National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

Park-based learning is powerful - and transformative. People more readily retain information, grasp

meanings, and adopt new behaviors and values when directly involved with cultural and natural

heritage resources and sites. Park Service education informs uniquely about the civic experience of our

country and the complex, diverse ecology of our world. It encourages respect for our experience, as a

nation, and invites stewardship. It is an organizational function that nurtures an aware citizenry,

engaged to a greater extent in American public life. It is a mission of high national purpose. The National Park Service is committed to extend its leadership in education, to build on what is in place and

to pursue new relationships and opportunities to make national parks even more meaningful in the life

of the nation. Renewing our Education Mission lays out a course we will follow to achieve these goals.

Fran Mainella, Director, National Park Service

Photo Courtesy of Roy Hawk

Renewing Our Education Mission

Report to the National Leadership Council

June 2003
Renewing Our Education Mission

When it comes to the education of our children...failure is not an option.

President George W. Bush

In June 2002 the National Leadership Council

(NLC) applied the knowledge and understanding gained from its yearlong seminar series on

education to create a vision, guiding principles,

and program goals to renew the Service’s commitment to its education mission.

On July 9-10, 2002, a cross–section of park, program, and regional staff nominated by the NLC

met in Washington, DC, to review and respond

to the NLC recommendations. The two-day

session provoked compelling discussions, highlighted the excellence that is already a hallmark

of so many of our National Park Service (NPS)

education programs, and demonstrated clear

consensus on approach and priority actions.

During this meeting there was a genuine appreciation for the NPS commitment to focus its time

and energy on learning about education. They

welcomed the leadership of the NPS to re-commit the Service as an organization to its unique

and fundamental role in providing opportunities

for learning. There was wide consensus that for

the purpose of future discussions, we should define “education” very broadly. In this context,

education means all kinds of learning opportunities for people of all ages including formal and

informal programs, volunteer programs, life-long

learning, publications, exhibits, films, the

Internet, public outreach, and research.

Vision

Interpretation and education is a primary organizational purpose of the National Park

Service, essential to achieving our mission of

protecting and preserving our nation’s natural and cultural resources. We envision a national park system that is recognized as a significant resource for learning, where people

and organizations collaborate on teaching

and learning about the interconnections of

human culture and nature, natural systems,

the values of America’s diverse heritage, and

the principles of democracy. Parks are an integral part of the nation’s educational system,

providing unique and powerful individual

learning experiences that help shape understanding and inspire personal values.

National Park Service

June 20, 2002

Santa Monica Mountains National

Recreation Area

2 Park Ranger Conducting Program
Framework

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

3

Guiding Principles

Our educational programs are designed to enrich

lives and enhance learning, nurturing people’s appreciation for parks and other special places, and

therefore helping preserve America’s heritage. To

accomplish this, the National Park Service, will

develop — and partner with others to create —

interpretive and educational programs according

to the following guiding principles:

National Park Service programs are place-based—

Programs use national parks and other places

as dynamic classrooms where people interact with

real places, landscapes, historic structures, and

other tangible resources that help them understand meanings, concepts, themes, stories, and relationships.

Programs provide authentic, personally relevant, and inspiring learning opportunities and

invite people to engage in stewardship.

National Park Service programs are learnercentered—

Programs honor personal freedom and interests through a menu of life- long learning opportunities that serve a wide variety of learning

styles, encourage personal inquiry, and provoke

thought.

Programs meet learners’ needs and challenge

them to explore ideas and test truths.

National Park Service programs celebrate

diversity—

Programs present multiple points of view and

address controversial topics in a balanced manner.

Programs are inclusive, tell a variety of stories, and celebrate the history of all Americans.

National Park Service programs are widely

accessible—

Programs provide learning opportunities, reflect and embrace different cultural backgrounds, ages, languages, abilities, and needs.

Programs are delivered through a variety of

means, including distance learning, to increase

opportunities to connect with and learn from

resources.

National Park Service programs are based on

sound scholarship content, methods, and

audience analysis—

Programs are informed by the latest research

related to natural and cultural heritage.
Thank you for an outstanding resource for

overworked, wornout teachers....This

lesson is a perfect fit

for my unit.

