NAAE News Items

News Items Listing

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Archived News Items (6-12 months old)

Growing leaders from the ground up

April 23, 2008

About 40 students from the University of Kentcuky, College of Agriculture participated Saturday in the first annual Ag 180: Turning Students into Leaders through Service. Samuel Evans, a Student Government senator for the College of Agriculture created the service event to compliment the Ag Bash, which draws many agriculture students out each fall.

Volunteers signed up to work at one of seven locations around Lexington, including the Arboretum, the Lexington Senior Citizens Center, the Old Episcopal Burying Ground and the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge. Tasks varied from landscaping to indoor cleaning projects.

Evans planned and coordinated the event with the College of Agriculture Student Council. Participants received free T-shirts and lunch.

Read the full article at,
http://media.www.kykernel.com/media/storage/paper305/news/2008/04/21/CampusNews/Growing.Leaders.From.The.Ground.Up-3337219.shtml

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Grant To Give Horticulture A Boost

April 23, 2008

In Sebring, Flordia the $70-million horticulture industry in Highlands County will benefit, at least indirectly, from a $254,000 federal grant that will be used jointly by the Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape Association and the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.

The United States Department of Agriculture grant also could bring a new facility and directly benefit county growers.

Those are the assessments of John Alleyne, director of the Highlands County Cooperative Extension Service. The grant will be used to promote and improve the horticulture industry

Read the full article at,
http://www2.highlandstoday.com/content/2008/apr/21/grant-give-horticulture-boost/?news

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Ground broken on new Ag Learning Center at Halls High School

April 23, 2008

The final step in the approving a contract with the state Department of Agriculture for a $150,000 grant to build an Agricultural Learning Center on the campus of Halls High School was completed in the April meeting of the Lauderdale County Commission.

Affectionately called 'the barn,' by HHS faculty and students, the building will be located on the west site of the HHS campus on Hwy. 88. The property was purchased by the Board of Education a few years ago with hopes of a campus expansion.

This expansion to the HHS campus will not only aid students with hands-on experience in agriculture-based classes, but provide a state-of-the-art facility to be used countywide.

Officials involved in the planning agreed that a new facility to offer a more hands-on approach to teaching agriculture was the answer, but such an investment would have to be a benefit to the community as a whole.

Read the full article at,
http://www.stategazette.com/story/1396698.html

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Frozen funds for agriculture: What does it mean?

April 23, 2008

On April 3 the Governor’s office decided to freeze over $40 million of funds for agriculture programs that pass through the Illinois Department of Agriculture’s appropriated budget for the current fiscal year. The programs impacted by this decision include University of Illinois Extension, Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD), Council on Food and Agriculture Research (C-FAR), Fertilizer Research and Education Committee, AgrAbility and the Grape and Wine Resources Council.

Funding for each of these programs was included in the fiscal year 2008 budget passed by the Illinois General Assembly and ultimately signed in vetoed form by the Governor. The Department of Agriculture is stating that since the current state budget was based on “inflated revenue estimates” there are not adequate funds to honor the appropriated amounts.

What does this mean to Shelby County? Program dollars for U of I Extension Shelby County Unit and Shelby County SWCD will not be released. The ramifications of this could be catastrophic. It could even mean the closure of these two offices that serve all residents of Shelby County, not just those of us in agriculture.

Read the full article at,
http://www.jg-tc.com/articles/2008/04/23/features/farm/doc480567629f257107227710.txt

 

Vocational education gets a big boost

April 16, 2008

The Lucia Mar Unified School District has received $5.8 million to expand the facilities that house its vocational programs at Arroyo Grande High School, in California.

The Career Technical Education Grant money — which the district must match — will be used for the construction of a new state-of-the-art complex. It will house vocational courses ranging from standard offerings such as automotive technology to harder-to-find-classes including animal science and even floral design.

There were 610,856 students statewide enrolled in vocational education courses for the 2006-07 academic year, the most recent year for which statistics are available, according to the California Department of Education.

That same year, there were 1,706 Lucia Mar and 6,559 San Luis Obispo County students enrolled in vocational courses, the CDE said.

To meet the growing demand for vocational education, in July the district applied for a Career Technical Education Grant from the state, and this month received word of the $5.8 million award.

In February, Lucia Mar applied for $3 million more during the second phase of the CTE grant process for the Culinary Arts Academy, and officials said they expect to find out within the next six months whether the district will receive the money.

Principal Ryan Pinkerton said, the project is in the planning stage, and construction on the complex will not begin until a year from now.

