A Week of "Educational Preparation" for Earth Day

Every year, millions of students and educators participate in the annual observance of Earth Day. Recognizing the extent of participation in Earth Day, the National Environmental Education & Training Foundation and its many outstanding environmental education partners elected to enhance the educational impact of Earth Day through the creation of a full week of educational preparation in K-12 classrooms, university campuses, and informal settings such as nature centers, zoos, aquariums and museums.

Strength in Numbers:

Participation Goals for 2005 are:

• 400,000 educators
• 15 million students
• 150 million hours of learning
• 50,000 Earth Day service projects

A Time of Urgent Need:

Now, more than any time in the past 35 years we need the added "push" of National Environmental Education Week. Recently, broad education policies have emphasized high-stakes, standardized testing. That means that environmental education, an elective subject, has been squeezed from many of America's classrooms and visits to off-campus learning centers have been drastically scaled-back.

Raise the Bar for American Environmental Education.

National Environmental Education & Training Week is more than ceremonial. It will help capture and focus educator and student enthusiasm for Earth Day by increasing the number of school hours devoted to environmental learning. The week will also showcase the high levels of educational value and professionalism that have emerged in Environmental Education & Training over the past two decades.

To participate or sign your organization up for National Environmental Education & Training Week go to http://www.eeweek..ogr.

http://www.mdsg.umd.edu/Extension/msgsnn/msgsnn07_1/envi_ed_week.html