southern ssawg farm to school program evaluation
TRANSCRIPT
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Farm to School Program Evaluation
Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group
January 17, 2014
Andrew Carberry MS,MPH
Rachel Schichtl MS, RD
Childhood Obesity Prevention Research Program
Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute
Department of Pediatrics, UAMS
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Overview of COPRP
Mission
Addressing childhood obesity
through a coordinated
community-based approach
targeting modifiable individual
risk behaviors, environmental
risk factors, and state and
national risk reduction
policies. Our approach
is focused on food systems
and sustainable agriculture
strategies.
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Delta Garden Study
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Full time Garden Program Specialist for 1 year
Designs and develops garden
Builds/refurbishes greenhouse
Develops planting/harvesting calendar
Co-teaches all DGS lessons in the garden
Intervention Components
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1-acre Garden, built over the course of the year, with:
Vegetables
Fruits
Composting
Herbs
Rainwater Harvesting System
Chickens and Worms
Intervention Components
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The Arkansas Grow Healthy Study
About
USDA AFRI grant
5 site collaboration
Pilot Program Next
Year
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Arkansas Grow Healthy
Farm to school pilot program
Coordinated effort offering local procurement,
nutrition education and social marketing
Increasing access to and variety of fresh fruits
and vegetables for 2-8 year olds in Head
Starts and Public Schools in Arkansas
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Arkansas GardenCorps
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Arkansas GardenCorps
AmeriCorps service member program
Mission is to promote the use of school and
community gardens to increase environmental
awareness and sustainable agriculture practices to
address childhood obesity in Arkansas communities
Focus on garden development/maintenance, garden-
based education, volunteer recruitment, and food
access
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Why is Evaluation Valuable?
Internally
Improve outcomes
Improve production or
increase revenue
Stop doing things that
don’t work
Monitor and adjust to
improve efficiency
Externally
Increase consumer
confidence
Positive Public Relations
opportunities
Grantors/funders want
data
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Who will be your audience?
Internally
Employees
Yourself
Externally
Parents
Students
Peers
School administration
Community partners
Funders/investors
General Public
Legislators
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Evaluation Examples from
Arkansas
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Types of Evaluation
- Formative
- Process
- Impact
- Outcome
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Formative Evaluation
Measurements or observations made before or
during program implementation (pre-testing or pilot
testing)
Examples:
Delta Garden Study- Focus groups, pilot testing of
instruments and interventions
Arkansas Grow Healthy: Taste testing of new
recipes, focus groups with Child Nutrition Directors
Arkansas GardenCorps: Needs Assessments
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Taste TestsFormative Evaluation Example
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Taste TestsFormative Evaluation Example
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Resources Needed
Top 10 resources needed to increase
fruit and vegetable processing
1. Refrigerator
2. Staffing
3. Wedger
4. Corer
5. General Space
6. Slicer
7. Chopper
8. Dicer
9. Knives
10.Storage Space
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Farm to School Barriers
1. Lack of local producers in my area from whom to purchase
2. Food safety
3. Don't know where to find local produce
4. Delivery considerations
5. Inadequate volume of local produce
6. Seasonality of Arkansas produce products
7. Federal and state procurement regulations
8. Cost is too high
9. Payment arrangements
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Process Evaluation
Measurements during implementation to control,
assure or improve the quality of performance or
delivery
Examples:
-Delta Garden Study: Teacher Reflections, Structured
Observations, Planting and Harvest logs, Volunteer
logs
- Arkansas Grow Healthy: Procurement and
Production Records
-GardenCorps: Service Hour logs
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Process Evaluation (cont)
Other examples include:
-number of pounds of produce sold or donated
-number of servings of a particular fruit or vegetable
served in the lunchroom
-number of students/parents/educators to attend farm
tours or workshops
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Impact Evaluation
Immediate, observable effects of the program,
changes in behavior, awareness, knowledge,
attitudes and/or skills.
Examples:
-Delta Garden Study; Fruit and Vegetable Survey,
Knowledge Questionnaire, Physical Activity
Questionnaire, School Bonding Survey,
Arkansas Grow Healthy: Taste tests with students
Arkansas GardenCorps: Taste tests, environmental
awareness surveys
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Impact Evaluation (cont)
Other examples include:
- Number of dollars brought in by certain events or
broken down by produce type
- Student Lunch participation rate
- Changes in eating patterns/shopping behaviors
- Fruit/vegetable preference
- Fruit/Vegetable identification
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Outcome Evaluation
Ultimate goal or product of a program- for health
related research this is generally morbidity/mortality
rates among participants.
Examples:
Delta Garden Study: reduction in Body Mass Index
Arkansas Grow Healthy: feasibility of an integrated
Farm to School Program
Arkansas GardenCorps: Increasing students’ interest
in farming as a career
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Outcome Evaluation
Other examples include:
- Increase of X% in local food served in cafeteria
- Improved cafeteria operating budget due to increased
school meals participation
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Qualitative and Quantitative
Quantitative – numeric data-
counts, ratings, scores,
classifications
Qualitative - narrative, descriptive
data
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What/Who Will you
Measure? Behaviors
Knowledge
Attitudes
Purchasing/Production records
Sample Measurement Toolshttp://www.farmtoschool.org/files/resources_644.pdf
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Design
Pre-post design
One time data collection (pre or
post)
Control groups
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Practice Sharing Results
Dream
Write down your dream result
Choose an audience
Share!
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Reference
McKenzie, J., Neiger, B., Thackeray, R.
Planning, Implementing, & Evaluating Health
Promotion Programs: A Primer. Pearson
education. San Francisco. 2009
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Where to Find Us
ACHRI Childhood Obesity Prevention Research Program
http://www.achri.archildrens.org/ObesityPrevention.htm
The Arkansas Grow Healthy Study
http://growhealthy.uark.edu/
The Delta Garden Study
www.arteengarden.com
Arkansas GardenCorps
http://arkansasgardencorps.com/
Contact: Andrew Carberry Rachel Schichtl
[email protected] [email protected]
501-364-6555 501-364-3360