Browsing by Subject "Career Education"
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Item Career self-efficacy and career decision of African-American, Hispanic, and Anglo students enrolled in selected rural Texas high schools(Texas A&M University, 2006-08-16) Owre, Martha LeonoraThe study was designed to obtain information that would be of value to secondary school personnel who provide career counseling and guidance to high school students preparing for post-secondary education, training, and employment. The study attempted to determine if African-American, Anglo, and Hispanic students varied significantly on characteristics that could potentially inhibit career decision-making. The characteristics investigated included career indecision and self-efficacy. Participants included 74 sophomore and senior students from three rural high schools in South Central Texas. Two research questions were investigated to determine if there were significant differences among Anglo, African-American, and Hispanic students on measures of career indecision and self-efficacy. A third research question was investigated to determine if significant differences existed on measures of career indecision and self-efficacy by ethnicity, gender, and grade level, as well as for the interaction of ethnicity, gender, and grade level. A supplementary analysis of the three research questions was conducted including school as an independent variable. The Career Decision Scale and Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale were administered to the participants and the data were analyzed with ANOVA and MANOVA statistical tests. No significant differences were obtained for the three research questions. When the school variable was included in the data analysis, significant main effects differences were found for grade level on self-efficacy and for school on career indecision. The combination of ethnic groups, genders, and grade levels indicated significant differences for the interaction of gender and grade level on self-efficacy and for the interaction of ethnicity and gender on self-efficacy. Middle to high levels of career indecision were reported by 90% of the seniors and 79% of all students in the study. The researcher recommended that career interventions would be valuable to sophomores and seniors in helping them prepare for post-secondary career choices.Item Future agricultural systems competencies of beginning Texas agricultural science teachers as determined by agricultural education professionals and administrators of agricultural education programs: a Delphi study(Texas A&M University, 2004-09-30) Rocka, Timothy DeeIt has always been the initiative of agricultural education to provide our American society with the educational "needs of the day" (Meyer, 1999). As our nation and state enters a new era, it is fitting for an examination of the future needs of agricultural education teachers. In Texas, the State Board of Educator Certification (SBEC) currently has no assessment of the agricultural systems knowledge of agricultural education teaching candidates. This study examines the future agricultural systems competencies of beginning agricultural education teachers. Two groups, agricultural education professionals and administrators of agricultural education programs, were asked "what the future agricultural systems competencies of beginning agricultural science teachers should be." Two independent panels, the first composed of eleven (11) educators and the second composed of twelve (12) school administrators, were identified to serve as experts. A three-round Delphi was used to collect the data. Each round allowed the expert panelists to converge to a consensus of agreement that identified future competencies for beginning agricultural science teachers. Panelists were asked to provide competencies associated with the five powerful and fundamental conceptual areas of biological, physical, social, informational, and other integrative science which underpin agricultural education (Paul, 1995). The study revealed a three-fourths consensus with one-hundred (100) future competencies necessary for beginning Texas agricultural science teachers. Among these competencies twenty-three (23) were associated with the biological sciences, twenty-seven (27) were associated with the physical sciences, twenty-five (25) were associated with the social sciences, twenty (20) were associated with the informational sciences, and five (5) were associated with other integrative sciences. The study found seventeen (17) "highly recommended" topics and six (6) "recommended" topics related to the future agricultural systems competencies identified by the expert panelists. Cooper and Layard (2001) reveal that our future society will be much more technologically and sociologically advanced requiring teacher preparation institutions and state agencies associated with teacher preparation to develop new, innovative programs to better prepare tomorrow's educator. This study recommends that new agricultural systems standards be developed to adequately prepare future beginning agricultural science teachers.