With the high rates of agricultural teacher burnout and attrition in the United States, the need for teachers to strike a balance between their work and family responsibilities is imperative. The purpose of this research study was to explore the influence of gender on Texas agricultural teachers’ perceived job obligations and family responsibilities. Utilizing an online survey instrument, a census of agricultural science teachers in Texas for the 2013-2014 school year was attempted. A total of 567 Texas agricultural educators completed the instrument, for a response rate of 30.8%. The teachers’ involvement in household responsibilities accounted for an average of 22.63 hours per week. In addition to the hours teachers spent on their family responsibilities, an average of 58.65 hours per week were expended on the total agricultural education program (classroom instruction, FFA, and SAE). When comparing genders, female agricultural teachers, on average, reported exerting a surplus of 7.5 hours per week on family responsibilities as compared to male teachers. Findings of this study indicated female teachers’ spouses worked an average of 8.65 more hours per week outside of the home, in comparison to the spouses of their male counterparts.

Across the nation, there is a large shortage of teachers in several subject areas (

For students to be successful in the online learning environment, change from passive learners to active learners is essential. Students who successfully regulate and change their learning know where and how to acquire the knowledge necessary for success in the online environment. Introducing students early through dual enrollment programs can ensure students have the necessary skills for success. This project sought to determine the self-regulated learning level of students in an online agriculture course. Students were found to have the highest self-regulation within environmental structuring and goal setting. The lowest online learning self-regulation was in the area of task strategies. Females had a higher level of self-regulated online learning while there was found to be little difference by ethnicity. Low correlations were found between student experience with online courses and their perceived online self-regulated learning level. Students in an online agriculture dual enrolment course are encouraged to develop goals and at the conclusion complete a self-evaluation of their learning. Research should continue to help researchers understand and properly identify any personal, behavioral or environmental factors that influence secondary students' self-regulated learning in an online agriculture dual enrollment course.

A historical portion of many school-based agricultural education (SBAE) programs, agricultural mechanics remains popular in schools across the nation. As such, pre-service and in-service teachers should be prepared to effectively deliver agricultural mechanics instruction (Burris, Robinson, & Terry, 2005). Agricultural education researchers Pate, Warnick, & Meyers, 2012) have identified many laboratory management competencies and welding skills that teachers should have; however, few knowledge and skill areas in other components of agricultural mechanics (e.g., woodworking, electricity, etc.) have been identified. Through the lens of Roberts and Ball's (2009) content-based model for teaching agriculture, we used the Delphi technique to identify the agricultural mechanics knowledge and skills that Iowa SBAE teachers should possess to provide quality instruction. A panel of 10 expert Iowa SBAE teachers provided the data for the present study. After three rounds, a total of 85 items reached consensus, which included 35 technical skills (e.g., plasma cutting, etc.) and 49 "teacher skills"/laboratory management skills (e.g., ordering consumables). We concluded that SBAE stakeholders in Iowa should ensure that teachers are prepared to teach agricultural mechanics via coursework and professional development opportunities. We recommend that this study be replicated in other states.

Student teaching is the capstone experience in an agricultural teacher preparation program (Edgar, Roberts, & Murphy, 2011). During student teaching, pre-service teachers work with cooperating teachers to learn to effectively deliver instruction (Feiman-Nemser & Buchmann, 1987) on topics such as agriscience, agricultural mechanics, horticultural science, and so forth, to secondary students. School-based agricultural education (SBAE) also includes instruction in applied academic content (Stubbs & Myers, 2015). Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education (CASE) has emerged in recent years to provide engaging, academically-reinforced coursework for SBAE teachers and students across the United States (CASE, n.d.a). Thus, it is reasonable to expect pre-service teachers may be responsible for teaching CASE coursework at their student teaching placement sites. We sought to identify challenges that pre-service teachers may encounter when teaching CASE coursework. Through two face-to-face focus group interviews conducted at both the mid-semester and end-of-semester student teacher meetings, we identified three primary themes: 1) accessibility to resources; 2) influence of cooperating teachers; and 3) applicability of coursework based on local needs. We concluded these pre-service teachers encountered both positive and negative experiences related to teaching CASE coursework and recommended that pre-service teachers be adequately prepared to engage in CASE coursework prior to student teaching.