Read the full article at, http://www.theadobepress.com/articles/2008/04/14/news/nipomo/news12.txt
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Texas Ag Program Not Going Away

April 16, 2008

In Gainesville, Texas, some Cooke County parents and students are saying the Gainesville ISD Agriculture-Education program is being unfairly cut. School administrators say that's not the case. Even though the school board says the program will stay, parents and students are disagreeing.

The school superintendent as well as a former Ag teacher have very different stories about what's going on.

Two weeks ago, Chris Uselton says he was told that starting next year, there would be no Ag program at GHS.

As the program instructor, that concerned him. He starting notifying students and parents so that something could be done. A few days later, Uselton says he was out of a job.

Students and parents addressed the school board members Monday night, asking them not to cut the program. But those requests may not have been necessary.

School board officials said Monday night that there have been issues with the program that need to be resolved, like low attendance. But students and parents say administrators are to blame.

Read the full article at, http://www.kxii.com/home/headlines/17695819.htm
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FFA quadruples membership

April 10, 2008

The Wisconsin Dells High School FFA Chapter membership grew to 45 this year.

For the last four years members numbered around 10. Some students contribute the spike in membership to their realization that the FFA caters to students not only interested in farming but in a broad range of agriculture-related careers and that the club's spirited advisor publicized the FFA as a state officer during her college education.

The National FFA organization, established in 1928, brought together teachers, students and entrepreneurs with the common goal of furthering agricultural education. Its creators called it the Future Farmers of America until its name was changed in 1988 to just the National FFA Organization.

"The real reason we did it is we realized there is more to agriculture than just the farming, and we didn't want to be an organization that just stood for farming. We wanted also to incorporate that biotech and research and science that goes into agriculture, ag business and things like that," said Amanda Levzow, advisor for the Dells chapter.

Read the full article at, http://www.wiscnews.com/wde/news//index.php?ntid=280787

 

CTE Programming for Students With Disabilities

April 8, 2008

Differentiated programs allow students with disabilities to access and succeed in CTE. Participating students learn specific entry-level skills that industry requires. The programs mirror the traditional certified CTE programming, but do not require industry-level proficiency exams. Instead, students have an employability profile that put lines the skills learned and the level of proficiency attained.

CTE programs in Buffalo, New York schools are provided throughout a student's high school career. During an application process in the eighth grade, students rank the CTE programs and schools they would like to attend and complete additional requirements that may include a submission of a portfolio or an entrance test. The application process has been redesigned to include differentiated CTE programs for students with disabilities; students and parents work together with special education liaisons to determine which programs are bet suited for their students.

Read the full article in Techniques or on the web by logging in with your ACTE account

www.acteonline.org/resource_center/index.cfm

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Leadership for Postsecondary Agriculture Students

April 8, 2008

Officially formed in March 1980 in Kansas City, Missouri, The National Postsecondary Agricultural Student Organization (PAS) is a career and technical student organization (CTSO) associated with agriculture/agribusiness and natural resources in approved postsecondary institutions offering baccalaureate degrees, associate degrees, diplomas and or certificate. Today, the membership totals approximately 1,115 members from 56 chapters located in 18 states.

The mission of PAS is to provide opportunities for individuals in leadership and career preparation. Student members develop their leadership abilities through participation in employment experience programs, coursework and organization activities. The values upon PAS is based include not only developing leadership abilities, but also promoting intellectual growth, developing technical competencies, fostering strong personal ethics, encouraging lifelong learning, recognizing synergy exists in diversity, and uniting education and industry.

Read the full article in Techniques or on the web by logging in with your ACTE account

www.acteonline.org/resource_center/index.cfm

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April 2, 2008

An acre of tobacco might be a cervical cancer vaccine

Look again. That acre of tobacco might not be an acre of potential cigarettes. It might be an acre of cervical cancer vaccine. In the not-so-distant future, the plant linked to lung cancer - the leading cancer killer nationally - could be used to help prevent cervical cancer - the second-most-deadly cancer for women worldwide.

University of Louisville researchers Bennett "Ben" Jenson and Shin-je Ghim helped develop the world's first cervical caner vaccine by turning to tobacco.

Read the full article at,
http://louisville.edu/features/imagination.html

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Mar. 26, 2008

Students Many Need a Grounding in Agriculture as Much as in the Liberal Arts

With the attention that colleges are paying to local foods and to sustainability, perhaps more institutions should offer basic lessons in agricultural skills, as a way to make students familiar with an important American industry, if not to make farmers out of them. Recently, scholars have worried that young people are disconnected from nature, so why not let students carve out a corner of the campus to start a small farm?

