New Vermont Standards: Sustainability and Understanding Place -- Rural Policy Matters, Volume 2, Number 6 (June 2000)

In a move that may provide a fine example to other states, this spring the Vermont Board of Education approved new learning standards that emphasize sustaining Vermont's communities and environment. The Vermont Rural Partnership, a project funded in part by the Rural Trust, was among many organizations and individuals involved in building a coalition supportive of the additions to the "Vital Results" section of Vermont's Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities.

The two standards are titled Sustainability and Understanding Place, and affect all grade levels, PreK-12.

"Education for sustainability" is defined in the Framework as education that "promotes an understanding of the interconnectedness of the economy, environment and society and pursues a balance among them."

The new Sustainability standard falls under the Personal Development category. It reads:

"Students make decisions that demonstrate understanding of natural and human communities, the ecological, economic, political, or social systems within them, and awareness of how their personal and collective actions affect the sustainability of these interrelated systems."

Understanding Place is a new Civic/Social Responsibility Standard:

"Students demonstrate understanding of the relationship between their local environment and community heritage and how each shapes their lives."

Students, teachers, administrators, state agencies, and higher education officials all joined the sustained effort to lobby for the standards' approval.