Criteria Administrators Considered When Hiring First Year Agricultural Education Teachers

1
Criteria Administrators Considered When Hiring
First Year Agricultural Education Teachers
Jeremy Cantrell Union City High SchoolUnion
City Oklahoma
2
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.

3
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.

4
Literature

• Mortaloni (1984) found that administrators liked
  letters of recommendation from
• Cooperating teacher
• College supervisor
• Building principal at cooperating center
• and
• Candidates grade in student teaching

5
Literature

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

6
Literature

• Coady (1990)
• the problem is not the candidates 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

7
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

8
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.

9
Literature

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

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Purpose of the Study

• Describe factors that public school
  administrators in Oklahoma consider when hiring
  first year Agricultural Education Teachers.

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Objectives

• Describe the importance administrators place on
  the teaching candidates
• Academic Achievement
• Agricultural Experience
• Teaching Practice
• Interview Skill
• References
• Certification

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Procedures

• Population All Oklahoma school administrators
  who hired a first-year agricultural education
  instructors for the 2002-03 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

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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

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Scale
Level of Importance Score
Not Important 1.00 1.50
Not very Important 1.51 2.50
Somewhat Important 2.51 3.50
Important 3.51 4.50
Very Important 4.51 5.00
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Academic Achievement
Assessment Score Level
Ag Knowledge (OSAT) 3.96 Imp
Teaching Knowledge (OPTE) 3.63 Imp
College GPA 3.58 Imp
Other Standardized tests 3.00 S. Imp
General Education Knowledge (OGET) 2.92 S. Imp
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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

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Ag Ed Areas
Assessment Score Level
Supervision of SAEs 4.67 V. Imp
FFA Activities 4.50 Imp
Personal Experience Showing Livestock 3.87 Imp
Personal Experience in Production Agriculture 3.46 S. Imp
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General Teaching Practice
Assessment Score Level
Classroom Mgmt Skills 4.96 V. Imp
Community Relations 4.92 V. Imp
Educate a diverse group 4.63 V. Imp
Work with other faculty 4.58 V. Imp
Work w/ special needs students 4.38 Imp
Integrate technology 4.25 Imp
Integrate other subjects 4.13 Imp
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Interviews
Interview Item Mean Response
Oral Communications Skills 5.00
Enthusiasm 4.58
Personal Appearance 4.21
Distance between hometown/job 1.50
Marital Status 1.02
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Ranked References
Reference Mean Rank
1 Cooperating Teacher 1.83
2 Regional Ag Ed Program Specialist 2.25
3 Reference from Administrator 3.29
4 Teacher Education Faculty 3.33
5 Reference Supplied by Candidate 4.29
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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

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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-yearAgricultural
  Education Teachers
• 3 believed it was acceptable

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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.

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Conclusions Cont..

• Administrators sought candidates
• 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.

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The End

• Go Pokes!

Jim Leising watching the game