CTAE newsletter [Apr. 2008]

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CTAE NEWSLETTER
April 2008
From James Woodard Director, Career, Technical & Agricultural Education
From the desk of James Woodard
I hope this spring finds you doing well. Spring brings us the opportunity to finalize the current school year while beginning to plan for next school year. We are excited about the possibilities that Perkins IV provides through the five-year planning process. This will be a great time to bring all partners together to increase engagement in your Career, Technical and Agricultural Education Program.
The 2008 Legislative Session ended a few weeks ago. The session provided only minor changes to the CTAE budget. Most changes were a result of percentage changes in salaries related to our state grants. Approval was provided for Capital Equipment at $8.8 million.
I hope the next few weeks will allow you appropriate time to plan for the upcoming school year and provide conversation and planning for the next five years. Please feel free to call on our team for technical assistance as needed.
From Program Development and Transition Team, Emily Spann, Program Manager
CTAE Curriculum Drafts Posted for Public Review The High School Phase III and Middle School Phase I curriculum drafts are posted for a sixty day period of public review beginning April 4 and ending June 3, 2008. Please encourage participation in reviewing the curriculum drafts and completing the accompanying questionnaire through the GeorgiaStandards.org webpage or the CTAE homepage. Below is the link to the standards and questionnaire. http://www.georgiastandards.org/career.aspx?PageReq=PhaseI
Education Career Partnerships (ECP) The Education Career Partnerships (ECP) Drive-In Workshops for CTAE Directors will be held from 8:30 until 12:00 noon at three regional locations:
April 22 North Region - Gwinnett Technical College April 23 Central Region - Macon State College April 24 South Region - East Central Technical College. Each of the workshops will include help with the newly-revised ECP grant document, assistance with the new ECP options and structure, and implementation guidelines at the local level. Please note that registration for the workshop should be made through the CTAE Resource Network Website at www.ctaern.org.
Career-Related Education (Work-Based Learning) The workshops for Work-Based Learning (WBL) coordinators will be posted on the CTAE Resource Network (www.ctaern.org) on April 15. Course 1 and 2 are workshops for PLU credit only and are intended for all WBL coordinators (CBE, Marketing, DCT, YAP, Ag Co-op, FCS co-op) to learn implementation of the program according to the standards and guidelines in the CRE Manual published in July 2007. Teachers desiring the Work-Based Learning (WBL) endorsement may continue the program, assuming approval by PSC, by enrolling in Course 3 during the 2008-2009 school year. Note that Course 3 is a year-long internship

Page |2 requiring visits by a supervising instructor to check off identified criteria of program implementation. For more information call Dwayne Hobbs at 404-657-8334 or by email at ahobbs@doe.k12.ga.us.
Career Guidance Phase I and II Peach State Pathways: Education and Career Planning Tools are now located on the DOE web site at http://www.gadoe.org/ci_cta.aspx?PageReq=CICTAPlanningNew. These documents are formatted as word documents for local systems to customize. Also located on the CAREER DEVELOPMENT page at http://www.gadoe.org/ci_cta.aspx?PageReq=CICTACareer are resources and materials related to the creation and implementation of the tools including a guidance document for customization and a power point for use with staff.
The Teachers-as-Advisors (TAA) program has an icon on the GeorgiaStandards.org web site. Systems should use the icon to submit activities based on the framework to build a repository for local system use.
HIGH SCHOOLS THAT WORK (HSTW) Schools that took the High Schools That Work assessment in February 2008 will receive results of the assessment in August, 2008. However, a list of students that will receive the Award of Academic Achievement Certificate will be sent to schools by May 9. A workshop is being planned for early fall to disaggregate the assessment results in order that schools may use the data in their school improvement activities. The 22nd Annual HSTW Staff Development Conference will be held from July 9-12, 2008, at Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee. This would be a great opportunity to showcase innovative teaching strategies or other innovative activities that your school is doing. Presenter proposals and conference information may be found and proposals submitted on-line at www.sreb.org. The deadline for receiving proposal to present is April 18. If any schools are interested in the HSTW initiative to support their school improvement initiative, contact Stan McCallar at 404-657-2531 or by e-mail at smccalla@doe.k12.ga.us. Stay tuned for HSTW workshops being planned for next fall.
Industry Certification - Culinary Arts and Early Childhood Education The industry certification process will now be available for Culinary Arts and Early Childhood Education (ECE) Programs beginning with the 2008-2009 school year. If your system is considering the certification process in one of these areas, go to the GaDOE industry certification webpage at http://www.gadoe.org/ci_cta.aspx?PageReq=CICTACert to review certification standards for Culinary Arts and ECE. After reviewing the standards, print out the "Industry Certification Checklist" at this same site and meet with your instructors. This will be a valuable tool to utilize in determining if targeted programs are indeed positioned to pursue the process. If your programs are situated to advance to this next stage, and you are seeking grant funds to assist with this process, complete the respective industry certification grant through the Consolidated Grant Application Process. If you have questions regarding the industry certification grant application process, please contact Ms. Mamie Hanson at 404-657-6279 or by email at mhanson@doe.k12.ga.us.
Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) The JROTC Advisory Committee submitted a petition to the Georgia Association of Career and Technical Education (GACTE) for affiliation. In order to be approved, at least fifty (50) paid members must be in place . All JROTC instructors are encouraged to join and attend GACTE. As in the past, the national JROTC leadership will be in attendance and a full day of staff development activities have been planned by the advisory committee. CSM Steve Greer will be the luncheon speaker. Dates for the GACTE conference are July 20-23, 2008. The conference registration information is on-line at www.GACTE.org. Please be sure that each JROTC instructor has registered in the CTAE Resource Network.
Professional Learning Information Phase II GPS Delivery Up-Date Beginning January 17 through March 28, 2008 GPS training for all twenty-one (21) CTAE Phase II pathways was delivered to more than 1700 CTAE instructors! The mechanism for delivery included use of the Educational Technology Training Centers (ETTCs) and training was delivered by the Georgia Department of Education CTAE Program Specialists and content experts. Each of the training events was captured by video and the process of creating a mechanism to view the delivery is in progress. As these video elements are made available, CTAE Administrators will be notified of the location and access information. All presentation resources will be posted with each Phase II pathway video.

