AGRISCIENCE TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD IMPLEMENTATION OF CONTENT AREA READING STRATEGIES

As part of a larger study, four agriscience teachers were interviewed about their perceptions, attitudes, and challenges with implementing content area reading strategies (CARS) in secondary agriscience. In the larger study, two of the teachers implemented a treatment of systematic, planned, and thoughtful CARS in two agriscience courses, while the other two teachers provided the comparison of teaching their “normal” routine of instruction. Prior to the study, agriscience teachers implemented few or no CARS. They possessed limited knowledge and confidence in using CARS. However, due to pressures from administrators, the state department of education, and others, teachers in the comparison group implemented twice as many strategies as the treatment group, yet their students arrived at nearly the same level of agricultural comprehension and motivation as students in the treatment group.