Farm to School Action Planning

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Whole School Teams • Farm to School Action Planning • Coaching • Skill Building • Peer Networking

The Northeast Farm to School Institute Model

Creating custom action plans lies at the heart of the Northeast Farm to School Institute experience. Action planning is facilitated by the team's coach and involves the following key steps:

  • Assessing current farm to school efforts using the Farm to School Rubric. This assessment allows teams to identify strengths to build on and gaps to address.

  • Creating a shared values statement to guide the program’s vision and goals.

  • Setting specific, measurable goals informed by the rubric and values statement. Goals should encompass the 3Cs—cafeteria, classroom, and community—as well as staying power.

  • Brainstorming and prioritizing activities based on team capacity, available resources, and impact toward goals.

  • Recording the goals, activities, roles, timelines, and resources needed in the Farm to School Action Planning Template.

  • Implementing the action plan while gathering feedback and assessing progress.

  • Adapting the action plan as needed based on challenges, changes, and new opportunities.

This cyclic process of assessment, planning, action, and adaptation is key to developing an action plan that evolves along with the team's work and changing external factors.

✔ Action Planning Checklist

  • Assessment: Action planning should always begin with an assessment of current farm to school efforts to identify strengths and gaps. Use of the Farm to School Rubric is recommended.

  • Values Statement: Teams should create shared values statements that guide their action plans and align with the outcomes they are seeking.

  • Goal Setting: Each team’s action plan should include at least one to two goals in each of four sections: Cafeteria, Classroom, Community, and Staying Power/Integration. Goals should be specific and measurable, informed by the rubric and values statement.

  • Action Planning Template: Teams are encouraged to record goals, activities, roles, timelines, and resources needed in the Farm to School Action Planning Template. This is a short-term plan for a single school year.

  • Cyclical Process: Action planning should be treated as a cyclical process, including assessment, planning, action, and adaptation, to create and maintain an action plan that evolves over time.

Connection to the Professional Learning Philosophy

The action planning process aligns with key elements of the professional learning philosophy in the following ways:

  • Facilitated Inquiry: Action planning involves self-directed inquiry as teams assess their strengths and opportunities and then develop goals and plans based on their reflections. This facilitates a deeper understanding of needs.

  • Equity: By centering equity when setting goals and writing values statements, teams can ensure diverse perspectives are represented in the action planning process. This increases the likelihood that the resulting farm to school programming will attend to the needs of and be accessible to all participants.

  • Agency: Collaborative action planning builds teams' collective capacity and efficacy to lead initiatives that align with their shared priorities and values.

  • Relationships: The coach-team relationship provides essential support throughout the action planning process. The collaborative nature of action planning also builds stronger relationships between team members as they share perspectives and work closely to assess strengths and opportunities, align on values, and develop goals. Engaging in in-depth strategic thinking and planning together likely deepens interpersonal connections and trust within teams.

  • Context: The action planning process is designed to account for the unique context of each school. Rather than prescribe set outcomes, action planning allows teams to consider their own institutional priorities and community contexts and build their work accordingly.

Adaptations & Variations

Questions to Consider

  • How can you use application responses to craft unique workshop offerings and sessions that will inspire the action planning process?

  • How can you ensure the action planning process makes space for adaptation and creativity and doesn’t dictate what a team should do or what farm to school is (i.e., if the Northeast Farm to School Institute does a workshop on visiting dairy farms but you don’t have a dairy farm in your area, how can you adapt the workshop to focus on a local producer in your region)?

  • How might an appreciative inquiry process in tandem with the Farm to School Rubric address gaps and needs while leveraging the assets of each team?

  • How can the coach’s approach to facilitation ensure that the action planning process is iterative and remains an important touchstone throughout the year?

An Institute team’s composition will depend on the needs and goals of the participating school. No two whole-school teams are exactly the same. In fact, teams don’t have to be school based. Teams can come from school districts and early childhood programs. 


