Vocational Agriculture Program Quality and Factors Influencing Program Quality

Exce l lence i n voca t i ona l educa t i on has become a ma jo r conce rn o f voca t i ona l educa to rs and the gene ra l pub l i c . T h e c a l l f o r e x c e l l e n c e has come a t a t ime o f r ap id soc ia l and t echno log i ca l change coup led w i t h f i e r c e c o m p e t i t i o n f o r p u b l i c f u n d s . These concerns have p laced add i t i ona l demands on voca t i ona l educa to rs t o imp rove p rog ram qua l i t y (Mckinney, F a r l e y , S m i t h , K o h a n , & P r a t z n e r , 1 9 8 5 ) . S i n c e v o c a t i o n a l ag r i cu l tu re i s cons ide red one o f t he a reas w i th in voca t iona l educa t ion , the concerns fo r exce l lence in voca t iona l ag r i cu l tu re a re jus t as impor t a n t . P rog ram qua l i t y becomes tang ib le on l y t h rough measu remen t o f t he a t t r i bu tes assoc ia ted w i th the voca t iona l ag r i cu l tu re p rogram. A q u a n t i t a t i ve measu re can be p laced upon the concep t o f qua l i t y t h rough the eva lua t ion o f those charac te r i s t i cs tha t can be measured in bo th a va l i d and re l i ab le manne r .