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.

The 2014 Watershed Agreement outlines the Environmental Literacy Goal and three Outcomes: Student, Sustainable Schools, and Environmental Literacy Planning.

Projects and Resources

Environmental Literacy Indicator Tool (ELIT)

The Chesapeake Bay Watershed Environmental Literacy Indicator Tool (ELIT) was developed to monitor the capacity and progress of public school districts toward meeting the Environmental Literacy Goal in the 2014 Watershed Agreement. The Environmental Literacy Goal has 3 Outcomes: Student Outcome, Sustainable Schools Outcome, Environmental Literacy Planning Outcome.

The ELIT tool was modified in 2022 to reduce the reporting burden on school districts by removing questions about sustainable school practices, as relevant data can be obtained through other means. The ELIT contributes to monitoring public school districts’ progress toward these outcomes, collecting data about:

  • School district preparedness to implement a comprehensive and systemic approach to environmental literacy education;
  • Student participation in MWEEs during the school year;
  • 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.

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.

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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

Visit link

Watershed Agreement

Members

Shannon Sprague (Chair), Education Workgroup Coordinator, NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office
Address:
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  shannon.sprague@NOAA.GOV
Phone:  (410) 267-5664
Elise Trelegan (Coordinator), NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office
Address:
904 South Morris St.
Oxford, Maryland 21654

Email:  elise.trelegan@noaa.gov
Britt Slattery (Coordinator), Fostering Chesapeake Stewardship Goal Implementation Team Coordinator, National Park Service (NPS)
Address:
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  Britt_Slattery@nps.gov
Meredith Lemke (Staffer), Chesapeake Research Consortium
Address:
1750 Forest Drive Suite 140
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  lemkem@chesapeake.org
Adrienne Farfalla, District of Columbia Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE)
Address:


Email:  adrienne.farfalla1@dc.gov
Alexandra Konsur-Grush, Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit
Address:


Email:  akonsur@iu19.org
Amy Wyant, Otsego County Conservation Association
Address:


Email:  director@occainfo.org
Angel Burns, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
Address:
89 Kings Highway
Dover, Delaware 19901

Email:  Angel.Burns@delaware.gov
Anna Davis, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC)
Address:


Email:  davisam@si.edu
Anne Petersen, Virginia Department of Education
Address:
James Monroe Bldg, 101 N 14th St
Richmond, Virginia 23219

Email:  Anne.petersen@doe.virginia.gov
BeKura Shabazz, First Alliance Consulting LLC
Address:
13708 Cedar Cliff Ter.
Chester, Virginia 23831

Email:  firstallianceconsutling@gmail.com
Phone:  (804) 602-9166
Betsy Ukeritis, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Address:
625 Broadway
Albany, New York 12233

Email:  Betsy.ukeritis@dec.ny.gov
Bianca Myrick, Virginia Association of Environmental Education
Address:


Email:  Bianca@virginiaee.org
Brianne Studer, DC Environmental Education Consortium (DCEEC)
Address:


Email:  dceecnaturally@gmail.org
Candace Lutzow-Felling, University of Virginia
Address:
Blandy Experimental Farm
400 Blandy Farm Lane
Boyce, Virginia 22620

Email:  lutzow-felling@virginia.edu
Cassi Camara, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
Address:


Email:  Cassi.Camara@dcr.virginia.gov
Chelsea McClure, Towson University
Address:


Email:  cmcclure@towson.edu
Christen Miller, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
Address:
600 East Main Street, 24th Floor
Richmond, Virginia 23219

Email:  Christen.Miller@dcr.virginia.gov
Christopher Kemmerer, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (PA DCNR)
Address:
P.O. Box 8551
Bureau of State Parks
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17105

Email:  chkemmerer@pa.gov
Coreen Weilminster, Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (CBNERR) - Maryland
Address:
Tawes State Office Building
580 Taylor Avenue, E-2
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  coreen.weilminster@maryland.gov
Phone:  (410) 260-8744
Courtney Hallacher, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
Address:
7870 Villa Park Drive
P.O. Box 90778
Henrico, Virginia 23228-0778

