Progress 02/15/18 to 02/14/20
Outputs
Target Audience:↵ During this Project, the STEEAM Pathways team at Texas State University (TXST) recruited the following participants. TXST undergraduate agriculture/agri-science/agri-business majors TXST agriculture/agri-science/agri-business faculty Luling agri-business professionals and agri-entrepreneur Luling high school agriculture students 1. Recruitment of TXST undergraduate agriculture/agri-science/agri-business majors: We worked with academic advisors, faculty, and staff in the Colleges of Applied Arts to recruit 117 agriculture/agri-science/agri-business majors to participate in the online Qualtrics survey. Upon completing the survey, students had the option of participating in a follow-on focus group interview by providing their name and email address. 2. Recruitment of TXST agriculture/agri-science/agri-business faculty: We worked with Department Chairs and School Directors in the Colleges of Applied Arts to send a recruitment email to agriculture/agri-science/agri-business faculty to participate in a focus group interview. Due to scheduling challenges and limited interest, we conducted the focus group interview with two of seven full-time professors. 3. Recruitment of agriculture/agri-science/agri-business professionals and agri-entrepreneurs in Luling: We worked with the Luling Economic Development Corporation, and Luling Area Ministerial Alliance to send a recruitment email to 30-50 agriculture/agriscience/agri-business professionals and agri-entrepreneurs to participate in focus group interviews during an entrepreneurial summit. 4. Recruitment of Luling high school agriculture students: We worked with the career and technical education and the Agriculture department at Luling High School to conduct a focus group with seven (7) students enrolled in the agriculture program. We also distributed a survey to obtain relevant demographic information and to understand the factors that influenced their enrollment and decisions to remain enrolled in their program. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project supported one tenure-track assistant professor, and two graduate students as research assistants. One of the graduate students remained on the project upon graduation as a research associate. The graduate students participated in all aspects of the research project including collaboration with community partners, data collection, data analysis, and dissemination of research findings. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Currently, I am meeting on a monthly basis with the community partners to share the findings from this project. Additionally, we have written and submitted three manuscripts for publication that are currently under review. We also have conducted a paper presentation at one conference. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This project is now over. I will seek additional funding to develop a replicableSTEEAM Pathwaysextension model for youth in rural communities that incorporates new research and cultivatesSTEEAMworkforce development and agri-entrepreneurship.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
To sustain leadership for a viable agricultural industry, the face of agricultural education should mirror diversity from the national level to local communities and schools" (Roberts et al., 2009) (p. 69). Our findings support and adds to the existing body of knowledge related to the factors that influence rural youth to pursue agriculture careers and persist in K-16 agriculture education. Most notably, our findings add new knowledge about the pre-college mathematics and science course-taking patterns of undergraduate agriculture majors and the factors that influence historically underrepresented minorities' (HURM) decisions to enroll and remain enrolled in undergraduate agriculture degree programs. While the results of this study are not generalizable, they provide preliminary data to inform future studies and investigations on evidence-based practices to engage more rural youth students in K-16 agriculture education. It also informs the development of a replicableSTEEAM Pathwaysextension model for youth in rural communities (extension objective), which was outside of the scope of this project. Accomplishments To accomplish our research objective, we completed the following: 1) Data collected and 2) Summary statistics and discussion of results. 1) Data collected Distributed the STEEAM Pathways Survey to 112 TXST undergraduate agriculture/agri-science/agri-business majors: Upon obtaining IRB approval at Texas State University, we enlisted academic advisors and faculty members to email a recruitment email to all undergraduate agriculture majors. Of the survey respondents, we recruited a convenience sample of 112 agriculture majors. As depicted in Table 1, the majority of the participants were female (n=77) and White (n=61) followed by HURM students (Hispanic or Latino- 30, Black or African American- 6, Two or More- 8, Other- 3). Each survey participant received a $25 cash stipend, and interview participants received a $30 cash stipend. Conducted Focus Group Interviews with 8 TXST undergraduate agriculture/agri-science/agri-business majors: Participants who completed the survey opted in to participate in follow-on focus group interviews by providing their name and email address. The snowball sampling method was used to identify additional participants as needed. Most participants were pursuing