Examining Trends in Iowa Career Development Event Participation

The purpose of this study was to assess trends and potential barriers to participation within career development event (CDE) competitions hosted throughout Iowa over the course of eight years. Target data was collected following the Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) procedure outlined by Fayyad, et al. (1996). The population included data representing 241 Iowa FFA chapters and examined factors such as mileage to competition sites, each school district’s free and reduced lunch rates, the number of teachers within the program, years of teaching experience, and much more. FFA chapters were then ranked based on participation levels based on the eight years of participation data collected. Among the top 15 most engaged chapters within various CDE competitions, they tended to have lower mileage needed to travel to events throughout the year, more teachers serving within their agricultural education programs, larger school sizes, and lower free and reduced lunch rates than the 15 least engaged chapters, revealing the potential for barriers to participating in CDE and LDE events within Iowa. Future professional practice needs might include providing resources for teachers, specifically those in single-teacher programs, with assistance in finding or leveraging potential community partners or funding resources. The research also revealed the need for additional areas of inquiry for future research, including the examination of student motivational factors, participation levels based on hosting events from school as opposed to non-school days, and examining if there are differences in the management modalities or coaching practices between top and bottom engaged chapters.