Name
Innovating for Student Well-Being: SECD as a Future Direction for Agricultural Education
Date & Time
Wednesday, June 24, 2026, 11:15 AM - 11:30 AM
Gaea Hock
Description

In the current educational environment, teachers are asked to support students academically, socially, and emotionally, taking on responsibilities that go far beyond teaching content. Academic institutions at all levels are working to address and improve student well-being through a myriad of initiatives. One approach is to integrate Social, Emotional, and Character Development (SECD) Standards in every classroom. These standards address the importance of students developing habits that support academic, career, and personal success. An opportunity exists to integrate these SECD Standards into existing agriculture courses and programs. This study investigated how high school agriculture teachers are integrating SECD components. After receiving IRB approval, survey methods were used to answer the research question. One hundred SBAE teachers completed the instrument (36% response rate). Participants were predominantly female (n = 56, 56%), taught agriculture 9.66 years (SD = 8.44), and traditionally certified (n = 64, 73.6%). Participants indicated they provide opportunities for students to learn or practice SECD competencies some of the time (M = 3.71, SD = 0.81). Teachers also reported moderate agreement with integrating SECD into academic lesson plans (M = 3.15, SD = 0.99). Teachers expressed the strongest agreement with incorporating real-world experiences into their instruction (M = 4.54, SD = 0.62). Teachers indicated they frequently incorporate real-world experiences in their lesson plans, but less frequently integrate real-world experiences along with SECD concepts into academic content (M = 3.72, SD = 0.76). Respondents provide opportunities for their students to practice SECD competencies and emphasized consistently incorporating real-world applications in their teaching practices; there was slightly less agreement on whether SECD should be explicitly taught in the classroom. More efforts should be made to train and mentor teachers as the work to support their students’ social and emotional needs, while also meeting the academic needs of their content area.

Location Name
McDaniel
Full Address
The Mill at Mississippi State University
600 Russell Street
Starkville, MS 39759
United States
Session Type
Oral Presentation
Presentation Topic(s)
Scholarship
Presentation Track(s)
Morning
Schedule Block
Block 6
Authors

KaCee James, Abilene High School Gaea Hock, Kansas State Universit Brandie Disberger, Kansas State Universit Jessica Lane, Kansas State Universit Jonathan Ulmer, Kansas State Universit