Dr. Gerald A. Lieberman is an internationally recognized authority on school improvement using natural and community surroundings as interdisciplinary contexts for education. He has over 38 years’ experience working with state and national education agencies, school districts, and public schools to help them meet their academic goals through a process of continuous improvement. His specialties include: professional development for teachers and district staff, curriculum design and development, education program planning, education program evaluation, and environment-based education.
      Since 2013, Dr. Lieberman has been an active partner with the implementation and dissemination of California’s new standards and frameworks for science, history-social science, mathematics, visual and performing arts, and health. His work includes:
Science: Writing over 100 pages of content for the Science Framework (adopted 2016); writing and presenting at 17 statewide Phase 3, 4, 5 and 6 NGSS rollouts (9,000 participants); developing and presenting on behalf of CDE instructional materials exemplars for science publishers.
History-Social Science: Writing extensive content for the History-Social Science Framework (adopted 2016); writing and presenting at 16 statewide HSS rollouts (approximately 3,200 participants).
Mathematics: Writing vignettes and examples for the Mathematics Framework (adopted 2023).
Health: Writing content for California Health Education Framework (adopted 2019); member of Statewide Health Collaboration Committee.
Visual and Performing Arts: Writing content for California VAPA Education Framework (adopted 2023).
Environmental Literacy: Founding member of the California Environmental Literacy Leadership Initiative (CAELI). Environmental Literacy Task Force work team lead and author of section “Strategy 1: Integrate Environmental Literacy Into Existing and Future Education Initiatives.”
      Previously, Dr. Lieberman served as the principal consultant for the State of California’s Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI). The EEI was a cooperative endeavor of the California Environmental Protection Agency, the California Department of Education, the State Board of Education, the Governor’s Secretary of Education, the Integrated Waste Management Board and the Resources Agency. Dr. Lieberman led the development of the State’s approved “Environmental Principles and Concepts” and the plan for the “EEI Curriculum.” In 2010, this standards-based curriculum was approved by California's State Board of Education. www.californiaeei.org
      He led the development of the innovative educational strategy called EIC Model™, using a school's local Environment as the Integrating Context for learning and, more recently, the development of the curriculum for the State of California's Education and the Environment Initiative. Dr. Lieberman’s recently released book,Education and the Environment: Creating Standards-based Programs in Schools and Districts, offers key strategies for getting buy-in from school and district administrators, and teachers in connecting nature and the environment into their classroom studies.
      In 1995 Dr. Lieberman founded and has since directed the State Education and Environment Roundtable (SEER), originally a cooperative endeavor of departments of education in 16 states. SEER works directly with schools to help them meet their academic goals through a process of continuous improvement. SEER's work was sponsored by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The Education Commission of the States recognized SEER's EIC Model™ as a "promising practice… that shows evidence of success in improving student achievement."
    Over the past 43 years, Dr. Lieberman has created and conducted professional development programs for more than 13,000 educators and other professionals, working with formal education systems at local, state, national and international levels. He has designed and coordinated curriculum development programs in the United States, Costa Rica, Honduras, Colombia and Argentina.
     Dr. Lieberman is the principal author of Closing the Achievement Gap: Using the Environment as an Integrating Context for Learning, a ground-breaking, national study that received an award from the National Environmental Education Foundation for "bringing environmental learning into the mainstream of American K-12 education." He has authored 45 other major reports, books and articles on subjects related to environment-based teaching strategies and environmental science.
    Dr. Lieberman received his Ph.D. and M.A. from Princeton University and his B.A. from U.C.L.A. He is a past Chair of the Commission on Education of IUCN, the World Conservation Union.
     A brief biography and resume can be downloaded here: Dr. Gerald A. Lieberman Bio and Resume