Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) has been a critical component of School-Based Agricultural Education (SBAE) for decades. Formally called the ‘home project’, Rufus Stimson developed the concept of SAE in the early 20th century. This work-based learning concept provides students with experiential instruction that strengthens their employability and technical skills. While SAE has a long-standing tradition in SBAE, little is known about its national economic impact. This study utilized data collected through the Agricultural Experience Tracker (AET) system to assess the economic impact of SAE nationally. Overall, there are approximately 8,690 agricultural education programs nationwide, with 6,752 of those programs utilizing the AET system. Upon further analysis, 1,932 programs only utilized AET for FFA award applications and did not input SAE records into the system. These programs were removed from the study, and data from 4,820 SBAE programs were analyzed for economic impact. It was determined that the average SBAE program has $98,672 in investments and $64,212 in income annually. In addition, students’ SAEs account for approximately $857 million in direct spending. These figures were utilized to derive national economic impact estimates utilizing the IMPLAN Type II Model. Overall, it is estimated that student SAE projects have an economic impact of approximately $1.6 billion nationally. This impact has implications for agricultural education professionals nationally and should be leveraged with key stakeholders including legislative officials, educational administrators, and other CTE professionals to advance the mission and goals of SBAE.

The ‘home project’ concept, now known as a Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE), has been a cornerstone of School-Based Agricultural Education (SBAE) for 100+ years. This experiential element of SBAE provides students with authentic and relevant experiences to enhance the learning process. While agricultural educators throughout the U.S. agree that SAE is an essential aspect of agricultural education, many educators claim they are not confident in implementing SAE into professional practice. This lack of confidence from educators has caused SAE to decline to the point of professional concern. This study aimed to describe SAE implementation nationally. Data utilized in this study was collected from the Agricultural Experience Tracker (AET) through student and teacher entries. Data represents entries from 619,077 students in 4,820 SBAE programs in 45 states. It was determined that the states utilizing the AET for record-keeping the most were Oklahoma (94%), Montana (94%), and Colorado (92%). Additionally, data suggested that 52.3% of SBAE students have an SAE, and the most common SAE types are within the Animal Science, Plant Science, and Power, Structural, and Technical Systems pathways. Furthermore, an estimated 865,245 SAEs nationally account for approximately $558 million in income and $857 million in investments. Overall, this suggests that the average SAE is unprofitable, which is not uncommon for new agricultural enterprises. The vast scope of SAE should be shared with agricultural education stakeholders, including educators, state staff, political leaders, educational administrators, etc., to communicate the impact of work-based learning and SAE in SBAE.

Agricultural mechanics has been a mainstay and a highly sought-after content area in school-based agricultural education (SBAE) programs across the nation because it allows the opportunity for students to receive hands-on instruction. Agricultural education teachers are tasked with knowing a plethora of agricultural content, but the area that concerns the most teachers is agricultural mechanics. It can be daunting for a pre-service teacher to learn how to operate numerous machines and hold diversified skills in laboratories before being able to teach secondary students how to use them safely. Another substantial concern is maintaining student safety, and teachers may not feel confident in their ability to teach agricultural mechanics content while providing a safe environment. Research has shown a need for improving agricultural mechanics instruction for pre-service teachers and professional development for in-service SBAE teachers to help increase teacher competence and self-efficacy to teach agricultural mechanics.

Females are underrepresented in construction and trades, including welding. Studies have shown that female students often face gender-associated challenges due to being enrolled in male-dominated education programs. Similarly, some female teachers in male-dominated disciplines face gender-associated challenges. Yet, little is known if such gender stereotypes and bias exist among post-secondary students in welding courses. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine students’ perceptions of learning from both a female and male instructor in a post-secondary welding course. Data were collected during the 2022 spring and fall semesters through a pre-survey at week 4 and a post–survey at week 12 of the course. We examined differences in key variables based on the demographics of the students which included age, gender, and degree of study. Some statistical differences were found among male and female participants regarding their perceptions of learning from a male and female welding instructor, indicating potential gender bias among participants exists based on welding instructor gender. Future research should focus on the variables influencing female welding students’ perspectives. Additional research with a larger sample size should be conducted to verify theresults of this study.Females are underrepresented in construction and trades, including welding. Studies have shown that female students often face gender-associated challenges due to being enrolled in male-dominated education programs. Similarly, some female teachers in male-dominated disciplines face gender-associated challenges. Yet, little is known if such gender stereotypes and bias exist among post-secondary students in welding courses. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine students’perceptions of learning from both a female and male instructor in a post-secondary welding course. Data were collected during the 2022 spring and fall semesters through a pre-survey at week 4 and a post–survey at week 12 of the course. We examined differences in key variables based on the demographics of the students which included age, gender, and degree of study. Some statistical differenceswere found among male and female participants regarding their perceptions of learning from a male and female welding instructor, indicating potential gender bias among participants exists based on welding instructor gender. Future research should focus on the variables influencing female welding students’ perspectives. Additional research with a larger sample size should be conducted to verify the results of this study.

