Program Specialist- Agriscience Fair & National Chapter

JOB SUMMARY:

The Agriscience Fair & National Chapter Awards Specialist leads the design, governance, and continuous improvement of the National FFA’s competitive Agriscience Fair and National Chapter Award programs, including rubrics, scoring systems, standards, and evaluation frameworks. This role ensures the competitions are educationally rigorous, equitable, and aligned with FFA’s mission and the integrated agricultural education model. This role serves as the secondary program manager for three additional programs: American FFA Degree, American Star Awards, and Agricultural Proficiency Awards, to ensure continuity of leadership and operational stability. Serving as the primary content and assessment owner for assigned events, the specialist oversees the full content lifecycle—from concept development through implementation, evaluation, and revision—while applying data-informed evaluation practices to strengthen program quality and outcomes. The role leads collaboration with logistics partners, subject-matter experts, state associations, volunteers, and cross-functional teams to ensure assessment integrity, scoring consistency, and a high-quality student experience at scale, while contributing to the stewardship of the awards budget. The specialist must effectively manage multiple programs, apply strategic program management practices, and stay current with trends in competitive events and recognition programs.

Requirements

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Design, evaluate, and continuously refine award program content, including rubrics, scoring systems, standards, and evaluation criteria to ensure fairness, rigor, and alignment with educational outcomes.
• Own the content lifecycle for assigned competitive events, from concept development through implementation, evaluation, revision, and future-cycle planning.
• Establish, maintain, and govern content standards and assessment frameworks to ensure consistency and integrity across assigned award programs.
• Monitor content integrity across revisions and event cycles, ensuring updates do not introduce bias or misalignment.
• Analyze qualitative and quantitative program data to evaluate effectiveness, participant outcomes, and assessment validity.
• Translate evaluation findings into actionable recommendations for program enhancement, future event cycles, and strategic planning.
• Review and support resolution of scoring questions, appeals, and assessment-related concerns using established standards and policies.
• Identify assessment-related risks and recommend corrective actions to strengthen scoring reliability and stakeholder trust.
• Pilot, evaluate, and recommend innovative approaches to scoring, delivery, and experiential learning design.
• Recruit, train, and prepare judges and content-focused volunteers to ensure consistent understanding of rubrics, scoring expectations, and evaluation standards.
• Lead and coordinate two separate committees of subject-matter experts to support content development, rubric refinement, and award program standards.
• Partner with the award and degree program logistics lead to ensure content requirements are seamlessly integrated into event operations and delivery.
• Contribute to the stewardship of the program budget, ensuring content-related decisions align with fiscal responsibility and program priorities.
• Support the development and implementation of scoring vendor contracts, ensuring assessment requirements, timelines, and deliverables align with program standards and educational outcomes.
• Oversee implementation of scoring vendor contracts, including coordinating onboarding, monitoring performance against contractual expectations, and addressing content- and assessment-related issues in partnership with procurement and operations teams.
• Own the development and governance of official competitive event handbooks and resources, ensuring clarity, consistency, and alignment with assessment standards and program policies.
• Perform other responsibilities as assigned.

Job Knowledge

• Demonstrates deep knowledge of the award program purpose and design, assessment design, rubric development, scoring systems, and evaluation methodology.
• Applies best practices in experiential learning and program assessment to ensure validity, reliability, and transparency.
• Interprets national standards, policies, and eligibility requirements consistently across events and stakeholders.
• Monitors emerging trends in assessment and experiential learning to inform future program design.
• Provides subject-matter expertise to support equitable scoring and high-quality competitive experiences.

• Produces accurate, well-documented rubrics, scoring criteria, standards, evaluation tools, and version-controlled content materials.
• Develops and maintains content documentation and knowledge resources to support onboarding, continuity, and institutional knowledge.
• Generates data-informed reports, insights, and summaries for leadership, donors, and internal stakeholders.
• Translates committee input, evaluation findings, and stakeholder feedback into clear, actionable program decisions.
• Ensures public-facing content related to award programs is accurate, consistent, and aligned with approved standards.

• Reviews and interprets feedback from judges, participants, advisors, and stakeholders to improve content clarity and experience.
• Responds professionally to program division/category-related inquiries, appeals, and concerns with fairness, transparency, and consistency.
• Supports stewardship of donor funds by ensuring program content aligns with funded priorities and donor intent.
• Provides responsive, solution-oriented guidance to state staff, educators, volunteers, and participants.

• Maintains consistency and integrity of content standards across programs and annual cycles.
• Demonstrates accountability for assessment accuracy, documentation, timelines, and program outcomes.
• Applies attention to detail in version control, scoring frameworks, and evaluation processes.
• Follows through on commitments related to content updates, committee coordination, and reporting deliverables.

• Collaborates cross-functionally with education, evaluation, awards, marketing, operations, and logistics teams to ensure integrated program delivery.
• Partners with foundation staff, educators, state staff, and students to align content with strategic priorities and funded objectives.
• Facilitates collaboration among two committees of subject-matter experts, building consensus and shared ownership.
• Supports alignment between national and state competitive events by advising all 50 state associations on standards and best practices.
• Support event planning by ensuring content, assessment, and judging requirements are effectively integrated into program schedules, training plans, and online and in-person execution.

• Communicates content standards, assessment expectations, and program requirements clearly to diverse audiences.
• Informs and supports marketing and communications strategies by providing accurate program narratives, timelines, and assessment insights.
• Reviews and validates award program content used in public-facing communications to ensure accuracy and consistency.
• Develops clear reports, summaries, and presentations to support leadership decision-making and donor stewardship.
• Serve as a content consultant and trusted resource for internal teams and external stakeholders.

• Fosters a welcoming, respectful, and inclusive environment for FFA colleagues, members, educators, and partners.
• Prioritizes staff and member well-being in program design and interactions.
• Demonstrates kindness, accountability, and care in all professional relationships.
• Actively supports equity, access, dignity, and respect across programs and stakeholder engagement.

• Bachelor's degree in Agricultural Education or related field required. Master's degree preferred.
• Background in agricultural education is strongly preferred.

• A minimum of three years of relevant experience completing and/or judging agriscience fair and national chapter award applications is required.
• A minimum of one year of management/supervisory experience is preferred.
• Agricultural education/FFA experience is required.
• Working knowledge of project management concepts, tools, and activities, including Box, and Office 356 (SharePoint, Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint)

Light sedentary work. May lift up to 50 pounds occasionally, push, pull or otherwise move objects. Repetitive motion. Substantial movements (motions) of the wrists, hands, and/or fingers. Employees are required to have close visual acuity to perform activities, such as viewing a computer terminal, extensive reading and writing.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

Indoor, cubicle environment. Hybrid working location

TRAVEL

5% Travel (Convention / As Needed)

OVERNIGHT TRAVEL

5% Overnight Travel (As Needed)

FFA VALUES

Integrity: “Upfront and Honest Always” – Do what is right, all the time. Choose Courage over Comfort. Be open and Truthful

Respect: “We Before Me” – Be Considerate and Courteous. Respect differences in all interactions. Encourage and recognize others.

Accountability: “Do It, Own It” – Take Initiative, do what you say you will do. Own Mistakes.