Outcome Framework for School Garden ProgramDevelopment and Evaluation: A Delphi Approach

摘要

School gardens programs and garden-based education are positioned to become fixtures ineducational institutions given recent trends and the national interest in gardens at school sites.Agricultural education professionals have integrated school gardens into core science, socialstudies, math, and language arts courses as well as agricultural education programs forelementary, middle, and high school curriculum. The literature shows that while there are specificcurriculum links being made, school garden programs elicit a multitude of benefits in addition toenhancing student performance. Although the literature outlines an extensive set of impacts thatmay result from a school garden program, they are grounded in a specific case or intervention.Those who are planning for and evaluating school garden programs are left to make connectionsbased on case study results or intervention trials, which leaves plenty of room for error. We utilizedthe Delphi approach with a panel of 74 experts to identify consensus on 38 outcomes that shouldbe used to inform program development and evaluation efforts. Agricultural educationprofessionals and other stakeholders connected to school gardens can use the results of this studyto provide a solid foundation for an outcome-driven school garden program.