As Career and Technical Education (CTE) propels itself into the 21st century, a focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education has been prioritized. While STEM integration has been held in high regard, many employers claim that students lack the necessary STEM-based skills to be successful in an entry-level position. In addition, the STEM achievement of agricultural education students has not been consistent. This study aimed to ascertain the perceptions of CTE administrators for districts with agricultural education programs on the importance of integrating individual STEM skills into each Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resource (AFNR) pathway. The first research objective found that 51.4% of CTE administrators did not teach in the CTE classroom, even though 71.4% of the time the majority of their duties were CTE related. Furthermore, the results found that the majority of CTE administrators valued all assessed STEM based AFNR standards as Very Important or Extremely Important. A mixed model was used to determine any statistical differences in importance ratings between [State A] and [State B] and among pathway scores. The AFNR pathways with the highest importance ratings included the Animal Science Pathway, Plant Systems Pathway, and the Food Products and Processing Pathway. The AFNR pathways with the lowest ratings included the Power, Structural, and Technical systems pathway, and the Biotechnology pathway. No statistical differences were found between states, suggesting consistency between the CTE administrators in these two states.

Ensuring that the experiences provided by Extension, including those associated with the 4-H program, are impactful to participants is of paramount importance. To ensure the continued success and relevance of the 4-H program, it is crucial for practitioners to measure the impact of 4-H involvement and use these results to develop highly impactful programs. This study proposed and validated the Impacts of 4-H scale. The scale was developed based on previous research and literature review. Based on content, response process, and internal structure validation, a single factor consisting of eight items was proposed. The results of the study indicate the proposed scale may provide a valid and reliable measure to capture, quantify, and report the impacts associated with participating in the 4-H program. Additional recommendations for future research and practice are provided.

Youth in rural areas are exposed to all-terrain vehicles, but little is known about their knowledge of all-terrain vehicle safety and their likelihood to apply such knowledge.The purpose of this needs assessment was to determine what rural 4-H youth in Georgia knew about all-terrain vehicle safety and operating procedures.A total of 287 rural 4-H youth in fourth through sixth grade completed a previously validated all-terrain vehicle safety knowledge and behavior test administered during a regularly scheduled afterschool club meeting.Only 13.6% (n = 39) of respondents passed the safety test, while 13.9% (n = 15) of those who had taken an all-terrain vehicle safety course (n = 108) passed.Of youth who passed the test, 36% had at least three years of riding experience.Participation in an all-terrain vehicle safety course could save a child's life.Still, this study revealed that retention of safety information from these courses is limited, and riding experience does not necessarily imply adequate safety knowledge.Youth development professionals should consider partnering with local all-terrain vehicle dealerships to provide hands-on safety training experiences on properly equipped machines where youth can demonstrate their safety knowledge and behaviors and be evaluated by trained adults.

Agricultural Technology and Engineering have traditionally been career pathways reserve for males, yet in recent years more females have entered the profession specifically through secondary agricultural education programs. This study examined students‘ perceptions of male versus female instructors in a post-secondary welding course. The population for this study consisted of undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory welding course in the Fall of 2021. Students enrolled in either a Tuesday or Thursday lab section which were randomly assigned a male or female instructor. At week 8, lab instructors switched sections. All students had the same lecture instructor, yet different lab instructors. Female students‘ tinkering self-efficacy score was significantly lower than male students at both the week four survey (H(2) = 7.86, p = .020) and the week 12 survey (H(2) = 8.26, p = .016). The results from the week four survey showed a significant difference between male and female students on their preference of instructor gender (x2(4) = 13.12, p = .011). The result of the week 12 survey showed no significant difference between male and female students on their preference of instructor gender (x2(4) = 3.80, p = .433). We concluded that students both male and female held a higher preference for a male welding instructor during week four, however after the instructor switch, students‘ preferences significantly changed. To combat covert gender bias, we recommend collegiate and high school programs address using strategies.