California teacher

comment on Teaching

with Historic Places

4

Programs incorporate contemporary educational research and scholarship on effective interpretive and educational methods.

National Park Service programs help people

understand and participate in our civil democratic

society—

Programs highlight the experiences, lessons,

knowledge, and ideas embodied in America’s

national parks and other special places.

Programs provide life-long opportunities to

engage in civic dialogue, and take personal responsibility to care for each other and our communities through service learning, volunteerism,

and civic engagement.

National Park Service programs incorporate

ongoing evaluation for continual program

improvement and effectiveness—

Programs are regularly evaluated and improved to ensure that they meet program goals

and audience needs.

Programs for organized groups, such as curriculum-based programs, are designed with advice from potential participants.

National Park Service programs are

collaborative—

Programs are created in partnership with

other agencies and institutions and reflect the

National Park Service’s dual role in delivering

programs and enabling others to do so.

Programs created in partnership are mutually

beneficial and achieve common goals.

Program Goals

Building Capacity

Every employee has a role in education because

we all interact, in some way, with the public.

Whether on the phone or responding to a letter,

in formal presentations or greeting park visitors, working with volunteers or partners, or

talking with friends and neighbors, we have opportunities to share knowledge...to teach and

learn. Recognizing and creating these opportunities is a skill we should each practice.

Through our relationships with the public we

can invite them to join us in our mission. Public

understanding and stewardship are paramount

for success in our resource management and

protection programs, and every employee can

contribute to building that support.

Organization

The National Park Service will bring strategic

leadership to an organization-wide approach to

education that results in renewed vigor, dialogue, and scholarship that embodies the principles of a learning organization.

Employees

The National Park Service will attract and nurture diverse, highly professional, knowledgeable, and creative employees that understand

and embrace their role as an essential educational resource.

Research

The National Park Service will ensure that employees have access to the latest scholarship on

preserving, managing, and interpreting natural

and cultural resources as well as on educational

methods and that this knowledge is reflected in

its programs.

Evaluation

The National Park Service will establish a system of evaluation focused on continually improving programs and sharing lessons learned

and best practices Servicewide.

Creating Opportunities

Throughout its history, the National Park Service has used its knowledge of resources — and

passion for protecting them — to create rich

and varied opportunities to engage the public.

This has been sustained by the creativity, ingenuity, and dedication of employees in all disciplines and in collaboration with our equally

committed volunteers and partners. These efforts extend beyond park boundaries to reach

national park neighbors and those who may

never visit a national park.

Life-Long Learning

The National Park Service will provide quality

resource-based experiences and opportunities

for life-long learning that are relevant to diverse

audiences.

Children

The National Park Service will provide an opportunity for every child in America to have a

memorable learning experience.

Technology

The National Park Service will use new technologies to enhance programs and carry them

to new audiences.

Access

The National Park Service will create convenient access to its full offering of programs for

teachers and parents.
Big Thicket National Preserve

Golden Gate National Recreation Area

5

Expanding Partnerships and Outreach

Visitors to national parks have been the primary

audience for National Park Service education

programs. We must retain our commitment to

developing and providing high quality in-park

programs while growing our ability to reach

visitors before they arrive, people who live in

neighboring communities, and the many millions of others who may not currently visit. To

become one of the premier education resources

in the nation we must proactively identify ways

to engage a public defined more broadly than

park visitors.

Reaching New Communities

The National Park Service will reflect our diverse society by providing unique opportunities

for all people to understand, appreciate, and

participate in preserving our natural and cultural heritage.

Partnerships

The National Park Service will nurture existing

and develop new partnerships with organizations with which we share a common vision. We

will collaborate in developing and delivering excellent public programs that best use the

strengths of each partner.

Communication

The National Park Service will articulate its

goals consistently – organization-wide. We will

revitalize and refocus the entire array of National Park Service written, visual, audio,

Internet, and other communication media to renew our education mission.

National Strategic Actions

The following priority national issues and recommended actions developed by the NLC and

the working groups can be taken in the short

term to advance the renewal of our education

mission. Unless otherwise indicated, it is assumed that the new Associate Director for Partnerships, Interpretation and Education, Volunteers, and Outdoor Recreation will coordinate

these actions and they will be expanded on in

discussions with the Education Council.

