Recruitment Practices: A National Survey Of Agricultural Educators

In recent years, declining enrollment in secondary agricultural education programs and corresponding decreases in FFA membership have been of great concern to individuals in agricultural education. Many factors contribute to declining enrollment: agriculture’s negative image, an anti-vocational bias and, in response to reports such as a A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983), increased academic requirements for high school graduation. We also know the image of agricultural education, its perceived future value and the role of significant others are barriers to enrollment in secondary agricultural education programs (Scanlon, Yoder & Hoover, 1989). Therefore we need to ask what are secondary agricultural educators are doing to market their programs and change negative perceptions of prospective enrollees while still exulting the benefits and opportunities available to students in agricultural education and the FFA.