AAQEP Accreditation 2022
Standard 3 Aspect C
Preparation programs ensure that candidates, upon completion, are ready to engage in professional practice, to adapt to a variety of professional settings, and to grow throughout their careers. Effective program practices include: consistent offering of coherent curricula; high-quality quality, diverse clinical experiences; dynamic, mutually beneficial partnerships with stakeholders; and comprehensive and transparent quality assurance processes informed by trustworthy evidence. Each aspect of the program is appropriate to its context and to the credential or degree sought.
Description of Stakeholder Engagement in Program:
The Ag Specialist program engages stakeholders at various levels including:
- program completers,
- school site administrators who have hired our program completers,
- our Ag. Education program advisory committee, which consists of secondary and community college teachers, and
- California Department of Education Ag. Education staff members and teacher educators from all the Ag. Specialist programs in our state.
At each of these four levels, our program is involved in data collection, analysis, and action planning in an effort to continually improve the effectiveness of our teacher preparation / Ag Specialist program. See the following table for information describing our Stakeholder Engagement activities.
Stakeholder Engagement:
| How often meet | Who involved + Role | Data analyzed | Resulting actions |
| Administered every 5 years | All program completers from the previous 5 cohorts. The completer is asked to indicate their self-perceived level of preparation across various technical and professional knowledge and skill areas which align with our curriculum/degree program. | Data are collected using an online survey tool, analyzed by our Ag. Education faculty and a summary of the results are prepared. | Areas of concern are identified and modifications to the program or curriculum are proposed for improvement. For example, in our 2021 survey we identified a need for additional instruction related to the Ag Experience Tracking (AET) system which is now being used by high school agriculture programs. We have revised our AGED 135 (Intro to Ag Ed) and AGED 150 (Ag Computer Resources) courses to include multiple lesson topics covering AET information. |
| How often meet | Who involved + Role | Data analyzed | Resulting actions |
| Administered every 5 years | School site administrator of all program completers from the previous 5 cohorts. The administrator completes an evaluation of their program completer indicating their perception of the level of preparedness of their teacher (program completer). | Data are collected using an online survey tool, analyzed by our Ag. Education faculty and a summary of the results are prepared. | Areas of concern are identified and modifications to the program or curriculum are proposed for improvement. In the past administrators expressed concern about lesson planning and classroom management. We have strengthened our curriculum to better prepare our students in these areas. Students now learn about lesson plans and classroom management in AGED 135, 150, 189 and CI 161. |
| How often meet | Who involved + Role | Data analyzed | Resulting actions |
| Meet once per year | Our Ag Education Program Advisory Committee consists of representatives from various high school and community college agricultural programs. | Committee members review our student admission and enrollment data as well as statewide ag. teacher supply/demand data. | Recommendations have resulted from our committee to our college administration for additional faculty support to allow our program to grow and accommodate more students to better address the growing need for more ag. teachers in our state. |
| How often meet | Who involved + Role | Data analyzed | Resulting actions |
| Two meetings annually - September & January | California Dept. of Education staff (6 regional consultants, the state assistant FFA advisor and the state director) and representatives from the 5 ag. teacher preparation programs meet as a group to address statewide issues. | During state staff meetings participants review the statewide ag. teaching positions and supply of new teachers. Teacher Educators also review the evaluation data from the Mentor Teacher and New Professionals Conferences. | Teacher shortages are identified, specifically regions of the state suffering the greatest, such as the southern region of California. Conference presentations with poor reviews are reconsidered and potentially removed or modified. New topics/speakers are suggested to address the areas that need attention. |