Criteria Administrators Considered When Hiring First Year Agricultural Education Teachers Jeremy Cantrell Union City High School Union City Oklahoma

Literature The quality of teachers has a direct impact on students’ achievements (Holmes, 2001) By better understanding hiring practices and alternative certification, this should allow finding the best route to teacher certification.

Literature Boulton (1979) found selected interviewees for teaching positions were chosen by: Cooperating teacher recommendations College supervisor recommendations Subject area expertise Seiferth (1979) found the personal impression job candidates leave on potential employers seemed to be the most influential.

Literature Mortaloni (1984) found that administrators liked letters of recommendation from: Cooperating teacher College supervisor Building principal at cooperating center and Candidate’s grade in student teaching

Literature Vornberg & Liles (1983) often the administrator hires the applicant who seems to reflect his or her own attitudes

Literature Coady (1990) the problem is not the candidate’s value system, but the value system of the interviewer we infer the characteristics of a candidate on the basis of incomplete information based on similar candidates from previous situations

Literature Braun (1990) found that teacher candidates were often selected based upon: Inexperienced & unskilled interviewers The basis of one interview Interviewers with administrators who may not be familiar with classroom realities Personal judgment rather than objective criteria

Literature Stronge (2002) alternative certification will attract talented individuals with subject matter competency that can improve quality of education because of their knowledge and the depth of the material being taught.

Literature... to improve quality of education, (we must) ensure that professional knowledge and subject matter competency are grounded in solid pedagogy. Darling-Hammond (1990)

Purpose of the Study Describe factors that public school administrators in Oklahoma consider when hiring first year Agricultural Education Teachers.

Objectives Describe the importance administrators place on the teaching candidate’s: Academic Achievement Agricultural Experience Teaching Practice Interview Skill References Certification

Procedures Population – All Oklahoma school administrators who hired a first-year agricultural education instructors for the academic year Of the 24 ag ed teachers, five were alternatively certified Ag Ed regional program specialist was contacted to identify the school administrator responsible for hiring

Research Design Data was collected by telephone interviews to increase response rate Descriptive statistics were used for the Likert-type questions (mean, STD) Open-ended questions were coded and frequencies were analyzed Questionnaire was pilot tested and was reviewed by a panel of experts

Scale Level of ImportanceScore Not Important1.00 – 1.50 Not very Important1.51 – 2.50 Somewhat Important2.51 – 3.50 Important3.51 – 4.50 Very Important4.51 – 5.00

Academic Achievement AssessmentScoreLevel Ag Knowledge (OSAT)3.96Imp Teaching Knowledge (OPTE)3.63Imp College GPA3.58Imp Other Standardized tests3.00S. Imp General Education Knowledge (OGET) 2.92S. Imp

Experience In Agriculture Most importance on: Well-rounded in agriculture content Supervision of student projects FFA activities and programs Less importance on: Experience in production agriculture

Ag Ed Areas AssessmentScoreLevel Supervision of SAEs4.67V. Imp FFA Activities4.50Imp Personal Experience Showing Livestock 3.87Imp Personal Experience in Production Agriculture 3.46S. Imp

General Teaching Practice AssessmentScoreLevel Classroom Mgmt Skills4.96V. Imp Community Relations4.92V. Imp Educate a diverse group4.63V. Imp Work with other faculty4.58V. Imp Work w/ special needs students4.38Imp Integrate technology4.25Imp Integrate other subjects4.13Imp

Interviews Interview ItemMean Response Oral Communications Skills5.00 Enthusiasm4.58 Personal Appearance4.21 Distance between hometown/job1.50 Marital Status1.02

Ranked References ReferenceMean Rank #1 Cooperating Teacher1.83 #2 Regional Ag Ed Program Specialist2.25 #3 Reference from Administrator3.29 #4 Teacher Education Faculty3.33 #5 Reference Supplied by Candidate4.29

Alternatively Certified Teachers 20 said they would not hire alternatively certified teachers 4 said they would, and did Secondary responses 15 wanted teachers who have been trained to teach 13 wanted candidates with classroom experience

Alternatively Certified Teachers 14 believe it may be ok in academic areas such as math or science 4 were completely opposed 14 believed it was not for first-year Agricultural Education Teachers 3 believed it was acceptable

Conclusions Administrators were most interested in the candidates’: Knowledge of agriculture Ability to run a well-rounded program in terms of agricultural content Ability to manage the classroom, and develop rapport with community and other teachers.

Conclusions Cont.. Administrators sought candidate’s: Who can present their knowledge of agriculture in an enthusiastic manner. Who were highly recommended by his or her cooperating teacher. Who were fully certified, having previous classroom instruction and classes in pedagogy.

The End Go Pokes! Jim Leising watching the game