The New Jersey Climate Change Education Initiative was formed to ensure all NJ public school teachers are prepared to integrate climate change across all grade levels and content areas based on the official New Jersey Climate Change Education Student Learning Standards. This initiative will act according to the recommendations outlined by the New Jersey Thought Leadership Committee and support the existing resources provided by the New Jersey Department of Education.
In June 2020, New Jersey became the first state in the U.S. to incorporate K-12 climate change education across content areas when the State Board of Education adopted the 2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards. New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy was a strong supporter of this initiative and praised the State Board for its action.
“The adoption of these standards is much more than an added educational requirement; it is a symbol of a partnership between generations,” - First Lady Tammy Murphy.
In response to the state’s ambitious and forward-thinking action to address climate change through teaching and learning, the Climate Change Education Thought Leader Committee was convened to determine an appropriate plan for implementing these standards statewide. The resulting recommendation report guides the New Jersey Climate Change Initiative’s strategy. In addition, this initiative also supports the resources and guidance provided by the New Jersey Department of Education.
After one semester of integrating climate change education standards into state curricula, New Jersey educators still lacked sufficient professional development resources and faced uncertainty when teaching climate change in subjects other than science. However, educators who used the New Jersey Climate Education Hub reported higher levels of confidence in their preparedness to implement the new standards and were more familiar with the resources available to them.
Discover through our "NJ Implementation Paper"
Elaine is a New Jersey educator with 30 years of teaching experience in grades K-6. The earth and the natural world have always been a focus of her life and throughout her career as her students learned critical lessons about their planet when visiting her indoor and outdoor classrooms.
