Editor: Ellen Kelly-Holland
Correspondents: Barbara Gilbert, Nancy Essey, and Clara Lawson-Holmes

What's inside…

• Message from the Director
• CAR Window Opens
• FFA News
• DATE's Next Step Work Group Preparing Recommendations
• CORD Receives Contract for New STEM Project
• Mark Your Calendar! Meetings and Conferences

Message from the Director

Happy Fiscal New Year!On October 1, 2007, DATE will issue supplemental grant awards with the second and final installment of Perkins IV basic grant funds to States and Puerto Rico.At the same time, this office is finalizing new grant awards under three Perkins IV discretionary grant programs—Native American Career and Technical Education Program (NACTEP), Native Hawaiian Career and Technical Education Program (NHCTEP), and Tribally Controlled Postsecondary Career and Technical Institutions Program (TCPCTIP).A list of the discretionary grant recipients will soon be available on OVAE’s Web site.

The new year has brought new questions from State career and technical education (CTE) directors as they begin work on their Perkins IV five-year State plans.The three most frequently asked questions:(1) When will plans be due?(2) What are the Department’s requirements for “hearings” as required in section 122(a)(3) of Perkins IV?(3) Will States be required to negotiate performance levels with the Department on any of the core indicators and, if so, which ones?We will be issuing a program memorandum within the next few weeks with responses to each of these questions.We also will be holding a conference call with State CTE directors on October 18 (see “Mark Your Calendar” below) at which time we will respond to further questions that folks may have about the Perkins IV five-year State planning process and requirements.

Until then…

Sharon Lee Miller

CAR Window Opens

The window for the Perkins Consolidated Annual Report (CAR) will open on Monday, October 8, 2007, for States to begin reporting their narrative, fiscal, and accountability data for the period from July 1, 2006 – June 30, 2007 (the last year under Perkins III).In addition to reporting on the Perkins III core indicators of performance, States are required to report on the three new Perkins IV core indicators of performance that are tied to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB):academic attainment in reading/language arts; academic attainment in reading; and graduation rates.For assistance in completing your CAR, please contact your OVAE Perkins Regional Accountability Specialist (RAS) or Heather Fleck of DTI Associates, Inc. at hfleck@dtihq.com.

FFA News

The National Council for the Agricultural Education Board will meet in Salt Lake City, UT, on October 4-6, 2007.The Board will hear reports on eight initiatives, all geared toward achieving the FFA goal of increasing the number of quality agricultural education programs from the present 7,300 to 10,000 by 2015.

The 80th Annual National FFA (Future Farmers of America) Convention will be held from October 24-27, 2007, in Indianapolis, IN.Over 52,000 FFA members, teachers, parents, industry leaders and others will join together to celebrate student success around the theme of "Blue Jackets-Bright Future.”  The convention will be televised Nationwide on RFD-TV which is available on DISH Network, DIRECTV, Mediacom cable, and NCTC cable system.

For more information on the National Convention, please visit FFA’s Web site at www.ffa.org.For more information on RFD-TV, please visit www.rfdtv.com.

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DATE’s Next Step Work Group Preparing Recommendations

The Next Step Work Group (NSWG)—comprised of DATE accountability staff, State career and technical education directors and their accountability staff, national associations’ staff, and federal contractors—are working diligently to develop recommendations for the Department on two issues pertaining to Perkins IV accountability.These areas include:

• Technical skill assessments – The NSWG is developing a framework for classifying technical skill assessments into “Gold, Silver, and Bronze” categories based on their validity and reliability.
• Concentrator definition and credit conversion – The NSWG is working on a table that converts “credits” (as part of the definition of a career and technical education (CTE) “concentrator” in the Department’s March 13, 2007 guidance on Perkins IV student definitions and measurement approaches) into “hours” and “percent of state standards completed.”This conversion is needed for States that do not recognize or use “credits hours.”A draft table is available on the Peer Collaborative Resource Network (PCRN) Web site at http://www.edcountability.net.

As a reminder, participation on the NSWG is open to all!Special thanks to Fidelis Ubadigbo from Iowa’s Department of Education who has graciously agreed to host the NSWG over the coming months!Anyone who is interested in participating may contact Amrita Banerjee of DTI, Associates, Inc. at abanerjee@dtihq.com.

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CORD Receives Contract for New STEM Project

Through an OVAE grant, The League for Innovation in the Community College recently selected CORD (the Center for Occupation Research and Development) to create curriculum strategies that ensure mathematics and science rigor in the community college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related career areas.  Sixty-two integrated curriculum projects, two per career area, will be developed.  Each project will include guidelines and essential background material necessary for the project to be taught within the career area and related academic area, and will include assessment strategies, authentic tasks that encourage career exploration, and evidence-based teaching strategies.  Curriculum projects will focus on industry scenarios, require students to work in teams, and build critical thinking skills.  For more information, please visit the League’s Web site at: www.league.org.

Mark Your Calendar!

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