California EIC Study Shows Higher Achievement in Three out of Four Students

The State Education and Environment Roundtable also published a study of schools in California finding that three times out of four the students supported by environment-based education did better on tests, attitude, attendence and overall performance that students without such support.

Study Citation: State Education and Environment Roundtable (SEER). (2000). California Student Assessment Project: The Effects of Environment-based Education on Student Achievement. Retrieved July 14, 2005 from http://www.seer.org/pages/csap.pdf

This was a controlled study that compared eight paired sets of students. One class was exposed to Education as an Integrating Context (EIC) programs and the other class did not have such a program.

In two cases, the paired classes came from the same school. In the other six cases, they came from different, neighboring schools with closely matched by demographics and socioeconomic charactereristics. Data were collected from standardized test scores, site visits, and teacher surveys and interviews. The authors compared standardized measures of academic achievement in reading, writing, math, science and social studies,

Findings: the EIC students did better in 72% of the time. And, the EIC student class attendance was better 77% of the time. They also showed fewer discipline problems, increased enthusiasm for learning, and greater pride in their accomplishments.