The gardening curriculum has been integrated with the California School Grade Standards to facilitate academic achievement in the areas of math, science and geography.
In 2005-06 and 2006-07, Rosa Parks Elementary received the two mini-grants from the San Diego Nutrition Network (SDNN) to develop activities in the garden that directly promote nutrition education. The collaborative mission is to "unite, educate, and advocate for healthier food choices and physical activity with the primary focus to encourage students and their families to eat the recommended daily amount of fruits and vegetables. The SDNN mini-grant funds supported the goal of developing garden-based nutrition lesson plans in partnership with UCSD Nutrition Link educators. Nutrition educators worked with Rosa Parks teacher Candice Lyons to develop lesson plans and activities for each grade level. Lessons in 2005-06 were developed and piloted for 4th and 5th grade, in 2006-07 Ms. Lyons expanded the lessons to include grades 1-3. Teaching them in the garden every Friday began in Spring 2007.

The San Diego Women's Foundation grant funds in 2002-04 not only supported construction costs, but also purchased educational materials from the Master Gardener Program. To date, 23 members of the Rosa Parks faculty, representing the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades, have participated in training programs for the Junior Master Gardener curriculum. This one hour training session was conducted at the school site during Grade Level meetings and was facilitated by Scott Parker, a gardening and nutrition teacher trainer from the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE).
This training addressed the following topic areas:

Upon completion of the training program each instructor was given a complimentary copy of the Junior Master Gardener Teacher/Leader Guide which is the instructors manual and classroom companion to the Junior Master Gardener Student Handbook. The UCCE Family Nutrition Program provided these complimentary guides. On going support in the form of personal visits, workshops, and/or informational letters/emails have been provided to the participants to support and encourage the use of the Junior Master Gardener curriculum and the use of the school garden as an outdoor classroom laboratory.