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4-H is the largest youth organization in the US, with six million participants. 4-H contributes to developing positive leadership and life skills (LLS). This research examined the essence of LLS development of 4-H youth while serving as an officer for the Georgia State Board of Directors. The population was 4-H state-level leaders who served from 2016 to 2018 (N = 18, n = 12). A qualitative phenomenological research design was used to describe what and how participants experienced being in a state-level leadership role, resulting in the essence of participants' lived experiences in the context of LLS development. Face-to-face interviews led to textural and structural descriptions of participants' experiences, resulting in the essence of the experience as a sharpening stone. Participants gained LLS in serving others, building confidence, open-mindedness, self-awareness, motivation, communication skills (speaking, listening, writing), personal agency, transfer of learning, and solidified college and career goals. Peer-influence was the most important factor in shaping participants' choices to belong to 4-H and strive for leadership roles. A peer affiliated with 4-H and serving as a leader deeply inspired youth to run for a state-level leadership role. Adult and peer influence served as the "honing process" to cultivate and sharpen LLS.

This mixed-methods study sought to determine the impact of a 4-H state-level youth leadership program on participants' leadership and life skills (LLS) development. Youth who participated in the study served as a state-level leader for one year. Two cohorts, 2017 and 2018 (N = 18), participated in the study. Twelve youth completed the survey and interviews. Results from the Youth Leadership Life Skills Development scale (YLLSD) and interviews revealed participants gained LLS in the areas of understanding self, decision-making, strengthened oral communication, teamwork, and critical thinking skills. Participation in 4-H positively built LLS among participants. Long-term engagement in 4-H was found to increase and deepen LLS development among participants by reinforcing lessons learned and through positive role-modeling between peers. Further research should explore the relationship between assigning youth leaders with titles such as president, vice-president, and secretary and associated LLS outcomes as previous research indicated that those given these titles benefited more than youth without titles in spite of all youth receiving similar formative experiences.

We introduce a pre-evaluation technique, prospect evaluation, in the case of Great Plains wheat producers' practices with Web 2.0. We emerged prospect evaluation as a pre-evaluation technique, expanding the role of evaluative logic and reasoning into the ideation phase of project and product development to close the risk gap between project idea and implementation. Prospect evaluation serves as a prequel to the well-established developmental, formative, and summative evaluation models. We implemented the prospect evaluation technique in the context of iWheat, a USDA-funded Web 2.0 project (currently known as myFields, http://myfields.info/dashboard). Wheat producers were comfortable using computers; however, they conceptualized the Internet with a Web 1.0 mindset that depends on a centralized model of development and delivery of content. Wheat producers were not comfortable actively co-creating useful information for the betterment of community, a fundamental underpinning of Web 2.0 advancement. Extension specialists and educators should focus on the rewards of contributing to Web 2.0 sites and proceed in diffusing Web 2.0 tools to the wheat producers. Prospect evaluation was sufficient for helping project leaders bridge the risk gap and move forward with the project.

The instrumental case study reported here adds to the literature on authentic assessment by illuminating how one secondary agricultural education instructor employed authentic assessment in the agricultural mechanics laboratory. The study was underpinned by the constructivist notion of authentic learning and assessment, or allowing students to perform what they can do. Multiple sources of data regarding assessment practices were collected from an exemplary secondary agricultural mechanics instructor who demonstrated model authentic assessment behavior by (1) setting high and fair expectations for students, (2) establishing a progressive hierarchy of skills for students to master, (3) providing continuous feedback so that students had knowledge of their progress, and (4) being committed deeply to students' success. The four themes resonated with previous literature and provided the foundation for a pragmatic model of authentic assessment in the secondary agricultural mechanics laboratory. Future research should focus on refining the model of authentic assessment in agricultural mechanics for a larger audience, as case studies are limited in their ability to generalize. Additionally, research should be conducted to determine how authentic assessment impacts student performance on Oklahoma Agricultural Power and Technology competency examinations.

The research reported here examined the impact of the Government Performance and Results Act on accountability and evaluation activities in two state Cooperative Extension Systems. Accountability was examined using five dimensions from Koppell's (2005) framework. Findings indicated both Extension systems transferred accountability activities to county-level educators through increased reporting expectations. There was not a strong connection between GPRA and changes in program evaluation practice or understanding in either state. Clear definitions of accountability within Extension and close examination of the role of evaluation may enhance accountability efforts and result in not only using evaluation for accountability but also for organizational learning.

Organic agriculture has the potential to improve the environmental performance of U.S. agriculture, supporting increasing food demand and diversification of food consumption while improving the quality of ecosystems. Organic growers are challenged by a lack of Cooperative Extension agent support as agents have not served organic growers to the same extent as conventional growers nationwide. Rogers' (2003) diffusion of innovations theory guided our phenomenological inquiry to explore (a) what agents experienced while supporting organic growers, and (b) how agents experienced providing support to organic growers in north Georgia. According to participants, the essence of the support offered to organic growers was an uneven bridge. Agents were willing to provide growers with the resources to support organic production; however, they lacked theoretical and empirical knowledge regarding organic agricultural production that would enable them to establish stronger relationships with growers. Findings from the study and the uneven bridge metaphor led to an original model to assist Extension agents in better serving the organic agricultural community.