This national study used the expertise of the winners of the NVATA Outstanding Young Member Award in identifying problems and challenges associated with the first years of teaching agriculture. The study was conducted using a three stage Delphi technique. The population surveyed were the state winners of the NVATA Outstanding Young Member Award for the years I995 and I996 and totaled 61 different names. The respondents to survey one listed over 350 problems and challenges associated with the first years of teaching agriculture. The 350 problems and challenges were subsequently grouped into 23 categories andformed the contentfor surveys two and three using a Likert-type scale. Sixty percent of the respondents rated seven of the 23 categories as very important problems and challenges for first year teachers. Classroom management and student discipline, again in this study, surfaced as a problem for first year teachers. However, different from other studies, the issues relating to time and organizational management, and managing the activities of the FFA chapter surfaced as big problems and challenges and consistently placed at the top of the list in this study.

Education in America is in a state of change at all levels. Beginning with the report A Nation at m, a myriad of national and state task forces and special committees have followed with their findings. The Carnegie and Holmes reports have significant implications for teacher education and preparation. Little has been done nor has there been any real focus on beginning teacher induction until recently. Yet, educational leaders at most levels confirm that the beginning year of teaching is critical to future success as a professional educator. lkodical/Iiteratre Base The ideal teacher is one who has or is working diligently toward a firm grasp of basic pedagogical skills (Griffin, 1984). Basic pedagogical skills include classroom organization, management and discipline; allowing for individual differences in learners; utilizing and selecting appropriate resources; and understanding and responding to curriculum requirements that are in place in the system, the school and the classroom.

According to Schulman (1987), teaching may well be the most difficult of all professions to master. It is one of the few professions that expects the first-year teacher to immediately perform at the same level as his or her experienced colleagues. These expectations, however unfair. do have validity in the fact that the students of a first-year teacher deserve a quality education. Keeping thii in mind, how can these new teachers be helped so they can provide a good, solid education for their students while functioning in a new environment of school politics and social structure. In recent years, the answer to this complex question has been to provide some form of beginning teacher induction or assistance program. This assistance has ranged from informal friendships to very formal and structured programs. No matter what type of program has been adopted, they have all been initiated for the reason that new teachers need help. New agriculture teachers especially need this help. Scott (1988) believes one of the most critical issues facing agriculture teacher educators is how to provide an induction program that will reduce the many problems confronting first-year teachers. These new agriculture teachers are not only responsible for the activities of a normal subject teacher, such as classroom management and subject content, but they are also responsible for an entire program of vocational education. In order to meet this need faced by beginning agriculture teachers, the University of Idaho Department of Agricultural and Extension Education has initiated and has administered a first-year teacher induction program for beginning agriculture teachers in Idaho since the fall of 1985. Since implementation, no formal assessment or evaluation of the program has been conducted. The purpose of the program has been to provide leadership, technical assistance. and support in the transition from student to first-year teacher. Specific objectives of the program include: Assist with the continued development of effective pedagogical skills into habits of practice in the first-year teacher's classroom. Assist in the development of vocational program operation and effectiveness to include assistance with: curriculum scope and sequence, program philosophy, goals and objectives, FFA program of activities, annual and long-range plans, and utilization of advisory committees. The structure of the induction program has included three components. First, individual on-site consultations have occurred two to three times during the school year. A teacher educator has visited each beginning teacher in their school to observe teaching, Summer 1993