Environment-based education: Creating high performance schools and students.
National Environmental Education Training Foundation (NEETF). (2000).
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Research Scope
Five individual schools, a model school program involving five schools, and a statewide program. Schools were from multiple states with diverse demographics.
Research Design
Case studies of each school compared statewide standardized test scores between students from environment-based programs and various comparison groups, augmented with qualitative data (presumably from interviews, observations and/or documents)
Summary of Findings
- All 3rd graders at Hawley Environmental Elementary School in Milwaukee, WI passed the Wisconsin Reading Comprehension Test (as compared with only 25% of the total Milwaukee public school population).
- At Isaac Dickson Elementary School in Asheville, NC, 4th grade students showed a 31% increase in math achievement in just one year.
- Scores on college admission ACT test were higher for students from the School for Environmental Studies in Apple Valley, MN, than for their peers in the district, the state, and the nation.
- At Condit Elementary School in Bellaire, TX, 3rd grade students who took part in the research-based environment program demonstrated higher-level thinking skills according to locally developed instruments.
- First graders in the EIC classroom at Kruse Elementary in Pasadena, TX, performed higher on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills in all categories.
- Since incorporating environmental issues into the curriculum, Tompkinsville Elementary (and other Kentucky schools) has increased their achievement in science, reading, and social studies on statewide tests.
- All five schools in Florida’s Model Schools in EE program showed steady increases over five years on Florida Writes and FCAT tests.