bachelor's degrees in animal science (29.5%) and agriculture business management (20.6%). Conducted Focus Group Interviews with two (2) TXST agriculture /agri-science/agri-business faculty: Unfortunately, we encountered a challenge with recruiting agriculture faculty to participate in the focus group interview. After numerous attempts, the department chair explained his dilemma with scheduling faculty meetings. Therefore, we appealed to two agriculture faculty members serving on another USDA grant who agreed to participate in our study. Conducted two (2) Focus Group Interviews with agriculture/agri-science/agri-business professionals and agri-entrepreneurs in Luling: We conducted two focus groups interviews with agri-business professionals and agri-entrepreneurs in Luling. The event was advertised in Luling's local newspaper as a business summit to attract more representation. The Luling Economic Development Corporation and the Luling Area Ministerial Alliance facilitated the recruitment efforts. Distributed STEEAM Pathways Survey and Conducted Focus Group Interviews with seven (7) Luling high school agriculture students: We were able to distribute the survey to seven (7) agriculture students at Luling High School, who also agreed to participate in the follow-on focus group interview. Of the seven students, six were white and one was mixed with Hispanic and American Indian or Alaska Native. 2) Summary statistics and discussion of results In this section, we summarize our findings as a result of our data collection activities. Decisions to Enroll in Agriculture Majors: We discovered three statistically significant items (i.e., p<.05 or p<.01) for both HURM and White agriculture majors, which influenced their decisions to enroll: career aspirations (item 7), desire to impact the lives of others (item 9), and desire to give back to my community (item 10). As depicted in Figure 1, the higher the mean, the more influence it had on their decisions to enroll. In regard to career aspirations, HURM majors (M = 4.57, S.D. = .683) had a higher mean than White majors (M = 4.16, SD = 1.003), indicating that career aspirations were more influential for HURM majors than White majors [t(105) = 2.525, p = .013]. Decisions to Remain Enrolled in Agriculture Majors: As depicted in Figure 2, the statistically significant influences on HURM and White agriculture majors' decisions to remain enrolled were consistent with the results for decisions to enroll in section 3.1. Pre-College Experiences: Of the 112 survey respondents, we identified and mapped the responses of seven respondents who participated in the focus group interviews. Rigorous Mathematics and Science Course-taking: Most all participants answered the survey items related to rigorous course-taking in middle school (n=112) and high-school (n=111). The most rigorous science courses participants had taken in middle school were Physical Science II (77.7%) and Biology I (55.4%). In high school, participants had taken Chemistry I (86.6%), Biology I (82.1%), and Physics (71.4%). Most participants had taken Algebra I (74.1%) in middle school and Algebra II (83.0%) and Pre-Calculus (66.1%) in high school, according to Table 4. Only 25.9% had taken Calculus I in high school. Finally, Table 5 reflects that most participants had taken Biotechnology and Soil Science Research (98.2%), Internship Agriculture (96.4%), and Ag Economics (94.6%). Critical Success Skills: Agriculture faculty reported the following top six (6) critical success skills for students desiring to pursue an undergraduate agriculture major: Time management, Communication, Basic writing skills, understanding of the interconnectedness of the agriculture discipline, and the need for multidisciplinary approaches to solving future problems, Willingness to think creatively and innovatively, Experience with practical, hands-on experience with Ag production. University, School, and Community Assets: We identified university, school, and community assets based on our collective responses from the focus group interviews.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Ashford-Hanserd, S., Trejo, N., & Lerma, Y. (2019). Agriculture pathways for historically underrepresented youth in rural communities. Manuscript submitted for publication.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Ashford-Hanserd, S., Combs, J. H., Trejo, N. E., & Lerma, Y. (2020). Factors that influence the persistence of minority agriculture majors at an Hispanic Serving Institution: A survey study. Manuscript submitted for publication.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Combs, J. H. (Facilitator), Ashford-Hanserd, S. N., STEEAM (science, technology, engineering, entrepreneurship, agriculture, and mathematics) Pathways summit, "STEEAM pathways summit," Texas State University, Luling, TX, United States. (October 25, 2018).
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Ashford-Hanserd, S. N., & Combs, J. H. (2020). Factors that influence educational segregation in the Hays-Caldwell opportunity zone. Manuscript submitted for publication.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Ashford-Hanserd, S. N., Combs, J. H. (Research Associate), 41st Annual meeting of the Southwest Educational Research Association, "Opportunity zones: Factors that influence concentrated areas of poverty in central Texas," Southwest Educational Research Association, Hotel Monteleone, New Orleans, LA, United States. (February 16, 2018).
