The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education
The Cloud Institute’s mission is to ensure the viability of sustainable communities by leveraging changes in K-12 school systems to prepare young people for the shift toward a sustainable future. We monitor the evolving thinking and skills of the most important champions of sustainability, and transform them into educational materials and a pedagogical system that inspires young people to think about the world, their relationship to it, and their ability to influence it in an entirely new way. We believe that K-12 education can substantially influence beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors related to sustainability. This is the most fertile ground for helping to shape a society committed to sustainable development. We develop in young people and their teachers the new knowledge and ways of thinking needed to achieve economic prosperity and responsible citizenship while restoring the health of the living systems upon which our lives depend.
What We Offer
Our work with schools, school systems, and Higher Education institutions all revolves around the curriculum, instruction, and assessment aspects of Education for Sustainability, as well as the strategic planning, organizational, and leadership development that is required.
- Curriculum Design, Assessment, Mapping & Alignment
- Consulting in Organizational & Leadership Development
- Professional Development & Faculty Coaching
- School & Community Partnerships
New workshop is available!
Introduction to Education for Sustainability
This two-day interactive workshop is designed to help participants:
- Develop a shared understanding and vocabulary of sustainability and Education for Sustainability (EfS)
- Generate personal rationales for educating for sustainability
- Become inspired and hopeful about contributing to the shift toward a sustainable future through education
Day one is designed to increase participants’ awareness, knowledge, and understanding of core concepts, content, and habits of mind that characterize sustainability and EfS.
On day two, we go deeper with EfS standards and performance indicators and begin an informal EfS curriculum alignment process. We map participants’ findings to determine where EfS content, skills, and attitudes are aligned to existing curriculum to determine where to conduct a strengths assessment and/or embed EfS into units of study.
Scheduled PD Offerings
Summer Curriculum Design Studio: Educating for a Sustainable Future
August 3 – 7, 2020
Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, New York
Join the Cloud Institute for a five-day curriculum design studio where educators, administrators, and program designers will learn how to design and embed Education for Sustainability into curricula, assessments, and performance tasks without the need for additional class time!
Held at the beautiful Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York, you will get access to expertise, resources, and tools to reorient and enrich curricula. Through working sessions, learning circles, coaching, peer review, and optional mini-sessions, you will create and develop units and protocols that educate for sustainability.
Come yourself or bring a team! Space is limited.
Visit the Cloud Institute’s Events and Workshops webpage for an up-to-date list of events.