Career and Technical Education (CTE), including agricultural education, has been suggested as a platform for delivering Science, Technology, Education, and Mathematics (STEM) content in secondary classrooms (Stone, 2011). The purpose of this descriptive study was to describe agriculture teachers' perceptions and confidence levels for integrating the four STEM disciplines in agricultural education courses, along with perceptions and use of instructional methods for STEM integration. A stratified random sample (n =280) was drawn from agriculture teachers in three states (N =1,049), one state representing each of the American Association for Agricultural Education regions. Overall, teachers perceived each of the four components of STEM integration as important. Teachers had high levels of confidence in integrating science and mathematics, and reported lower confidence levels for technology and engineering. Although teachers reported spending most of their teaching time in lecture (M = 23.46; SD = 15.34) and ranked lecture first in overall confidence, lecture ranked seventh out of ten in effectiveness for student learning. Differences existed between gender and confidence integrating engineering, and perceptions of instructional method effectiveness. Results of this study suggest stakeholder examination of instructional methods which are most effective at integrating STEM concepts, and investigate how to increase teacher confidence with effective instructional methods for STEM concepts.

The purpose of this study was to investigate student Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) knowledge and participation. This descriptive study was conducted in 120 randomly selected agricultural education programs throughout four purposively selected states representative of the National FFA regions. Students completed a questionnaire assessing knowledge of the five SAE categories. According to findings of this study, 46.1% of the students surveyed reported having a SAE program (n = 473). Students on average could only correctly categorize between three and four of the five SAE project scenarios and approximately one-third of the students surveyed in Indiana, Missouri, and Utah could categorize all five. Students appeared to be able to correctly identify the improvement, research and experimentation, and placement SAE categories more frequently. Those surveyed without a SAE program were either not familiar or somewhat familiar with the five SAE categories. The average number of classroom days spent on SAE instruction since enrolled in agricultural education courses varied from nine to 34 and half of the students in three of the states did not receive a grade for their SAE program or record book in agricultural education courses. Students surveyed did not believe they needed more classroom instruction from their teacher about SAEs.

This descriptive study was a special project for the National FFA Organization to determine the demographic makeup of rural, suburban, urban, and randomly selected at-large FFA chapters from the four national FFA regions. Summary data for this study revealed that gender in selected FFA chapters was 55% male and 45% female. Eighty percent of FFA members were reported to be White while the respective communities were 54% White. Rural FFA chapters had the highest percentage of FFA members in relation to their agricultural education course enrollments. Urban chapters reported more than half (52%) of their agricultural education students were FFA members. The majority of agricultural education teachers are White males. The demographic characteristics of FFA chapters in relation to their respective schools and communities provide a snapshot of today’s agricultural education programs and FFA chapters. Furthermore, this research could help identify strategies to move FFA chapters toward a more parallel representation of the schools and communities in which they exist

This study explored the perceptions of principals at high schools with agricultural education programs in regard to Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE). There is evidence that suggests that high school principals' attitudes may both directly and indirectly affect factors that influence school climate and student achievement. In this study, principals were found to value SAE. No differences were found in the perceptions of those with prior experience in Agricultural Education/Supervised Agricultural Experiences or those who lead urban/rural schools. This is a promising finding since many of today's principals possess less experience with agricultural education and rural communities. The majority of principals in this study did not recognize their teachers for conducting SAEs. Teacher recognition for SAE participation was most likely given in the form of face-to-face conversation and not in the direct formal evaluation processes. A strong relationship was found to exist between the value principals possess of Career and Technical Education (CTE) and their value of SAEs. National and state staff should consider developing more award programs where principals and teachers can be recognized for SAE participation. In-service should be targeted at principals who do not value Career and Technical Education in general.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)