Making the Case for Agriculture Education in the MWEC Region

<p>NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY:<br/> The educational landscape in Oregon and across the nation is changing. With major reform initiatives passed by the Oregon Legislature and signed by the governor as well as decreases to federal Perkins funding creating new challenges, all of us in the educational world are being forced to find a new way to stand. We can either sit down and mourn the way it was or we can look to the change as an opportunity to create new and dynamic experiences for our students. As Henry Kaiser said, Trouble is just opportunity in work clothes. Some of the challenges and opportunities that will be addressed by this grant are: 1. An increase in Oregon Diploma requirements in Math and Science-this is a challenge for many educators and students, and yet a great opportunity for applied academics through an agricultural lens. 2. We have an opportunity to build on
existing capacity in our region and to create new experiences based on the Curriculum for Agriculture Science Education (CASE), and Chemeketa Community College's Phytotechnology and Renewable Energy programs. CASE curriculum addresses all of the five priority areas: global food security and hunger, climate change, sustainable energy, childhood obesity, and food safety. This project will expand students' exposure to sustainable energy topics and solutions, through an agriculture lens. Sustainable energy solutions will be used to solve agricultural problems in industrialized and developing countries. 3. There are a relatively small percentage of students involved in agricultural education, yet it is the largest industry in our region. We can capitalize on relationships with schools in the consortium to increase the knowledge about career and educational opportunities in agricultural fields
for a large number of students and teachers in a wide variety of STEM-related disciplines. The audience is all STEM teachers in our region and their students. It is not restricted to only agriculture programs, in order to reach a wider swath of students who may not be aware of opportunities in agriculture-related fields. The project will improve education by providing teachers with a consistent, national curriculum that has a foundation on core science standards through the CASE training and teacher support through a regional agriculture teacher Professional Learning Community. The Delta conference will take the teachers' practice to the next level by showing them HOW to most effectively teach the curriculum, based on brain-based strategies. The Delta method is focused on "how people learn" and provides teachers with the strategies and tools to help ensure every student learns. In
addition, this project will improve education by providing agriculture and non-agriculture programs alike with hands-on learning around sustainable energy and phytotechnology. Students will be able to apply their learning in team scenarios where they will be tasked with solving real-world problems. All of the activities in this grant will help to make sure that students become not just proficient at technical and academic skills, but the "soft skills" that industry states over and over are highly desirable in their future workforce.
<p>APPROACH:<br/> Objectives and activities will be monitored through regular communication at the teacher and administrator level throughout the region. High School principal meetings are quarterly, and the project will be monitored and shared at these meetings. Ag and STEM teacher leadership will help to manage the project through the MWEC regional PLC meetings; and the project director and program evaluator will meet monthly to ensure that the project is progressing according to the timeline and evaluation of it is on track. The project will be managed by the Mid-Willamette Education Consortium (MWEC), which manages over $1.5 million in federal Perkins dollars for the region through a cooperative consortia model, and will be accountable for all reporting and administration of the grant. MWEC has an Executive Council that is an advisory group that meets at least five
times per year and will review the project objectives at each meeting to ensure they are being met. In order to measure the outcomes for the first goal area the following strategies will be used: 1.As a part of the new Oregon Education Investment Board, longitudinal data will be collected state-wide that will allow us to track students to determine their postsecondary educational paths. Baseline data will be collected for 2011-12 in order to measure the increase in students from the region who pursue and complete postsecondary studies in agriculture and other closely related STEM fields. 2.We will use the number of students taking CASE courses in the 2011-12 school year as the baseline in order to show the number of students who are studying all five of the NIFA priority areas, and to be able to show the increase in number of students in subsequent years. 3.We will document the number of
non-Ag students participating in the sustainable energy events to show how many are studying that specific NIFA priority area. In order to measure the outcomes for the second goal area the following strategies will be used: 1.The number of teachers/schools offering CASE courses in the 2011-12 school year will be used as baseline data to document the increase in CASE offerings in the region. 2.The CASE end of course assessments will be used to show student mastery in agricultural and science standards. Student assessment data from 2011-12 will serve as a baseline. The goal is for teachers who have implemented CASE and then participate in the Delta trainings to show an increase in student end of course assessment data. 3.The MWEC agriculture instructors have worked collaboratively to create a technical skill assessment for the region to comprehensively assess and document student learning
that will be evaluated by local industry members. 4.The number of agriculture dual credit articulation agreements and credits awarded in 2011-12 will serve as baseline data to measure the increase in dual credit opportunities created through this project. 5.Teachers will be surveyed at the end of each event and asked to document the impact on teaching practice. This data will be reviewed regularly and used to improve future events as the project progresses.
<p>PROGRESS: 2012/07 TO 2013/06<br/>Target Audience: The target audience impacted through our efforts as part of this grant were CTE teachers within the the Mid-Willamette Education Consortium region. Teachers from a three county region were invited to participate in a day-long instructional semiar where they learned various green-energy labs and activities, which could easily be incorporated into their classroom. Several teachers also participated in a Delta Conference training as well as CASE trainings for professional development Changes/Problems: The most significant change or problem encountered during this grant cycle was staff turnover and changes. The main contact through Silverton School District was on medical leave for part of this year and Chemeketa Community College has experienced significant staffing changes within the High School Programs and Agriculture
departments. As a result, the STEM olympics event was postponed and will occur within the current reporting cycle, not the previous one which was just completed. All other deliverables have been met and are in alignment with the original proposed timeline. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Extensive professional development was provided in the form of four STEM seminars for teachers, Mid-Willamette Education Consortium regional conferences, and attendance at the Delta Conference. Teachers were able to collaborate with faculty from within the renewable energy department at Chemeketa Community College and learn about trends in renewable energy. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results have been shared within statewide CTE networks, as well as local opportunities within the MWEC region. STEM and
Agriculture teachers have also met in their respective Professional Learning Communnities sharing instructional tools and practices as well. MWEC Executive Director also completed a presentation at the 2013 Oregon Association of Career Technical Education (OACTE). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? During the next reporting period, we will schedule and organize the student renewable energy olympics, as well as schedule an additional STEM seminar on hydraulics. At least two additional teachers will complete CASE training during the upcoming reporting period and our second Delta Conference will also occur as well. Plans are underway to develop our blog located on the MWEC web site. Curriculum alignment between Chemeketa Community College and local high high schools has already occured as part of this grant and will conitnue as part of our
College Credit Now program.