Phase Two of NELA (2009–2011) assessed environmental literacy levels among middle school students involved in ongoing school-based EE programs and compared those levels to the Phase One results. Among the findings,

• General environmental literacy scores were significantly higher among eighth-grade students in ongoing EE programs than among their grade-level counterparts in the random sample.
• Significantly higher scores were attained by sixth-grade students in ongoing EE programs than by their grade-level counterparts on the specific environmental literacy variables of ecological knowledge, verbal commitment, environmental sensitivity, environmental feelings, and environmental behavior.
• Significantly higher scores were attained by eighth-grade students in ongoing EE programs than by their grade-level counterparts on the specific environmental literacy variables of ecological knowledge, verbal commitment, environmental sensitivity, environmental feelings, issue identification, issue analysis, and environmental behavior.