The following report was created by CREAD. Please visit their website by clicking on CREAD.

In 2001, California State University, Fresno was awarded funds by the United States Department of Agriculture to implement the Agricultural Education Curriculum Innovation Project, a three-year collaborative project between the College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology and the Kremen School of Education and Human Development (KSOEHD).

The project focuses on two themes: 1) to educate children in Fresno County schools (grades K-8) about the importance of agriculture to our society and the many CREAD educational and career opportunities available within the industry, and 2) to integrate agricultural education and awareness into the daily activities in K-8 classrooms throughout the Central Valley of California by preparing and supporting teachers with an agriculture-related knowledge base and accompanying resources.

Objective 1: Develop, implement, and evaluate multiple subject (K-8) teacher education components with an agricultural education emphasis.

Two professors in the KSOEHD teacher education program were recruited to modify their existing required teacher preparation class, Curriculum and Instruction in the Elementary School (CTET 150) by adding an agriculture-related component to four sections of the class. Students in all four classes completed a pre- and post-test (see Appendix A) designed to measure their knowledge of and attitudes toward using an agriculture-based curriculum in the classroom. All students were required to develop a standards-based thematic unit as a requirement in the class. However two sections, one from each professor, were required to develop their thematic units with an agricultural theme. The students who had the added exposure to using agriculture in the K-8 curriculum by being required to develop an agriculture-related curriculum unit, had significantly higher increases in their attitudes toward and knowledge of teaching agriculture in the classroom on most items compared to the group who had the general curriculum assignment. However, both groups made significant increases in knowledge and significant improvement of their attitude toward agriculture in the classroom on most items as a result of inclusion of agriculture-related materials in their curriculum course.

Objective 2: Promote the teaching of agriculture across the curriculum to county and district administrators and curriculum specialists to garner support for participating teachers.

A training session for school district administrators will be held during the second year of the project, as described in the original project proposal. Planning for the training session will begin in the Fall of 2002.

Objective 3: Develop/implement a recruitment plan to recruit 20 minority students into teaching programs that emphasize the use of agriculture-related curriculum and materials.

In order to address the need for additional student recruitment into the College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Ms. Lonna Torrico, Director of the Central Valley Ag Literacy Program met with a variety of individuals and groups from local community colleges and school districts to discuss the agricultural education program and the desire for recruitment of individuals into the Liberal Studies program at California State University, Fresno. In addition, Ms. Torrico presented information about the project and its recruitment efforts at a number of statewide and national teacher professional organizations including; California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom State Conference in Fresno, California; Fresno County Farm Bureau Summer Agricultural Seminar; California League of Middle Schools State Conference in San Francisco, California; and the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges in Washington D.C.

This grant-funded program is being implemented as planned. The collaboration between the two schools is working well and the program goals are being met on the timeline projected for the project. Results of the study indicate that introduction of agriculture-related content in a teacher preparation course is a highly effective method for imparting knowledge and improving teacher attitudes toward agriculture.