Development and validation of a high school agricultural literacy assessment

Abstract

The National Agricultural Literacy Outcomes (NALOs) are knowledge benchmarks for school-aged youth and are used to improve agricultural literacy (NAITC, 2014; NCAL, 2017). Despite educational efforts, prior research indicated that high school populations remained at low or deficient literacy levels. Additionally, no agricultural literacy assessment instruments using the NALOs as a standardization tool have been developed for the 9-12th grades. The purpose of the study was to validate a summative NALO-centered assessment that could provide baseline data on agricultural literacy following the completion of secondary education (12th grade). The study followed the framework established by Longhurst et al. (2020) for similar assessments in elementary grades. A Delphi team produced 45 items for validation that were reviewed using a convenience sample of [University] undergraduate students. Those items were evaluated using factor, item, and discriminant analysis. Results finalized two 15-item assessments and determined both had acceptable reliability, were adequate for model fit, and were valid for the NALOs and the three proficiency levels. The instruments are critical tools for providing a standardized approach to evaluation efforts. Researchers and educators should use these instruments to provide comparable agricultural literacy data across populations to better identify trends, program needs, and meaningful inferences.