School Garden Scorecard
Below are recent findings from the Austin School Garden Project, research conducted by The EdEN (Education, Evaluation, Nutrition) Lab at the University of Texas. This research project involved over 100 schools and identified successful strategies that help overcome common school garden challenges.
A working garden and one-hour lesson every other week during the school year lead to…
- A half serving per day increase in vegetable consumption
- 5% improvement in glucose control
- 5% improvement in academics
- 13% increase in time on task
Teachers with under utilized gardens reported needing more:
- Teacher Training
- Garden Curriculum
- Garden Committees
Research showed that school gardens who are thriving are:
- 3x more likely to have Community Partner Use
- 4x more likely to have Active Garden Committees, Available Garden Curriculum, Teacher Training
- 12x more likely to have Good Administrative and District Support
Have you ever wondered how your school garden program is doing? What are your strengths? Are there areas that could use improvement? Take this survey (15min) and not only contribute to the ongoing nationwide research and help inform best practices for school gardens, but also receive a personalized School Garden Scorecard that will help you to evaluate your program.
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