EXAMINING IMPACTS OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION TEACHER DEVELOPMENT ON LOCAL COMMUNITIES

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1015723
• Project Start Date: Apr 1, 2018
• Project End Date: Mar 31, 2023
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
208 MUELLER LABORATORY
UNIVERSITY PARK,PA 16802

Performing Department
Agri Economics, Sociology & Education

Non Technical Summary
This project will help determine the professional development needs of agricultural education teachers in the state. It will allow the researchers to better prepare current teachers to meet the needs of their community through the agricultural education program. Additionally, staff members that prepare the workshops will be better prepared to do so following this research. Communities that do not have agricultural education programs can benefit from this research by learning how other schools implement the program for the greater good of the community.

Animal Health Component

25%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

75%

Applied

25%

Developmental

0%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
805	6050	3020	15%
806	6050	3020	10%
903	6050	3020	65%
903	6050	3010	10%

Knowledge Area
805 - Community Institutions, Health, and Social Services; 806 - Youth Development; 903 - Communication, Education, and Information Delivery;

Subject Of Investigation
6050 - Communities, areas, and regions;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education; 3010 - Economics;

Keywords

agricultural education

school-based

teacher professional development

community

effectiveness

Goals / Objectives
The purpose of this research is to explore agricultural education's impact through teacher development on local communities. Specific objectives that will be examined are:1. Determine the effectiveness of new and beginning agricultural education teachers in Pennsylvania.2. Identify the professional development opportunities that are being offered to agricultural education teachers and determine the degree to which teachers are accessing these opportunities.3. Determine the effectiveness of professional development offered to the teachers through evaluation of each program and implementation of the learning into local communities.4. Examine the economic and social impacts of a complete agricultural education program in schools and communities.

Project Methods
Much of the research to reach the objectives below will be conducted through descriptive research which will utilize both quantitative and qualitative methods. The populations that will be examined are multi-faceted in that we need to gather information from multiple perspectives to gain the most insight on the questions asked.Objective 1. Determine the effectiveness of new and beginning agricultural education teachers in Pennsylvania.A. For objective 1 above a pilot study has been conducted with recent graduates of agricultural education, and this can be replicated with future graduates.B. A similar questionnaire will need to be developed to ascertain information from employers of these graduates to help determine the effectiveness of these teachers.C. Interviews will also need to be conducted with teachers, administrators, and community members to develop a full understanding of teacher effectiveness.This portion of the study will aid in determining agricultural education teachers' professional development needs, especially in the areas of technical content and pedagogy. The results of this portion of the research can be utilized to determine if preparation of pre-service teachers can be improved via coursework/experiential learning opportunities. Additionally, information on the methods and timing of professional development will be explored through this survey. Simultaneously, administrators of recent graduates of the Penn State agricultural education teacher preparation program will be surveyed and interviewed. This portion of the research will help to determine the effectiveness of their teachers in facilitating a complete agricultural education program within their local community. Interviews will also need to be conducted with teachers, administrators, and community members to develop a full understanding of teacher effectiveness.The outputs for this objective will be evaluated through examining the number of presentations giving, and audiences reached with the results. The data on teacher effectiveness can impact the training of future professionals in the agricultural education profession. Administrators play a primary role in helping to identify the strengths and opportunities for growth in their teachers; thus the importance of communicating the findings of this portion of the research, widely. Also, the findings could inform other teacher preparation units across the nation in how to address pre-service teachers' need, prior to accepting their first teaching position.Objective 2. Identify the professional development opportunities that are being offered to agricultural education teachers and determine the degree to which teachers are accessing these opportunities.A. Review and record the last 2 years' worth (timeframe will be January 2019 - December 2020) using list of ACT 48 hours requested by the Center for Professional Personnel Development.B. Data will be analyzed to determine what percentage of teachers in the state are participating in professional development.C. A survey will be developed, based off of these results, and sent to non-participants in the professional development to determine why they are not participating.D. These results will inform the methods, timing, and type of professional development that should be offered in the future.After the initial portion of this research is completed, results will be analyzed to determine the professional development to be offered to Pennsylvania agricultural education teachers over a three-year period. The outputs, of professional development for the teachers, will be enhanced because there will be specific focus areas that teachers indicated were needed to become more effective teachers of agriculture. Additionally, the professional development offerings will be evaluated to determine the effectiveness of each. This data can be utilized to make future offerings to the teachers even better.Objective 3. Determine the effectiveness of professional development offered to the teachers through evaluation of each program and implementation of the learning into local communities.A. Obtain the ACT 48 evaluations for each professional development offered through the Center for Professional Development for 2 years (January 2019 - December 2020).B. Data for these professional development will be analyzed based on the responses to the ACT 48 evaluation instrument (includes Likert-type scale questions and open ended responses).C. Conduct interviews with participants (30 days following participation and 6 months) of each professional development to determine implementation of the content into their own teaching.The professional development programming that is developed as a result of this research will be evaluated by the teachers participating in the programming, as mandated by ACT 48 legislation on teacher professional development. An increase in teacher participation in the professional development programming is a key measure in determining impact on the target audience of current agricultural education teachers in Pennsylvania. Professional development will also be offered to Center for Professional Personnel Development staff to increase their knowledge and skills in offering professional development to the secondary teachers.Objective 4. Examine the economic and social impacts of a complete agricultural education program in schools and communities.A. Conduct a review of nationally recognized FFA chapters in Pennsylvania. A complete agricultural education program of quality will be defined as a program that has been recognized with a Gold Star rating in the National Chapter Award for a minimum of the last 5 years.B. Conduct surveys of the community (students in program, students not in program, parents of students, administration, teachers, guidance counselors) to examine the characteristics of the agricultural education program.C. Through the survey community members' data will be obtained, categorized, and analyzed to determine the impacts that community members (aggregated and disaggregated) attribute to the agricultural education program in their community.D. Utilizing principal and secondary data sources, baseline data will be collected on communities with agricultural education programs, and for those that do not have agricultural education programs in their curricula.The outputs from this research will be evaluated by acceptance to conferences and journals that will broaden the impact on teacher preparation programs, as well as the local communities with agricultural education programs. Also, the number of communities that contact the Department of Education or the Penn State agricultural teacher preparation program to explore opening a secondary agricultural education program in their district. An additional measure for this objective is the number of communities that begin offering school-based agricultural education each year.

