THE ASSOCIATION OF SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS WITH THE AVERAGE NET INCOME FROM SUPERVISED PROJECT PROGRAMS OF PRODUCTION AGRICULTURE STUDENTS IN TEXAS HIGH SCHOOLS

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine if selected characteristics of production agriculture teachers, programs, communities, methods used for program development, and perceived values of supervised project programs as expressed by teachers were associated with the average net income from supervised project programs of production agriculture students in Texas high schools. Objectives for this study were as follows: (1)To determine if selected characteristics of production agriculture teachers were associated with differences in average net income from supervised project programs. (2)To determine if selected characteristics of production agriculture programs were associated with differences in average net income from supervised project programs. (3)To determine if selected characteristics of communities in which production agriculture programs were located were associated with differences in average net income from supervised project programs. (4)To determine if selected methods used by production agriculture teachers to plan and develop supervised project programs were associated with differences in average net income from supervised project programs. (5)To determine if perceptions held by production agriculture teachers of the values of supervised project programs were associated with differences in average net income from supervised project programs.;Major Findings. Total tenure of vocational agriculture teachers was associated with average net income. Departments having teachers whose total tenure interval was 16-25 years had significantly higher net incomes than departments having other tenure intervals.;Departments in which none--00.0 percent--of the teachers had lived on a farm or ranch during their childhood had significantly higher average net income than departments having higher percentages of teachers who had lived on farms or ranches.;Male student enrollment was associated with average net income as departments with 16-30 male students in production agriculture programs had a significantly higher average net income from supervised project programs than did other enrollment categories.;Procedure. Data were obtained from questionnaires returned by production agriculture teachers who represented 275 of 300 departments--a 91.6 percent response rate--of a random sample selected from 900 vocational agriculture departments in which production agriculture was taught during the 1978-79 school year. Analysis of variance and chi-square analyses were used to test the null hypotheses at the .05 level of probability.;Departments having diversified livestock and crop project programs had higher average net incomes from supervised project programs than departments having supervised projects which were basically livestock feeding or crop production projects.;Of twenty selected methods used to plan and develop supervised project programs, only the use of written records of visits to students was associated with average net income. Teachers in departments with lower average net incomes used written records at a greater frequency than expected.;Vocational agriculture teachers in departments with higher average net incomes agreed with greater frequencies than expected that projects help students learn to follow written directions, help students to determine self-employment opportunities, and help create and/or maintain students' home environments. Teachers in departments with lower incomes disagreed more than expected with the use of projects to help create and/or maintain students' home environments.