Professional Development Needs of Early-Career Agriculture Teachers in Washington State
Creators: name: Davis, Kaitlynn R.
Publisher: name: Washington State University
Year: 2024
Subjects: Early-Career Teachers
Teacher Shortage
Agriculture Education
Professional Development

description: The United States (U.S.) has been experiencing a teacher shortage in many disciplines including agriculture education. Teachers across the U.S. have been experiencing high levels of stress leading to teacher attrition. Researchers have found general teaching responsibilities are a source of teacher stress. Agriculture education teachers are especially susceptible to stress due to their additional teaching responsibilities in classroom/laboratory instruction, Supervised Agriculture Experience (SAE) mentorship, and FFA advising. Researchers have suggested participating in professional development could be a potential solution for agriculture teachers to further develop their skills and promote retention for agriculture education. The purpose of this study was to investigate the professional development needs of Washington State early-career agriculture teachers in the areas of teaching and classroom management; leadership and supervised agriculture experience program development; technical agriculture; and program design and management.
description: The Teacher Adaptive Expertise (TAE) Theory and Teacher Career Cycles Model provided the theoretical base for this study. The TAE Theory primarily focuses on determining teachers’ adaptive practices related to performing tasks. Researchers have found early-career teachers were less likely to adapt their teaching practices due to lack of knowledge in subject areas. Similarly, the Teacher Career Cycles Model suggests early-career agriculture teachers struggle in their first few years of teaching because they lack knowledge in various areas. TAE and the Teacher Career Cycles Model served as the theoretical framework because they suggested early-career teachers need additional supports during their first few years of teaching.
description: The population for this study was early-career agriculture teachers in Washington State with one to five years of teaching experience during the 2022-2023 school year. Participants were identified through the 2022-2023 End-of-Year Agriculture Education Report published by the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). This study used a census survey approach and utilized the Borich Needs Assessment Model to collect data for the investigation. Data analysis was completed on the population’s demographics, mean knowledge and importance data were reported, and a Ranked Discrepancy Score was calculated to determine the professional development needs of Washington State early-career agriculture teachers.
description: The majority of the early-career teachers had participated in professional development during their first five years of teaching. This study found early-career teachers have a high need for professional development in the majority of the surveyed agriculture education areas. Additionally, traditionally-certified vs. alternatively-certified teachers were found to have different professional development needs. Finally, the top five topics in each area were identified.
description: Professional development trainers should focus on integrating high need topics such as “teaching learning and skills in Environmental Systems Career Pathway” and “instructing and managing SAE for All.” Future research should be conducted to examine the unique needs of traditionally-certified vs. alternatively-certified teachers. Additionally, researchers should identify barriers preventing early-career teachers from attending local professional development events. Researchers should continue researching the benefits of professional development and addressing the needs of early-career agriculture teachers to reduce teacher attrition rates.