Program Specialist- Agriscience Fair & National Chapter

National FFA Organization•Indianapolis, IN

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

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

Bachelor's degree in Agricultural Education or related field required.
A minimum of three years of relevant experience completing and/or judging agriscience fair and national chapter award applications is required.
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)

Nice To Haves

Master's degree preferred.
Background in agricultural education is strongly preferred.
A minimum of one year of management/supervisory experience is preferred.

Responsibilities

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.