An Assessment of Recruitment and Training Practices of the National FFA Livestock Career Development Event

1. An Assessment of Recruitment and Training Practices of the National FFA Livestock Career Development Event John Rayfield Doctoral Candidate Department of Agricultural Education & Communications Texas Tech University

2. Introduction Recruiting and training students for FFA Career Development Events (CDE�s) can be challenging for veteran teachers This is even a greater challenge for beginning and pre-service teachers

3. Why National CDE�s ? National contests or CDE�s were � � designed to compliment classroom instruction by giving students an opportunity to apply classroom knowledge in competitive situations. Each contest has been specifically developed to test skills and knowledge of students in a particular area of agriculture.� (National FFA Organization, 1991)

4. Why National CDE�s? Osborne and Witt (1985) pointed out that in addition to providing application of principle and practices learned in the classroom, contests provide: Development of personal skills Increase in student motivation Opportunity to develop social and communication skills A positive influence on the development of one�s self-confidence and self-concept

5. National FFA Livestock CDE One of the cornerstones of FFA competition 1926 � American Royal Livestock Show 1928 � Future Farmers of America 2005 � 43 teams, 167 individuals

6. Benefits of Livestock Judging Boyd, Herring, & Briers (1992) stated livestock judging has been associated with developing a variety of employer-preferred skills such as: Problem Solving Decision-making Communication Beaulieu and Israel (2005) found the presence of one or more parents in the home has a positive influence on a student�s academic success. Beaulieu and Israel (2005) found the presence of one or more parents in the home has a positive influence on a student�s academic success.

7. Benefits of Livestock Judging McCann & McCann (1992) reported that the livestock judging activity provides youth with an opportunity to develop necessary life skills. Smith (1989) credits participation in livestock judging with improved critical thinking skills, enhanced self-confidence, and the development of better team skills.

8. Benefits of Livestock Judging According to Rusk (2002), when youths learn the process of evaluation through livestock judging, these same skills can be integrated into other real life situations.

9. Success at the National CDE Limited research exists on factors associated with success at national CDE�s Holt (1929) conducted a study of the training of vocational agriculture judging teams Herren (1982) conducted a national on the factors associated with the success of participants in the National FFA Livestock Judging Contest England (1996) investigated training methods of National FFA Judging Teams

10. Purpose Identify recruitment and training practices used by successful FFA advisors in the National FFA Livestock CDE

11. Research Design A three-round Delphi technique Participants were agricultural education teachers who had a top five placing team at the National FFA Livestock CDE from 1999-2004 26 teachers identified as panel members for the first round

12. Open-ended Questions Two open-ended questions were sent to panel members: What characteristics do you consider when recruiting and selecting livestock judging team members? What training practices do you implement when preparing students for livestock judging competitions?

13. Instrumentation Questions were validated by a panel of faculty members at Texas Tech The instrument was pilot tested using agricultural education teachers who had trained livestock judging teams but were not members of the panel of experts Round one surveys were delivered via e-mail July 15, 2005

14. Round One Panel members identified 18 recruitment and selection factors 24 training practices were identified 19 of the 26 panel members responded in round one for a 73% response rate

15. Round Two Panel members were asked to perform two tasks: Rate the 18 recruitment and selection factors Rate the 24 training practices Factors were rated on a four-point Likert-type scale: 1= Strongly Disagree, 2= Disagree, 3= Agree, 4= Strongly agree 18 of the 19 panel members responded in round two yielding a response rate of 95%.

16. Round Two The researchers determined a priori that only items reaching 80% consensus would be used in developing future instrumentation Responses that were rated 3=agree or 4= strongly agree by 80% of panel members were considered consensus items

17. Round Three Only items that failed to reach consensus in round two were included in round three Four recruitment and selection factors were included in this round along with 12 training practices All 18 panel members responded in round three resulting in a 100% response rate

18. Findings Round Two Recruitment and selection factors reaching 100% consensus Desire to learn 100% Hard-working 100% Coach-able 100% Goal oriented 100%

19. Findings Round Two Training practices reaching high consensus Livestock anatomy 94.1% Taking notes for oral reasons 94.2% Live animal practice 94.1 % Practice contests 94.1% Terminology review 94.1% Learn the breeds of livestock 94.1%

20. Findings Round Three Items resubmitted to panel that reached 80% consensus in round three Recruitment & Selection Grade point average Good study skills Training Practices Attend livestock shows Judge pictures

21. Conclusions According to panel members, in order to have successful livestock judging teams, teachers should recruit and select students who have the following characteristics: Academic ability High GPA Desire to learn Speaking ability Competitiveness Confidence Listening skills Consistency

22. Conclusions (cont.) According to panel members, in order to have successful livestock judging teams, teachers should recruit and select students who have the following characteristics: Time to devote Hard-working Commitment Team player Coach-able Good study skills Positive attitude Goal oriented

23. Conclusions (cont.) When training a livestock CDE team for competition, panel members would: Review livestock anatomy Practice using video judging Take notes for oral reasons Practice with live animals Attend practice contests Watch videos of prior contests Use Handouts

24. Conclusions (cont.) When training a livestock CDE team for competition, panel members would: Workout with college teams Give oral reasons Review livestock terminology Attend livestock shows Learn the breeds of livestock Judge pictures Visit farms and ranches

25. Recommendations Develop a guide for training successful FFA career development teams Future research Conduct similar studies with different CDE�s Replicate study with a larger panel of experts Expand recruitment and training practices list Compare different states and regions to determine if some factors are isolated to those areas

26. Thank you!