Investigating the Effects of Agricultural Education on Student Achievement among Students in Tift County High School: A Quantitative Study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a single Agricultural Education program on the achievement of its students. The program was the Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Career Academy housed in the Tift County High School in Tifton, Georgia. The study examines what the students and graduates perceive as the pros and cons to this unique program. This study was to investigate the effects of agriculture classes on student achievement in terms of enrollment, including the number of students who passed a course, and of mastering course-learning objectives. In this study, the Georgia High School Graduation Test (GHSGT) score and academic transcripts were used to measure the differences in Agricultural Education students and other students in the school based on diploma preference such as College Preparatory or Technical/Career Preparatory. Moreover, the study utilized student surveys to determine the accomplishments of students who had completed an Agricultural Education program within the past ten years. The use of quantitative research with a quasi-mixed method approach for this research was to not only determine student achievement as it relates to academic standards, but also relate it to student achievement as being successful in the real world.