2020 -- H 7471

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LC004002

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2020

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

RESPECTFULLY REQUESTING THAT THE RHODE ISLAND DEPARTMENT OF

EDUCATION DEVELOP A SET OF KEY ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE

PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS TO BE INFUSED IN ALL SUBJECTS FOR K-12 PUBLIC

SCHOOL STUDENTS

     Introduced By: Representatives Cortvriend, Bennett, Donovan, Amore, and Speakman

     Date Introduced: February 06, 2020

     Referred To: House Health, Education & Welfare

     WHEREAS, The evidence for human-induced climate change is overwhelming and

undeniable; and

     WHEREAS, The heaviest burden of climate change will fall on the next generation; and

     WHEREAS, Nearly 10,000 students graduate from Rhode Island high schools each year,

armed with attitudes, skills, and knowledge about the climate that inform their actions; and

     WHEREAS, The effects on the climate, positive or negative, of each of those 10,000

students lasts beyond a lifetime; and

     WHEREAS, Students need to be prepared to implement changes in professional and

personal practices, to support and help develop new technology and policy, and to address the

coming social and economic challenges and opportunities arising from a changing climate; and

     WHEREAS, It is thus essential that each of these graduates are climate literate; and

     WHEREAS, According to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communications, over

76 percent of the people in Rhode Island support teaching students about the causes,

consequences, and potential solutions to climate change; and

     WHEREAS, According to the National Center for Science Education, 86 percent of

teachers in the United States feel that climate change should be taught in schools; and

     WHEREAS, Only thirty percent of middle school and forty-five percent of high school

science teachers nationally, understand the extent of the scientific consensus on climate change;

and

     WHEREAS, The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), signed into law in 2015, names

environmental education as part of a well-rounded education, and allows federal funding from

ESSA to be used to introduce or expand environmental education in school districts; and

     WHEREAS, The National Science Teaching Association, the National Association of

Geoscience Teachers, the National Association of Biology Teachers, and other professional

organizations have called for greater support for science educators in teaching climate science

and climate change; and

     WHEREAS, The Resilient Rhody Report recommends that K-12 Education be expanded

to include education on environmental literacy, including climate-related emergency

preparedness, by developing resources for school use and identifying how these concepts can be

incorporated into existing state standards; and

     WHEREAS, The students in Rhode Island have requested that climate change education

be included in the curriculum; and

     WHEREAS, The impact of climate change and the urgency and magnitude of the

challenge of addressing climate change will soon fall on current students; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and

Providence Plantations hereby requests that the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE),

in consultation with a wide representation from the environmental and climate education

community, develop a set of key environmental and climate principles and concepts which should

be infused into all subjects throughout K-12, develop learning standards for the same, and ensure

that all teacher professional development includes these principles and concepts; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That this House hereby urges all elementary and secondary public schools

including middle schools, or any other schools managed and controlled by the state, to offer as

part of the curriculum, courses in climate and environmental literacy; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That this House hereby urges the Rhode Island Department of Education to

ensure that teacher professional development in Rhode Island in the Common Core State

Standards and in the Next Generation Science Standards use climate as an exemplary anchor

phenomenon; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That this House respectfully urges the Rhode Island Department of

Education to make available on its website, curriculum materials and such other materials as may

assist local and regional school committees in developing instructional programs in climate and

environmental literacy. RIDE shall consult with practicing teachers, principals, superintendents

and experts when making such curriculum and other materials available. The curriculum and

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materials selected shall be aligned with state standards and assessments and contain sufficient

detail to guide teachers in planning lessons aligned with state standards and assessments; and be it

further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Ms. Barbara S. Cottam, Chair, Rhode Island

Board of Education.

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