About This Initiative

Check out the Overview Video (7:43) for an introduction to the data initiative. The video explains the content on this about page, including the background and purpose of the initiative, and an introduction to the founding partners. The video also provides a brief orientation to the data initiative website.

PURPOSE AND OVERVIEW

The movement for environmental and climate literacy and action in California’s TK-12 schools is transition from establishing foundational elements for widespread change (i.e. California Blueprint for Environmental Literacy (2015), California Policy and Expectations for Environmental and Climate Action in Schools), to focusing on scaling up implementation in every school across the state. To expedite this process, field catalysts recognize the need for an equity-informed, data-driven approach to scaling, which supports prioritizing underserved communities and addresses environmental injustices.

The Data Initiative for Environmental and Climate Action in California's TK–12 Schools helps provide an understanding of the scale of California's TK-12 education system, issues related to equity and need, and establishes baseline data for tracking and measuring indicators of progress on environmental and climate action in all of California's TK-12 schools. The database also provides context about potential broader context factors within municipal and county jurisdictions that might be considered barriers or opportunities to advancing forward progress. Each of these areas of focus are explained in detail below.

This initiative investigates and analyze several key focus areas:

SCALE: Understanding the size and structure of California’s TK-12 education system at all different scales - state, region, county, district, school site, and classroom (teachers and students) - is critical for planning strategies and partnerships that will catalyze and accelerate environmental and climate action across school communities.
NEED AND EQUITY: Identifying school districts that face the highest levels of inequity in terms of both traditional formal education equity indicators (socioeconomics, English language learners, racial demographics, special education, etc.) and environmental justice indicators is crucial for targeting interventions effectively with an equity informed approach.
PROGRESS AND BROADER CONTEXT FACTORS: In this initiative, ‘broader context’ refers to environmental and climate action indicators that are happening (or not happening) at the county or municipal jurisdictional level; for example: climate emergency declaration, local office of sustainability, county or municipal environmental plan, etc. This context is the “water” that CA schools and districts are swimming in. The purpose of this investigation is to determine what role, if any, that these broader context factors may present as barriers or opportunities for districts and schools to take environmental action.
INDICATORS OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE ACTION: The initiative has identified common indicators that demonstrate the prioritization of environmental and climate action (green schools efforts) within a school or district's campus, curriculum, community and culture. Example indicators include: Green Ribbon recognition, environmental and climate focused school board policies, facilities master plans and/or passed bond measures, investments in district-wide environmental and climate initiatives, and compensated staff to lead environmental and climate action. These indicators can serve as evidence of readiness to institutionalize a district-wide commitment to environmental and climate action.

The data is intended to be leveraged to catalyze change initiatives for environmental and climate action in TK-12 schools. Examples of different ways this data might be leveraged include but are not limited to the following:

Statewide Analysis: The data supports research, policy, and advocacy efforts as it provides patterns and trends of action and inaction, and it shows to what extent action is taking place in regions with those who are most marginalized or experiencing the highest levels of environmental injustice. The initiative also provides key information about some of the supportive context indicators that may be critical for catalyzing and institutionalizing environmental change. Additionally, it can be used for analyzing where strategic investments can be made to spur environmental action at schools and beyond.
Local Implementation: The data included in this project is also useful for local implementation as it helps to identify entry points to get school communities further engaged with environmental and climate action, and it can help to identity potential regional partnerships.

Data Organizing Principles and Indicators: The data for this project includes a number of different indicators that are related to equity, environmental and climate literacy, and efforts to build sustainable and climate-resilient schools. To learn more about the various indicators in this project, visit the Glossary of Indicators.

The data in this project also utilizes two key organizing principles:

Equity: In order to support an equity-driven approach, the project includes a number of different equity-related filters, such as pollution burden for sites and districts; percentages of students in a district or county that are considered socioeconomically disadvantaged, non-white, or qualify for special education; and other considerations related to historical marginalization.
Nested Systems: The data project recognizes that schools are involved in a number of overlapping jurisdictions, local education agencies (LEAs) (such as county offices of education and school districts), and action at a number of different scales—school, district, city, and county. This is done intentionally so that interested parties might consider looking at investments through the lens of a nested system (e.g., a school within a district, and a district within a county, and a county within a region). The project considers whether or not investments being made at multiple scales helps to accelerate change.

ABOUT CONTRIBUTING ORGANIZATIONS AND RESOURCES

The data for this analysis was collected in partnership by Ten Strands, with support and contributions from UndauntedK12, the UC Berkeley Data Discovery Program, members of the California Environmental Literacy Initiative (CAELI), and other advisory partners.

The data comes from a variety of sources including EdData, Green Ribbon Data Analysis, CalEnviroScreen, California Department of Education Data Sets, and the individual websites of local education agencies (LEAs) and county and municipal jurisdictions.

Leading Partner

Contributing Partners

Questions about this data initiative? Contact us at: Andra Yeghoian (ayeghoian@tenstrands.org)