Science Achievement of Secondary Agricultural Education Students

Abstract

The purposes of this quantitative descriptive and correlational study were to describe the science achievements of secondary agricultural education students and determine if the number of agricultural education courses passed, FFA involvement, and SAE participation would statistically significantly improve students’ performance on science achievement when compared to students who did not participate in secondary agricultural education programs. This study included high school juniors who completed the Georgia High School Graduation Test (GHSGT) science exam for the first time in spring, 2010. The control population was students in Georgia (N=97,364) and the treatment population was secondary agricultural education students (N=4,221) from 110 secondary agricultural education programs. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), one sample t tests, and point-biserial correlation tests were used to analyze the study’s null hypotheses. This study found that regular education agricultural education concentrators (n=1,320) had a statistically significant higher GHSGT science mean score than regular education agricultural education participants (n=2,345). Additional findings involved agricultural education concentrators who received special education services (N=209). These students had a statistically significant higher GHSGT science mean score than non-agricultural education students who received special education services for the state of Georgia (N=7,399). A low and statistically significant correlation was observed between the number of agricultural education courses passed and GHSGT science scores of regular education agricultural education students (n=3,665).