In American public schools, the bulk of financial decisions have been left up to local boards of education, local school superintendents, and individual school principals. Traditionally, principals have been considered the utmost leader in their schools. Agricultural education has been linked to student achievement in a variety of ways. The…

As states face tough economic times, extension organizations are increasingly emphasizing the importance of evaluation data to show program value. However, little is known about the evaluation skills and abilities of extension professionals expected to collect such data. This knowledge would help inform professional development opportunities…

The National Research Council's (NRC) Report (1988), Understanding Agriculture: New Directions for Education, called on secondary agricultural education to shift its scope and purpose, including students' supervised agricultural experiences (SAEs). The NRC asserted that this shift should create opportunities for students to acquire supervised…

Accidents happen; however, the likelihood of accidents occurring in the agricultural mechanics laboratory is greatly reduced when agricultural mechanics laboratory facilities are managed by secondary agriculture teachers who are competent and knowledgeable. This study investigated the agricultural mechanics laboratory management in-service needs…

Skills needed to manage a laboratory are essential knowledge for all school-based, agriculture teachers who instruct agricultural mechanics curriculum (Saucier, Terry, & Schumacher, 2009). This research investigated the professional development needs of Texas agricultural education student teachers regarding agricultural mechanics laboratory…

In this study the Delphi technique has been used to develop a list of educational competencies for preparing secondary agricultural education instructors to effectively manage their school greenhouse facilities. The use of specialized facilities in agricultural education requires appropriate preparation of agricultural education teachers. The…

Given the interest, research, and effort extended to help faculty in colleges of agriculture provide educational discourse at higher cognitive levels over the last few years, one would expect that students enrolled in colleges of agriculture would exhibit higher levels of critical thinking and need for cognition. This study thus aimed to discover…

There are many competencies necessary for success as a 4-H agent. The 4-H Professional Research, Knowledge, and Competencies (PRKC) Model organizes competencies into six domains: (a) Youth Development, (b) Youth Program Development, (c) Volunteerism, (d) Partnerships, (e) Organizational Systems, and (f) Equity, Access and Opportunity (National 4-H…

The purpose of this study was to describe New Mexico secondary agricultural education teachers' perceptions of the importance and their level of competence on state special needs inclusion competencies and skills for teaching students with special needs. Additionally, this study sought to determine pre-service and in-service training needs for…

This study identified events during the life of Booker Taliaferro Washington and during the early years of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial School that may have contributed to the development of agricultural and industrial education for African Americans. Washington's experiences as a former slave and his observations of life for African…

South Carolina agriculture teachers (n=78) ranked 50 teaching competencies. Top needs of beginning teachers (less than 5 years experience) were using advisory committees, developing adult education programs, fundraising, preparing contest teams, and developing supervised agricultural experience. Experienced teachers needed help using computers in…

Beginning secondary/middle school agriculture teachers (n=42) identified desired inservice education topics: advisory committees; student management, guidance, and motivation; establishing support organizations; integration of agricultural technology; the relationship between agriculture and environment; program design; and classroom management.…

Responses from 131 of 243 Louisiana secondary agriscience teachers showed they value information technology but have inadequate knowledge and skills, especially in newer technologies. Available university training is either not used or inadequate. More are using self-directed learning methods. Most do not have access to multimedia and other…

Survey responses from 138 beginning Iowa farmers revealed a preference for experiential learning, problem solving, and critical thinking. They felt strongly that lifelong learning and continuing education are important. They preferred onsite instruction, single meetings on specific topics, and unbiased information from public institutions.…

Beginning agriculture teachers (n=76) rated their performance and need for inservice training in 163 competencies, then ranked the level of importance of the competencies. Only 4 ranked among the top 15 in both. Mean weighted discrepancy rankings were more congruent with inservice needs in the literature. The discrepancy approach may be a more…