Thank you for your interest in the Wisconsin Green Ribbon School Program. In order to be considered for nomination, you will need to collect extensive data about your school's facility, health and safety policies, food service, and environmental and sustainability curriculum and assessment. The downloadable application is provided to help you prepare your application. We strongly encourage you to use it to begin your research; however, you must complete the online application to be considered. You can save the information and return to the application at any time. Look for the "Save and Continue Survey Later" link at the bottom of page 2 and each screen thereafter.

Notes on the downloadable application: The online application format allows for question “triggers,” meaning depending on the answer, different questions will come up. In the PDF version, all questions are printed, regardless of the answer. Also, all school district codes are printed in the PDF version, so it is best to print only pages 1-5 and 21-47 to avoid printing the list of codes.

Introduction: The U.S. Department of Education's Green Ribbon Schools (ED-GRS) award is intended to recognize those schools taking a comprehensive approach to greening their school. A comprehensive approach incorporates and integrates environmental learning with maximizing positive environmental and health impacts. The award criteria are intended to focus on measurable outcomes wherever possible.

Background: Application reviews will be based on the applicant's demonstrated progress towards the goals of each of the three ED-GRS Pillars:

Pillar I goal: The school has a net zero environmental impact.
Pillar II goal: The school has a positive impact on the health and performance of students and staff.
Pillar III goal: 100% of the school's graduates are environmentally and sustainability literate.

Four items are important to keep in mind as you consider applying to become a nominee:

1. These are ambitious goals and few if any schools are expected to have achieved all three, or perhaps even 100% of any one of the pillars.
2. Schools demonstrating exemplary achievement in all three Pillars will receive the highest ranking.
3. It is important to demonstrate concrete achievement, using quantified measures, whenever possible.
4. This is a two-step process. The first step is to complete and submit this form to be selected as a state nominee. If your school is being actively considered, additional documents supporting your answers will be requested for the nomination package that will be forwarded to the U.S. Department of Education (ED). Each state may submit up to four nominees to ED. Upon review, ED will then award approximately 100 Green Ribbons from these nominees.

As you'll see in the application, each Pillar is broken down into "Elements" in order to provide more detail and explanation for what is meant by each Pillar. Each Element then has a series of questions which will demonstrate the progress made in achieving these goals. Some questions have been grouped together into categories for the sake of clarity and organization.

Once you begin your application, you may save and return to it at any time, however, certifications must be completed before you can move forward with the rest of the application. The remainder of the application may be completed in any order. Applicants do not need to answer every question; however, lack of information may impact reviewer's ability to assess a school's achievement.

You must submit your application no later than February 15, 2012.

For questions about this information, contact Victoria Rydberg (608)266-0419

Last updated on 1/18/2012 8:20:16 AM