Progress 10/01/19 to 09/30/20

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this work is primarily secondary agricultural educators. This audience is often divided into two groups (pre-service and in-service educators). Another target audience is other teacher educators. This audience is primarily reached via journal articles and conference presentations. Changes/Problems:Due to the pandemic, no professional development seminars were offered during the reporting period so no useable data was collected/analyzed related to this project (primarily affecting Goal #1). What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We have been able to provide professional development workshops to pre-service teachers, as well as in-service teachers related to content and pedagogy expectations in local communities. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The findings of professional development needs have been reported via state agricultural teacher's meetings. All professional development opportunities were provided to all teachers of secondary school-based agriculture in Pennsylvania. These opportunities are promoted through our weekly teacher newsletter, as well as via special list-serve emails. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, the focus will be on Goal #2. We are coming back to this goal due to our findings of professional development needs by new and beginning teachers. Based on feedback, we believe that we can mitigate future professional development needs of new and beginning teachers by enhancing portions of the pre-service learning experience. Through our current work, we have realized that a key stakeholder group (pre-service candidates) needs to be explored further. By looking at state teacher exam scores in agriculture, we believe we will be able to better correlate our professional development programming to enable these stakeholders to be better prepared in the content prior to moving into their first teaching position. The research that was reported during this reporting period is ongoing and will continue to generate new publications. Goal #4: Data related to Supervised Agricultural Experience programs (SAEs) is currently being collected to determine how SAEs are incorporated into local agricultural education programs. Additional data is being collected and analyzed to determine the economic impact of SAEs on local communities. This will aid in addressing goal 4 related to economic impact of agricultural education programs.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During this reporting period, the focus was primarily on Goals #2 and #3. Goal #1:During this cycle the information regarding new and beginning teacher effectiveness was collected during some professional development seminars via our ACT 48 reporting. However, due to a lack of professional development seminars offered during the reporting period, no useable data was collected/analyzed related to this goal. The hope is that additional workshops can be added; thus, data on teacher effectiveness can be collected and reported in the future. Progress towards Goal #2 was achieved via a needs assessment of the Pennsylvania Agricultural teachers. Additionally, pre-service teachers were asked to provide information regarding content and pedagogy needs to the teacher education team. These were juniors and seniors in the program. Based on the needs assessment, a professional development plan was developed for new and beginning teachers and for more experienced teachers. Thus, a two-pronged approach was developed to focus on needs of teachers that are new to the profession (less than 4 years of experience), and a more specific content track of "Biotechnology" for all teachers of agricultural education in Pennsylvania. All professional development opportunities required collection of evaluation of the programing. This data was analyzed and will help programmers to develop future workshops. Progress towards Goal #3 was achieved through publications and presentations related to formal and non-formal teaching settings. These publications also looked at teacher professional development needs by multiple stakeholders; students, teachers, and administrators. By looking at these various stakeholders we are better able to triangulate the professional development needs of teachers at various stages of their careers (novice versus expert).

