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SAE History      
In 1907, Rufus W. Stimson introduced a revolutionary idea to engage agriculture students in naturalistic inquiry opportunities outside of the traditional classroom and school setting (Moore, 1988).  Stimson firmly believed that student learning required more than mere observation alone when he stated, "neither skill nor business ability can be learned from books alone, nor merely from observation of the work and management of others, both require active participation, during the learning period, in productive farming operations of real economic or commercial importance". (1919, p. 32). Stimson also outlined that record keeping was an important aspect of this experience and should be used in decision making.

Later in 1917, the Smith-Hughes Act was developed and directed that inquiry opportunities within agricultural education programs should require all students be engaged in directed or supervised practice in agriculture, which today is labeled as a Supervised Agriculture Experience (SAE). 

Since the inception of Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, states have adopted different approaches for students to keep records and quality standards relating to what constitutes an SAE and how this information is reported in FFA awards.  Adoption and suggested practices vary among states, but a consistent them is that record keeping is a core competency for agricultural education and held as a passion for many teachers.  As initially intended, these projects are connected to business and industry standards, but advances in the agriculture sector offer educational opportunities that should be captured in the SAE experience. 

The AET's Beginnings      
In 1999, Roger Hanagriff (co-developer of AET) as a University professor began teaching workshops connected to SAE record keeping practices and how best to report information in FFA award applications, with the focus on simulating industry aligned practices. This concept was a fresh look at SAE records and teachers could take these concepts and use as an educational experience with their students. Not only are record keeping practices important for students to apply in learning about agribusiness, but when utilized can provide teachers valuable program information to share with stakeholders. In 2007, it was obvious that formal SAE/FFA record systems needed to change and the educational opportunities and the value was too large to just ignore.  In 2007, The AET was born from colleagues/friends that shared a common interest (Roger Hanagriff, Clay Ewell and Tim Murphy), which is to develop a system to help education students using standard business practices, track the diversity of SAE projects that exists, help teachers supervise SAEs, coordinate teachers and students to collaborate in managing the agricultural program and collect information teachers can share with their stakeholders to grow the value of agricultural education. In a few short years, The AET was adopted by several states as a comprehensive management system and the idea seemed to grow each year and continues to grow today!

The AET Today      
Our passion is supporting agricultural education programs and helping teachers help their students through online solutions. We value our relationship with users and always maintain industry alignments in agrIcultural management to be a resource that is always evolving to meet the needs of our users. All of the management team at AET is devoted to the industry and we are excited you are interested in learning more. Helping students and teachers track agricultural educational experiences is our mission...so now login and record book it!

   
 
 
 
         
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