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An Evaluation of
Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture
2009
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture (Stone Barns) is an educational farm located approximately 45 minutes from New York city. This small, well diversified, and productive farm, is comitted to the ideals of sustainable agriculture. The educational programs offered by Stone Barns provide children with opportunities to experience nature and farming firsthand. The mission of the farm is to celebrate, teach, and advance community-based food production and enjoyment.
Summary of Key Evaluation Findings
The primary finding from this evaluation was that students who spent more time at Stone Barns reported higher levels of understanding about healthy eating, the importance of farms, and becoming stewards of sustainable farms. Educators who went to Stone Barns saw the value of bringing their students to Stone Barns, and many expressed a desire for more time at the farm, and additional ways to connect to Stone Barns.
Specific findings included:
- Stone Barns impacted students in several realms, including higher levels of understanding about healthy eating, the importance of farms, and becoming stewards of sustainable farming.
- Students enjoyed the experiential, hands-on activities of Stone Barns field trips.
- Educators viewed Stone Barns staff as helpful, with mixed reviews on field trip guides.
- Stone Barns deepened some educatorsí understanding and awareness of sustainable farming.
- Educators connected Stone Barns field trip/s to classroom curricula, but did not weave sustainable farming substantially throughout their curricula.
- A few schools had ongoing sustainable farming projects, partially inspired by Stone Barns.
Evaluation Methods
External evaluators from PEER Associates, Inc. conducted an evaluation of the Stone Barns educational programs in 2008-2009. The evaluation focused on the comparative effectiveness of 1-time field trips versus a more in-depth program where Stone Barns staff worked with educators to connect field trips back to classroom curricula. Stone Barns staff invited all classroom educators who had visited Stone Barns with their students since its inception (N=179) to fill out a survey. 84 educators filled out the survey (response rate of 47%). In addition, 19 educators participated in interviews, and 17 educators had their students fill out student surveys (N=316).
Recommendations & Conclusions
Overall, educators were quite happy with their association with Stone Barns, and students benefited from their time at the farm. Yet, there is still room for improvement in deepening studentsí farm experiences as well as the relationships between educators and Stone Barns.
Program recommendations include:
- Continue to provide opportunities for educators and schools to deepen connections with Stone Barns.
- Increase developmental appropriateness of Stone Barns field trips.
- Improve communication with educators and schools about Stone Barns field trips and other farm events.
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