In fact, a number of colleges have already tried this. Warren Wilson College is particularly well known for its student-farm work. Goshen College's Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center runs an agroecology program meant to teach "the cultural and practical knowledge needed for a successful, post-fossil-fuel world," according to its Web site.

Indeed, teaching agriculture can mean teaching about the world. Modern agriculture touches on nearly all of the pressing environmental and social issues facing America today-water, energy, immigration, biodiversity, public health, rural poverty, suburban sprawl, climate change, and even religion and ethics.
Colleges deliver basic skills of all kinds. Should agriculture be part of the mix?

Read the full article at
http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/03/2198n.htm

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Mar.26, 2008

Focus on Youth: New teacher, LATI bring the FFA back to Watertown

Before he even received his agriculture education degree from South Dakota State University, Jason Frerichs, 23, knew where he wanted to teach - Watertown, S.D. The challenge standing between him and his dream job was the fact that Watertown lost its high school agriculture education program in 2004.

Seeing this challenge as an opportunity, Frerichs, worked with Lake Area Technical Institute and Watertown High School to start a new high school agriculture education program and charter the Watertown Area FFA Chapter inside the walls of Lake Area Technical Institute.

Read the full article at
http://www.tristateneighbor.com/articles/2008/03/25/tri_state_news/top_stories/news14.txt

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Mar. 21, 2008

The Value of CTE

Career and Technical Education (CTE) produces gains in academic achievement and earnings and represents a significant contribution to the education of America's youth and adults in preparation of a skilled workforce. An extensive body of research exists describes CTE programs and their outcomes. ACTE created the "Research Demonstrates the Value of Career and Technical Education" fact sheet for members to use when promoting the importance of CTE programs. The research on this handout is pulled from leading sources from the education, workforce, business and economic fields. AS new CTE research is completed, this fact sheet is updated and available on ACTE's Research and Resources Web page as the CTE Effectiveness fact sheet.

Read the full article in Techniques or on the web by logging in with your ACTE account

www.acteonline.org/resource_center/index.cfm

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Mar. 21, 2008

Enhance Student Advising

The fifth recommendation in ACTE's postsecondary reform position paper is to enhance student advising and academic and life supports. The availability of effective student supports can play a critical role in student enrollment, persistence and completion of postsecondary credentials. Guidance and advising is vital to help students select programs that match well with their interest and skills. Additionally,, helping them address life challenges that they may face outside of the classroom can play a temendous role in whether students succeed in postsecondary education or not.

Read the full article in Techniques or on the web by logging in with your ACTE account

www.acteonline.org

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Mar. 19, 2008

Free Teaching Materials on Alternative Fuels

There are a number of educational materials about alternative fuels and new energy sources that are free to teachers and available on the internet. The NOVA scienceNOW Teachers' Domain website has multimedia teaching resources that include videos about fuel cells and hydrogen cars. For more information, visit www.teachersdomain.org/resources/phy03/sci/phys/matter/hydrogencar/index.html

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Feb. 25, 2008
The Language of Learning

Take a look around at the students in any classroom. You will find some who love to work on group projects and some who detest collaborative efforts. Some students are hoping for loosely defined criteria on assignments so that they can unleash their creative talents, while others demand clearly delineated steps on how to complete their homework. This diversity among students can challege teachers as they try to meet the needs of various learners in their classes. The study of learning styles has not only resulted in the development of valuable educational theory, but has also generated practical implications that can inform our classroom teachng on a daily basis.

 

http://www.acteonline.org/members/techniques/2008-2009/feb08.cfm

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Feb. 25, 2008
ACTE at Work

ACTE's executive director Janet B. Bray welcomed Annual Convention attendees to Las Vegas during the Opening General Session on December 13. She noted that ACTE continues to protect, provide, and promote leadership, and outlined some of the Association's accomplishments over the past year.

