Project SUSTAIN: A Partnership for Sustainability Education
Among the Ypsilanti Schools, Washtenaw County DEIS, and
Creative Change Educational Solutions

Project Overview
Approach to Education
Project History
Project Partners
Participating Teachers
Classroom Units
Project Evaluation

Overview of Project SUSTAIN
Project SUSTAIN: Students Understand and Solve Twenty-first Century Issues Now

     Project SUSTAIN was an educational improvement initiative of the Ypsilanti Public Schools funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency and Washtenaw County government. The project aimed to improve teaching and learning through Education for a Sustainable Future: learning that prepares students to create a healthy environment, a fair economy, and an equitable society. Activities included professional development for teachers, interdisciplinary classroom units, and community-based projects with students.

     Teachers in five Ypsilanti schools have successfully integrated critical economic, social, and environmental issues into their science, social studies, language arts, and math classes, reaching over 500 students in grades 5-12.

The Project SUSTAIN Approach

     The content and methods promoted in Project SUSTAIN supported and strengthened the goals set forth in the Michigan Curriculum Framework and Ypsilanti District Curriculum. The units developed by teachers reflect these key strategies:

• Integrated Content: Making connections among social, economic, and environmental issues transforms isolated facts into meaningful understanding. ·
• Inquiry-based Instruction: Students investigate important questions through active analysis, research, reflection, interpretation, and problem-solving.
• High Expectations and Authentic Assessment: Students apply their learning in authentic situations through purposeful, positive actions.

     This approach aims to chip away at students' apathy and infuse a fundamental sense of purpose, meaning, and relevance across academic disciplines. An evaluation by the University of Michigan measured the project's impact on teacher practice and student learning.

History

     The Washtenaw County Department of Environment and Infrastructure Services started The Sustainability Education Project in 1998 to implement pilot projects in sustainability education. Three years of teacher workshops, in-class units, and student-community partnerships built a foundation for larger-scale funding. In the summer of 2001, the US EPA awarded the Ypsilanti Public Schools a national Environmental Education Grant, launching Project SUSTAIN in the fall of 2001.

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