Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Georgia End of Pathway Assessments (EOPAs) are given to students by every Career, Technical, and Agriculture Education (CTAE) teacher across the state yearly. CTAE programs are awarded federal funding based on the results of the EOPAs. EOPA’s are designed to provide students with an assessment after they complete a CTAE pathway and provide the student with an industry certification. This qualitative study was designed to determine if the current EOPA’s for Georgia Agriculture Education pathways are in alignment with the current state standards for those courses. Six high school agriculture teachers from across the state of Georgia participated in this study by completing a semi-structured interview via Zoom. The teachers that participated covered over ten different pathways in Agriculture Education. Three of the teachers utilized Precision EOPA’s while the other three utilized NOCTI (National Organizations Career and Technical Instruction) EOPA’s. The research investigated the participants’ viewpoint of the EOPA’s and how they prepare their students for the EOPA. The three themes that emerged during the research are that were the current EOPA’s are not aligned with the current courses covered on that pathway, teachers’ viewpoints of the EOPA are different than that of the state, and teachers must spend class time reviewing for the EOPA. Since the EOPA’s are not in line with the current course standards and are not providing students with industry certifications, it is recommended that the State Board of Education investigate the validity of the exam or identify different EOPA indicators for Agriculture Education pathway students to show competence.

Year manuscript completed

2023

Year degree awarded

2023

Author's Keywords

End of Pathway Assessments, EOPA, Agriculture Education, CTAE, Curriculum

Dissertation Committee Chair

Alyx Shultz

Committee Member

Marcus Pollard

Committee Member

Donald Gilman

Document Type

Dissertation

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