Using an Inventory of Current Practices to Improve Environmental Education
- 1. Environmental Education: Inventory of Current Practices Survey Kelly Shea Education Specialist University of Rhode Island Guiding Education in Math and Science Network (GEMS-Net) kellyshea@uri.edu Jeanine Silversmith Project Manager Rhode Island Environmental Education Association (RIEEA) jsilversmith@rieea.org
- 2. EE: Inventory of Current Practices Survey Process and Implementation Spring 2017 Initial Committee Meeting Early Fall 2017 First Draft Summer 2017 Hired Survey Designer Late Fall 2017 Pilot Survey Winter 2018 Revision Spring 2018 Implementation
- 3. EE: Inventory of Current Practices Survey Process and Implementation Spring 2017 Initial Committee Meeting ● Invited Informal, Formal, & Higher Education Educators ● Brainstormed ideas and questions Summer 2017 Hired Survey Designer ● Developed/Posted RFP ● Contracted with Susan Gracia Early Fall 2017 First Draft ● Contractor used committee ideas to create draft ● Reviewed by committee and RIEEA board Late Fall 2017 Pilot Survey ● Had second set of questions built in to gather feedback ● Sent to 100 teachers/admins recommended by committee Winter 2018 Revision ● Some easy/clear decisions ● Committee meeting to make decisions on more difficult questions and to finalize survey Spring 2018 Implementation ● Employed variety of ways to promote and disseminate survey (State Dept of Educ, RIEEA members, Principals & Superintendents Assoc.; Exec Dir of Catholic Schools & Charter Schools) ● Sent 3 times; chance to win 1 of 10 gift cards ($100)
- 4. Educator Survey and Interactive Dashboard ❖ 702 Respondents ❖ 615 (88%) Teachers ❖ 87 (12%) Administrators ❖ Teachers and Administrators feel only “somewhat” prepared to support students/teachers in EE practices. ❖ Correlations ➢ Positive correlation between becoming knowledgeable about impacts of EE and positive beliefs about EE ➢ Positive correlation between becoming knowledgeable about impacts of EE and commitment to EE ➢ Negative correlation between feeling prepared to engage students in EE practices and perceived barriers to engaging in EE http://rieea.org/
- 5. EE: Inventory of Current Practices Survey Results and Reports ❖ Interactive Dashboard ❖ Executive Summary ❖ Final Report ❖ Survey Questions ❖ Direct conversation with Kelly and Jeanine RIEEA.org > Environmental Literacy > Educator Survey http://rieea.org/environmental-education-inventory-of-current-practices/