A study conducted by the National FFA Organization in March through May of 2019 provided feedback from 708 agriculture teachers and FFA advisors from the eastern, southern, central and western FFA regions about their needs as agriculture educators, educational resources and experiences offered by FFA, their relationship with FFA and a variety of other topics. This document outlines some key findings from that study.

Alternatively Certified Teachers

Alternatively certified teachers are those who have been awarded a teaching license even though they have not completed a traditional teacher certification program. In all subject areas in every state in the U.S., individuals who choose to become a certified teacher through alternate means help to fill open positions that exist due to problems facing teaching nationwide, especially teacher recruitment and retention.¹ Agricultural education, specifically, has historically faced challenges in teacher recruitment and retention.²

• The Advisor Needs Assessment revealed that 18% of agriculture teachers surveyed are alternatively certified.
• Those who reported being alternatively certified stated that their biggest challenges include navigating FFA, developing classroom management, running and starting an FFA chapter, lack of subject expertise and not feeling respected within the field.

FFA.org and Box.com

• The Advisor Needs Assessment revealed that 95% of teachers say they used FFA.org in the past three months (since December 2018).
• Eighty percent of teachers in both 2017 and 2019 used FFA.org more than several times a month.
• Eleven percent of teachers surveyed reported that they could not access the FFA resources housed on Box.com.
• According to the assessment, Educator Resources was the number one page visited by teachers, followed by Awards and Competitive Events and Dashboards.
• Forty-four percent of teachers said it is somewhat easy to find what they are looking for on FFA.org. Twenty-nine percent said that it is somewhat difficult, 19% said that it is neither easy nor difficult, 4% said it is extremely difficult and 4% said it is extremely easy.

One-to-One and Technology in the Classroom

• Fifty-seven percent of respondents provide one-to-one technology to students (each student has their own device at all times). Of these, 72% of teachers indicated that their school uses Chromebooks, 13% use laptops, 6% use iPads, 6% use MacBooks and 3% use another type of device.
• Teachers report using technology in their classrooms in a variety of ways, which includes allowing students to use personal devices for classwork, enhancing their lessons or curriculum, giving assessments, playing review games like Kahoot, “stand-alone” curriculums, record-keeping, Google Drive and PowerPoint.

Communication

• The top media resources teachers report being restricted in schools are Facebook (86%), Instagram (82%), Twitter (77%), Vimeo (46%) and YouTube (34%).
• Eighty-two percent of teachers say that they rely on emails from National FFA for news and updates. Of those, 71% of advisors report reading Mark Poeschl’s weekly update.
• Sixty-one percent of teachers are either somewhat satisfied or extremely satisfied with how often they receive communication from National FFA, 33% are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied and 5% are somewhat or extremely dissatisfied.

Educator Resources

• Sixty-nine percent of teachers think that National FFA provides enough resources to support advisors.
• Lab/hands-on activity ideas were selected as the most important component of a lesson plan for teachers.
• Teachers noted that compatibility with computers or tablets, being easy to use with a substitute teacher and ability to customize are extremely important aspects of lesson plans developed by National FFA.
• Teachers indicated they have the most need for new resources about filling out award applications and grants.

Barriers to a Successful Agriculture Program

We asked advisors to name one barrier to a successful agriculture program that the field of agricultural education can assist with. A variety of responses were received, but the more common responses could be grouped into four major themes:

• Finding educational resources and developing curriculum (20%)
• Grants, scholarships and funding (9%)
• Obtaining support from administration, parents and the community (8%)
• Lack of professional development/training (6%)

Perceptions of National FFA

We asked advisors to rate their perception of National FFA based on their own interactions.

• The Advisor Needs Assessment revealed that 82% of teachers have either a somewhat or extremely positive perception of National FFA.
• About 12% have neither a positive nor negative perception of National FFA. Six percent have a somewhat or extremely negative perception of National FFA.

The FFA Advisor Needs Assessment is conducted bi-annually by the National FFA Organization program evaluation staff. The primary goal of the survey is to identify the needs of the teachers we serve. National FFA will use these results in order to stay informed on the issues teachers are facing on both small and large scales, advocate for teachers, answer organizational questions, track trends over time, and continually improve resources, events and communication efforts. For additional information, please contact our team at evaluation@FFA.org.