Section 5 of the National Environmental Education Act (1990) established a National Environmental Education and Training Program. The Act states:

"There is hereby established an Environmental Education and Training Program. The purpose of the program shall be to train educational professionals in the development and delivery of environmental education and training programs and studies."

The National Training Program, which is administered by U.S. EPA’s Office of Environmental Education, is now in its fourth phase. The program is awarded on a competitive basis every 3-5 years.

U.S. EPA initiated the National Training Program in 1992 with a three-year cooperative agreement to a consortium of universities and nonprofit organizations headed by the University of Michigan. Under this phase of the program, the consortium supported K-12 in-service teacher training by developing resource materials, establishing an electronic database of EE information and materials, and conducting training workshops. The program was titled the National Consortium for Environmental Education and Training (NCEET).

In September 1995, EPA initiated a second phase of the program with an award to the North American Association of Environmental Education. The consortium built upon the work initiated by the University of Michigan. The program focused on delivering training to education professionals through existing programs; improving access to quality EE materials by expanding linkages between databases, developing and disseminating the Guidelines for Excellence; and sustaining long-term training efforts by strengthening partnerships and building capacity to deliver comprehensive EE programs at the state and local level. The program was titled the Environmental Education and Training Partnership (EETAP).

The award to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in September 2000 was the third phase of U.S. EPA's National Training Program. This phase focused on educator training, strategic initiatives such as the National Guidelines for Excellence in EE, accreditation, certification, and continuation and enhancement of efforts such as EE-Link. The program was titled the second Environmental Education and Training Partnership (EETAP2).

The fourth phase of the National Training Program was awarded to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in 2005. This initiative will continue work in educator training, strategic initiatives started under EETAP2, and EE-Link. In addition, new initiatives to work with tribal communities and conservation practitioners were added. The program is titled the third Environmental Education and Training Partnership (EETAP3).