Student Spotlight - Dalton Green

Dalton Green is an undergrad in the Agricultural, Leadership Communication, and Education Department majoring in Agricultural Education and plans to teach high school or middle school upon graduating in May 2020. Over the past few years, Dr. Jason Peake and Dalton have conducted research that is thought-provoking and needed in Georgia. They are working on teacher mobility and retention research to aid in retaining the best and brightest agriculture teachers in Georgia. They are searching for answers as to how best support existing agriculture teachers and how to ensure those teachers have a long career.

Green has been a vital piece of this research since starting with Dr. Peake in Fall of 2018 and is one of many undergrads in the Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication Department who are performing research. Dalton has helped develop a database of Georgia agricultural education teacher movements from the past ten years and gathered this information by meeting with members of the Georgia Agricultural Education state staff to determine the status of teachers, where they taught, and where they are now.

Because Dalton plans to be an agricultural educator soon, this research immediately struck his interest. He’s searching for a better understanding of what makes teachers across the state stay in the classroom.

“By learning about experiences that they have had – both good and bad – I can better prepare myself for the profession so that I can effectively teach agriculture education for a long time,” Dalton said.

In Dr. Peake’s and Dalton’s research, they have examined where exactly agriculture teachers move. It is encouraging to see that many agriculture teachers are promoted to administrative positions and that the majority who leave the profession - 29 percent – are retirees at the end of a successful career. They are now working to better support existing agriculture teachers and increase agriculture teacher retention.

Dalton explained that this research could not be possible without the guidance of his mentor.

“Dr. Peake has guided the direction of this research. He has set up meetings with state staff members to develop our list of teachers, designed the studies, collaborated with me to produce visuals to display our findings, and provided me with guidance to develop effect research tools.”

At the end of this research, Dalton hopes to provide answers as to how to better support and retain Georgia’s agriculture teachers. This research is to assist Georgia state staff and other decision makers in agricultural education in their efforts to support Georgia agriculture teachers. Dalton has worked diligently to serve others and this is one example where he is providing answers and results to help ensure a bright future for Georgia agricultural education.

By Mary Logan Tostenson