In 2020-21, a year with much uncertainty,
we extended the impact of our core programming and stretched to meet the changing needs of our community.

Here are outcomes from our 2020-21 evaluation:

  • 95% of students in ESYNOLA classes are willing to taste new foods
  • SEL supports
  • Edible Evening @ Home raised $136,400, including $9,600 for families and teachers and $20,000 paid to restaurants.
  • 85 harvest tables. Fruit, vegetables, flowers, and eggs from our gardens to the school community!
  • $59,600 in food and supplies distributed to families
  • 1,200 plants given to families, local gardens, and community members
  • 5500 plants started in the Ashe Greenhouse
  • 12 chickens, 3 goats, and 1 pig cared for
  • 1880 garden classes, 509 kitchen classes, 20 events for 630 people, 1,870 students taught
  • over 2 tons of food waste diverted from the landfill
Read our full Results & Impact Report for 2020-21 HERE!

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:

  1. Student interviews
  2. Food preference surveys
  3. Student Learning Target (SLT) Assessments
  4. 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:
  1. 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.”
  2. 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.”
  3. 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.