The purpose of this study was to explore the social networks and interactions between urban producers in Arkansas through a social network analysis. Using a mixed-methods approach, the current study collected data about participants’ social network interactions and methods of seeking information for urban farming. Results indicated how and where participants preferred to obtain information, peer-to-peer interactions within the network, and key players or opinion leaders in the network. The methods used in the current study may serve as an example of social network articulation for populations without a formal network to assist with outreach to communities potentially underserved by Extension.

Technology advances occur almost daily and how they share information is constantly evolving. Educators must understand how their students prefer communicating especially relating to coursework. By mapping social networks present in courses, it may allow educators to determine how students prefer to communicate and also determine if there are constant identities that are stable throughout the semester (Edgar, Amaral, and Edgar, 2010). For the participants in this study, contacts between students increased from the initial to the final assessment of the semester. Face-to-face communication was the preferred method of communication followed by text messaging and Facebook. Communicating for social reasons was most cited with planning and venting closely being the reasons cited for contact after social. Overall, venting increased substantially as did planning throughout the course of the semester but social kept somewhat constant. No perpetual key players were identified through this study with the exception of one from the middle to the end iteration which disagrees with previous research.

Although personality has been widely studied within the academic literature, there has been little research into the relationship between personality and leadership development programs, particularly within an agricultural context for adult learners. The purpose of this research was to investigate the nature of relationships among ten aspects of the Big Five personality factors and demographic characteristics including: gender, age, organizational level, educational attainment, and geographic region within a sample of adult agricultural leadership development program participants. Results of the study indicate that there are differences between demographic groups relative to specific aspects of personality. Among the ten aspects analyzed, the most statistically significant differences between groups were observed between age groups, while the fewest statistically significant differences were observed in the educational attainment and geographic region groups. Effect sizes were also calculated with gender having the largest observed effect sizes and age having the largest number of statistically significant effect sizes.

As interest in local food development and urban agriculture increases, the Cooperative Extension Service is challenged to serve local and urban food communities in Arkansas. Urban farmers in Arkansas have differing motivations for operation than those in production agriculture, so understanding agricultural county agents’ perceptions of urban farmers is critical for program development and implementation in this sector and to bridge any gaps between Extension and urban producers. This study was conducted to determine the perceptions of, awareness of, ability to assist with, and barriers to working with urban farmers in Arkansas. An emailed instrument was sent to Arkansas staff chairs and agricultural county agents and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. A total of 57 agents participated in the survey. Responses from agents in more populous regions of Arkansas were comparatively analyzed to those from less populous regions. Results indicated agents infrequently interacted with urban farmers in their counties, yet believed Extension was a valuable resource for urban farmers and that more resources should be allocated to developing urban farming programming. Respondents also self-identified as having low levels of personal knowledge relating to urban agriculture, with 72% of respondents indicating they were not knowledgeable or slightly knowledgeable about urban agriculture. There was a significant difference between the responses of agents in more populous counties and those in less populous counties. Future research aims to conduct a similar survey relating to local food in Arkansas, not just urban agriculture.

The purpose of this study was to describe the self-efficacy and professional identity of preservice agricultural education teachers and other secondary education preservice teachers. Data were collected from respondents (n = 85) from 13 institutions and included both agricultural education preservice teachers (n = 68) and other secondary education preservice teachers (n = 17). The instrument used in this study was a modified questionnaire that combined two previously established scales, Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy’s (2001) Teacher’s Sense of Efficacy Scale and Woo’s (2013) Professional Identity Scale in Counseling. Descriptive statistics revealed that agricultural education preservice teachers possessed a slightly higher level of self-efficacy than other secondary education preservice teachers. Conversely, secondary education preservice teachers possessed a slightly higher level of professional identity than agricultural education preservice teachers. A Spearman’s rho Correlation was used to reveal a negligible relationship between self-efficacy and professional identity among agricultural education preservice teachers. However, there was a small relationship between self-efficacy and professional identity among secondary education preservice teachers. Further research should be conducted to establish the development of self-efficacy and professional identity throughout the teacher career cycle through longitudinal studies.

The purpose of this descriptive study was to assess volunteer involvement in school-based agricultural education (SBAE) programs. An electronic survey (based on Seevers and Rosencrans,2001) was sent to a census of SBAE instructors in three states. Attitudes of involving volunteers was positive although there were some roles SBAE participants’ believed that volunteers should not assume. Primary roles that volunteers assumed include advisory committees, fundraising and assisting with FFA activities. However, activities with the highest number of hours contributed were classroom instruction, FFA activities and chaperoning. Most instructors agreed that while volunteers provided a benefit to their programs it was easier to spend their time and efforts on the task than to train a volunteer. Instructors do believe that volunteers provide a positive service to SBAE programs but are not comfortable in the roles of training and supervising them, indicating an opportunity for pre-service and in-service support.