Asset Mapping

Issue: The National Park Service has a wealth of

educational “assets”; from talented and skilled

employees, to dynamic programs, to extensive

media, to well-attended education centers, to

strong education partners.

While we know we have assets, we have not systematically collected this information and made

it available across the Service. Since the key to

getting where you want to go is knowing where

you are, to effectively build the depth, breadth,

and value of the National Park Service’s educational programs we must first identify our existing strengths and assets. This “asset mapping”

will also surface potential linkages between programs and partners and identify gaps in our

overall program.

Action: The Northeast and Pacific West

Regions working with WASO Information

Technology and the National Park Foundation

will pilot asset mapping. The information

gathered would be entered into an online

education database that can grow to accommodate the future collection of Servicewide

information.
Priority

National

Action Items

Constitution Gardens

Boston National Historical Park

6

The database will be accessible on InsideNPS

for internal planning, evaluation, and other

uses. It will also feed the development of

products like the state compendiums of NPS

education programs. The information from the

pilot will also be analyzed in a “needs assessment” by outside experts working with NPS

education subject matter specialists, the

National Park Foundation and key leaders. The

needs assessment will capture information on

current Servicewide strengths and needs. This

pilot will be evaluated and additional asset

mapping conducted.

Program Evaluation

Issue: The National Park Service devotes

significant effort to developing educational and

interpretive programs. More needs to be done

to evaluate their effectiveness. Do they create

opportunities for people to understand and

make personal connections to places and

stories? Can these programs be made more

effective? Lessons learned from the Interpretive

Development Program are helping create a

methodology to evaluate park-based programs.

A Servicewide evaluation strategy for National

Park Service programs, including tools to help

parks and programs conduct their own,

scientifically valid, surveys, is called for.

Evaluations will identify best practices, maximize investment of appropriated and donated

funds, help managers understand the potential

for interpretation and education and advance

the work on a national level.

Action: Create an Education Evaluation

Coordination Team to coordinate development

of a Servicewide evaluation strategy. Members

should be drawn from the Education Council,

certifiers from the Interpretive Development

Program, and respected researchers and

experts in the field of evaluation. In addition:

contract with an evaluation firm or university

to develop an overall evaluation plan for

existing interpretation and educational programs and tools.

conduct a literature search for recent

research on the effectiveness of interpretation

and education in the national parks and

national park programs and distribute the

findings broadly.

review existing Servicewide proposals in PMIS

on evaluating interpretive and educational

services to identify collaborative opportunities

across parks and regions and avoid duplication

of effort.

create a variety of tools that can be used by

parks and programs to evaluate and improve

the success of their programs.

evaluate the effectiveness of ParkNet in

general and specifically as it relates to reaching

new or under served/represented audiences.

Comprehensive Interpretive Plans

Issue: Interpretation is about choices. We

choose what stories to tell, whom to tell them

to, and how to tell them. While these choices

are rarely easy, an effective planning system can

guide our decision-making. In 1995 the National

Park Service adopted a unified planning system

for interpretation and education. This system is

Comprehensive Interpretive Planning (CIP).

The CIP is the basic planning component for

interpretation and education. The CIP is a tool

for making choices. It helps parks decide what

their objectives are, who their audiences are,

and what mix of media and personal services to

use. The product is not the plan, but an

effective and efficient program that achieves

management goals and provides appropriate

services for our visitors. The responsibility for

park interpretive planning now rests with the

park superintendents. Many parks throughout

the service have either started or completed

their Comprehensive Interpretive Plans.

Promoting and supporting the completion of a

CIP at each park will provide a foundation for

sound interpretive and education programming.

Action: Continue to support the completion of

the Comprehensive Interpretive Plans to ensure

park programming is based on sound scholarship with public input and defined visitor

experiences.

Interpretive Development Program

Issue: The Interpretive Development Program

(IDP) is a field developed NPS mission-based

training and development curriculum with ten

outcome-based benchmark competencies based

on NPS Ranger Careers position descriptions.

