Pupil instruction: outdoor learning.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary does not specify what professional learning resources will be provided or how they address particular needs of local educational agencies.

Outdoor Learning for Students

This law encourages schools to include outdoor learning in their teaching plans and provides guidance and resources to support it.

What This Bill Does

• Encourages school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to integrate outdoor learning into standards-aligned instruction across all subjects.
• Requires the State Department of Education to develop and maintain online guidelines for outdoor learning by July 1, 2028.
• Allows local educational agencies to describe in their planning documents how they will use outdoor learning to support pupil engagement, environmental literacy, climate resilience, and academic achievement of pupils from historically underserved communities.
• Establishes a three-year pilot program to investigate the effectiveness of outdoor learning in improving student outcomes.

Who It Names or Affects

• School districts, county offices of education, and charter schools
• Local educational agencies that can use outdoor learning as part of their teaching plans

Terms To Know

Historically underserved communities

Communities that have not had equal access to resources or opportunities compared to others.

Limits and Unknowns

• The pilot program will only happen if the Legislature provides funding.
• It is not clear exactly what resources will be provided by the Department of Education for outdoor learning.

Official Summary Text

AB 2158, as amended, Hoover.
Pupil instruction: outdoor learning.
Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary education in this state. Under this system, local educational agencies throughout the state provide instruction to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and existing law establishes courses of study for those pupils.
This bill would encourage school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to integrate outdoor learning into standards-aligned instruction across subject areas, as provided.
The bill would authorize local educational agencies to describe in their local control and accountability plans or other relevant planning documents how outdoor learning will be used to support pupil engagement, environmental literacy, climate resilience, and academic achievement of pupils from historically underserved communities.
Existing law establishes the State Department of Education under the administration of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and assigns the department numerous duties relating to the governance and funding of local educational agencies.
This bill would require the
Superintendent,
department,
on or before July 1, 2028, to
arrange to develop and publish
develop and maintain on its internet website
statewide guidance on outdoor learning. The bill would also require the
Superintendent,
department,
in
developing this guidance,
carrying out these provisions,
to consult with county offices of education, classroom educators, tribal partners, environmental literacy experts, and community organizations with experience in outdoor learning. The bill would authorize the
Superintendent,
department,
subject to an appropriation, to provide
professional learning resources to support educators in delivering high-quality outdoor learning.
resources to address the particular needs of each local educational agency.
This bill would establish the Statewide Outdoor Learning Pilot Program for a period of 3 years following an appropriation of funds for this purpose to, among other things,
demonstrate
investigate
the effectiveness of outdoor learning in improving pupil outcomes, and
build
gather
statewide evidence to inform future legislative and budgetary decisions. The bill would require the Superintendent to, as part of this pilot program, award grants to six pilot sites with representation
from northern, southern, and central California. The bill would
authorize the Superintendent to contract with a nonprofit organization with demonstrated expertise in environmental literacy, as defined, and outdoor learning to serve as the intermediary coordinator to, among other things, develop grant award selection criteria and to consult with the Superintendent on selecting grantees.
require the Superintendent, by December 31 of the final year of the pilot program, to publish a final report summarizing, among other things, the outcomes of the pilot program.
The bill would make the pilot program subject to an appropriation by the Legislature.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF