Ask any teacher from a rural school district if they feel they have adequate opportunities for quality professional development in their community and most will tell you they do not. They will likely follow that up with a request, not for themselves, but for their...
Partner stories
These stories are a collection of educator professional learning experiences and opportunities provided by ESD, CBO and Tribal School partners.

EarthGen (Formerly Washington Green Schools)
EarthGen is a statewide nonprofit organization that equips youth, educators, and school communities to become changemakers for a healthy environment. Through science-based, action-oriented programs, EarthGen engages several hundred teachers each year in climate science professional development grounded in Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and culturally sustaining pedagogy. EarthGenโs workshops feature climate scientists, focus on local issues, and highlight action and solutions. EarthGen provides teachers with data, resources, and instructional strategies to make climate change and its impacts relevant for students.
Climate Justice League supports teachers in bringing climate science education to the classroom
Itโs a delicate, yet important educational recipe. When imaginative curriculum, mandatory standards and critical areas of focus are combined, the outcome can be a delightful instructive concoction. This was precisely the outcome for the recent Climate Justice League...
Climate Change and Human Health in Southwest Washington
More than two dozen teachers from Southwest Washington school districts attended a STEM Seminar at Vancouver Community Library on Tuesday, December 3 to learn about connections between climate change and human health. The full-day professional development opportunity...
Central Washington elementary teachers engage in the NGSS by studying human impacts on the environment
The construction of a "lift" to contain the day's collection of recyclable solid waste is observed by teachers. Twenty-five elementary teachers from eight school districts in Central Washington gathered in mid-October to learn about ways to use science ideas to...
Climate Science Series for Grades 6-8: October Event
Washington Green Schools facilitated the first of four meetings at the Capital Region ESD 113 Event Center. The October 16th event focused on the impacts climate change is having on snow-pack dependent organisms. 22 teachers, representing 14 school districts, took an...
Climate Science STEM Seminars
On April 18th, 2019, the team at Washington Green Schools hosted their latest in a series of Climate Science STEM Seminars. This session focused on the relationship between agriculture and the changing climate and was hosted at the Windy Hills Winery in Ridgefield,...
Climate Change and Human Health
In late March, a dozen teachers from Puget Sound ESD gathered at the Tacoma Nature Center to learn about how human health is impacted by climate change locally. After grappling with some of the latest data on regional air quality and climate change, teachers engaged...
Floods & Droughts
In ESD 121, on March 22, 2019, fourteen teachers gathered at the WSU Stormwater Center to learn about how climate is impacting floods and droughts in the region. Teachers received a tour of the campus fish lab where scientists explore the impact of stormwater...
Species & Ecosystems
In ESD 113, on March 20th, 23 teachers learned about the climate impacts to keystone species like salmon and orcas. They read an article on the salmon/orca relationship, explored relevant data, and heard from Climate Change Coordinator for the Dept. of Fish and...