No description available.

No description available.

Agricultural education has to alter its curriculum in order to remain in step with the changes in rural and urban lifestyles. It must continue to change and expand its offerings as society develops. As an industry grows large enough to offer a variety of careers, students need to be more aware of opportunities and gain the necessary skills to enter that job market. The equine industry qualifies as an important and viable part of not only Virginia’s economy, but also the national economy. Career Development Events (CDEs) are designed to help prepare students for careers in agriculture. Classroom instruction comes alive as students demonstrate their skills in a competitive setting. CDEs test the abilities of individuals, as well as teams, in 28 major areas of agricultural instruction (National FFA, 2006). The basic core of agricultural education program consists of three components: 1. classroom instruction, 2. FFA, including Career Development Events, and 3. Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) programs. The FFA is a co-curricular organization representing one-third of the total agricultural education program. As such, FFA activities should reflect the instruction provided in the agricultural education classroom and laboratory. The concern facing the profession relates to why there were 40 Virginia FFA chapters with a CDE horse judging team in 2005, but that only 12 programs offered an equine management course. The purpose of my research was to assess the perceptions of Virginia’s secondary agricultural education teachers toward the benefits of offering an equine management course, within the secondary agricultural education programs that have CDE horse judging teams. The survey of 40 agricultural teachers who had a horse judging team at the 2005 state CDE event showed that 14 (22%) of the teachers did teach an equine course or unit within another course, 21 (63%) did not, and five (15%) did not respond. Based on the findings of this study, teachers’ perceptions were that an equine management program and participation in equine Career Development Events are necessary. Teachers agreed the event improved their students’ overall academic performance, increased their acceptance of responsibility, and increased their self-confidence. / Ph. D.

To address 21st century environmental and economic issues, the practice of agricultural science has become more interdisciplinary, collaborative, and reliant on wider community connections. These changes have fueled demands to improve public agricultural literacy and strengthen the agricultural science workforce, increasing expectations for high-quality undergraduate teaching and public scholarship by agricultural science faculty. Unfortunately, faculty often lack professional preparation for this aspect of their work (Bagdonis and Dodd, 2010; Blickenstaff, Wolf, Falk, and Foltz, 2015). In other STEM fields, K-12 outreach by graduate students has gained popularity as a way to improve scientists' skills and outlook toward public scholarship. This thesis explored learning and professional identity development for participants in a K-12 outreach program for graduate students in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Virginia Tech. The theoretical framework of Kolb's (1984) experiential learning cycle and Lave and Wenger's (1991) situated learning theory were employed to explore these processes. Findings revealed that the Graduate Extension Scholars saw themselves as educators and public scholars both before and after participating in the program. Motivations for participation were related to identified gaps in their professional preparation. Participants believed that their knowledge, skill, and professional identity around teaching and public scholarship had been strengthened by their participation in the program. The program's constructivist experiential theoretical framework, community of practice, and extensive support structures were identified by participants as contributors to these outcomes. This study informs program evaluation and has broader implications for preparing future agricultural science faculty. / Master of Science in Life Sciences

Multiple-teacher departments of vocational agriculture were increasing in number. This conclusion is substantiated by the fact that Virginia rural schools were consolidating at a rapid rate. The fact that all multiple-teacher departments have developed in the past 14 years indicates a definite trend to this type of department. High school enrollment and the size of the area served by the school does not have a direct bearing on the number of vocational agriculture teachers in a department. Two teachers served an area as small as 40 square miles, while the same number of teachers in another school served an area of 881 square miles. High school enrollment in the two-teacher schools varied from 134 to 1375. / Master of Science

