The purpose of the study was to identify and prioritize the inservice needs of beginning agriculture teachers in the state of Missouri. The target populations for the study consisted of beginning (first-and second-year) agriculture teachers in Missouri during the 1994-95 academic year (N=37) and members of the Joint State Staff in Agricultural Education, which included teacher educators and state supervisors (N=16). Census populations were used. An instrument, using the Borich needs assessment model, was developed to assess the perceived level of importance and perceived level of competence of beginning teachers regarding 50 professional competencies. Twelve of the 50 professional competencies were identified by the beginning teachers as having a greater need for inservice education. The technical agriculture competencies were ranked lower in priority for inservice when compared to professional competencies in the areas of instruction, program planning and evaluation, and program administration. In general, the ranking of the inservice needs by the beginning teachers did not correspond with the rankings of the inservice needs as perceived by teacher educators and state supervisors.

The shortage and demand for teachers have been well publicized. This study investigated the extent to which the level of job satisfaction of Missouri secondary agriculture teachers changed from their initial year of teaching to their current employment, either in teaching or industry. A comparison between the job satisfaction of teachers who remained in the profession with those who changed school districts and those who left the profession was conducted. Additionally, the likes and dislikes of the specific responsibilities of a secondary agriculture teacher were investigated. It was concluded that all three groups of teachers were generally satisfied with their first year of teaching. They were also generally satisfied with their current employment position and had relatively the same degree of job satisfaction increase over time from their first teaching position to their current position. Teachers who left the profession were generally as satisfied as those who remained in the profession with regard to the job responsibilities of an agriculture teacher, with the exception of teaching agricultural mechanics and in working with school administrators. The results implied that teachers leaving the profession were relatively satisfied but were leaving the profession for opportunities/job satisfaction aspects that they could not receive through teaching.

The purpose of the study was to identify and prioritize the inservice needs of beginning teachers of agriculture in the state of Missouri. The target populations for the study consisted of beginning agriculture teachers in Missouri during the 1994-95 academic year (N=37) and members of the Joint State Staff in Agricultural Education, which included teachers educators and state supervisor (N=16). Census populations were used. The Borich needs assessment model was used to assess the perceived level of importance and competence of beginning teachers regarding 50 professional competencies. A quadrant analysis utilizing discrepancy scores from beginning teachers and the Joint State Staff for each of the 50 professional competencies was also performed From the results of the Borich needs assessment model, I2 competencies were identified as having a greater need for inservice education. As a result of the quadrant analysis model, 16 competencies were identified as having a greater need for inservice education. In general, the inservice needs identified using the Borich needs assessment model corresponded with the inservice needs identified by the quadrant analysis model.

The purpose of this study was to describe the levels of cognition modeled and the alignment among the levels of cognition modeled via course objectives, instructional strategies, and assessments in preservice teacher preparation courses. The accessible sample consisted of seven teacher educators teaching courses for secondary and middle school-level education majors at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Higher levels of cognition (application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation) were modeled in 88% of the preservice teacher preparation course objectives. Lower levels of cognition, were modeled in 61% of classroom discourse. Application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation levels of cognition, represented 39% of the classroom discourse. Higher levels of cognition as a whole represented a mean of 90% of all classroom assessments, with the synthesis level of cognition representing a mean of 40% of the classroom assessments for all instructors. Hierarchical cluster analysis methods were employed to examine the alignment among the cognitive levels of instructional objectives, classroom discourse, and assessments, respectively.

The purposes of this descriptive study were to assess graduates' perception of the importance and competence levels of performing identified transferable skills in the workplace and use the Borich (1980) needs assessment model to identify the skills most in need to enhance the curriculum. The findings revealed that solving problems, working independently, and functioning well in stressful situations were perceived by graduates as being most important to their job, and identifying political implications of the decisions to be made was the least important. In terms of competence, graduates perceived themselves to be most competent at working independently, relating well with supervisors, and working well with fellow employees and least competent at identifying political implications of the decisions to be made. When using the Borich model, solving problems, allocating time efficiently, communicating ideas verbally to groups, and accepting constructive criticism were the skills with the highest mean weighted discrepancy score, indicating a high need for curriculum enhancement.

Each teacher is unique in many ways. Teachers vary from one another in such characteristics as learning style, teaching style and personality style. Research has been conducted in several teacher education disciplines with regard to the selected teacher characteristics of learning style (

The purpose of the study was to describe the extent to which cooperating and student teachers used the problem-solving approach to teaching. A hypothesis was employed to test the relationship between cooperating teachers' use and the student teachers' use of the approach. The sample consisted of 15 student teachers and their cooperating teachers. Videotapes of the student and cooperating teachers' classroom teaching were collected and analyzed using an instrument developed by the researchers. Student teachers and cooperating teachers spent less than 20% of their instructional time using the problem-solving approach to teaching. Student teachers spent the most time guiding students in seeking data and information to solve the problem. Cooperating teachers spent the most time gaining and maintaining the interest of students in learning the subject matter. A positive relationship was found between the cooperating teachers' use and the student teachers' use of the problem-solving approach to teaching. It was concluded that a student teacher's use of the problem-solving approach to teaching could be enhanced if cooperating teachers modeled the approach. It was recommended that priority be given to selecting cooperating teachers who model the desired teaching behaviors expected of student teachers.

Universities across the nation have established criteria in the selection of students for admission. This correlational study was conducted to determine predictors of academic performance and retention of freshmen in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR) at the University of Missouri. Freshmen enrolled in a college-wide learning and development course in the Fall of 1997 (n = 245) and 1998 (n = 195) participated. The following admission criteria were investigated as possible predictors of academic performance and retention: ACT examination, high school core grade point average (GPA), and high school class rank. In addition, students' preferred learning styles were investigated as a possible predictor of academic performance and retention. Regression analysis was utilized to account for the variance in students' cumulative GPA at the completion of the freshmen academic year.Stepwise discriminant analysis was performed to build a predictive model that could determine whether a linear combination of learning style, ACT score, high school class rank, and high school core GPA could be used to predict student enrollment status for the fall semester of the sophomore year. Learners preferring a field-independent learning style exhibited a tendency for greater academic performance than did their field-dependent peers in the first year of college. The best predictor of academic performance during the first year of college for 1997 freshmen was a combination of their high school core GPA and ACT score. However, high school core GPA alone was the best predictor of college academic performance for freshmen who began their college career in 1998. Furthermore, learning style was not a predictor of students' academic performance during their first year of enrollment in a college of agriculture. Only the traditional university admission variable of high school core GPA was successful in predicting students' first year cumulative GPA. In the current study, the traditional criteria used for college admission was found to have limited value in predicting agriculture students' retention. The study raises questions regarding the effectiveness of current college admission variables as predictors of agriculture students' academic performance and retention.