A teacher’s content knowledge, coupled with skilled teaching and a disposition for classroom service, all have a positive effect on student outcomes. This study assessed the in-service professional development needs of Georgia agriculture teachers’ in the seven career pathways defined in the Agricultural Education curriculum: Agribusiness Systems, Animal Systems, Environmental Service Systems, Food Products and Processing Systems, Natural Resources, Plant Systems, and Power and Technical Systems. Multiple areas within pathways were found to be beneficial for professional development according to teachers including: lab management, lab safety, greenhouse management, nutrition, feeds and feeding, market research, business plan development, etc. Teachers at all levels of experience noted additional professional development in plant systems and lab safety would be beneficial and teachers with less than 10 years expressed need for training in power and technical systems. Significant differences were found between male and female teachers in the area of power and technical systems, with males expressing need for additional professional development. Rural teachers saw more benefit in food processing professional development than their urban counterparts. Future research should investigate trends in professional development as it pertains to gender to provide a more tailored understanding of factors contributing to the individual needs of teachers, especially in the power and technical systems pathway. Additionally, research is needed to assess other elements of effective professional development in Agricultural Education such as the value of duration, collaboration, and reflection.

The importance of valid and reliable data and its collection is fundamental to empirical research; however, there remain inconsistent approaches to creating robust scales capable of capturing both valid and reliable data, particularly within international agricultural and extension education contexts. Robust scale development consists of five areas for validation: content, response process, internal structure, external structure, and consequential. The purpose of this guide was to provide methodological recommendations to improve scale development rigor and adoption and to provide a set of functional principles to aid researchers and practitioners interested in capturing data through developed, or adapted, scales. Additionally, the information summarized provide a benchmark upon which to evaluate the rigor and validity of reported scale results. A consistent framework should provide a common lexicon upon which to examine scales and associated results. Proper scale development and validation will help ensure research findings accurately describe intended underlying concepts, particularly within an international agricultural and extension education context. Keywords: scale development, validity, quantitative analysis

Engaging learners is one of the most important responsibilities of an educator. Finding opportunities to connect with individuals in a meaningful way is a powerful tool, particularly for leadership educators. The purpose of the study was to determine whether there were any statistically significant relationships between different demographic groups and core self-evaluations among a sample of adult agricultural leadership development program participants. The results of the study found that gender, educational attainment, and geographic region were not statistically significantly related to core self-evaluations. However, there was a statistically significant difference between groups in both the age and organizational level demographic clusters. A recommendation is for educators to use the findings as a starting point to inform learning interventions and to strive to accommodate the needs of individual learners accordingly.

Although the importance of goal setting for students is well established in the literature and the utility of personality as reliable antecedents of different outcomes is similarly well established, there are a limited number of studies that analyze the relationship between these two sets of variables, particularly within learning environments. The current study is intended to contribute to this area by analyzing goal setting and personality in undergraduate students enrolled in a leadership development course. Incorporating differences among individuals, which includes differences in personality to predict goal setting, will aid educators in recognizing links between persons of similar, or differing, personalities. The results of the study indicate that of the Big Five personality factors (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Emotional Stability), the factors of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were related to student project level and class level goals. However, when regressed simultaneously, only Agreeableness was a statistically significant predictor of goals.

Audience analysis is a critical skill to forge relationships and develop effective communications. Programs provided by the Cooperative Extension Service must be aware of external and internal audiences to provide relevant information and evoke impacts. Berlo's (1960) Source-Message-Channel-Receiver Model of Communications guided this formative evaluation of Extension staff, and horse 4-H club volunteer leaders (program facilitators) to expose internal communication tendencies in Arkansas. Findings identified that program facilitators seek horse-related information from a variety of sources, most frequently relying on personal connections and least frequently seeking Extension sources. Program facilitators share a variety of messages and most frequently relay information about deadlines to club members. Messages about recruitment and fundraising were shared least often. Program facilitators described utilizing a variety of personal and electronic channels to share messages with the greatest frequency for in-person communications. Incoming channels were less diverse than outgoing channels and primarily featured email, which program facilitators preferred. Program facilitators are primarily female, aged in their thirties, described lifetime involvement with 4-H and the horse industry, and most frequently reported having less than five years' experience in their current position. The ground-level perspective of facilitators' demographics and communication tendencies was evident in results of this study. In application, practitioners must continue to actively seek relationships with audiences, remain cognizant of communication factors, and provide accurate messaging through preferred channels.