KSEPARegionalGrant-NorthAmericanAssociationfor.docVIP

Proposal for Funding Through US EPA Office of Environmental Education Submitted by the Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education (KACEE) Capacity Building at the Regional Level: Professionalizing and Legitimizing Environmental Education Section 1. Project Summary Organization: The Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education (KACEE) is a non-profit and serves as the umbrella organization for environmental education in Kansas. KACEE has been in existence for 33 years and currently has a membership of more than 200 organizations and nearly 300 individuals, all of whom are impacted and will serve as partners in this project, specifically the Kansas State Department of Education and the Kansas State Board of Education, as well as the natural resource state agencies. Similar partnerships exist with partner state EE associations. Partners: Iowa Conservation and Education Council (ICEC) Missouri Environmental Education Association (MEEA) Nebraska Alliance for Conservation and Environmental Education (NACEE) Summary Statement: The need to legitimize EE as a viable, professional and critical component of a child’s education has been identified as a major barrier toward the goal of environmental literacy by EE leaders around the county. This project will increase state EE capacity by enhancing state level initiatives that legitimize and professionalize the delivery of quality, non-biased and science-based environmental education in the four state region of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. By utilizing expertise at the regional level, each state will develop and implement action plans with specific outcomes and outputs that advance the legitimacy of EE through foundational professional components such as state EE standards, state EE Master Plans, state level EE certification program, state level EE program, materials and resource review and ongoing assessment of environmental literacy at the state level. Working