Meeting Upper-level Agriculture Course Prerequisites: Where Have All The Students Gone?

Agricultural academic units in four-year universities have traditionally sought to maintain institutional quality in degree programs through structured sequences of prerequisite courses. The theory was that students would first be required to demonstrate an acceptable level of knowledge in prerequisite courses and would then be adequately prepared to pursue more difficult, upper level courses. Recently, expanded numbers of community colleges and technical schools have provided alternatives for completing prerequisites. Courses from these schools are generally lower in cost per credit hour, offered on single night bases, regarded as academically less rigorous, and not counted in student grade point averages when transferred into four-year schools. Undetermined is whether these courses adequately prepare students for subsequent, upper-level courses. An analysis of student choices for completing prerequisites and observed effect on student success in a subsequent upper-level soils course was conducted over 1997-2003 agriculture graduates at a small, four-year university located near several two-year colleges. Percentage of students completing prerequisites through alternative options had dramatically increased over the period studied. Primary student motivations for prerequisite location choice were compiled through a class survey. Extensive analysis regarding the effect on subsequent, upper-level course grades was conducted to determine the extent of prerequisite source effects.

C. Robert Stark, Jr., Paul B. Francis, Whitney A. Whitworth, and Kelly J. Bryant

University of Arkansas

Monticello, Monticello, AR

stark@uamont.edu

Copyright North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Dec 2004
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