Education Workgroup
Upcoming Meetings
No upcoming meetings.
Scope and Purpose
The goal of the Education Workgroup is to have every student in the region graduate environmentally literate having participated in meaningful watershed educational experiences in elementary, middle, and high school that were supported by teachers who have received professional development in environmental education and schools that are models of environmental sustainability. The Education Workgroup provides a forum for cross-jurisdictional coordination and support on all aspects of environmental education with an emphasis on:
- Increasing Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEE) and other place-based, outdoor education
- Supporting training for teachers and environmental education professionals in content, pedagogy, and outdoor-learning techniques related to environmental topics
- Encouraging green infrastructure and operations on school grounds
- Supporting federal, state, and regional environmental literacy planning, including providing an ongoing forum to collaborate on the goals and objectives of the federal Executive Order and the nonprofit community Regional Roundtable.
The Education Workgroup is tasked with evaluating and recommending policies related to PK-12 bay education, maintaining the Bay Backpack website, and tracking state implementation of the MWEE in elementary, middle, and high school. The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office also convenes a biennial Environmental Literacy Summit on behalf of the Workgroup to advance environmental literacy activities in the region.
Projects and Resources
Environmental Literacy Indicator Tool (ELIT)
The Chesapeake Bay Watershed Environmental Literacy Indicator Tool (ELIT) was developed to monitor the capaciy and progress of public school distrcits toward meeting the Environmental Literacy Goal in the 2014 Watershed Agreement. The ELIT monitoris school districts' progress toward the Student, Sustainable Schools, and Environmental Literacy Planning Outcomes, collecteing data within four topics:
- School district preparedness to implement a comprehensive and systemic approach to environmental literacy education;
- Student participation in MWEEs during the school year;
- Systainability practices at schools;
- School district needs to support further improvements in environmental literacy education.
The ELIT is administered biennially to all local education agencies (LEAs) in six jurisdictions: the District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Environmental Literacy Summit
The mid-Atlantic region is leading the nation in implementing sound policy that ensures our students will graduate environmentally literate citizens. To advance environmental literacy in the region, the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office convenes a biennial Environmental Literacy Summit on behalf of the Workgroup. These summits provide an important forum for dialogue, collaboration, and coordination between federal, state, and non-governmental leaders about the future of equitable environmental education in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
- 2021 Environmental Literacy Summit Materials
- 2019 Environmental Literacy Summit Materials
- 2017 Environmental Literacy Summit Materials
- 2016 Environmental Literacy Summit Materials
Environmental Literacy Forum
The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office hosts training forums to build the skills of educators to plan and implement Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs) and sustainable school programming at the classroom or school district level. This allows educators to better understand, advocate for, and deliver these important programs that contribute to the Environmental Literacy outcomes of the watershed agreement.
Publications
Related Links
Bay Backpack
The Education Workgroup's teacher resource website is THE source for Chesapeake Bay and environmental education resources, lesson plans, field studies, trainings, and funding information
Watershed Agreement
Environmental Literacy Goal
Members
Shannon Sprague (Chair), Education Workgroup Coordinator, NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, maryland 21401
Email: shannon.sprague@NOAA.GOV
Phone: (410) 267-5664
Tom Ackerman (Chair), Vice President for Education, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Philip Merrill Environmental Center
6 Herndon Avenue
Annapolis, maryland 21403
Email: TAckerman@savethebay.cbf.org
Elise Trelegan (Coordinator), Chesapeake B-WET Program Coordinator, NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office
Jimmy Looper (Staffer), Stewardship Goal Implementation Team Staffer, Chesapeake Research Consortium
Angel Burns, Chief of Interpretation, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
Anne Petersen, Science Coordinator, Virginia Department of Education
James Monroe Bldg, 101 N 14th St
Richmond, virginia 23219
Email: Anne.petersen@doe.virginia.gov
Ariel Trahan, Director of River Restoration Programs, Anacostia Watershed Society
The George Washington House
4302 Baltimore Avenue
Bladensburg, maryland 20710
Email: atrahan@anacostiaws.org
Phone: (301) 699-6204 x113
Barbara McGuinness, Environmental Literacy Coordinator, U.S. Forest Service (USFS)
Northern Research Station
PO Box 267
Irvine, pennsylvania 16329
