Agriculture teachers' perception and practice for teaching students with disabilities

Abstract

Federal legislation mandates that appropriate education be provided for all students in US public schools (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 2004; No Child Left Behind, 2001). The use of evidence-based instructional practices for special education, such as Direct Instruction and Strategy Instruction, is one example of mandated educational provision. While positive outcomes have been documented from the use of evidence-based practices in agricultural education (Davis, Akers, Doerfert, McGregor, & Keith, 2005; Pense Watson, & Wakefield, 2009, 2010), a need was identified for describing agriculture teachers' use of Direct Instruction and Strategy Instruction. Findings were used to conclude that teachers espoused and used Traditional Instructional Practices with the highest frequency, teachers espoused and used Other Characteristics of Instructional Practice with lowest frequency, teachers were observed to use instructional practices with higher frequency than were reportedly espoused, and two clusters of teachers emerged with similarities in espoused and observed use of instructional practice. Implications were identified and recommendations for practice and future research were developed to support agriculture teachers' use of evidence-based instructional practices.