Best+Practices

=BEST PRACTICES IN PLACE-BASED EDUCATION =

Our synthesis
We found many successful models of Place-Based Education, which are presented in the various examples included on this wiki page. Based on common themes in all of the readings cited in other sections of this page, we have developed the following set of considerations for those starting a new PBE project.

 Preparing

 * 1) Value and put a lot of time into preparation -- both program structure and teacher training and support.
 * 2) Get all your stakeholders on board before beginning the program -- create the program in collaboration with teachers, parents, administrators, community members and organizations, and students (if age appropriate).
 * 3) Clearly define the academic goals for the program. Work backwards -- start from your assessments and standards and be creative in developing ways to satisfy them using PBE.
 * 4) Clarify the expected involvement with and benefit to the community.
 * 5) Incentivize and support teacher participation with PBE-related professional development. Look for teacher training programs relevant to your topic and locale, or create them!
 * 6) Establish very clear goals and expectations for mentoring programs and provide appropriate training for mentors.
 * 7) When identifying sources of external funding, think outside the box! Consider applying for grants from both government and private funding sources at both the national and local level, including in places that might not seem obvious.

 Implementing

 * 1) Be prepared to "sell" the project, especially in the beginning.
 * 2) Establish the relevance to your students.
 * 3) Create a unified effort across classrooms within a school.
 * 4) Don't feel alone -- your best resources are in your community; bring them to your school or take your students to them.
 * 5) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Utilize resources that are already in your school, e.g. non-teaching professionals (guidance and career counselors, media / technology specialists), school grounds, school historical records.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Sustaining

 * 1) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Use innovative methods to maintain communal excitement: team teaching, whole school projects, etc.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Support teacher collaboration through regular meetings (e.g. weekly or bi-weekly) to share progress, challenges, and learnings.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Develop ways for your program to generate revenue and become self-sustaining.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Throughout

 * 1) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Reach out to PBE programs targeted at similar academic goals to yours to collaborate and share ideas and learnings
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Use technology (listservs, blogs, twitter, newsletters) to facilitate ongoing communication between the school, the community, and parents.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">From the literature
<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Powers (2004) suggests the following models for developing good PBE programs <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">.



<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">(Powers, 2004, p. 20)

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> (Powers, 2004, p. 25)

**<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">References ** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">﻿Powers, A.L. (2004). An evaluation of four place-based education programs. //<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Journal of Environmental Education, 35 // <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">(4), 17-32.