“Nothing about us without us.” This phrase is central to the disability rights movement and helped shape the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It carries a simple, nonnegotiable idea: All policies and decisions should be...
For Dr. Laurel Kruke, championing environmental literacy and sustainability in public schools is the realization of a lifelong passion. Holding a master’s degree in sustainability and a PhD in education focused on climate change education, Dr. Kruke spent years tracking...
The California Youth Climate Policy (CYCP) Leadership Program is halfway through its fourth cohort, bringing together 70 student leaders from across California to build skills, develop advocacy campaigns, and advance climate action in their local school systems. Since launching in...
Standing beside poster boards, systems maps, and student-designed presentations, freshmen in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District (SRVUSD) shared their views on how global issues such as climate change, mental health, biodiversity loss, and social and political polarization connect...
Anne Armstrong didn’t think of herself as a climate champion. She teaches at ALBA Community Day School in San Diego, a small site serving students navigating expulsion, suspension, and deep generational trauma. With water growing scarcer across California, she built...
Today, I’m pleased to introduce an exciting climate education capacity-building opportunity. Since AB 285’s passage in 2023, California’s public schools and districts are required to provide students in grades 1-12 with annual educational opportunities on climate change causes, effects, solutions,...
Before working at Ten Strands, I worked for Key Curriculum Press, a publisher that focused on inquiry-based mathematics, including the simple idea that students should be supported in learning to think their way through problems, not in memorizing their way...
There’s a moment I’ve watched hundreds of times, and it still stops me every time. A kid stands at the edge of the water with a board that’s bigger than they are. Their shoulders are up around their ears. You...
Ask any Angeleno about the Inland Empire, or “the IE,” and you’ll get a dozen different answers. To the uninitiated, the Inland Empire is the name given to Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, two sprawling counties sitting on Tongva, Cahuilla,...
This article was developed for the CAELI Green Ribbon Initiative spring 2026 Green Hills Elementary School, part of the Millbrae Elementary School District in San Mateo County, is building a school culture where environmental stewardship, student leadership, and community engagement...
