The Relationship of Prior FFA Membership on Perceived Ability to Manage an FFA Chapter

In order to fill the need in the agriscience teacher shortage, preservice agriscience teacher education needs to seek preservice teachers who may not have had a traditional school-based agriculture background. The influx of new teachers without a school-based agricultural education background brings both opportunities and challenges. Gaps in needs between those teachers who had and those teachers who did not have school-based agricultural education and FFA membership have different teacher professional development needs. This study investigated the professional development need areas based on a needs assessment that investigated knowledge, relevance, and mean weighted discrepancy scores of agriscience teachers who were or were not FFA members. Participants across both groups indicated professional development needs for FFA chapter management. Teachers who were not previously FFA members identified stronger needs across 11 of 13 items. There was a significant difference found between the two groups for four of the 13 chapter management items. Recommendations for future research and programmatic development consisted of the consideration of specific sessions of a basic FFA knowledge with a second session that focuses on technical skill attainment.