title: Environmental education: a time of change, a time for change.
abstract: We join the authors in this special issue in their call to embrace a culture of evaluation. Obstacles to change are formidable. Educators debate their purpose--provide knowledge or achieve environmental goals--and we have limited evidence of the effectiveness of environmental programs and policies. Change requires collaboration across organizations and disciplines, targeted capacity building, and building systems of assessment into programs that enable more sophisticated evaluations. As in other fields, an evidence-based movement will increase the credibility and effectiveness of environmental education. A culture of evaluation offers educators a solid platform to collaboratively and efficiently achieve society's environmental goals.
authors.affiliation: United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (1807T) Washington, DC 20460, USA. keene.matt@epa.gov
authors.forename: Matt
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Keene
authors.forename: Daniel T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Blumstein
mesh_terms: D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004463:Ecology / Q000193:education*; D006040:Goals; D015279:Organizational Culture; D015397:Program Evaluation