Identifying Innovative Agricultural Education Programs

Researchers identified innovative agricultural education programs across the United States. A Delphi study was conducted with the teachers in innovative programs. According to the teachers, innovative programs in 2020 will use hands-on activities and will be run by highly motivated teachers. The purpose of innovative programs in the future will be to utilize the current professional community to teach skills needed in a changing industry and to encourage students to “think outside the box” and challenge themselves. Innovative programs will be hands-on, include problem solving, and critical thinking. The people involved in innovative agricultural education programs in the future are students, innovative agricultural education teachers, school administrators, and professionals in the community with particular skills sets needed in agricultural education. Teachers of selected innovative agricultural education programs did not agree that innovative agricultural education programs should have a global reach or that every student should have a Supervised Agricultural Experience.