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Agole, D., Ewing, J., Baggett, C. D., & Webster, N. S. (2019). A review of theories related to inclusive-capacity building of people with disabilities. Workforce Education Forum 39(1).
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Fleck, J. A., Threeton, M., & Ewing, J. (2019). Important leadership skills for CTE administrators. Career and Technical Education Research Journal, 44(1), 40-56.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Sankey Rice, L. L., Ewing, J., Threeton, M., & Kim, K. (2019). An Exploration of Career and Technical Teacher Preparation. Paper presented at the Association of Career and Technical Education Research, ACTER, Anaheim, CA, peer-reviewed/refereed, published in proceedings.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Radhakrishna, R. B., Ewing, J., & Thorn, K. (2019). Development of On-line Tools to Enhance Learning Outcome Assessment of Undergraduate and Graduate Programs. Paper presented at the North Central AAAE Conference, American Association for Agricultural Education, East Lansing, MI.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Romberger, D., Foster, D., & Ewing, J. (2019). Influence of Secondary Agricultural Education Student Supervised Agricultural Experience Participation on Career Decision Self-Efficacy. Paper at the American Association for Agricultural Education National Conference, Des Moines, IA, peer-reviewed/refereed, published in proceedings.

Progress 10/01/18 to 09/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the past year has been agricultural education teachers in Pennsylvania. A major portion of our efforts were focused on determining the specific needs of these teachers in terms of professional development to determine the best path forward for the research. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Professional development has been offered multiple times throughout the past year. This professional development has varied by content, but many of the offerings were connected to safety in laboratories and technology use in the agricultural education programs. Professional development seminars were offered in various locations, and were open to all PA agricultural education teachers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Several presentations were made and journal articles related to the research were published. These were disseminated at national conferences with other agricultural teacher educators, as well as other post-secondary educators of agriculture. Additionally, the results have been disseminated at the Pennsylvania Association of Agricutlural Educators conference. Thus, members of the orgranization are aware of the professional development strategy for the agricutlure teachers in the state. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Utilizing data gathered during professional development workshops related to the theme of Agricultrual Business, as well as NOCTI data of the teachers that completed the workshops, we plan to explore the effectiveness of the training; including any adaptations that are being made in the classroom and laboratory environment based on content learned through the professional development opportunities.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1: Based on needs assessment data and NOCTI student scores, it was determined that teachers are not effective in teaching agricultural business concepts in their programs. Focus was then given to professional development in this content area for the 2019-2020 academic year. Other professional development has been offered throughout 2018, and teachers have been identified that take part in much of the opportunities. Plans are in place to work with these teachers to help us understand why they take advantage of these opportunities, versus those that are not participating. Goal 2, 3, and 4 were not explored during this reporting period. Objective 1 is the first step in the process to answering objectives, 2, 3, and 4 and was needed to explore the remaining objectives. Objectives 2 and 3 are currently under review, and data from 2019 is being collected during the first quarter of 2020. Analysis of this data, as well as recommendations to the Center for Professional Personnel Development and the Agricultural Education Commission, will occur during the remainder of 2020, based on the results. Objective #4 is slated to be explored beginning at the end of 2020, once the Professional Development of the teachers' section of this research is completed, as this is important to implementing the complete 3-circle model of agricultural education.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Rice, L. L., Wahid, N., Ewing, J., Threeton, M., & Foster, D. D. (May 22, 2018). Assessing the perceived preparedness and importance of discipline specific items of agriculture teachers in Pennsylvania. American Association for Agricultural Education, Charleston, S.C., peer-reviewed/refereed, published in proceedings.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Rice, L. L., Wahid, H., Foster, D. D., Threeton, M. H., & Ewing, J. C. (in review). Assessing the perceived preparedness and importance of discipline specific items of agriculture teachers in Pennsylvania. Journal of Career and Technical Education.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Gorucu, S., Murphy, D., Foster, D. D., Hanagriff, R. & Ewing J. (2018). Technology Use Among Youth While Operating Farm Equipment, Journal of Agromedicine, 23(4), 305-314, DOI: 10.1080/1059924X.2018.1501450
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Foster, D. D. & Whittington, M.S. (2018). Instructors' Use of the Principles of Teaching and Learning During College Class Sessions. Journal of Agricultural Education, 58(3)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Dietrich, G., Foster, D. D. & Morey, T. (2018, October). #TeachAgChat; Creating a Digital Community of Practice for Agricultural Educators using Twitter. North Central Region- American Association for Agricultural Education, Fargo, N.D.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Nayak, R., Ewing, J., Yoder, E. P., & LaBorde, L. F. (2018). Farm science centre and on-farm food safety training in India: Perspectives of programme coordinators. Journal of Global Communications, 11(2), 11.

