Program Characteristics of Semesterized Secondary Vocational Agriculture/Agribusiness Programs Which Promote Student Involvement in Supervised Occupational Experience Programs and FFA Leadership Activities

The purpose of this study was to identify program characteristics of semesterized secondary vocational agriculture/agribusiness programs which promote student involvement in supervised occupational experiences and FFA leadership activities. The design of this study utilized three data collection instruments. The first instrument was an SOEP/FFA involvement survey developed by the author. The second instrument was developed by the author and solicited SOEP and FFA program characteristics deemed necessary in a semesterized program by instructors of the cooperating schools. The third instrument, an SOEP/FFA program characteristic opinionnaire, was developed by the author as a result of the program characteristics submitted by participating instructors. A random sample of senior vocational agriculture students and instructors was drawn from a six-state area for participation in the study. The data were then analyzed to determine the means, frequencies, F-values, and t-values. Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn: 1. The number of semesters enrolled in vocational agriculture di d strongly affect the students\u27 involvement in SOEP. 2. The number of semesters enrolled in vocational agriculture did strongly affect the students\u27 involvement in FFA. 3. The type of semesterized program in which a student was enrolled did affect the students\u27 involvement in SOEP. 4. The type of semesterized program in which students were enrolled did affect student involvement in FFA. 5. The instructor perceptions of necessary program characteristics did not affect the extent of student involvement in SOEP. 6. The instructor perceptions of necessary program characteristics did not affect the extent of student involvement in FFA. 7. The perceptions of program characteristics between instructors teaching in two-year semesterized programs and instructors teaching in programs semesterized for at least three years differed significantly on two of the 14 selected SOEP program characteristics. 8. The perceptions of program characteristics between instructors teaching in two-year semesterized programs and instructors teaching in programs semesterized for at least three years differed significantly on two of 13 selected FFA program characteristics