State Programs
State Summary 2010 — Arizona
State Contact
Ms. Monica Pastor
UA Cooperative Extension, Maricopa County
4341 E. Broadway Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85040
P: 602.827.8200
F: 602.827.8292
E: mpastor@cals.arizona.edu
Website
Classroom Resources
Dairy Curriculum Kit developed by AZ Farm Bureau.
Major Program Accomplishments or Outputs
Cooperative Extension has expanded its Agricultural Literacy efforts. Five counties and one research farm are conducting programs and reporting their efforts to the state contact.
Twentieth Annual Summer Agricultural Institute was held for 20 educators with help from 78 volunteers giving 350 hours of service. Fifteen thousand dollars from 30 agribusinesses and organizations funded the five-day Institute that traveled through four counties. The Food, Land & People curriculum and Arizona Specialty Crop Lessons are provided for free to the participants.
Maricopa County Farm Bureau continued its investment in the program but approved the development of an on-line course instead of continuing to train volunteers since AzFB is coordinating volunteer classroom presentations.
Volunteers read in 220 classrooms to 4300 primary students during Arizona Agricultural Literacy Days.
A partnership has been formed with Western Growers Association to coordinate six-hour workshops for their Gardening With Children grant recipients and a Specialty Crop Grant was awarded to have these trainings each summer for the next three years.
On going meetings have been held with Science Curriculum Coordinators to begin implementing Professional Development opportunities for their faculty.
Coordinated the education area for AZ Agriculture Day with 3000 visitors.
Funding cuts have reduced 1.5 FTE to .65 FTE in the Ag Literacy program.
Acquired funding to expand classroom space for the Faul Ag-Village at UA's Maricopa Ag Center where 8000 students receive 2 hours of hands-on education.
Mohave County combines the basics of botany, horticulture, soil science, water conservation and food science in its education program.
Two 4-H School Enrichment Clubs in Mohave County were able to utilize the Extra Curricular Activity funds to implement in-ground gardens.
Mohave County receives funding from the County School Superintendent and the community to expand the school garden program.
Major Program Impacts or Outcomes
The assessment for the In the Field With AZ Agriculture event demonstrated that answers to 22 out of 24 knowledge based questions were statistically significant. This means the 900 students answered the questions more correctly, the increased ability to do so was substantial and it was directly attributable to what they learned at the event.
The students' likelihood of choosing to eat a fruit and asking their parents to provide fruit for them to eat increased substantially due to their participation in the In the Field With AZ Agriculture event.
100% of Summer Ag Institute participants rated the Institute as more valuable than other in-service programs and said it will make a significant difference in the way they present agriculture concepts in their classroom curriculum.
Research showed 100% of teachers trained by AITC used lessons in their classroom after attending training, especially when prompted by suggested lessons in the newsletter.
100% of participants in workshops demonstrate their understanding of the lessons as well as an increase in agriculture knowledge as they work in teams to teach a lesson of their choice prior to completion of the workshop.
61% of participating teachers reported including additional lessons and activities in their classrooms after the UA Maricopa Ag Center Farm Ag-Ventures Program.
92% of the participants involved in the UA Maricopa Ag Center Farm Ag-Ventures Program reported learning 2 - 4 agricultural facts during the program.
Biosketch
Monica Pastor is a University of Arizona faculty member and is Director of the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Maricopa County office. She is an Associate Agent, Ag and Natural Resources with an emphasis on Agricultural Literacy. Monica has a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics and a Master's in Education.
She works closely with the 15 members of her Ag Literacy Advisory Committee in administering a research-based, scientifically accurate program that utilizes current education pedagogy.
Monica has been involved with Ag in the Classroom since her tenure as a Fieldman and Director of Field Services with the Arizona Farm Bureau. When she became Executive Director of the Maricopa County Farm Bureau the Ag in the Classroom program was a priority directive from her volunteer Board. She was instrumental in coordinating meetings of the agriculture community to discuss education efforts by each of the agriculture organizations. A culmination of these meetings resulted in the development of the Summer Agricultural Institute and the formation of the AZ Foundation for Agricultural Literacy. The SAI just completed its twentieth annual Institute and the Foundation is the funding source for SAI, AG Day, teacher workshops and curriculum development for the Agricultural Literacy program in Arizona.