Elementary Teachers’ Attitudes and Stages of Concern About an Agricultural Literacy Curriculum

The purpose of this study was to describe elementary teachers’ attitudes and perceptions toward agriculture and its use as a context for teaching across the grade level content area standards. Further, this study sought to probe more deeply the stages of concern possessed by kindergarten through eighth grade teachers with respect to their use of the California Curriculum Guidelines for Agricultural Literacy Awareness (CCGALA), which is aligned to content area state standards. Results indicated that elementary teachers generally hold favorable attitudes toward agriculture as a viable integrating tool to teach across disciplines. Elementary teachers who reported using CCGALA were unique in their highest stage of concern, but all of the sample members recorded first or second highest stages of concern at the informational stage, thereby indicating a desire to continue gathering information related to the educational innovation. Users of CCGALA recorded the highest relative intensity in the Informational and Personal stages of concern and lowest intensities in the Refocusing and Consequence stages. Non-users recorded the highest relative intensities in the Awareness and Informational stages, with lowest relative intensities in the Refocusing, Consequence, and Collaboration stages. Recommendations for focused delivery of professional development activities were made. Introduction/Theoretical Framework Beginning teachers are faced with many responsibilities and challenges as they embark on their chosen profession. Not only do they face the pressures of standards-based educational accountability, but they also have specific concerns unique to beginning educational professionals. The Moir Model (Joerger, 2002) conceptualized specific stages through which a teacher progresses during the first year of teaching. From anticipation to survival to disillusionment, new teachers experience a seemingly downward spiral during the first few months of teaching. After a period of rejuvenation, teachers then move through a reflection period until they cycle back in anticipation of the next year. There are many contributors to this period of uncertainty, all of which affect teacher retention rates. Alarmingly, average teacher attrition rates during the first three years can range from 30% to 60% (Darling-Hammond, 2002). Educational accountability demands are also factors contributing to the pressures placed on teachers at all stages of their careers, but these demands may be particularly concerning to a new professional seeking job retention and tenure. Student performance on standardized achievement tests often determines levels of school funding for subsequent years, as well as whether or not administrators retain their positions for the following academic year. In addition, state performance standards often guide teachers in selecting curricula that will best prepare students for success on standards-based achievement tests. To that end, beginning teachers are not only concerned with how to teach, but with what to teach in order to meet standards. As such,