objectives for the program

32. OUTSIDE EVALUATION by an INDEPENDENT EVALUATOR Pros— • Provides a rationale and background for the evaluation so findings don’t appear arbitrary • Allows staff to follow up on evaluation using guidelines for more details • Shows management what yardstick will be used by the evaluator

33. OUTSIDE EVALUATION by an INDEPENDENT EVALUATOR (cont.) Cons (most related to the use of an outside evaluator, not to the Guidelines themselves)— • Creates a top down, “gotcha” situation • Blocks full participation by staff • Allows little direct involvement and learning about the program and changes needed

34. Self Assessment

35. Pulling it All TogetherSelf-Assessment Part II Now that you have completed the first checklist, what do you know? Take a few minutes to tally the results of your self-assessment in the table provided below. This should provide you with an overview of the results of your self-assessment.

36. Self-Assessment Part III

37. Want to Learn More? • Offer a workshop thru our Guidelines Trainers’ Bureau • Access information thru EELinked eelinked.net/n/guidelines • Attend another webinar

40. eelinked.net/n/guidelines

41. Future Webinars June 26th 4:00pm (Eastern) Early Childhood EE Programs: Guidelines for Excellence Register at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ecee

42. Get Involved:Community EE Guidelines For more information: Akiima Price akiima@apriceconsulting.com

43. Questions?

44. Join us at the NAAEE Conference