The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is contributing to an increasing environmental literacy gap by reducing the amount of environmental education taking place in K-12 classrooms. Its emphasis on testing for core subjects is causing many administrators to eliminate environmental education in favor of investing more resources in math and language arts, severely limiting instructional time for science and social studies—the key subjects that include environmental education and help contribute to environmental literacy.

We have a golden opportunity to bring environmental education back to the forefront of classrooms nationwide because NCLB is up for reauthorization.

Our nation's future relies on a well-educated public to be wise stewards of the very environment that sustains us, our families and communities, and future generations! Environmental education is critical to our nation's ability to tackle the many environmental challenges facing society.

Find out more about environmental education and No Child Left Behind at the No Child Left Inside coalition page.