1. Supporting Teams in Completing the Farm to School Rubric Prior to the Institute

Having teams complete the Farm to School Rubric in advance prepares them for the action planning process during their Institute experience.

Example from the Field: The Northeast Farm to School Institute has applicants submit their rubric self-assessments during the application process. This allows for more nuanced responses to review. The Massachusetts Farm to School Institute takes it a step further–coaches meet with their teams before the retreat to complete the rubric together.

Pros & Cons: 

  • Pros: Using the rubric during the application process may result in stronger applications with teams demonstrating more thought and accurate assessments of their progress, making it easier for reviewers to discern applicant capacities. Use in planning before the retreat may help teams come better prepared to dive into action planning, and may give coaches insight into their teams’ needs to tailor their facilitation accordingly.

  • Cons: Additional time and effort is required for teams and coaches to complete the rubric prior to the retreat. Some teams may feel overwhelmed by the "homework" before the program even begins.

2. Action Planning for Early Childhood Teams

While early childhood programs may find the Farm to School Rubric content relatable, nuanced technical guidance is key for translating goals into feasible actions.

Example from the Field: At the Northeast Farm to School Institute, early childhood teams have found that the rubric resonates with them because, despite being designed for K-12 schools, the clear examples in the rubric are readily translatable to an early childhood context. However, differences in regulations and nutrition programs mean early childhood teams need more specialized technical assistance to turn goals into concrete plans. Experts versed in areas like the Child and Adult Care Food Program have helped adapt the broad objectives for early childhood systems and resources.


Pros & Cons:

  • Pros: The action planning process can be readily adapted for early childhood education, and providing specific technical assistance can make the Institute more inclusive for early childhood teams.

  • Cons: Without sufficient early childhood-specific expertise, teams may struggle to develop action plans in some areas, and it's an additional logistical element for Institute organizers to ensure availability of this expertise.


3. Taking a Less Formal Approach to Rubric Content

The Farm to School Rubric provides a well-structured framework for reflecting on the current status of a farm to school program as well as ideas about next steps to deepen programming. However, the rubric may not be the right tool for everyone.

Example from the Field: IThe Massachusetts Farm to School Institute has moved away from strict adherence to the rubric. Instead, the Institute includes less structured, coach-facilitated conversations to understand the current state of a program. As one organizer explained, “We do very much value that shared baseline understanding of what's going on in the district/school, because often the people on the team haven't been working with each other prior to the Institute. Letting them just have some conversation around that often did the same thing [as using the rubric]."

Pros & Cons:

  • Pros: The Farm to School Rubric may feel too rigid or prescriptive for some teams or participants, especially educators who may have had unpleasant experiences with rubrics in their careers. Not using the rubric may also allow for more free-flowing conversations that surface other important programmatic considerations.

  • Cons: The Farm to School Rubric provides a well-considered structure covering areas of an integrated program that are understood to be important and can help ensure that all relevant areas are addressed in action planning.

Lessons Learned: Helpful advice for facilitating a successful action planning process at your Institute

  • It’s critical to have coaches facilitate action planning. Coaches help teams keep things in perspective as they build their action plans and offer valuable insights and resources throughout the process.

  • Action plans should be considered “draft” until more voices from the team's community have an opportunity to provide input. Action plans should be shared with the community and continually revised and adapted to ensure a more equitable process. It’s important to recognize the power and privilege that teams have by literally "being at the table" during the retreat.

  • The rubric structure may not make sense for every team. When teams come from a unique cultural context, (e.g., tribal communities), you should seek out or develop locally and/or culturally appropriate tools and frameworks, such as these Native Farm to School resources.

  • Provide teams with time to reflect after important content is delivered or discussed. This can encourage teams to more deeply consider what they have learned and integrate it into their action planning.

Explore the Core Components

Whole School Teams • Farm to School Action Planning • Coaching • Skill Building • Peer Networking