no abstract provided by author / Master of Science

Master of Science

The purpose of this study was to determine the favorable factors that positively affect the longevity and retention of agricultural educators in the state of Kentucky. This issue was examined by answering the following questions: What are the primary reasons you decided to become an agricultural teacher? Why have you decided to stay in the agricultural education profession for five or more years? What are some of the barriers that you have encountered during your teaching career that you have had to overcome that may have caused you to leave the profession? A three-round Delphi study was utilized to capture the responses from the expert panelists in relation to each research question. The Delphi panel came to the consensus that the following six statements were the most common favorable factors in teachers’ careers: I grew up on a family farm and understood the importance of showing the world what it is that agriculturalists do; I love the agricultural industry; I worked with 4-H and/or FFA youth team(s) and wanted to stay involved in youth development and teaching life skills to students; I find most days enjoyable in the job; I enjoy the relationships I build with students in their FFA careers and SAE’s, allowing me to help them build themselves up more than a regular teacher; Agricultural educators in this state receiving an extended employment compensation. The information gained from this study has the potential to help all stakeholders in the agricultural education community to encourage and aid current teachers to remain in the profession. The study identified unfavorable factors that should be considered for targeting to relieve pressure on agriculture education that could negatively affect teacher retention. One recommendation for use of this information is to use the data in the Kentucky New Agriculture Teacher Cohort or Master Agriculture Teacher Programs to encourage individuals to look for or focus on the favorable factors in their careers. Administering this Delphi study to a group of agricultural educators under five years’ experience could result in data showing favorable and unfavorable factor difference between pre-five and post-five-year experience teachers.

Like any other agricultural industry, many different career paths in the equine field are becoming more technologically advanced. To adapt to technological progress, current standards need to be integrated into school-based agricultural education courses to properly train and teach students about current industry standards. In addition to equine science curriculum development, emphasis must also be focused on providing assistance to secondary-school-based agriculture teachers so they can effectively teach industry-based equine science objectives in their programs. The equine curriculum objectives were measured in terms of perceived importance by equine professionals and post-secondary equine educators as well as Arizona school-based agriculture teachers. Further, the Arizona school-based agriculture teachers indicated their self-perceived ability to teach the objectives. Demographics for each group (equine industry professionals and Arizona school-based agriculture teachers) were also collected. A Borich needs assessment was calculated to prioritize areas needed for professional development of school-based agriculture teachers. Recommendations include the importance of bringing secondary-school-based agricultural education equine science curricula in line with industry standards. Further, providing professional development to secondary-school-based agriculture teachers is key to increasing teachers’ competence and ability to teach industry-based equine science.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the major contributive factors affecting enrollment trends in secondary level agricultural programs in Oregon and California, as perceived by Oregon and California agricultural instructors and their respective principals. Methods and Procedures: A review of the literature revealed three areas that were viewed to contribute to enrollment fluctuations in secondary agricultural programs: 1. agricultural economic cycles; 2. an increasing number of academic requirements for graduation from secondary schools; and 3. overall quality of agricultural programs. The instrumentation was a mailed questionnaire, developed using a panel of experts, which addressed demographic data and program quality factors. Subjects were randomly selected and the questionnaire was mailed to teachers and principals from 50 schools in Oregon and 100 schools in California in Fall 1989. In Fall 1994, the study was replicated and included those schools where both teacher and principal responded to the 1989 survey. Pearson Correlations, Wilcoxon Matched Pairs Signed-Ranks Test, Mann-Whitney U Test, One Way Analysis of Variance, Fishers z-Transformation statistical tests were used to analyze the data for interpretation. Findings and Conclusions: There was a high degree of agreement in 1989 and 1994 between teachers and principals from both Oregon and California concerning those factors which consistently ranked highly as positive factors affecting an increase in agricultural enrollment. These were: 1) Competent and qualified agricultural instructor; 2) Positive image of the FFA; 3) Quality agricultural curriculum and course offerings; and 4) A class schedule that limited conflicts. The 1994 data revealed an additional factor, parents positive image of agriculture as a good career, as contributing to enrollment increases. During times of declining agricultural enrollment, enrollment increases were slow to respond to program improvement efforts. Inversely, during times of increasing school enrollment, agricultural enrollment more readily respond to program improvement. In general, California teachers and principals tended to agree more on factors that contribute to quality programs than did Oregon teachers and principals. Oregon and California teachers agreed on the factors that affect increases and decreases in agricultural enrollment, and while not as consistent, Oregon and California principals agreed also. / Graduation date: 1997