ACTE:

  • Testified on the No Child Left Behind Act before the House Educatoin and Labor Committe
  • Helped launch the Career and Technical Education Congressional Caucus
  • Was sucessful in getting $25 million increase to Perkins' fiscal year 2008 funding, (although the spending bill was vetoed ACTE is still working to safeguard Perkins funding)
  • Partners will U.S. News and World Report to enhance Career Tech Update--ACTE's electronic newsletter--which now goes out daily to members

Read the full article in Techniques or on the web by logging in with your ACTE account

http://www.acteonline.org/members/techniques/2008-2009/feb08.cfm

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Feb. 25, 2008
Connecting Students to Careers

Young people searching for employment opportunities fresh out of high school knows how difficult it can be to find openings that fit their skills and interests. According to the United States Chamber of Commerece, the unemployment rate for individuals with disabilities is a staggering 62 percent. The Grant Wood Area Education Agency (GWAEA), an intermediate agency that serves 33 east central Iowa school districts, began working in 2000 to determine why young people with disbilities were having a difficult time transitioning from high school to the world of work. Career connections was created to help high school students with disabilities identify career goals and then find, learn and keep jobs that match those goals.

Read the full article in Techniques or on the web by logging in with your ACTE account

http://www.acteonline.org/members/techniques/2008-2009/feb08.cfm

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Feb. 25, 2008
Schools Scramble Menus After Big Beef Recall

The largest beef recall in U.S. history has sent school districts scrambling to clean out their freezers and shake up their menus. Melissa block talks with Marsha Metzger, nutrition director for the Fort Wayne Community School District.

Read the full artice at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19174549&ft=1&f=1013

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Feb. 25, 2008
Coal Industry Lures Engineering Students

After years of economic troubles that saw few people going into mining engineering, the field is experiencing a renaissance on some campuses. Scholarships and good jobs are attracting growing numbers of recruits.

Read the full article at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18921309&ft=1&f=1013

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Articles of Interest from Education Week

These articles have been found in Education Week and include the specific title, edition, date and page number, along with summaries. In order to view the complete article, please visit Education Week online registration where you will sign up as a guest. By registering you will have access to two articles of your choice each week, full access to Teacher Magazine online, tools from the Research Center, e-newsletters and much more.

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Programs that lets high school juniors and seniors earn college credit while training for manufacturing jobs

Mar. 31, 2008

In a machine shop southwest of downtown San Antonio, Robert I. Rayburn was bent over a lathe earlier this month, shaving the twists of metal from a solid block of aluminum spinning in the machine.

This 17-year-old school junior wants to do something in this profession when he graduates.

In this age of offshored labor, aspiring to a job in manufacturing sounds almost quaint. Didn't all those jobs disappear to China and India long ago?

Rayburn and 15 other high schools students are taking at the Manufacturing Technology Academy, or MTA, a 4-year-old dual-enrollment program on the southwest campus of the two-year, public St. Philip's College. After entering the program in their junior year of hig school, students who complete their studies pick up 30 college credits along with their diplomas. That's enough to get them hired as skilled employees, which many of them are.

Read the full article in Education Week
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States vary in classroom access to computer and in policies concerning school technology

Mar. 31, 2008

For the third consecutive year, Technology Counts grades the states on their leadership in three core areas of technology policy and practice: access, use and capacity. The nation as a whole earns a grade of C-plus, with a majority of state residing in the C-minus to C-plus range.

To find what your state scores,
Read the full article in Education Week
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March 21, 2008

Nutrition Directors Fault USDA's Notice On Recall of Meat

School nutrition directors said last week they struggled to keep up-to-date with the frequently changing information released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as it handled the nation's largest beef recall. At a hearing before federal lawmakers on March 4, they asked that the lines of communication between the federal government and school nutrition directors be streamlined so that districts receive information at the same time it is released to the general public.

Read the full article in Education Week
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March 6, 2008

Class-Size Reductions Seen of Limited Help On Achievement Gap

Reducing class sizes--a popular policy among parents, teachers and lawmakers--has long been viewed as a way to increase student achievement. But while shrinking the number of students in a class can lead to higher test scores overall, it might not necessarily reduce the achievement gaps that exist between students in a given classroom, a new study suggests.

Read the full article in Education Week
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March 6, 2008
Meat Recall Raises Food-Safety Questions

For years, school nutrition directors have tried carefully to improve the image of the school lunch. Now, some worry the nation's largest beef recall, prompted by a video of cows being mistreated at a California meat-processing plant, threatens to undo the work they've done promoting such lunchroom innovations as ethnic fare and well-stocked salad bars.

Read the full article in Education Week
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Feb. 25, 2008
Retiree Obligations Cloud Fiscal Horizon

States and districts are struggling to fulfill the pension and health-care promises they made to teachers-and the results are mixed. States are being forced to make tough decisions on how they will cope with an even more severe long-term fiscal concern: a projected price tag pushing $3 trillion to pay the pensions and health insurance of retired teachers and other governement employees.

Read the full article in Education Week
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