The purpose of this study was to focus on the emergence of year-round education and its possible effects on agricultural education programs throughout the state of Tennessee. The study collected perceptions of teachers who currently teach in a Tennessee high school agriculture program regarding the implementation of a year-round program at their school.
A survey was designed and sent to all 284 teachers identified in the 2002-2003 Tennessee Agriculture teacher directory. Findings were based upon a 69% response rate.
Findings The total number of survey respondents was 197; of these 93 .1 % taught in schools operating on a traditional schedule, while 6.9% taught in schools that operate on a year-round schedule. Of the 197 respondents 73.9% stated no schedule change was being proposed by their respective school district, 25% are proposing a change from a traditional schedule to a year-round schedule, and 1.1 % stated their school system is proposing a change from a year-round to a traditional schedule. The majority (59.1 %) of the agriculture education instructors at schools on traditional schedules showed some level of concern regarding the implementation of a year-round schedule at their school. Of the respondents on a traditional schedule the largest percentage (38.7%) showed some level of agreement with the statement: \u27If a year-round schedule is implemented at my school my instructional methods would not change.\u27 However, the largest number (41.7%) of teachers on a year-round schedule were neutral regarding this statement. The largest percentage of respondents on a traditional schedule felt that both teacher (43.4%) and student burnout (45.7%) would increase following the implementation of a year-round schedule. The largest number (50%) of teachers on a year-round schedule felt that teacher burnout would decrease even though the respondents were evenly divided regarding increased/decreased student burnout. vi The majority (59.8%) of respondents on a traditional schedule felt that student discipline problems would remain the same following the implementation of a year-round schedule. The largest percentage of respondents (41.7%) on a year-round schedule felt that discipline problems would increase. Of the teachers on a traditional schedule 39.5% felt that the time students spend on S.A.E.\u27s would decrease while 39% were neutral. The majority of the respondents on a year-round schedule were neutral. The majority (68.2%) of respondents on a traditional schedule as well as those on a year-round schedule, felt that it would be more difficult to schedule events such as State Convention and FF A Camp.
Conclusions Forty-nine (26.1 % ) teachers stated their schools are proposing schedule changes indicating that schedule changes may be forthcoming for some Tennessee high school agriculture programs. The majority of teachers on a traditional schedule are concerned about the implementation of a year-round schedule at their school while the majority of teachers on a year-round schedule are not concerned. This possibly makes the concerns of teachers on a traditional schedule unwarranted and influenced by inexperience with the schedule itself. There are differing biggest concerns regarding the implementation of a year-round schedule between the two statistical groups. This raises the question, Are changes in curriculum and instruction the biggest concern of teachers beginning to teach on a year-round schedule? The largest number of teachers on a traditional schedule feel that teacher burnout would increase following the implementation of a year-round schedule at the school where they currently teach. However, the largest number of teachers on a year-round schedule feel that teacher burnout would decrease reaffirming the data given from Ballinger, Kirschenbaum, and Poimbeauf ( 1987). The largest number of respondents currently on a year-round schedule stated that student discipline problems would increase, contradicting the data collected from the Oxnard School District (Oxnard, 1992)
