State Education and Environment Roundtable Information

SEER was founded as a cooperative endeavor of 16 state departments of education. SEER works to enhance student achievement, improve K-12 instructional practices and help schools achieve their improvement goals by implementing the EIC Model™. All of SEER's work is focused on promoting and supporting “Environment-based education” (EBE). SEER defines EBE as a framework for instruction that focuses on standards-based educational results by using the environment and related issues as a context for instruction. EBE has at its core three major goals: helping students achieve success with academic content standards; developing their understanding of interactions between natural and human social systems; and preparing students to be active members of a civil society with the skills they need to identify and resolve environmental issues. EBE is designed to help students become proficient with state and school district standards, including the Common Core State Standards. It is designed to function as an integral part of a school’s standards-based academic program and can be used to teach English-language arts, math, science, and history-social science, as well as incorporate other disciplines, such as technology, art, and music. EBE is not a separate topic with its own discrete academic content.