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Progress 02/15/18 to 02/14/19
Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period, theSTEEAMPathways team recruited the following participants at Texas State University (TXST): a) TXST undergraduate agriculture/agri-science/agri-business majors b) TXST agriculture/agri-science/agri-business professors c) Luling, TX agri-business professionalsandagri-entrepreneurs Recruitment of TXST Agriculture/Agri-science/Agri-business student majors: The graduate research assistant (GRA) worked with academic advisors, faculty, and staff in the Colleges of Applied Arts to recruit 117 agriculture/agri-science/agri-business majors to participate in the online Qualtrics survey. Upon completing the survey, students had the option ofparticipatingin a follow-on focus group interview by providing their name and email address. Recruitment of Agriculture/Agri-science/Agri-business professors at Texas State: The GRA worked with Department Chairs and School Directors in the Colleges of Applied Arts to send a recruitment email to Agriculture/Agri-science/Agri-business professors to participate in a focus group interview. Due to scheduling challenges and limited interest, the research team conducted the focus group interview with two of seven full-time professors. Recruitment of Agriculture/Agri-science/Agri-business professionals andagri-entrepreneurs in Luling: The GRA worked with Luling Economic Development Corporation to send a recruitment email to 30-50 Agriculture/Agri-science/Agri-business professionals and agri-entrepreneurs to participate in focus group interviews during an entrepreneurial summit. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One graduate research assistant (GRA), Jacob Combs Hardin had limited research experience prior to joining the project in February 2018. He served as a GRA for four months and then his role was transitioned to research associate (RA) upon graduating with a M.S. in Geography. While serving as a GRA and RA, he conducted data collection and data analysis activities and contributed to two manuscripts, two conference presentations, and facilitated a summit for agri-professionals and entrepreneurs in Luling, TX. Based on his experience on the STEEAM Pathways project, he was given an opportunity to serve as a research analyst with the Greater San Marcos Partnership, which is the economic development organization for Hays and Caldwell counties. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The following activities are outstanding and will be completed during the next reporting period. Finalize comprehensive literature review. Conduct focus group interviews with TXST. Transcribe focus group interviews with TXST students. Analyze TXST and LHS survey data and focus group interviews. Process paymentfor one community partner. Construct conceptual framework based on literature review and research findings. Facilitate annual Advisory Board meeting. Attend annual Project Director's meeting. Disseminate research findings.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
As stated in the initial project narrative, the research team's overarching research objective is "to explore the factors that influence youth in rural communities to pursue undergraduate degrees in agriculture/agri-science/agri-business, careers in the USDA and related agricultural/agri-science workforces, and agri-entrepreneurship". To fulfill this objective, we have completed the following project tasks. Conducted two (2) focus group interviews with Luling-area agri-professionals. Transcribed two (2) focus group interview with Luling-area agri-professionals. Distributed survey to 117 TXST undergraduate agriculture/agri-science/agri-business majors. Conducted one (1) focus group interview with TXST agriculture/agri-science/agri-business majors. Conducted one (1) focus group interview with TXST agriculture/agri-science/agri-business faculty. Distributedsurvey to LHS agriculture students. Conducted one (1) focus group interview withLHS agriculturestudents. Processed payments for two community partners. Disseminated research findings.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Ashford-Hanserd, S. N., Combs, J. H. (Research Associate), 41st Annual meeting of the Southwest Educational Research Association, "Opportunity zones: Factors that influence concentrated areas of poverty in central Texas," Southwest Educational Research Association, Hotel Monteleone, New Orleans, LA, United States. (February 16, 2018).
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Ashford-Hanserd, S. N., & Combs, J. H. (Submitted / Under Review). Factors that influence educational segregation in the Hays-Caldwell opportunity zone.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Combs, J. H. (Facilitator), Ashford-Hanserd, S. N., STEEAM (science, technology, engineering, entrepreneurship, agriculture, and mathematics) Pathways summit, "STEEAM pathways summit," Texas State University, Science, Technology, and Advanced Research (STAR) Park, San Marcos, TX, United States. (October 25, 2018).
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Ashford-Hanserd, S. N., STEEAM Pathways. Retrieved from http://ashford.wp.txstate.edu/s-t-e-e-a-m-pathways-in-rural-communities/
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