Identifying the Characteristics of Effective School-Based Agricultural Education Teachers: A National Census Study

Abstract

School-based agricultural education (SBAE) and its teachers must remain current with the times to be effective. Producing an abundance of competent, highly qualified, effective, SBAE teachers is an ongoing prerogative, and measuring effective teaching in SBAE is difficult due to the complexity and uniqueness of the demands of the position. The purpose of this study was to identify the self-perceived characteristics of effectiveness of SBAE teachers nationwide. The effective teaching instrument for SBAE teachers (ETI-SBAE), supported by a conceptual framework considering the potential factors impacting the effectiveness of SBAE teachers, was used to determine teacher effectiveness scores in this non-experimental, descriptive survey research study. All SBAE teachers across the country were included in the study’s frame. After multiple rounds of data collection, 2807 SBAE teachers responded to the study with complete data sets. It was found that these teachers are diverse and have a variety of needs depending on the state from which they responded and their years of experience. A wide range of personal and professional characteristics were identified. Based on their composite sum effectiveness score, SBAE teachers who intended to remain in the profession through retirement were statistically significantly more effective than those who did not intend to retire or were still undecided.