Guidelines, Standards, Assessment Tools, and Evaluation

Commonly Asked Questions

How do I know whether the EE materials I am using are “good quality?” Where can I get help to ensure the materials I am developing will be “good quality?”

What should students learn about the environment at different grade levels (K-12)? Are there any tools I can use to assess whether I’m teaching the right concepts at the appropriate grade level?

How do I know whether I'm prepared to teach about the environment?

How do I know whether I’ve developed a “good quality” non-formal program at the museum where I work?

How do I evaluate the content and structure of Web sites to meet my teaching and communication needs?

How can I assess my EE organization's capacity to be effective?

How can I use EE to meet state and national education standards? Are there any correlations which demonstrate how various EE materials meet these standards?

How do I evaluate the effectiveness of my EE project? Are resources available to help me design an effective evaluation?

Resources to Help Answer These Questions

The Environmental Education and Training Partnership (EETAP) is addressing many of these questions in an unprecedented effort to develop balanced, scientifically accurate, educationally-appropriate, and comprehensive national guidelines and assessment tools for EE. This effort includes the development of guidelines and assessment tool, the delivery of training workshops for materials, learners, educators, and EE organizations, as well as online courses. EETAP resources include:

North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE)

NAAEE’s national EE guidelines can be ordered in hard copy or downloaded online from NAAEE's Web site. Copies can also be ordered from our resources page.
NAAEE’s Web site hosts the EETAP Resource Library which includes two “information sheets” on assessment and evaluation and guidelines for helping educators evaluate the content and structure of Web sites as follows:
1. EETAP Resource Library Information Sheets
2. Evaluating the Content of Web Sites: Guidelines for Educators [PDF, 677 KB, 5 MB, 36 pages, about PDF]
  Guidelines to help educators evaluate the quality and usefulness of Web sites for educational purposes.
3. Evaluating the Structure of Web Sites: Guidelines for Educators [PDF, 113 KB, 15 pages, about PDF]
  Guidelines to help educators communicate to Web designers the needs of their users to improve the educational effectiveness of the site.

University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point

UWSP developed and offers several online courses including ”Applied EE Program Evaluation.” This 12 week course teaches EE professionals and students how to design evaluation tools and evaluate their programs.
UWSP’s National Environmental Education Advancement Project (NEEAP)developed an “Organizational Assessment Tool for EE Capacity Building Organizations” to help EE organizations improve their effectiveness.

Project Learning Tree, Project WILD, and Project WET

Project Learning Tree , Project WILD , and Project WET are continuing to develop correlations of their supplemental curriculum resources to state and national education standards to demonstrate how their programs can be used to meet education reform goals. As of May 2008, over 160 correlations of PLT, WILD, and WET materials showing their relationship to state and national standards have been completed in 46 states.

My Environmental Education Evaluation Resource Assistant (MEERA)is a Web-based resource designed to help environmental educators evaluate their programs. The site includes basic information about evaluation, guides educators through a step-by-step evaluation process, and provides examples of actual EE evaluations.