Introduction
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services developed the Agriscience Education Leadership Program to provide teachers with diverse experiences and broad knowledge in the state’s agricultural industries while encouraging them to take more leadership roles.
With the vast diversity of Florida agriculture, the need for high school agricultural students to experience a wide array of industries is crucial to their future employment as well as the future success of these industries. Agricultural teachers can enhance their students’ knowledge by understanding the vast collection of commodities and job opportunities available.
The PIE Center partnered with the Florida Farm Bureau to examine the impact of FDACS’s Agriculture Education Leadership Program as well as potential areas for improvement. The study was conducted through the use of an electric questionnaire and two focus groups.
Key findings
Respondents overwhelmingly viewed their overall experience with the Agriscience Education Leadership Program as a positive one — 97% reported being pleased or very pleased, 87% of those being very pleased. Ninety-seven percent also responded that they would recommend the program to other teachers and 84 percent of respondents said the program would be valuable to people outside the agriscience education profession.
Specifically, respondents identified farm and ranch tours, professional leadership training and team-building elements as the most helpful for improving educator effectiveness as well as networking and collaborating with other educators.
Respondents suggested a variety of methods to increase the impact of the program, such as offering an advanced program with additional training, or allowing previous participants to re-enroll in the program. Five respondents recommended a reunion for previous participants, which could help foster networking, communication and brainstorming in a larger group of educators.
Recommendations
Although the Agriscience Education Leadership Program should be continued, the PIE Center recommends the eligibility requirements be reevaluated to ensure that the standards include non-agricultural educators. The leadership program should also consider developing an advanced program for educators who are alumni of the program.
Additionally, agricultural education programs and teachers around the state should be included in the development of the program’s components to ensure Florida’s wide range of agricultural industries are represented. The program should also consider increasing the available opportunities for educators to attend farm and ranch tours.
The PIE Center also recommended the program to host a reunion and other networking events each year, allowing participants from different classes to collaborate. These events should include opportunities to discuss problem-solving as well as brainstorm about current issues.
To ensure that all components of the program are beneficial to the participants, relevant to their professions and well-structured, PIE Center researchers suggested that each piece be evaluated and revised as necessary.
