Keeping agricultural education relevant for the 21st century: Assessing the perceptions of local CTE administration on STEM skills integration

Abstract

As Career and Technical Education (CTE) propels itself into the 21^st 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 Alabama and Georgia 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.