Invitational Working Conference on Energy Literacy in Secondary Education
October 8, 2009
Friday Institute for Educational Innovation
North Carolina State University

We invite your participation in an Invitational Working Conference on Energy Literacy in Secondary Education to bring together state and national stakeholders to:

• establish a shared vision for energy literacy;
• prioritize key issues, components, and challenges; and
• build partnerships and networks for a proposal to layer energy literacy into the curriculum of the North Carolina New Schools Project (NCNSP) Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)-focused high schools.

With funding from Progress Energy Foundation, this conference has been organized by NCNSP, in partnership with The Science House and the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology, and Science at NC State University, and with the Alliance to Save Energy in Washington, DC.

Participants will represent high school teachers from all content areas, all levels of educational administration, higher education, government, the energy sector, and related green businesses and organizations. The conference will run as a series of four rounds of discussion, each round featuring a speaker or panel followed by breakout working sessions, to address the following topics:

• Student Outcomes: What are the desired attributes of an energy literate graduate?
• Curriculum: What are the desired components and qualities of an energy literacy curriculum? How can it be integrated with existing curricula and standards?
• Community Engagement: How do we engage the broader community with schools to support student learning and economic development?
• School as an Energy Community: How does a school “walk the talk” – as a community of energy consumers, conservers, and generators?

Issues of teacher professional development, school leadership, assessment, and dissemination will be addressed by working groups after this initial conference.

We have blocked hotel rooms on October 7 for out-of-town participants at the Sheraton in downtown Raleigh. Please reference Energy Literacy when making reservations. Hotel reimbursement is available on request for participants from education institutions and non-profit groups.

We hope you will contribute your expertise and experience to this important discussion. Please see the tentative agenda and registration form.

NCNSP is a non-profit organization that works with school districts across the state to create, develop and sustain new, small, innovative high schools – more than 100 to date – to prepare traditionally underserved students for college, work, and life in the 21st century.