Beyond Mere Enrollment: Level of Youth Organization Participation as a Predictor of Collegiate Academic Success and Retention

Abstract

Limited support exists documenting the value of secondary agriculture programs and participation in the National FFA Organization. To that end, the purpose of this study was to explore the suggested value in relationship to student performance and retention in college. The longitudinal trend–type study sought to determine if students who had been enrolled in a secondary agriculture program had greater academic performance during the first year of college. In addition, the study investigated whether a relationship existed between the level of student involvement in a secondary agriculture program and academic performance. Finally, the existence of a relationship between secondary agriculture enrollment and retention in college was examined. The target population for this ex–post facto study consisted of two time and place samples of entering college freshmen (1998 and 2003) at the University of Missouri. Findings revealed that enrollment in secondary agriculture did not consistently produce greater academic performance in college. Additionally, there was no conclusive relationship found between level of involvement in secondary agriculture and academic performance or retention in college.