Validation of the school-based agricultural education model of support instrument

Research on the needs of school-based agricultural education (SBAE) teachers has been conducted since 1983, driven by historic attrition within the profession, yet we do not have the depth of understanding necessary to provide actionable change to SBAE teachers to empower and support them in their practice. The Conceptual Model of Support for School-Based Agricultural Education Teachers was used to frame this study's purpose of establishing an instrument that takes a more human lens to support SBAE teachers. The instrument resulted in five components including personal needs, intracurricular program needs, relationship needs within the school and community, classroom/instructional needs, and school-based support needs with a total of 46 items validated through the principal component analysis with .60 reliability for all 46 items was indicated with a Cronbach’s alpha of .951. Recommendations include evaluating the humanistic needs of in-service SBAE teachers. Additionally, preservice teacher preparation programs should use the instrument to evaluate SBAE teacher aspirants during their student teaching internship. Future research should consider the current needs of SBAE teachers using the validated instrument to determine opportunities to increase the level of effectiveness and individual wellness of SBAE teachers.