SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NATIONAL FFA ORGANIZATION’S AGRISCIENCE TEACHER OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS AND THEIR AGRISCIENCE PROGRAMS

Abstract

The National FFA AgriScience Teacher of the Year Award Program was instituted in 1988 to recognize outstanding agricultural educators who emphasized agriscience technology in their curriculum. This study sought to determine selected characteristics of the National FFA AgriScience Teacher of the Year Award winners and their programs from the years 1988 - 1995 (N = 253). A purposive sample of 187 agriscience teachers that were still teaching resulted in 13 1 useable responses (71%) representing 42 states. The respondents of the National FFA AgriScience Teacher of the Year Award Program are veteran teachers, with an average age of 42 years and average teaching experience of 18 years. The respondents were made up of a higher percentage of females (13.1%) than the national average of female teachers in agricultural education (9.74%). Students enrolled in agricultural courses that integrate science are being granted science credit at the high school and college level. Dedicated (specialized) courses are attracting a higher number of female students (40.96%) as compared to the number of female students in the total agricultural education program (36.77%). Eighty-two percent of the AgriScience Teacher of the Year participants had attended workshops and/or courses that helped them integrate science into the curriculum.