Email:  courtney.hallacher@dwr.virginia.gov
Phone:  (804) 389-4424
David Pragoff, Delaware Nature Society
Address:
3511 Barley Mill Rd
Hockessin, Delaware 19707

Email:  davidp@delnature.org
Elise Trelegan, NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office
Address:
904 South Morris St.
Oxford, Maryland 21654

Email:  elise.trelegan@noaa.gov
Ellen Powell, Virginia Department of Forestry
Address:
900 Natural Resources Drive
Charlottesville, Virginia 22903

Email:  ellen.powell@dof.virginia.gov
Emily Stransky, Chesapeake Bay Trust
Address:


Email:  estransky@cbtrust.org
Phone:  (410) 974-2941 x101
Erika Klose, West Virginia Department of Education
Address:


Email:  eklose@k12.wv.us
Erin Sullivan, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Region 3
Address:
1650 Arch Street (3RA10)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

Email:  Sullivan.ErinC@epa.gov
Grace Manubay, DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education
Address:
1050 First St NE
Washington, District of Columbia 20002

Email:  grace.manubay@DC.GOV
Jeff Chandler, Nature Forward
Jemima Clark, Washington College
Address:
485 S. Cross Street
Semans-Griswold Environmental Hall
Chestertown, Maryland 21620

Email:  jclark5@washcoll.edu
Julie Travaglini, Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Educators (PAEE)
Address:


Email:  julie@alleghenylandtrust.org
Phone:  (412) 783-0757
Kathleen Banski, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
Address:


Email:  kbanski@pa.gov
Kendall Tyree, Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts
Address:
7308 Hanover Green Drive
Suite 100
Mechanicsville, Virginia 23111

Email:  kendall.tyree@vaswcd.org
Phone:  (804) 559-0324
Kendra Bierman, Anacostia Watershed Society
Address:


Email:  kbierman@anacostiaws.org
Kim Hanson, NatureBridge
Address:


Email:  khanson@naturebridge.org
Laura Johnson Collard, Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE)
Address:
3430 2nd Street
Suite 300
Baltimore, Maryland 21225

Email:  director@MAEOE.org
Phone:  (410) 777-9530 x162
Lindsey Walker, National Wildlife Federation
Address:


Email:  walkerl@nwf.org
Melinda Brooks, Experience Learning, Inc.
Olivia Wisner, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Address:
Maryland

Email:  olivia.wisner1@maryland.gov
Payton Hesse, Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE)
Address:


Email:  payton.hesse@maryland.gov
Sandi Olek, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Address:


Email:  sandra.olek@maryland.gov
Phone:  (410) 260-8979
Sarah McGuire, Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (CBNERR) - Virginia
Address:
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
Susan Cox, U.S. Forest Service (USFS)
Address:
271 Mast Road
Durham, New Hampshire 03824

Email:  susan.m.cox@usda.gov
Phone:  (603) 868-7706
Tamara Peffer, Pennsylvania Department of Education
Address:
333 Market Street | 5th Floor
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17010

Email:  tpeffer@pa.gov
Todd Klawinski, Caesar Rodney School District
Address:


Email:  todd.klawinski@cr.k12.de.us
Tonyea Mead, Delaware Department of Education
Address:
Delaware Dept. of Education
401 Federal Street, Suite 2
Dover, Delaware 19901

Email:  tonyea.mead@doe.k12.de.us
Trena Ferrell, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Address:
Goddard Space Flight Center
8800 Greenbelt Rd.
Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

Email:  trena.m.ferrell@nasa.gov
Victoria Lusk, Cacapon Institute
Address:
10 Rockford Rd
Great Cacapon, West Virginia 25422

Email:  vlusk@cacaponinstitute.org
Vince Meldrum, Earth Force
Address:
135 Park Ave West
Denver, Colorado 80205

Email:  vmeldrum@earthforce.org