In 2022-23 we resumed a full schedule of garden and culinary classes and joyful special events. Our students loved being back in their gardens, watering and weeding, harvesting and cooking, and sharing the bounty with friends and family. Edible Schoolyard New Orleans is back in full bloom!
We listen, we reflect, and we respond. We are always growing.
Evaluating our process
As a team, we use a review process to create continuous growth with curriculum, professional development, event planning, staff performance, student success, and so on. We appreciate the beauty and the grit of every major event and interaction. The stronger our team, the better we serve children.
Evaluating program outcomes
Our three main focus areas of evaluation are food behaviors, student learning, and social emotional learning.
We do this through the following methods:
- Student interviews
- Food preference surveys
- Student Learning Target (SLT) Assessments
- Willingness to taste data – observing and documenting the percentage of students who are willing to taste new foods
Here are outcomes from our qualitative evaluation:
- Parents report that their kids are more interested in cooking at home and eating new nutritious foods. A parent described, “My son who was in Edible Schoolyard last year said it was his resolution to cook one meal a week for his family, and he’s kept that up.”
- Academic teachers report that garden and kitchen classes help reinforce core academic concepts: “If there is something that they need to be taught or re-taught, or anything that we haven’t gotten to yet, they help us turn it into a real-life situation. It helps the kids understand.”
- The role of ESYNOLA in developing food-related life skills such as growing produce, grocery shopping, and cooking, is highly valued by students, parents, and teachers.
To read students’ words, click here.
To read more stories of ESYNOLA’s impact, click here.
To see the results of our internship program, click here.
