AGRICULTURAL COMMUNICATIONS CURRICULUM

The major purpose of this study was to evaluate the agricultural communications curriculum (Agriscience 315) in Texas high schools, using perceptions of agriscience teachers in Texas high schools. The secondary purpose was to determine perceived abilities of agriscience teachers to teach agricultural communications courses. As a means of accomplishing the purpose of the study, answers to the following questions were sought. (a) What are the characteristics of Texas teachers who were teaching agriscience in the 1999-2000 school year? (b) What competencies do teachers think students should master upon the completion of agricultural communication classes in Texas high schools? (c) What are the perceived abilities of agriscience teachers to teach agricultural communications classes? The format for this study is a descriptive survey. A proportional and stratified sample of 200 agriscience teachers was selected. A total of 145 surveys were returned. The response rate for this study was 72.5%. This study found that 67 % of the teachers had little or no experience in the field of agricultural communications, but they agreed the competencies related to communication techniques and procedures should be incorporated in the agricultural communications curriculum. Agriscience teachers also indicated their perceived level of teaching skill pertaining to communication techniques and procedures ranged from fair to good