AN ASSESSMENT OF FOOD AND FIBER SYSTEMS KNOWLEDGE IN SELECTED OKLAHOMA HIGH SCHOOLS

In 1988, the National Research Council recognized agricultural literacy as a need for every K-12 student. After more than 13 years of agricultural literacy efforts, this criterion group ex-post facto study sought to assess the agricultural literacy of selected program completers (high school seniors) in Oklahoma. An instrument based on the Food and Fiber Systems Literacy (FFSL) Framework was developed to assess the agricultural literacy of students in grades 9-12. Six schools, two in each of three locations (urban, suburban, and rural) were selected for inclusion in the study. Comparisons were made between general education students and agricultural education students, between the three types of schools according to overall mean scores and between the five agricultural themes of the FFSL Framework. Agricultural education students and general education students did not differ in their overall mean agricultural knowledge scores. Students in rural schools, however, obtained lower overall mean agricultural knowledge scores than did students in urban and suburban schools, with rural schools scoring lowest in three of the five thematic areas of agriculture. Given the low agricultural knowledge scores of students overall, it was determined that the program completers who participated in the study were not agriculturally literate.