The professional development conference for agricultural educators provides activity based workshops that address the needs of our constantly changing agricultural and agri-science programs. This annual conference with innovative sessions challenges the minds of our teachers while helping them thrive as agricultural educators. Broad-based agricultural in-service programming that promotes the agricultural industry provides teachers with classroom resources and new ideas that they can share with their students and implement in their classrooms across New York State

Due to "No Child Left Behind" legislation and increased focus on assessment, there is increasing pressure on teachers` time and that often serves to limit curriculm development. In order for educators to teach agricultural content they must view the curriculum as vital to meeting student achievement. There is a need for agricultural educators to have professional development that provides them with the resources and ideas to design their agricultural curriculum so it aligns with the New York State Learning standards and offers cross curricular opportunities. Additionally, most educators have limited opportunities on a daily basis to collaborate with their agricultural colleagues and networking is crucial for a successful agricultural education program.

Planning for the agricultural educators` conference is the responsibility of a team of agricultural educators. The 2007 conference was held Sunday, June 23 through Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at the Oswegatchie Educational Center in Croghan, New York. It was open to all teachers in the state, but focused on the needs of New York’s secondary and postsecondary agricultural educators. The content for the conference workshops were planned through survey feedback provided by educators in the field and then implemented though a collaborative effort from a variety of agriculture education stakeholders and leaders. Agricultural educators were exposed to hands on workshops and sessions that would strengthen their programs and expose teachers to the many facets of our diverse food and fiber industry. Workshops topics included food science, animal science, plant science, agricultural mechanics, agribusiness and marketing, and natural resources. Model educators and agriculturalists presented the topics at each of the sessions and provided classroom materials to complement each discipline. In 2007 each participant received resources to take back to their local school valued at over $400.00. Scholarships were available to school districts to encourage collaborating educators, administrators, guidance counselors, or other school personnel who work with agricultural teachers to promote cross curricular networking with core content areas.

The conference provided high-quality professional development that meets the criteria for "No Child Left Behind." By attending this conference each teacher received 28 professional development hours that helped them promote and enhance the awareness and literacy of the agriculture industry to New York State’s educational community. Each attendee was afforded the opportunity to make connections and network with other educators and professionals, to share innovative ideas for meeting state learning standards, assessments, acquiring classroom teaching resources and curriculum to improve each of their local programs. The relationships the attendees developed will have a direct impact on student achievement by increasing the quality of instruction. In 2007, more than 88 agricultural educators attended the professional development conference. It is estimated that one teacher will affect the learning of approximately 50 students. With that said, one could estimate the total student impact yielded through this conference to be at least 4400 students from across New York.

Agricultural Education