Agricultural Education and Academic Improvement Ray V. Herren Professor and Department Head University of Georgia Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications

Agricultural Education through the years… Began in 1917 as vocational agriculture Peak enrollment in 1970s 1980s brought dramatic losses in enrollment 1990s began enrollment increases

Agricultural Education since 1990 Name change New programs - change from production model Horticulture Environmental Science Aquaculture Agriscience

Retained Delivery Model Whole Person Concept Classroom Laboratory After School Projects FFA Courtesy: National FFA Organization

Agricultural Education in Georgia FFA enrollment doubled Strongest support system ever Added 12 new positions last year Courtesy: Georgia Agricultural Education

National Trend in Education Whole Person Concept Problem Solving Real-life Connection

National Science Board Report Content-based science should be implemented Math and science curriculum lack coherence, depth, and continuity Move from abstract to concrete concepts

Similar conclusions were reached by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

The concept is: CONNECTIVITY Education Life

More Application Agricultural Education Science Education More Theory

Knowledge Base in Science has only 3 applications: - Medicine - Ecology - Agriculture Courtesy: ARS, Ecology.com

What do the cities of Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia, and Miami have in common? All have magnet schools in agriculture

During the past decade, five different studies have shown that students who take Agriscience reach a higher level of achievement in science. Courtesy: ARS

Louisiana Study (Chiason & Burnett) 2000 Over 44,000 high school students completed exit exams in science In ALL areas of biological sciences students who took agriscience scored significantly higher than those who took only traditional courses

Georgia 2000 High Schools That Work showed similar results Courtesy: ARS

Louisiana School for the Agricultural Sciences Charter school that centers on agricultural sciences Aimed for “at risk” students

Percent of Students Passing Louisiana Standardized Test Scores in 2003

*Passing Rate by Student Classification College Prep79.20 Agriscience Completer77.30 Average for All Students68.10 Tech/Career prep38.70 * GHSGT Science Scores

Conclusion Evidence is clear that high school Agriscience courses boost scores in science and math