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Maryland Becomes the First State in the USA to Require Environmental Literacy for its High School Gr

by
Sarah Brzezinski

Last Tuesday, June 21st, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley praised the Maryland State Board of Education for unanimously passing an Environmental Literacy Graduation Requirement. “This is a defining moment for education in Maryland,” said Governor O’Malley at last week’s press conference. “By approving this environmental graduation requirement, the Board of Education is ensuring that our young people graduate with a keen understanding of and connection to the natural world. Only through exposure to nature and education about our fragile ecosystem can we create the next generation of stewards.”

The approval of this requirement has made Maryland, a leader in environmental education, the first state in the country to require students to be environmentally literate in order to graduate from high school. Its passing follows last year’s establishment of Maryland’s Environmental Education Instructional Program for Grades Pre-K–12, and may help position the state for federal funding from the No Child Left Inside Act that is currently before Congress.

The graduation requirement will ensure that “every student receive a comprehensive, diverse environmental education” prior to their graduation, but will provide the flexibility and oversight for school systems to design their own programs. School system staff will work with employees from the Maryland State Department of Education to develop and approve programs that incorporate environmental literacy standards into existing curricular areas throughout multiple disciplines. This will allow local environmental and conservation priorities to be included in each county’s curriculum. Instead of requiring students to fit an additional class into their busy course load, the environmental literacy requirement will ensure that environmental topics such as conservation, smart growth and the health of our natural world will be infused into core subjects. School systems will report to the State every five years to ensure accountability and program effectiveness.

Many schools in Maryland, and in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, have already implemented exemplary environmental education programs, but last Tuesday’s vote will ensure that all Maryland public school students receive an environmental education that aligns with state standards. As school systems and teachers throughout Maryland and the Watershed work to incorporate environmental standards into their classrooms, we here at Bay Backpack hope to help connect them with the professional development and teaching resources they need to do so!

For additional information on this exciting development, please refer to the: