Riddell's (2020) article, "The Power of Rhetoric," inspired this position paper. She used the neologism "rhetorical literacy" describing it as "one of the most powerful tools [we] can wield" to navigate today's complexity. This article discusses why family and consumer sciences (FCS) practitioners (a.k.a., home…

Family and consumer sciences (FCS) educators were surveyed in the state of Oklahoma to gather information regarding their satisfaction with the classroom interior environment to reveal whether classroom satisfaction is related to the educators' productivity levels. Past research suggests that teachers who are satisfied with their working…

Imagine yourself standing on a beach with the sand being pulled out from under your feet with each retreating wave. You must struggle to regain your footing each time. Now imagine standing on a cement pad on the same beach. Each time the waves come in, you can feel the force of their movement and their power, but your footing is not compromised.…

Financial literacy has been an issue for decades in the United States; however, the COVID-19 pandemic put financial illiteracy in the spotlight. Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) educators have the ability to influence the financial literacy rates among individuals, families, and communities. Despite Hogarth's 2002 call to action for FCS…

Family and consumer sciences (FCS) continues to experience a teacher shortage. Previous research indicated that over half of all states struggle to hire qualified FCS teachers. For schools with FCS teachers, retention remains a challenge. Administrators and college-preparatory programs can address teacher retention by providing resources and…

The key objective of the 2015 revised national curriculum in South Korea is nurturing transformative and creative convergence talent of students. Home economics teachers in South Korea have tried to shift the empirical-rational science-based home economics instruction into critical science perspective-based home economics instruction so that…

This literature review and accompanying research proposal were developed to identify and begin the process of addressing a gap in established pedagogical practices and academic literature. Specifically, the work asks: How are secondary Foods Studies and Home Economics teachers addressing the needs of culturally diverse and non-hegemonic…

Explicit instruction is a teaching model that demonstrates to students what to do and how to do it. One purpose of ideology is to focus the who, what, when, where, and why of a disciplinary field. Trained home economists make a sustained commitment to the core ideology of home economics. Mechanisms for identifying locally relevant challenges faced…

Families and community members are challenging secondary schools to improve career readiness preparation. Family and consumer sciences (FCS) educators can be instrumental in helping students prepare effectively for a career with school-to-work transitions through work-based learning (WBL). This article presents the implementation of a 2-day FCS…

Access to professional development opportunities promotes equity for both teachers and students. We identified time, distance, and childcare needs as limiting factors for teachers seeking to attend our conference workshops and in-person professional development opportunities. Therefore, just months before the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid shift…

Farmers face unique occupational and interpersonal stressors that increase risk for poor physical and mental health outcomes. To educate farmers and their families about these risks, one state's Family and Consumer Sciences faculty partnered with Agriculture and Natural Resources faculty with input from county agents to develop a series of online…

Family science literature has documented the benefits of studying abroad on students' overall development. However, research has focused less on the challenges that students experience while studying abroad. This study aimed to explore the challenges family science students experienced in a semester-long study abroad program. Qualitative data were…

Alternatively licensed Career and Technical Education teacher licensure programs have become a more conventional process for licensing new CTE teachers. Evidence from recent research supports that alternatively licensed teachers have a much greater teacher turnover rate than traditionally licensed teachers. This study focused on Family and…

This article presents a study that explored the implementation of a "Say Yes to FCS" Teaching Camp, a local community initiative in Texas, to address the critical shortage of family and consumer sciences (FCS) teachers in secondary schools. Aimed at incoming 9th- and 10th-grade students, the 4-day camp offered hands-on learning…

During the spring of 2020, K-12 schools were turned upside-down. The COVID-19 pandemic essentially forced all schools across the nation to close their doors and move their learning environments online. The switch to remote learning put a great deal of stress and responsibility on teachers at all levels. The content taught by family and consumer…