Progress 04/01/18 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:Our current efforts have reached Pennsylvania School-based Agricultural Education teachers, which include our New and Beginning agriculture teachers from Pennsylvania (1-3 years of teaching experience). A New and Beginning teachers' program has been revitalized based on this year's research efforts. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Professional development was provided to the teachers at the Pennsylvania Association of Agricultural Educators summer conference in July. Additionally, there were 4 opportunities in 2018 for new and beginning teachers and/or administrators to share their needs in the classroom. Additional opportunities are planned for 2019. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Journal articles have been published and research papers have been shared with others in teacher education. The results of these studies can help inform practice at other institutions in terms of preparing quality teachers for the agricultural classroom and laboratory. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continued efforts will be place on determining the effectiveness of beginning agricultural education teachers. Efforts will start to determine the effectiveness of the professional development offered to the agricultural education teachers.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1. In collaboration with the College of Education, we have begun a study on administrator perceptions on graduates' abilities to be effective teachers in the classroom and laboratory. Data will be available to individual programs in March of 2019, during our certification review conducted by Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. These data will be utilized in both the pre-service program, as well as the in-service program to enhance teacher training. 2. The professional development opportunities for Pennsylvania agricultural education teachers were reviewed. Based upon this investigation, it was determined that a low percentage of teachers were actually engaging in the multiple opportunities for professional development, except for those professional development opportunities that were part of a larger conference. Thus, a year-long professional development calendar is being developed for the 2019-2020 academic year, and will be shared with all teachers at the Pennsylvania Association of Agricultural Educators conference in July. This strategy should increase, as well as enhance, participation in professional development offered throughout the year. 3. No official publications or research progress to report for year #1. However, data from ACT 48 evaluation forms was utilized internally to examine current professional development opportunities in terms of meeting the needs of current teachers in Pennsylvania. 4. Nothing to report for year #1.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Threeton, M. D., & Ewing, J.C. (2017). An examination of safety and health practices in agricultural mechanics education. Career and Technical Education Research Journal (42), 2, 131-146.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Fleck, J., Threeton, M. D., & Ewing, J.C. (2018). Important leadership skills for career and technical education administrators. Submitted to Career and Technical Education Research Journal.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Gorucu, S., Murphy, D., Foster, D., Hanagriff, R., & Ewing, J. (2018). Technology use among youth while operating farm equipment. 23(4).
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Rice, L., & Ewing, J.C. (2018). Assessing the perceived preparedness and importance of discipline specific items of agriculture teachers in Pennsylvania. Paper presentation at the American Association for Agricultural Education in Charleston, SC.