The IDP is improving the quality of visitor experiences in national parks around the country. It

is a learner-driven employee development program based on meeting peer-reviewed certification standards. The performance-based outcomes require interpreters to be able to provide

opportunities for visitors to make personal connections to the meanings and significance of

park resources. The IDP facilitates the stewardship philosophy that people will care for what

they first care about. It is designed to foster accountability and professionalism in interpretation in the NPS and set a national standard for

interpretive effectiveness that results in a higher

level of public stewardship for park resources
7 Shenandoah National Park

“Interpretation

facilitates a connection between

the interests of the

visitor and the

meanings of the

resource.”

Interpretation

Training

Curriculum

Action: NPS establishes the long-term stability

of the Interpretive Development Program in

order to create a competent motivated interpretive workforce that is capable of meeting the

challenges of the NPS mission now and in the

future.

Identify Strategic Education Partners

Issue: The National Park Service has unparalleled “content” made unique by its inextricable

link to the actual places that shaped the natural

and human history of this land. We have spread

the reach of this content beyond what we could

ever do alone by working with cooperating

associations, park institutes, and schools in

gateway communities, to build a strong foundation of local partnerships. To become a premier

national education resource, we must share this

content with the broadest possible audiences by

enhancing our existing partnerships and

developing new strategic alliances with those

who have professional expertise in creating and

distributing content to mass and targeted

audiences.

Action: Research potential education partners

identifying their mission, goals, membership,

other partners, activities, and note any current

or previous involvement with the National Park

Service. Ask current partners to identify other

potential partners. The research will help

identify those that best align with the needs and

gaps surfaced by the asset mapping and

business plan and who are most compatible

with our overall mission, vision, and goals.

Design and Produce a Business Plan for Education

Issue: Information generated by the asset

mapping, needs assessments, program evaluations, and identification of potential strategic

partners needs to be systematically analyzed

into a coordinated set of recommendations for

the renewal of our education mission.

Action: Create a “Business Plan for Education”

to articulate the strategy for implementing

education renewal – and how success will be

measured. The plan should:

analyze current and potential audiences

survey other organizations doing similar work

identify gaps between National Park Service

needs and assets

recommend priorities, workloads associated

and resources to support those workloads

describe challenges

recommend opportunities for investments in

our development

identify potential strategic partnerships

This plan will make it clear that education is an

integral part of the Service’s mission, help define

our unique niche in the education community,

provide a framework within which to make

strategic decisions on staffing and funding, and

measure success.

Recognize and Share Best Practices

Issue: The formal evaluation of programs will

provide models to establish standards of

excellence, provide opportunities for the

Service to learn from itself, and recognize those

whose work exemplifies the excellence for

which we strive.

But beyond the results of formal evaluations,

there are scores of examples in the Service of

smart people doing smart things. The National

Park Service has a proud tradition of offering
Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Big Thicket National Preserve

8

compelling interpretive and educational

activities that increase the enjoyment of parks

and the understanding of natural and cultural

resources. The National Park Service is an

internationally recognized leader in providing

experiential educational programs that connect

people to their heritage. We need to recognize

our employees, the partners they work with,

and widely share the innovations, creativity, and

new approaches they have developed that help

people learn.

Action: Each Associate and Regional Director

should develop a program to recognize education best practices within their own spheres of

responsibility through tools such as awards and

case studies. These best practices will be

shared Servicewide through the new education

site on InsideNPS.

Significantly Expand Use of the Internet

Issue: The Internet has permanently changed

the way we communicate. It is a tool with

virtually unlimited potential. It provides instant,

on-demand, global access to information. That

being said, the NPS has been slow to take full

advantage of the Internet’s potential. Though

NPS has isolated examples of excellent web

initiatives, in totality, we are not meeting the

needs of the public who would like access into

the vast storehouse of information and material

managed by the Service.

As with any other significant information

technology initiative, web development must be

driven by a comprehensive strategy that

embraces the Park Service’s mission and goals.

Our web presence must be developed like any

large-scale IT initiative. It must be well-planned,

designed, implemented and maintained. And,

most importantly, the Park Service must allocate

sufficient resources to carry out this process.

Park education coordinators report that

teachers have trouble finding and using park

materials on the web This is not surprising since

the current web site (ParkNet) was developed

many years ago and before many of the

important concepts in web development, such

as navigation techniques and standardized

formats, had fully matured.

