• Camarasaurus skull still embedded in the quarry face

    Dinosaur

    National Monument CO,UT

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Professional Development

Park Ranger with visitors at Swelter Shelter

The Teacher to Ranger to Teacher Program links National Park units with teachers from predominantly Title 1 school districts. This allows the teacher participating in the program to bring their National Park Service experience to the classroom for their students.

NPS Photo

Teacher to Ranger to Teacher Program

National parks provide Americans opportunities to connect to their national heritage. Too often social and economic factors deny some from realizing those opportunities. The Teacher to Ranger to Teacher (TRT) program offers a unique solution by linking National Park Service (NPS) units with teachers from schools with ethnically diverse student populations, with little or no experience with national parks, and little opportunity to explore the relevance these areas can have in their lives. Teacher rangers form a link between schoolchildren and national park units like Dinosaur National Monument.

How Does It Work?

Teachers are detailed as park rangers to Dinosaur National Monument through an Inter-Governmental Personnel Act (IPA) agreement between their public school district and the National Park Service. They spend eight weeks during the summer performing various duties, determined by their interests and the needs of the park. The park provides training, a ranger uniform, shared housing, and a $300/week supplementary payment.

Once back in their schools, teacher rangers bring national parks into the classroom throughout the school year. During National Park Week in April, teacher rangers wear their NPS uniforms to school and engage students and other teachers in activities that relate to Dinosaur National Monument and other NPS sites.

How Do I Apply?

Dinosaur National Monument will not be filling the Teacher-Ranger-Teachers positions in 2012. We hope to restart this program in 2013.

More information

For more information about the program and find a list of participating parks, visit the Teacher Ranger Teacher website.

Did You Know?

Picture of lizard resting on a rock.

Dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago, but lizards are still a common sight at Dinosaur National Monument. The small, inquisitive reptiles have endured on Earth for more than 300 million years, far outlasting their giant cousins.