SAE for All Student Guide

Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) Philosophy and Guiding Principles

The National Council for Agricultural Education held a national summit and began work on determining what the driving forces were behind high quality experiential, work based and project based learning in agricultural education. This was a need brought on by what appeared to be a lower number of students being exposed to the SAE component of agricultural education through the local classroom.

A national committee met and held discussions with the intent of renewing the profession’s commitment to SAE as an essential component of student learning that should be used with every student in school based agricultural education. The committee recognized that in the context of today’s agricultural education programs many teachers and students were facing significant barriers to making the commitment to this level of experiential learning a reality.

Benefits of SAE for All include:

  • SAE for All allows students to explore and determine what career is right for them.
  • SAE for All allows students to develop “skills to pay the bills” including personal financial planning and management, workplace safety, and employability skills.
  • SAE for All allows students to experience the diversity of agriculture and natural resources industries and gain exposure to agricultural-related career pathways.
  • SAE for All allows students to strengthen their agricultural literacy.
  • SAE for All ultimately allows students to become college and career ready.

The committee submitted to The Council for approval a document that would set forth SAE philosophies and guiding principles intended to address such barriers and provide a path to 100% SAE engagement with students in the modern classroom. Visit the SAE for All website to learn more.

The following are highlights of SAE for All:

  • There should be an expansive set of SAE types for students to choose from such as:
    • Foundational SAE
      • Career exploration & planning
      • Personal financial planning and management
      • Workplace Safety
      • Employability skills for college and career readiness
      • Agricultural Literacy
    • Immersion SAE
      • Entrepreneurship/Ownership
      • Placement/Internships
      • Research (Experimental, Analytical, Invention)
      • School Business Enterprises
      • Service Learning

To assist instructors with implementation of SAE for ALL The Council undertook development of multiple resources for use in the classroom. A student and teacher guide to SAE for ALL along with individual learning guides associated with each component of the program are available on the SAE for All website.