Collective Outcomes in Environmental Education

By bringing together EE practitioners, evaluators, and funders to create shared outcomes,

environmental educators can more effectively demonstrate the role of EE in improving quality of
life in Colorado.

Environmental education has struggled to tell the story of its work and how intentional EE
programs, activities, curricula, etc. enhances and improves the lives of those who participate.
Because of this, the field in general has struggled to secure both financial and policy-based support
for its many endeavors, leaving many organizations to piece-meal a budget together to support
their work. As a result, far too many communities go without access to quality EE initiatives to
help improve the lives of individuals and the life of their community.

By bringing together practitioners, evaluators, and funders, we hope to create a framework to:

 Demonstrate the role of EE in improving the quality of life in Colorado

 Build capacity for evaluation within EE Organizations
 Provide a framework for evaluating EE across and among organizations
 Align the needs of funders and EE practitioners

We aim to identify KEY indicators of success in environmental education that inform five
IMPACT AREAS: Conservation; Education; Health; Social Justice; and Youth Development. In
doing so, we can work towards developing common indicators of success towards each impact
area at the state and program level that are strategically and intentionally captured through the
efforts of practitioners, evaluators, researchers, and funders. This collaborative and collective
effort will aim to provide the evidence that supports the impact we all know exists through
environmental education efforts.

Achieving these goals will be a multi-year process that will require constant stakeholder
engagement, feedback and refinement. Over the next five years, we seek to build the infrastructure
and tools to “wire the network” and connect practitioners, evaluators, and funders through these
shared outcomes.

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Colorado Performance
Pilot Build Capacity Scale
Indicators Indicators

•What results do we •What results do we •Pilot Shared Outcomes •Create platform/ center •Expanded Training and
want in CO as a result of want at a regional level? and Tools with to create capacity to Adoption for
EE? •Develop Performance Collaborative EE engage a wider network Organizations and
•Develop State Level Measures Projects of funders and Funders
Indicators of Success organizations