The GREEN Tool (Garden Resources, Education, and Environment Nexus) For Well-Integrated School Gardens

This research brief explains the study that led to the creation of the GREEN Tool (Garden Resources, Education, and Environment Nexus) and highlights how it can improve school gardens. The study investigates what makes a school garden well-integrated in New York City schools and how different parts of a garden program work together. This study resulted in the GREEN Tool, which includes two main parts:

• A Map illustrating when and how to operationalize the 19 components needed to establish, integrate, and sustain a school garden; and
• A Scorecard with questions rated on a 3-point scale to measure progress on each of these 19 components.

Together, the Map and Scorecard can help school garden leaders plan, develop, and sustain a garden that is well-integrated into the school. This brief focuses on the background study and the GREEN Tool Map, and includes policy recommendations based on research findings.