Education for Sustainable Development in Global Ready Schools: A Comparative Case Study

This comparative case study explored the implementation of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) at two of North Carolina’s Global Ready elementary schools. The following research questions guided the study: 1) How do educators and affiliates of Global Ready elementary schools perceive global education, specifically Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)?; 2) What sustainability topics are covered most by educators at Global Ready elementary schools in North Carolina?; 3) How is ESD incorporated within global education at Global Ready elementary schools in North Carolina (i.e. examination at the curricular, campus, and community levels)?; 4) How do Global Ready elementary schools compare in their conceptualization and implementation of global education, specifically ESD? Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (1976) and Elser et al. 's (2011) Sustainable Schools Framework served as useful lenses for examining the affordances and constraints of sustainability education at the curriculum, campus, and community levels. A school-wide survey was disseminated to all certified educators at each school to obtain a broad view of ESD implementation within each case. To explore ESD implementation at a granular level, interviews were conducted with select educators, administrators, community partners, and members of a State Education Agency. Further, artifact collection and field visits allowed for the triangulation of data sources. The constant-comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) was utilized in the analysis of interviews and artifacts. Findings from both cases suggest that sustainability education was often used as a means for deepening global learning. At the curriculum level, survey results and interviews with participants indicate frequent integration of social sustainability topics into the curriculum with lesser attention given to topics of economic sustainability. Additionally, while there are many challenges to sustainability education at the curriculum and campus levels, findings suggest that community partnerships may play a role in mitigating some of these constraints. To conclude, the researcher discusses the need to complicate frameworks related to Education for Sustainable Development to attend to the complexity of ESD implementation within and across the curriculum, campus, and community.