Environmental Education and the No Child Left Behind Act ACTION ALERT
Urge Congress to Authorize Environmental Education in the "No Child Left Behind Act" As a member of the Campaign for Environmental Literacy, the National Council for Science and the Environment, encourages you to speak out on this opportunity. The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is up for reauthorization. This presents a golden opportunity for Congress to include environmental education (EE) in the new version of this far-reaching education legislation that impacts schools nationwide. We urge you to take action now! The House Committee on Education and Labor is considering language that supports EE in the latest proposed bill, expected to be voted on during the week of July 9. With the nation facing complicated environmental issues like climate change that will challenge us for years to come, it is critical that schools provide our young people with a solid grounding in environmental education. Unfortunately, environmental education is being left behind as an unintended consequence of the federal education law called No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Right now, Congress is rewriting NCLB and has the opportunity to include environmental education in the new version. Please contact your legislators today and to let them know how important environmental education is in preparing today's students for the challenges of tomorrow. Go to <http://www.fundee.org/campaigns/nclb/>www.fundee.org/campaigns/nclb/ for more information on this issue. The Problem Environmental education is facing a national crisis. Many schools are being forced to scale back or eliminate environmental education programs. Fewer and fewer students are able to take part in related classroom instruction and field investigations, however effective or popular. State and local administrators and teachers point to two factors behind this recent and disturbing shift: (1) the emphasis on high-stakes math and reading tests that has discouraged interdisciplinary instruction, and (2) a lack of funding for these critical programs. The Solution Now is the time to tell your legislators that environmental education should be a priority for inclusion in the NCLB and can be included in these ways: -- Provide funding to help states develop rigorous environmental education standards, as well as to improve teacher training in environmental education. -- Require state educational agencies to create plans for integrating environmental education into their K-12 curriculum to ensure that graduates are environmentally literate. What You Can Do 1. Write an email urging your Senators and Congressmembers to support inclusion of environmental education in NCLB. Go to <http://www.fundee.org/campaigns/nclb/>www.fundee.org/campaigns/nclb/ and click on "Take Action" for a sample email that you can easily send in 15 seconds. 2. Call your Senators and Congressmember's office and ask to speak to the education staff person. Let him or her know how important it is to you that environmental education be included in NCLB and mention the talking points above. Go to <http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt>www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt to find your legislator's phone number. By making a few changes to NCLB, we can dramatically improve our schools' ability to prepare children for real-world challenges and careers and ensure an environmentally sustainable future. _____________________________________________ The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) is a non-profit organization working to improve the scientific basis for environmental decisionmaking. NCSE is supported by nearly 500 academic, scientific, environmental, government and business organizations.
