Designing Instruction to Agricultural Education Issues and Challenges in Agricultural Education

Learning Targets  I can identify and analyze local issues and challenges with local agricultural education program  I can identify and analyze state issues and challenges with agricultural education program  I can identify and analyze national issues and challenges with the agricultural education program

 Explain why you think agricultural education is important?

Identify and analyze local issues and challenges with local agricultural education program

 What are some issues and challenges facing our local agricultural education program?  Agricultural education involves a variety of people on the local level – fill in your numbers based on your local program  ____ # of rural, suburban, and urban students  _____ # of male and female students  _____ # of minorities

 Agricultural Education classes are an elective class in schools  An elective class is a class that students take that they have an interest in and/or supports their career aspirations.  Agricultural Education is part of Career and Technical Education and includes other programs: Family and Consumer Sciences, Business, Information Technology, Construction Technology, and Health Sciences  We have ______ people enrolled in agricultural education and we offer the following classes: (list your courses here)  These classes are offered because:  FFA, the intracurricular component of agricultural education, has ____ members. This is ____% total of total agriculture education enrollment.

Identify and analyze state issues and challenges with agriculture education program

 The state Agricultural Education picture  25,000 Ag Ed Students  15,000 FFA Members  138 High School Programs  5 Middle School Programs  7 Collegiate Programs  High School Teachers  6 Middle School Teachers  5 University Teacher Education Programs  10 Teacher Educators

 Kentucky agriculture education has eight career pathways. They are as follows:  AgriBiotechnology  Ag Education, Communication & Leadership  Agribusiness  Ag Power, Structural and Technical Systems  Animal Science Systems  Environmental Science & Natural Resource Systems  Food Science Systems  Horticulture and Plant Science Systems

 So what should I teach in agricultural education?  Use Advisory Committee to Guide the Process  Use Student Surveys to Determine Areas of Interest  Meet the Needs of the Local Community  Meet the Needs of Your School  Prepare Students for Careers & Post Secondary Education  Be Flexible, Adaptable and Current with Your Curriculum Offerings

Identify and analyze national issues and challenges with the agriculture education program

 The national Agriculture Education picture  8,013 total FFA chapters – 7,242 are active  30, 743 total schools without FFA  18.7% of U.S. schools have FFA chapters  507,000 FFA members  63% - male, 37% - female  8,889 FFA advisors  Male – 70%  Female – 30%

 The future of agricultural education  By 2015 the Council for Agricultural Education believes that 10,000 quality agricultural science education programs can be in place by the year This is termed the 10X15 project.

Activity Perceptions of local Agricultural Education program.

Directions  Interview the following: a core content teacher, an administrator, and Career and Technical Education teacher in a different area. Ask them the following questions:  1. What do you think agricultural education is?  2. Do you feel that FFA is an extracurricular or intracurricular part of agriculture education?  3. Did you take agricultural education classes when you attended high school? Why or why not?  4. What do you think the purpose of agricultural education is as part of the overall high school curriculum?  5. If you took an agriculture class, what area would interest you? (Provide the interviewee with a list of courses offered within the local agriculture department