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Although students today will need to rely on text more than in the past, American students are struggling to read and comprehend text. Research has supported the ability of content area reading strategies (CARS) to increase students' ability to read and comprehend text. The purpose of this research was to assess agriscience educators' implementation of CARS in their classrooms. A descriptive, census survey of 371 Florida agriscience teachers was completed using a tailored-design, web-based questionnaire. Overall, agriscience teachers' Stages of Concern profiles were non-user profiles. The researchers concluded CARS professional development programs are not meeting the needs of agriscience teachers; thus, these teachers are not progressing through the Stages of Concern and are not implementing CARS at a high level. Research should be completed to develop an Innovation Configuration which would provide a more unified vision for CARS implementation. Practitioners should develop and provide a consistent, in-depth professional development program to provide ongoing training and support of the innovation throughout a several year process.

Acceleration of courses has been documented to achieve an extended academic calendar, financial benefits to universities, time savings for professors, and provide more flexibility for students. The purpose of this study was to examine preservice teachers' learning experiences while enrolled in two accelerated teacher preparation courses. Results showed that students were dissatisfied with the accelerated course format and reported feeling stressed. Students noted challenges to meeting course expectations, but also indicated perceive benefits such as time management and realistic expectations for teachers. Additionally, students perceived they mastered the concepts from both courses. Although students did not prefer the accelerated course structure, the courses helped students gain the expected knowledge and skills. Based on conclusions of this study, recommendations include: (a) courses be reformatted back to the traditional semester delivery, (b) the curriculum design course be moved to the semester prior to the teaching methods course, and (c) universities should carefully review their entire teacher education curricula before adopting an accelerated class format.Prior to the focus group sessions, the students were asked to complete a 30-item questionnaire. The items were designed to assess the preservice teachers' perceptions of content mastery and confidence that were reflective of course objectives. A 15-item, 5-point Likert-type scale was used to measure content mastery and confidence for the instructional design course (1 = Colclasure, David (Sr.) followed up on that thought. "I didn't do one of them too and it was because it's like I could spend five hours trying to make the perfect lesson plan or I could just not do it,"Another senior addressed how the amount of classwork impacted his physical health.In response to the previous comment another student replied, "I mean it's hard to put in that many hours a week when you feel like your time isn't appreciated at all" (Maria, Jr.).

In spite of national initiatives such as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, American students continue to be struggling readers. Research on content area reading strategies (CARS) has shown that such strategies increase students' ability to read and comprehend text. The purpose of this research was to assess agricultural educators' implementation of content area reading strategies in their classroom. A tailoreddesign, web-based questionnaire was distributed to 371 Florida agriscience educators to complete this descriptive, census survey. The results indicated the total number of hours of CARS professional development was not related to progression through the stages of concern. This study also underscored the lack of consistency in the professional development programs these teachers completed. In order to better understand the differences of the professional development programs, research should be conducted to determine the characteristics of various CARS professional development programs. Practitioners should provide a consistent, in depth professional development program to provide ongoing training and support throughout a several year process.

AEC394, a 3-page illustrated fact sheet by Anna J. Warner and Brian E. Myers, introduces agricultural educators to inquiry-based education, providing definitions, examples, and reasons to adopt this teaching method. Includes useful resources. Published by the UF Department of Agricultural Education and Communication, September 2008. AEC394/WC075: What Is Inquiry-Based Instruction? (ufl.edu)