Author: Rob Wade

About Rob

Rob Wade

Rob Wade is a place-based educator working in the Upper Feather River region of California’s northern Sierra Nevada. As the outdoor education and science coordinator for the Plumas County Office of Education since 1995, he has designed, developed, and implemented successful and sustainable K–12 programs in the region, built upon strategic partnership with over 32 agencies and organizations. These partnerships also allowed the 2016 launch of an NGSS strategy that took outdoor education, environmental literacy, and stewardship mainstream. Outdoor Core Mountain Kid is a K–12 collaborative that supports every teacher in integrating authentic weekly outdoor learning adventures for every student as part of their year-long theme, centered on local inquiry and stewardship.

Rob has a BS from the University of California, Berkeley, in conservation and resource studies and a MA from the University of San Francisco School of Education. In addition to his regional work in California, Rob is a national facilitator and consultant supporting K–12 program development. Rob is the 2017 recipient of the Excellence in Environmental Education Award, presented by the California Environmental Education Foundation, and a 2020 recipient of the Environmental Law Institute’s National Wetland Award for promoting awareness.

Rob Wade

I have been working in the field of environmental and outdoor education and place-based learning in Plumas County, California, for the past 25 years. Plumas County is a rural mountainous region in the northeastern corner of the state. For the past 20 years my work has been tuned specifically toward integrating environmental literacy pedagogy into […]

Juanita Chan

In October, the CA STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art Math) Symposium was held in Long Beach, CA. Leaders from two school districts and one county office of education presented on behalf of the California Environmental Literacy Initiative. Their session entitled “Advancing Equity and Cultural Relevance in Science Education: Developing Environmental Literacy to Increase Student Engagement, […]