Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

International Sustainability Literacy Test Available for Piloting Now through October 10, 2014

  • 06/24/14

DENVER, CO — The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), the Disciplinary Associations Network for Sustainability (DANS) and the Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium (HEASC) have been involved in an international effort to create a sustainability literacy tool for higher education. The International Sustainability Literacy Test is a free, online multiple choice question assessment, with customized versions for different countries and regions of the world. It attempts to assess a student’s basic level of knowledge about sustainability — including social and environmental responsibility — and can be administered in any college-level course, undergraduate or graduate.

The International Sustainability Literacy Test is designed to provide the first worldwide picture of the sustainability knowledge of our students. More than 150 academics, NGOs, corporations and volunteers from 25 countries participated in the development and early testing phase of the tool, and the current target is to have 100,000 students take the test. Colleagues at Kedge Business School in France are leading the effort, working with many other countries to develop the test instrument and process.

Over the past several months, campus sustainability experts from the AASHE, DANS and HEASC communities developed and reviewed questions for the U.S. version of the test. We are now asking all higher education institutions in the U.S. to participate in a pilot of this first version. Any instructor can sign up to be an examiner. Instructors and their students who pilot the exam will receive scores and other helpful information, and can provide feedback to the test creators to improve the next version. The piloting phase is occurring through September.

Please consider participating by signing up and administering the test during the next few weeks. For questions, contact the U.S. National & Regional Committee at [email protected] or the General Secretariat for the test at [email protected]. And visit the website today!

Featured

  • Year-Round Schools Require Year-Round Indoor Air Quality Planning

    While many schools are out for the summer, year-round schools follow a more “balanced” schedule with shorter, more frequent breaks spaced throughout the school year. Even though this offers educational benefits, these facilities have less downtime for building maintenance. This can become an issue when facilities managers overlook the importance of routine HVAC maintenance and air duct cleaning services.

  • Johns Hopkins Starts Construction on New Residence Hall, Dining Facility

    The Homewood Campus of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., recently began construction on a new residence hall and dining facility, according to university news. The work involves demolishing the existing Alumni Memorial Residence Hall I, which was built in 1923, to make room for the new facility.

  • St. John Fisher University

    Classroom Revitalization – Basil Hall Room 216

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. St. John Fisher University's Basil Hall Room 216 Classroom Revitalization has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Project of Distinction award in the category of Spaces.

  • Myrtle Grove Elementary

    Phased Construction Keeps Students on Campus During Rebuild

    When Escambia County School District needed to replace most of Myrtle Grove Elementary School in Pensacola, Fla., it had three distinct challenges: honor the school's legacy in the community, bring state-of-the-art learning environments to the county, and be seamlessly built on the same site as the active school campus.