Educators are increasingly pressured to include experiences for students which will help develop noncognitive skills. Noncognitive skills lie outside of the physiological ability to process information and encompass adjacent concepts including soft-skills, 21st century skills, or employability skills. Grit, optimism, and self-efficacy are three…

The mission of Land Grant Institutions (LGIs) and Cooperative Extension has always included the concepts of educational access and inclusion, but not all communities have equitable access to Extension programs. Specifically, Extension is currently only serving about 10% of Indigenous communities. Given the complicated history of Indigenous land…

Educational partnerships are an essential part of agricultural education programs whereby external supporters give their time, talent, and resources to assist teachers and students. An agricultural teachers' ability to recruit and retain quality supporters relies in part on their understanding of the characteristics and preferences of those…

To extend current understanding of school-based agriculture teacher development, this study explored the relationship between teacher development experiences and the self-efficacy of early career agriculture teachers. Three teacher development experiences were of interest: (a) preservice coursework, (b) student teaching, and (c) professional…

The educational importance of teacher self-efficacy necessitates research into variables presumed to significantly influence teacher self-efficacy. In the current study, the role of personal and programmatic variables on the self-efficacy of school-based agriculture teachers was explored. Self-efficacy was measured in five aspects of the…

This study was designed to explore the relationship between teacher practices and levels of student engagement in secondary agricultural education programs. Most researchers have agreed that student engagement at the secondary level may be measured through three constructs: cognitive engagement, behavioral engagement, and emotional engagement. The…

This study characterized perceptions of agricultural leadership programs in colleges of agriculture, food, life, human, or environmental sciences at 1,862 land-grant institutions. Objectives included describing the need for programs, studying evolution within the discipline, discussing faculty recommendations for future development, and examining…

The continuing shortage of agricultural education instructors has been documented across the state and nation. Secondary instructor retention may help reduce the shortage and position changes each year. Identifying the challenges facing beginning teachers as perceived by beginning teachers, veteran teachers, and building administrators can help…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in career commitment and perceived efficacy among early career agriculture teachers as well as the relationships between early career agriculture teachers' perceived efficacy and career commitment. Five areas of self-efficacy were investigated among early career agriculture teachers in…

Developing leaders is vital to the future of our nation. As institutions of higher education address the need for leadership through courses and experiences, there is a need to recognize and acknowledge the potential impact of high school activity participation on leadership development. This descriptive-correlational study surveyed first-time…

Advisory councils are community-specific and are major components of agricultural education programs. This descriptive study was conducted to further strengthen what is known about advisory councils and provide a basis for continued improvement in local programs. The specific purpose of the research study was to describe how Idaho agricultural…