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By Kristin Reisinger, MS RD The Edible Schoolyard Continues to Grow In 1995 a program called The Edible Schoolyard (ESY) was founded by chef and Chez Panisse restauranteur, Alice Waters, in order to teach middle school aged children about the connection between what they eat and where it comes from, with the overall goal of "fostering ecological understanding and revolutionizing the school lunch program." An acre lot covered in asphalt neighboring the school was transformed into a garden and ecosystem and their 1930's style cafeteria was morphed into a kitchen and classroom. It is here, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California that the connection between the children and the environment was made through teachings of how to "grow, harvest and prepare nutritional seasonal produce" all within their own school curriculum. It seems as though conducting research on the efficacy of such a program might be fruitless. How could such a program not be beneficial? In recent years the ESY Program as well as others similar in nature have been attracting quite a bit of attention from policy makers and organizations locally, nationally and internationally placing importance on the quantification of results of these programs. Hence, qualitative and quantitative data was collected during the 2001-2002 school year. One hundred-five sixth graders were used in the sample size with half stemming from the MLK Middle School and the other half from a neighboring school without the ESY program serving as a control group. Surveys and interviews with students, parents and teachers were conducted, pre- and post- assessments were done at the beginning and end of the school year and school grades, tests and attendance were also taken into account. Carefully designed assessment tools were used for students to identify fruit, vegetables and parts of plants, garden cycles, to demonstrate ecological concepts and to probe into the students' understanding of their own relationship to the environment. Preliminary findings have been outstanding. It has been shown so far that the ESY students have shown greater academic achievement and higher GPAs, greater gains in understanding garden cycles and ecoliteracy as well as knowledge of sustainable agriculture, ecosystems and sense of place over the children serving in the control group. There has also been tremendous improvement with the teachers including ranking "academics, cooperation and compassion for living things" as their top three priorities in teaching and rating their schools higher as more conducive to learning than the teachers teaching in the control group school. Future implications of such programs include improved student nutritional health that can ultimately lead to long-term diet change. It is the belief that this would potentially then contribute to decreases in obesity prevalence and improved public health. Ultimately, the more our children are educated on sustainable agriculture and develop respect and understanding for where our food comes from, the more they will develop respect for themselves and for each other. As it stands, the Edible Schoolyard Program has been a success at helping students "develop the knowledge, lifestyles, values and skills that will lead to sustainable patterns of living." The Edible Schoolyard, it appears, will continue to grow. For more information: www.edibleschoolyard.org www.ecoliteracy.org www.king.berkeleypta.org/edible.html www.chezpanisse.com/cpfoundation.html References Murphy, EdD. Michael J. Education for Sustainability: Findings from the Evaluation Study of the Edible Schoolyard. Center for Ecoliteracy. April 2003. Kristin Reisinger, MS RD, is a New York City-based nutritional consultant, fitness trainer, freelance health + fitness writer and musician. She holds a Master's Degree in Exercise Physiology + Nutrition from Columbia University and is a Registered Dietitian through American Dietetic Association. She is also a competitive figure athlete, former Galaxy competitor, avid snowboarder, rock climber and surfer. She has been competing for over five years and will continue to do so until she is 80. She can be contacted at kristin@kristinreisinger.com.