Abstract
The purpose of this descriptive survey research study conducted with agriculture teachers in
North Carolina was to determine their in-service training needs in order to be effective for
preparing students with the 21st century skills necessary for students to be successful. This study
reaffirms the need for continuation of leadership education as an important skill and integration
of reading, writing, and math concepts into all agricultural education curricula for preparing
students to be successful in the 21st century. The role of agriculture in global food security;
application of problem-based learning; planning and delivering lessons to utilize higher order
thinking skills; teaching leadership skills; and development of teamwork and student
collaboration were identified as the five most important in-service training needs for preparing
agriculture teachers to be effective educators. Findings of this study are limited to North
Carolina agriculture teachers. This limitation of applying findings for other states should be
addressed by conducting a study with a diverse sample of agriculture teachers across the nation.