Abstract
The purpose of this descriptive and comparative study was to describe the academic achievement of FFA (Future Farmers of America) members in a complete program of agriscience at Jackson County Comprehensive High School (JCCHS). A secondary purpose was to compare science, math, social studies, and language arts achievement of senior agriscience students/FFA members to the achievement of all seniors at JCCHS. The findings indicate that senior agriscience students/FFA members had a higher percentage of students achieving at the highest level (Pass Plus) of Language Arts on the GHSGT (Georgia High School Graduation Test) than the remaining student population at JCCHS. Senior agriscience students/FFA members also had a higher passing rate in comparison to all seniors at JCCHS on the social studies portion of the standardized test. The researchers postulate that further research needs to be conducted to identify the correlations between agriscience participation and performance on language arts and social studies standardized tests – areas where little or no research has been conducted. The researchers also recommend that other public school systems perform similar studies to determine the impact of secondary agriscience programs on student performance.