No Child Left Inside Act of 2008
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|Article summary (how summaries work)|
According to the Congressional Research Service, the bill would have amended the National Environmental Education Act to add new minimum requirements for grantees of the Environmental Education and Training program. Grantees would be required to:
- create opportunities for enhanced and ongoing professional development, in addition to classroom training;
- ensure that their environmental education programs and curricula are aligned with challenging state and local academic content standards and advance the teaching of interdisciplinary courses that include strong field components;
- bring teachers into contact with working environmental professionals;
- provide environmental education distance learning programs for teachers using curricula that are innovative, content-based, and based on current, scientifically valid research;
- encourage individuals traditionally underrepresented in environmental careers to pursue postsecondary degrees toward such careers;
- establish programs to prepare teachers to provide environmental education professional development to their colleagues and programs to promote outdoor environmental education activities as part of the regular school curriculum;
- include summer workshops or institutes for elementary and secondary school environmental education teachers; and
- encourage mid-career environmental professionals to pursue environmental education careers.
The bill also authorizes the Secretary of Education to award one-to-three year grants to nonprofits, institutions of higher education, states, municipalities, and local educational agencies for initiatives to support environmental education, including:
- the advancement of content and achievement standards;
- the development or dissemination of innovations or model programs;
- research, particularly on integrating environmental education in the study of other subjects; and
- capacity-building measures to increase the number of elementary and secondary environmental education teachers.
State grantees would be required to have or develop enviromental literacy plans.
The bill passed the House on September 18, 2009 by a vote of 293-109.
Same for all scorecards:
- Name of bill: No Child Left Inside Act of 2008
- Chamber: U.S. House of Representatives
- Roll call number: 614
- Congress number: 110th
- Session number: 2
- Vote link: U.S. House of Representatives record vote 614, 110th Congress, Session 2
Org. position: Aye
"Environmental education serves as the cornerstone for conservation by sparking young people’s interest in and respect for the natural world. Hands-on environmental education has a measurable positive impact on student achievement in science, reading, math, and social studies, and stimulates interest in science and math as future career pathways. Today’s children spend half as much time outside as they did just 20 years ago and, on average, spend six and a half hours every day plugged into electronic media. Hands-on environmental education is a solution to this growing trend of “nature deficit disorder.” The No Child Left Inside Act of 2008, H.R. 3036, sponsored by Representative John Sarbanes (D-MD), created a new federal environmental grant program for states to develop environmental literacy programs and support teacher training in environmental education. The bill also extended the authorization of the National Environmental Education Act."
(Original scorecard available at: http://www.lcv.org/2008-pdf.pdf)
Articles and resources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Congressional Research Service, "Summary as of 9/18/2008--Passed House amended", hosted at THOMAS.
- ↑ OpenCongress' info page on H.R. 3036.