Resources for Community Partners

Community partners often have the capacity and expertise to provide unique environmental literacy experiences for students. Ideally, these experiences are embedded into the District Environmental Literacy Plan. The study Enhancing Environmental Literacy through MWEEs in the Mid-Atlantic States, conducted by researchers at Towson University and Notre Dame of Maryland University in 2024, found that school district administrators and teachers value partnerships with local non-formal education organizations and identified a series of recommendations to support these partners in developing and delivering high-quality environmental education programming that meets school district needs.

A screenshot of the first table in the rubric titled "High Quality Environmental Education Programming: A Self-Assessment Rubric for District Success."
The Self-Assessment Rubric is not intended as a scoring system but rather as a tool for program improvement, as seen by the columns dedicated to citing evidence and planned modifications.

These recommendations were used to create the High Quality Environmental Education Programming Self-Assessment Rubric, which aims to help community partners ensure their environmental literacy programs align with district curriculum and priorities. It also aims to foster collaboration between community partners and school districts by providing prompts for reflection and future conversation.

Associated Resources