Action: The launch of Learn NPS, the National

Park Service’s Internet “portal” to search and

access education materials, is an important first

step. It must be followed by many more. We

must develop a comprehensive proposal to use

the entire range of the Internet’s audio, visual,

interactive, search, instant linking, and other

capabilities to support our education programs

and partners, consistent with the “Business Plan

for Education.” We must ensure that the

technical infrastructure is in place to meet the

growing needs of an information-hungry public,

24 hours a day and seven days a week. We

must ensure that this valuable asset is properly

secured and that it affords flexibility for users

with a wide-variety of equipment and processing capabilities. We must not forget that the

National Park Service’s websites are used by

visitors from many countries and, where

possible, material should be offered in other

languages.

Expand State NPS Education Program Guides

Issue: Each State charts its own course in

education policies and standards to teach its

children. Linking NPS programs to state

curricula makes it more useful and relevant to

educators in classroom and home-school

settings. The guides piloted by the Northeast

Region for Massachusetts and Virginia describe

curriculum-based programs and services at

each national park in the state and their

correlation with state standards. The compendiums have proven very effective for both

educators and NPS staff. Organizing programs

and materials by state also helps raise public

awareness of national parks as centers for

learning and facilitates the development of

partnerships.

Action: Compile guides for every state. The

Northeast Region is already improving its model

and has developed web versions for Massachusetts and Virginia. Digital guides will be developed for New Jersey and New York. Going

digital will allow wider distribution, both online

and as CD-ROMs, save money, and allow the

information to be more readily updated.

Develop a Communications Strategy

Issue: The NLC has spent the better part of a

year grappling with the need for, and directions

of, a renewal of the National Park Service

education mission. Those in the field who have

committed their careers to providing quality

education opportunities – and succeeded —

could be understandably wary of this “sudden”

interest, where it came from, and what it means

to their work. A mechanism must be developed

to share the information that helped shape the

NPS actions, identify who has been involved,

encourage feedback, and provide updates. We

also must include in the discussion our valued

partners including the cooperating associations

and park institutes. Their knowledge and

experience will be invaluable in shaping a plan

for education renewal.

...the Park Service is

already doing a lot in

education, but it’s a

matter of doing better what is already

being done.

Shirley Malcolm,

NPS Advisory Board
9

I cannot believe this is a

Science class....Right

now my science

teacher is getting

drenched with water

and not getting angry.

My mom and dad were

shocked this weekend

when I explained the

workings of a turbine.

...If I could do this in

every class, I might actually like school and

who knows, get an A.

8th grade student

about Tsongas Industrial History Center

Outside the Service, we face a public who

appreciates national parks, but other than a

campfire talk or a visitor center exhibit, may

not see the National Park Service as a resource

for learning. The Alaska Region last year asked

teachers what they thought about National Park

Service education materials; 97% thought them

credible, but didn’t know they existed. Beyond

raising our profile in the education community,

the National Park Service has enormous

challenges and opportunities to reach a broader

public especially audiences that are new to the

National Park Service or for whom the depth

and breadth of the National Park Service

mission is new. When we make opportunities –

teachable moments – to explain what we are

doing and why, we increase the likelihood that

the public will “get it”, support it, and may even

be moved to join us. Education is an invitation.

Action: Develop a comprehensive communications strategy to reach both internal and

priority external audiences. Like all other

plans, this is only as good as its execution, but it

also must be carefully timed to ensure that we

are ready. Its long-term development must

track progress in asset mapping, program

evaluation, and the development and approval

of a business plan. Our goal is to be a premier

national education resource – we won’t get

there just by saying it’s so. To do so before it is

true would seriously damage our credibility.

That being said, we can get started in the

following ways

Internal Audiences:

Celebrate those who are doing well. Our

employees have always been doing smart things.

Show them we know this through a program

of awards, commendations, and public and

peer recognition.

Identify audiences, needs, and ways to

reach them.

Make full use of InsideNPS. Create an

education link at the highest level of the web

page to learn about and offer feedback on the

NPS education renewal. This could include the

material gathered during the NLC seminar

series; other relevant background, including

academic research, reports, and updates on

what is underway.

2003 Conference. Make the renewal of the

education mission a key component of this

conference. The National Park Service

leadership can use this forum to emphasize its

importance and the role that every employee

and our partners are being asked to play.

