Journal of Agricultural Education Vol.39 No.2 1998

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. Introduction/Theoretical Framework integrating academic and vocational education. The pursuit to integrate science into agricultural Science has been an important part of the education could improve the image and quality of curriculum in agricultural education since its the programs while meeting the needs of a rampant inception (True, 1929; Vaughn, 1993). Agriculture changing industry. has always been an applied science and to some extent agriculture teachers have always taught the Agricul tura l educat ion teachers have principles of science as they applied to agriculture traditionally had the freedom of determining the (Christian & Key, 1994; Vaughn, 1993; Budke, curriculum taught in the local programs. The 1991). rationale behind this concept was that teachers can customize their programs to make them communityIntegration of academic and vocational based and to meet the local needs of the students. education is an educational reform strategy Therefore, integration of science into the curriculum envisioned by educators (Rosenstock, 199 l), depends, to a large extent, on the local teacher. supported by business and industry (Stasz and Grubb, 1991) and promoted by legislators (Wirt, Many programs embraced the change and 1991; Schmidt, Beeken, & Jennings, 1992). The updated their curriculum to better serve the clientele delivery system for agricultural education is ideal for and the agriculture industry by integrating science Journal of Agricultural Education 50 Vol. 39, No. 2 1998 into the agriculture curriculum. Luft & Peterson (1989) and Kirby, Smith, Wilson, & Matheson (1990) credited increased student enrollment and student interest in agriculture to the integration of science and emphasis of agriscience in the curriculum. Information about integrating agriscience in secondary agricultural education programs is needed to provide state and local leaders in agricultural education assistance as they plan and manage program change. Agricultural educators were challenged with upgrading the curriculum to recruit and retain quality students. The viability of secondary agricultural education programs was being revitalized through science and technology. In an effort to encourage agricultural education teachers to emphasize the role of science in a complex, dynamic, and rapidly changing industry, the AgriScience Teacher of the Year Awards Program was started in 1986. As a special project of the National FFA Foundation, Inc., the AgriScience Teacher of the Year Program recognized teachers that integrated science into their agricultural education programs and emphasized agriculture and science through innovative curriculum, ideas, and projects (National FFA Organization, 1989). The purpose of the AgriScience Teacher of the Year Program was to recognize outstanding agricultural educators who emphasized agriscience technology in their curriculum. Duval (1988) stated, “The National FFA Organization has recognized agriscience and emerging technologies as being of primary importance to the future of agriculture and the organization. As a youth organization, FFA has strived to be on the cutting edge of scientific and technological advances in agriculture” (p. 19). Duval maintained that the National AgriScience Teachers of the Year have had a positive impact on local, state, and national agricultural education curriculum. In the past, little was known about the AgriScience Teacher of the Year Award winners and their programs. Many assumptions have been made about the characteristics of these individuals based on award applications. Studying the characteristics of exemplary teachers offers a place to begin to understand the complex human interactions that constitute teaching and learning of the highest order (Lowman, 1996). Penick and Yager (1993) suggest that looking at the successful and the exciting situations that exist in education are presented far too infrequently. Moore (1994) stated, “There are times when selecting purposive samples would do more to advance the profession than selecting random samples. At times we need to identify the best programs, best teachers, and best FFA Chapters and study them in detail” (p. 11). Moore (1994) suggested that we can best integrate agricultural and academic education by studying the schools and teachers who are experiencing success in these areas. A study of the FFA AgriScience Teacher of the Year Award winners addresses his challenge. By studying the agriscience teachers that were recognized agricultural educators who emphasized agriscience technology in their curriculum, we can determine the characteristics of the teachers and their programs that make them outstanding in integrating science. Purpose and Objectives The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of the programs and winners of the state, regional, and national winners of the National FFA AgriScience Teacher of the Year Awards Program. To fulfill the purposes of the study, the following research questions were addressed: