Measuring ImPact & Sharing Results

Since 2016 the SGSO Leadership Institute has been collecting, reviewing, and sharing resources related to program evaluation, student assessment and sharing results. The following are resources created and curated by SGSO Leaders. Enjoy – go deep!

Resources For Measuring Impact & Sharing Results

A detailed viewer guide and notes on the 2020 SGSO Leadership Institute presentation on creating effective surveys. VIEW THE MAIN THEMES AND AUDIO CLIPS FROM THE PRESENTATION.
Presented at the 2021 Virtual SGSO Leadership Institute, this presentation shares an overview and resources to create Culturally Responsive Evaluation. VIEW THE RESOURCES AND PRESENTATION.
A curated collection of school garden survey examples and sample survey questions. VIEW SURVEY FRAMEWORK & QUESTION BANK.
Best practices for sharing program impact, planning tools, & loads of examples from SGSOs. VIEW THE RESOURCES.

Resources for taking a deep dive into Evaluation & Assessment

FoodCorps Healthy Schools Toolkit

FoodCorps’ Healthy School Toolkit is a set of resources designed to:

      • Take a snapshot of your current school food environment.

      • Guide your school community in creating a vision for the future.

      • Document your action plan for working toward that vision.

      • Evaluate and celebrate your school community’s history and progress over time.

 

The GREEN Tool: For Well-Integrated School Gardens from Teacher’s College Columbia University

Defines elements and shares case studies for creating a strong school garden culture
GREEN School Garden Integration Matrix to rank / score your program. Created by Gallatin Valley Farm to School

 

Cornell Garden-Based Learning Evaluation Toolkit

Easy to use guidance, aimed at the educator with minimum experience with evaluation, for purposes of program improvement and documentation. 

 

Informal Science.org  is a collection of evaluation resources designed to support informal STEM education. They share a robust collection of evaluation tools and instruments, advice for working with an evaluator, how to create an evaluation plan and more.

 

My Environmental Education Evaluation Resource Assistant (MEERA) 

Online “evaluation consultant” created to assist you with your evaluation needs. It will point you to resources that will be helpful in evaluating your environmental education program.

 

The Learning Activation Lab 

National research and design effort which developed and tested a variety of survey instruments, interview and observation protocols, and other instruments for use in research efforts.

 

Using Evaluation to Move Your Program to the Next Level

This guide from the Tisch Center for Food, Policy, and Education walks participants through basic program evaluation methods giving them the tools to assess the effectiveness of their program, and includes activity sheets.

 

Stanford NGSS Assessment Project Free, Online Courses

Course 1. Performance Assessment in the NGSS Classroom: Implications for Practice.

Course 2. Developing Instructionally-Embedded Performance Assessments NGSS Classroom.

 

Youth-led Participatory Action Researchis an innovative approach to positive youth and community development based in social justice principles in which young people are trained to conduct systematic research to improve their lives, their communities, and the institutions intended to serve them.

Community-Based Participatory Research  is a partnership approach to research that equitably involves community members, organizational representatives, researchers, and others in all aspects of the research process,

School Garden Support Organization Network’s Forum on Research and Assessment https://groups.google.com/forum/#!tags/school-garden-network/research-and-assessment

Logic Models and Theory of Change

Sample Logic Model Documents Shared by SGSOs

Logic Models and Theory of Change 

Frameworks & Approaches describe popular ways to gather and make sense of data.

Learning for Action Better Results Toolkit – Templates and Guides for Creating an Organizational Theory of Change

University of Wisconsin Madison, Program Development and Evaluation

Shares a large collection of Logic Model tools and examples.

Garden Instructor/Site Assessment Matrices

Lesson Observation and Coaching Tool from FoodCorps

 

Partners for Education, Agriculture & Sustainability’s Garden Specialist Evaluation

Gardeneer’s Educator Observation Rubric

Washington DC OSSE School Garden Site Assessment Matrix 

Why School Gardens

Summary Documents and Research Briefs on the Power Purpose of Garden-Based Learning www.lifelab.org/whyschoolgardens

Children and Nature Network and North American Association for Environmental Education Research Database

Our Relevant Webinars

MEASURING IMPACTS AND SHARING RESULTS IN
GARDEN-BASED EDUCATION
APRIL 14, 2021, 11AM-12:15PM PST / 2-3:15PM EST
VIEW ARCHIVE HERE

Since 2016, SGSO Network Leadership Institute participants have been collecting and sharing the ways that we evaluate our programs, assess student outcomes, and share our impacts. The 2021 Virtual SGSO Leadership Institute focused on sharing these resources in a more organized manner. Join us for a detailed summary of how SGSOs evaluate their programs, assess their students, and share their impacts.

This webinar shares:
-Ideas for creating effective questions and surveys
-Examples of survey tools and strategies used in Garden-based learning
-A summary of how and why SGSOs share their impact

IDENTIFYING AND MEASURING IMPACT JUNE 6, 2017 
VIEW ARCHIVE

Hear how and why School Garden Support Organizations across the nation measure the impact of school garden programming. A wide range of assessment tools and strategies from different organizations will be shared.

Hosted by: Robyn Burns, Program Director, CitySprouts; With Meg Hiesinger, The Ecology Center; Suzannah Holsenbeck, Common Ground – High School Urban Farm and Environmental Education Center; May Tsupros, Gardeneers