The Michigan Environmental Literacy Plan (MI ELP) is the result of 5 years of work by the MI ELP Task Force, a group of dedicated stakeholders representing a broad spectrum of interested organizations including state agencies. The MI ELP Task Force was awarded a grant from the Great Lakes Fishery Trust to complete the development of this Plan. This Plan was written for all those interested in helping improve the health, academic success, and job readiness of students through environmental literacy. The Michigan Environmental Literacy Plan is a statewide roadmap that identifies goals and strategies focused on:

• providing education, including professional learning for educators, that leads to engaged, civically inclined students and natural resource stewardship
• promoting strong collaborations between schools and their local businesses, organizations, and communities, moving them toward sustainability 
• creating a sense of place in Michigan’s people and communities

The following set of guiding principles,identified by the MI ELP Task Force and confirmed by stakeholders, helped maintain a consistent focus and direction throughout the development of the Plan:

1. Every student should experience the outdoors.
2. Every child should have the opportunity to discover a sense of place and become stewards of their world.
3. Education is not just for children, but also for teachers, parents, and the community.
4. Structure what we already have so it works more effectively and efficiently.
5. All of Michigan plays a role in reversing the indoor childhood trend.

Goals for student experiences, professional learning, and content integration and assessment are outlined in the ELP as follows:

Student Experiences

• Goal 1: Ensure students know and understand the systems of the natural world and the interactions between the living and non-living components of the environment, including human interactions, which are fundamental to environmental literacy.
• Goal 2: Ensure that students have hands-on and field experiences, outdoor play time (both structured and unstructured), and service learning opportunities that lead to environmental literacy.
• Goal 3: Ensure students understand the actions that lead to natural resource stewardship, know the value of civic action, and have opportunities to be civically active.

Professional Learning

• Goal 4: Ensure that educators (preK-12 teachers, school administrators and non-formal educators, etc.) are equipped with the knowledge, skills, support, and resources necessary to provide the educational opportunities for students that lead to environmental literacy.

Content Integration and Assessment

• Goal 5: Identify the Michigan content standards that have connections to environmental literacy and utilize new or existing classroom assessments to provide evidence of student learning related to environmental literacy, field experiences, and service learning opportunities