Framework-08-25-14_web

64 CHAPTER 04: PRIORITY OUTCOMES, INDICATORS AND MEASURESEducation: Priority Outcomes and IndicatorsFarm to school activities reinforce what and howstudents learn, but to establish any significantinfluences on academic achievement, their alignmentwith core content standards needs to be established.For example, if farm to school educational activitiessupport middle school science curriculum, andthe site is interested in determining educationaloutcomes, then it is desirable to align activities tocore content standards. This can be done using anexternal reference tool such as the Next GenerationScience Standards 47 . Once this alignment hasbeen established, changes in student learning andengagement as a result of farm to school activitiescan be assessed.Program Outcome: Farm to school activities arealigned to core content standards to supportstudent engagement and learningAs the field has matured, farm to school educationalactivities (usually food-system education andgardening education) are beginning to be alignedwith content standards and taught across differentsubjects. Rather than attempt to focus directly onestablishing association with the desired long-termoutcomes such as academic achievement, schoolattendance and classroom behavior management,it may be more realistic to focus current efforts onshort-term and intermediate outcomes that leadto the long-term outcomes. Beyond the outcomesand indicators listed here, the framework developersencourage readers to collect stories of changesrelated to education outcomes. Stories are importanttools that can be used to communicate real-lifeexamples of the data that emerges from farm toschool evaluation and research.The measures selected for this indicator areopportunities for sites to document the status oftheir farm to school activities in conjunction withcore content standards. The measures provide usefulinformation needed for planning, coordinationand evaluation, and are listed in order of increaseddifficulty:teachers to incorporate farm to school activitiesthat are in alignment with Common Corestandards.• Measure 1.2: provides data on how many andwhich students are benefiting from activities.• Measure 1.3: highlights the extent to whichcurriculum is aligned with school gardening efforts.• Measure 1.4: helps ascertain how farm to schoollessons are supporting and reinforcing existingeducational requirements.• Measure 1.5: assesses the depth (low, medium orhigh implementation) of farm to school activities inrelation to a specific subject/core content area.• Measure 1.6: determines changes in attitudesor learning due to farm to school educationalactivities. This measure is the most time-intensiveas it would require pre- and post-testing. Thereare numerous validated instruments that measureaspects of engagement in children 48 . Thisinformation can feed into the development of farmto school activities.Achievement scores are not selected as a prioritymeasure at the program level, as it will require greateralignment between farm to school educationalactivities and Common Core standards. Sites acrossthe country may need a national curriculum for farmschool aligned with Common Core standards and aversion for early child education settings aligned withthe Early Learning Framework so they can adapt it.Use of curriculum aligned with content standards orearly learning development is not assessed currentlybut could be in the future, as farm to school activitiesat sites across the country mature and become moreinstitutionalized.• Measure 1.1: provides information for trainingEVALUATION FOR TRANSFORMATION