Dwayne Pavelock, Sam Houston State University
Doug Ullrich, Sam Houston State University
Roger Hanagriff, Sam Houston State University
Ann Baer, Sam Houston State University

Abstract

An agricultural science program’s success depends on the superintendent, a school district’s highest academic officer, recognizing the program as a vital part of the school. Recent studies by Pavelock (2001), Jackson & Herring (1998), and Hinkson (1999) have shown administrators support agriscience, but revealed troubling insights. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the differences in perceptions and perceived knowledge levels of the agriscience program by Texas public school superintendents with various agriscience experience levels.
The population for the study was Texas public school district superintendents in whose district an agricultural science program was offered during the 1999-2000 school year. The study was descriptive and 100 superintendents were randomly selected using a proportional stratified random sampling method. A 71% response rate was attained. A majority (58.6%) of Texas public school superintendents have at least some experience in agriscience by having either taught, been enrolled in, or had children enrolled in, agriscience. Two-thirds (66.7%) indicated academics as their primary teaching area, and a vast majority had no career and technology education (82.9%) or agriscience (88.6%) teaching experience. Most (58.6%) had not been enrolled in agriscience themselves and almost two-thirds (65.7%) had not had a child enrolled, yet 67.1% had work experience in agriculture. As a group, superintendents were found to have a positive perception of the agriscience program and its teachers. Generally, they perceived the program to be a wise investment of fiscal resources and that agriscience is beneficial to students of various academic abilities. They considered teachers to have a positive professional image and successful in meeting various students’ needs. Superintendents perceived themselves to be very knowledgeable about most aspects of the program, with knowledge levels higher for areas related to funding and lower in areas related to the curriculum. Experience in agriscience was not found to have a significant effect on most perceptions and perceived knowledge levels. Differences found existed primarily in the need for more emphasis in various instructional areas, and whether all students should receive instruction in agriscience throughout their formal schooling years. Differences also existed in perceptions of agriscience being less of a vocational program and more of an academic program compared to other career and technology programs, and the inability of school districts to obtain waivers for certain agriscience courses to count for credit in related foundation courses.