External Audiences:

Identify audiences. For example, national

teacher associations, education writers, K-12

students, seniors, African Americans, Hispanics, visitors, and existing or potential channels

to reach each.

Establish priorities. We can’t do everything

at once, so where will efforts and resources

have the maximum impact? The business plan

will help us guide this effort.

Showcase success. There is a veritable gold

mine of National Park Service programs

underway on any given day – which most

people don’t know about. Every program has

an educational component. Find it. Showcase

it. Recognize those responsible in public ways.

Review NPS media. Do our publications,

periodicals, films, exhibits, and websites, reach

their intended audience? Is information

presented in the right form, format/medium,

and context? Can it be more broadly distributed? Can it be re-purposed to distribute via a

different channel? Can we make more thematic

or geographic connections for the user? Does

it meet user needs? Does it create or add to

the desired knowledge?

Market & Expand Partnerships. Meet with

the park institutes, field schools, and other

partners that run educational programs in

parks and identify how we can promote

existing programs and expand them, where

appropriate.

Internet, Internet, Internet – There is no

other medium that has as large and diverse an

audience and where the content is totally

under our control. The communications plan

must include a strategic vision for the shortand long-term future of not only LearnNPS

but also the entire the National Park Service

presence on the Internet. Our website,

nps.gov, must be recognized as a primary and

unmatched method of communicating with the

general public. We must take full advantage of

its multi-media capabilities and its inherent

ability to reach targeted audiences with

specific information.
10

Charter

The Education Council will serve as an interdisciplinary advisory forum, a leader in advocating

the renewal of the education mission nationally

and in the field, and will coordinate with

national education partners within the service

in order to build capacity, create additional

opportunities for learning and expanded

partnerships.

Purpose

The Council will advise and make recommendations to the Associate Director for Partnerships,

Interpretation and Education, Volunteers, and

Outdoor Recreation.

The Council will work in cooperation and

consultation with the National Park System

Advisory Board Education Committee.

The Council will formulate short and long term

strategies to achieve the vision for education as

articulated by the National Leadership Council

The Council will identify emerging issues and

opportunities to unify and support the educational efforts of the agency

The Council will facilitate communication with

the field, regions, directorate, the National Park

System Advisory Board and the National Park

Foundation, other foundations, cooperating

assoiciations and other partners

Representation

The Council will consist of 15 to 24 members

representing the broad range of talent, expertise and experience found in the Service

including:

Superintendents (representing small, medium

and large parks)

Education and interpretation subject matter

experts/practitioners (representing interpretive

program development, asset mapping, program

National

Park Service

Education

Council

evaluation, community outreach, chiefs of

interpretation, education specialists and interpretive planning).

One member appointed from the National

Park Foundation

One member appointed from the National Park

System Advisory Board Education Committee

One ex officio member: the NPS Comptroller

One Regional Director, one Deputy Regional

Director, one Associate Director and one

representative from the NIAC will serve as

liaisons to the Council

Responsibilities of Members

To regularly attend meetings

To serve as a liaison between their parks,

programs, organizations, regional directors, or

regions and the Council, bringing input, issues

and ideas to the Council, and taking information

back to the regions for consideration.

Governance

The Associate Director will serve as co-chair.

The second co-chair will be elected by the

Council membership.

The nomination and final selection of Council

members:

Regional and Associate Directors will solicit self

nominations and may also make nominations of

their own. Each Regional and Associate

Director will present the Associate Director for

Partnerships, Interpretation and Education,

Volunteers, and Outdoor Recreation with a slate

of up to five nominees.

Final selection will be made by the Associate

Director for Partnerships, Interpretation and

Education, Volunteers, and Outdoor Recreation.

Terms

Initial members will serve 2 or 3 year staggered

terms (terms determined by the co-chairs and

the members) to ensure continuity.

Subsequent members will have 3 year terms.

Meetings

The Education Council will meet at least 2 times

a year in person, once in the East and once in

the West. Meetings will be facilitated and the

facilitator will prepare notes of the meeting. To

further communications, there will be conference calls every other month on the same day

and the same time. It is expected that work will

be done between Council meetings by working

committees.

The President hopes

to improve the educational value of

park experiences by

making sure all citizens are aware of opportunities to participate in conservation

and restoration partnerships.

Gale Norton,

Secretary of the Interior