The State of Environmental Education in Washington Schools

The State of Environmental Education in Washington Schools:

Results Examining Awareness, Implementation,

and Resource Needs, 2001-2002

by Erin Ellis and Erick Mc Wayne

A statewide record of schools conducting environmental education (EE) in Washington did not exist prior to 2002. To create such a record, the Northwest Environmental Education Council (NWEEC), in partnership with the Washington State Office of Environmental Education (WA OEE) and the Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), developed the Washington State Environmental Education Needs Assessment (WSEENA). The goals of the assessment were to examine the current status of EE in schools statewide, to identify the EE needs of specific schools, and to determine the level of awareness of EE resources and Washington State policy.

Population Surveyed
This assessment surveyed all public and private schools in Washington listed by OSPI. The assessment form was mailed to the principals of 2,651 schools. 709 schools responded to the assessment (twenty-seven percent). The majority of the respondents were classroom teachers (fifty-eight percent), and the rest were principals. Fifty-one percent of the responses were from elementary schools, twenty-six percent from middle schools, and twenty-three percent from high schools.

The results were then analyzed geographically, grouping responses by the appropriate Educational Service District (ESD). For improved clarity, each ESD was also given a geographic name descriptive of its location (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Respondents per ESD. The number of schools responding in each ESD is shown in parentheses.

Thirty-three percent of the total responses were from the Puget Sound region, followed by the Northwest region (fifteen percent) and the Northeast region (thirteen percent). The North Central region had the fewest percentage of responses (five percent). Comparing responses with the total number of schools in each ESD revealed that the Puget Sound region had the lowest representation in the assessment (twenty-four percent of schools responding). In contrast, the Western and Olympic regions had the highest percentage of responses (both thirty-two percent).

Awareness
The assessment indicated that seventy-seven percent of the respondents were aware of the Washington State mandate that requires EE to be taught in an interdisciplinary manner as part of all basic K-12 subject matter (WAC 180-50-115). Puget Sound respondents had the highest level of awareness of the EE mandate (eighty-two percent), followed by the Northwestern region (eighty-one percent), Northeastern and Olympic regions (both seventy-eight percent). In contrast, the South Central and Southeastern regions were the least aware of the EE mandate (sixty-five percent).

Seventy-three percent of the responding schools indicated they were aware that EE is being used to improve student learning aligned with the Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs) and the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). Eighty-seven percent of the responding schools indicated they would like to receive more information regarding how EE can improve student learning.

Implementation
Respondents were given a series of options to indicate how EE is implemented in their classrooms: to improve student learning and WASL Scores; to align classroom activities with EALRs; to increase scientific literacy; to teach about the natural world; to foster student stewardship; and to understand how actions impact the environment. The respondents were instructed to indicate whether they were currently using, would like to use, or were unlikely to use the option indicated.

Forty percent of the responding schools were using environmental education in their classroom to improve student learning and WASL scores. An additional thirty-eight percent of the responding schools indicated that they would like to use EE to improve student learning and WASL scores. In other words, this assessment identified 532 schools either currently using or wanting to use EE to improve student learning and WASL scores. The remaining twenty-two percent of the responding schools were not likely to use EE in this manner (Figure 2).

Approximately forty-four percent of the respondents in the North Central, South Central, Northeast, Southeast, and Olympic regions of the state would like to use EE as a means to improve student learning. The Northwest and Puget Sound regions had the smallest percentage of respondents indicating they would like to use EE to improve student learning (thirty and thirty-one percent respectively).

The assessment indicated that EE is most widely used to teach about the natural world (ninety percent of responding schools), followed by using EE to understand how human actions impact the environment (eighty-five percent of responding schools). Eighty percent of the respondents indicated that they use EE to increase scientific literacy. Fifty-four percent of the respondents use EE to foster a sense of stewardship, followed by forty-seven percent who use environmental education as a method of aligning class activities with the EALRs. Forty percent of the respondents use EE to improve student learning and increase WASL scores.

Thirty-nine percent of the respondents indicated they would like to use EE to align class activities with the EALRs. Thirty-eight percent indicated that they would like to use EE to improve student learning and WASL scores. Thirty-three percent indicated they would like to use EE to foster a sense of stewardship among students. Seventeen percent would like to use EE to increase scientific literacy among their students. Fourteen percent would like to use EE to teach students how their actions impact the environment. Eight percent of the respondents would like to use EE to teach about the natural world.

Curricula Utilization
To determine the utilization of existing EE curricula in Washington, the assessment asked respondents to indicate whether they were currently using, trained, or not familiar with the following curricula: Project Wet; Project Wild; Project Learning Tree; Nature Mapping; Salmon in the Classroom; and Adopt-A-Stream. At the time of the study, Salmon in the Classroom was the most widely used EE program among respondents (thirty-nine percent). Project Wild (twenty-four percent), Project Wet, and Project Learning Tree (both twenty-one percent) were also widely used. Adopt-A-Stream and Nature Mapping were the least widely used among respondents (seventeen and thirteen percent respectively).

Seventy-four percent of respondents indicated that they are not familiar with Nature Mapping, followed by Adopt-A-Stream (sixty-five percent), Project Wet (fifty-seven percent), Project Learning Tree, (fifty-five percent), Project Wild (forty-five percent), and Salmon in the Classroom (forty percent).

Teacher Training and Resource Needs
Eighty-seven percent of the respondents would like to receive EE lesson plans and/or technical support. Sixty-eight percent of the respondents indicated they are interested in receiving EE training for clock hours (Figure 3).

Sixty-one percent of responding schools indicated they did not have adequate EE resources. This statistic was analyzed further by grouping the responses by the appropriate geographic area. Over half of the responding schools in each ESD indicated they lacked adequate EE resources. Responses ranged from fifty-one percent in the Western region to sixty-eight percent in the Olympic and North Central regions.

What is Next?
The results that have been gathered from the Washington State Environmental Education Needs Assessment suggest that there is a pervasive, unmet need for environmental education in Washington schools. The assessment results have been compiled into a database that includes contact information for each responding school. The Northwest Environmental Education Council will be sharing the assessment database with regional networks of environmental educators to help foster partnerships with local schools to meet their EE needs. If you would like more information about how to join your local EE network, please send an email to wseena_info@nweec.org, or call Erick Mc Wayne at (206) 762-1976.

About the authors

Erin Ellis is the Environmental Education Coordinator at the Northwest Environmental Education Council. She has a degree in biology from Carleton College. She is currently developing schoolyard EE curricula for elementary school students that are linked with the science units that are used in the Seattle School District. In addition, she is helping several schools install native plant habitats to supplement student learning. Ms. Ellis also teaches after-school classes to elementary school students, where students learn about the impacts that their personal choices have on the environment. She can be reached at eellis@nweec.org.

Erick Mc Wayne is the Executive Director and founder of the Northwest Environmental Education Council. Mr. Mc Wayne has a degree in geophysics from University of California Santa Barbara and served as an environmental consultant for five years. In 1996, he founded his own business selling sustainable products. In 1998, he co-founded an environmental leadership program for inner city high school students in Los Angeles that is still successful and growing today. He currently manages the NWEEC and is a visionary leader and advocate for environmental education throughout the Pacific Northwest. He can be reached at emcwayne@nweec.org.

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