Email: barbara.j.mcguinness@usda.gov
Phone: (814) 563-1040
Betsy Ukeritis, Inter-Regional Environmental Educator, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Brittany Omoleye-Hall, Education Coordinator, National Park Service (NPS)
National Park Service, Chesapeake Bay
410 Severn Avenue, Suite 314
Annapolis, maryland 21403
Email: brittany_omoleye-hall@nps.gov
Bruce Lesh, Director of Social Studies, Science and Disciplinary Literacy, Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE)
Candace Lutzow-Felling, Director of Education, University of Virginia
Blandy Experimental Farm
400 Blandy Farm Lane
Boyce, virginia 22620
Email: lutzow-felling@virginia.edu
Cassie Doty, Education Coordinator, UMCES Appalachian Laboratory
Christen Miller, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
600 East Main Street, 24th Floor
Richmond, virginia 23219
Email: Christen.Miller@dcr.virginia.gov
Christopher Kemmerer, Education & Interpretation Section, Chief, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (PA DCNR)
Coreen Weilminster, Education Coordinator, Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (CBNERR) - Maryland
Tawes State Office Building
580 Taylor Avenue, E-2
Annapolis, maryland 21401
Email: coreen.weilminster@maryland.gov
Phone: (410) 260-8744
David Christopher, Marine Education Specialist, Delaware Sea Grant
David Pragoff, School & Group Programs Team Leader, Delaware Nature Society
Elise Trelegan, Chesapeake B-WET Program Coordinator, NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office
Erin Sullivan, Environmental Protection Specialist, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Region 3
Frank Rodgers, Executive Director, Cacapon Institute
Cacapon Institute
10 Rock Ford Rd
Great Cacapon, westVirginia 25422
Email: frodgers@cacaponinstitute.org
Gilbert Myers, Environmental Education Specialist Program Supervisor, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
Rachel Carson State Office Building
400 Market St.
Harrisburg, pennsylvania 17101
Email: gimyers@pa.gov
Grace Manubay, Environmental Literacy Coordinator, DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education
Jemima Clark, Education Program Manager, Washington College
485 S. Cross Street
Semans-Griswold Environmental Hall
Chestertown, maryland 21620
Email: jclark5@washcoll.edu
Kacey Wetzel, Director of Programs for Outreach & Education, Chesapeake Bay Trust
Karen Mullin, Director of Professional Learning Team, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Philip Merrill Environmental Center
6 Herndon Avenue
Annapolis, Maryland 21403 D, maryland 21403
Email: KMullin@cbf.org
Kirsten Jackson, Environmental Literacy Specialist, Science, Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE)
Laura Johnson Collard, Executive Director, Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE)
3430 2nd Street
Suite 300
Baltimore, maryland 21225
Email: director@MAEOE.org
Phone: (410) 777-9530 x162
Mark Scallion, Center Director, Pickering Creek Audubon Center
Melani Loney, Program Manager, Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics Education Initiatives, Old Dominion University (ODU)
Center for Environmental Partnerships
4111 Monarch Way, Suite 406
Norfolk, virginia 23508
Email: mloney@odu.edu
Patricia Doan, Environmental Program Specialist, District of Columbia Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE)
Sarah Brzezinski, Outreach Coordinator, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Sarah McGuire, Education Coordinator, Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (CBNERR) - Virginia
Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Virginia Institute of Marine Science
PO Box 1346
Gloucester Point, virginia 23062
Email: mcguire@vims.edu
Phone: (804) 684-7878
Steve Kerlin, Director of Education, Stroud Water Research Center
Susan Cox, Conservation Education Coordinator, U.S. Forest Service (USFS)
Tamara Peffer, Environment & Ecology Content Advisor, Pennsylvania Department of Education
Tara Drennan, Senior Program Officer, Chesapeake Bay Trust
Vicki Fenwick-Judy, Executive Director, Experience Learning, Inc.
Vince Meldrum, President and CEO, Earth Force
Tonyea Mead, Science Education Associate, Delaware Department of Education
Delaware Dept. of Education
401 Federal Street, Suite 2
Dover, delaware 19901
Email: tonyea.mead@doe.k12.de.us
Susan Parker, Youth Environmental Program, West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
Judd Pittman, Special Consultant to the Secretary of Education for STEM, Pennsylvania Department of Education
Pennsylvania Department of Education
333 Market Street
Harrisburg, pennsylvania 17126
Email: c-jpittman@pa.gov
Victoria Lusk, Education & Outreach Coordinator, Cacapon Institute
Trystan Sill, Resiliency Education Coordinator, Center for Conservation Education and Stewardship, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
580 Taylor Avenue
Annapolis, maryland 21401
Email: trystan.sill@maryland.gov
Phone: (410) 260-8827
Ellen Powell, Virginia Department of Forestry
900 Natural Resources Drive
Charlottesville, virginia 22903
Email: ellen.powell@dof.virginia.gov
Pri Ekanayake, Environmental Education Specialist, District of Columbia Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE)
1200 First Street NE
5th Floor
Washington, districtOfColumbia 20002
Email: pri.ekanayake@dc.gov