Page |3 Phase I GPS Re-Delivery Up-Date The following training dates for the Business & Computer Science Phase I GPS Pathway training are TENTATIVE. As soon as ETTC site availability info is available, the workshops will be posted in the CTAE Resource Network catalog under Phase I GPS Training Workshops, and a notification email will be sent to all directors and applicable teachers. The delivery style will be the same as Phase II GPS training.
May 8- Small Business Development May 13- Computing Training Details: Video Conference session, Hands-on training - computer lab, 8:30am - 3pm
Middle School GPS Curriculum Delivery - New Info John Pritchett and content experts will deliver six (6) separate days of training from July 24-31, 2008. Each of the six middle school curriculum initiatives will be delivered separately utilizing the ETTC delivery style. Once finalized, the training events will be posted at the CTAE Resource Network under Middle School Curriculum Training and notification of their posting will be sent to Directors and Instructors.
Understanding By Design (UBD)/GeorgiaStandards.Org (GSO) CTAE Administrator Re-Delivery Training Resources In January and February 2008, three training presentations were delivered using the UBD/GSO resources. All of the training tools were made into a CD that was given to participants at the 2008 ALF Conference at Callaway Gardens. The training events reflected the seven major topics of UBD (Understanding by Design) and were tied to the GeorgiaStandards.Org Unit Builder. If you did not receive a copy of these materials and would like this resource, contact Skip Brown, @ rbrown@doe.k12.ga.us.
TALL: Teachers as Leaders And Learners Currently, sixteen (16) participants are well on the way to completion of the 2007-2008 TALL program. Please start now by helping to guide your great teachers toward this tremendous opportunity for professional growth. The only commitment to be made by the school or system is to cover the substitute expense for the instructional days missed and cover the travel and registration expenses for the teacher to participate in the summer GACTE Conference. All other expenses are covered by our sponsors: CTAE Resource Network, GACTE, and GaDOE. The 2008-2009 application will be available at the GaDOE CTAE Website on May 1, 2008. Information posted will include: application, recommendation form and tentative calendar of events. The deadline for postmarked application packet submission will be July 1, 2008.
GACTE Summer Conference Don't miss out! It is not too late for you and your constituents to be a part of this tremendous professional learning opportunity. July 20-23, 2008 is the date, the Renaissance Waverly Hotel and Cobb Galleria Convention Center is the location, and the deadline for you to register is June 15, 2008. Please go to www.gacte.org and finish this CTAE year with a bang. For questions, contact Skip Brown @ rbrown@doe.k12.ga.us or 404-656-3552.
From Agriculture Education, John Wilkinson, Program Manager
80th Georgia FFA Convention
The Georgia FFA Association will hold its 80th annual State Convention at the Centreplex in Macon on April 2426, 2008. Nearly 3,000 members, advisors, sponsors and guests are expected to attend the Convention. The 80th Georgia Convention will begin on Thursday, April 24, with the a community service project at the State School for the Blind; state proficiency award interviews; preliminary competition in two state Career Development events; an awards dinner sponsored by the Georgia EMCs; and the convention opening session featuring the convention kickoff speaker, Krish Dhanam of the Ziglar Corporation. Friday, April 25, will feature the naming of state winners in 23 career development events and 46 proficiency award categories; the convention career show, Agriscience Fair and woodworking CDE; a food drive to benefit the Middle Georgia Community Food Bank; remarks from National FFA Vice President Morgan Parker, the Stars Over Georgia awards; and a convention concert featuring Georgia's own Luke Bryan. The Convention will conclude on Saturday, April 26, with 460 students earning the prestigious State FFA Degree; a keynote address from Patrick Grady; awards for chapter

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achievement, National FFA Week, and chapter officer excellence; remarks from the Georgia FFA Alumni Association; and the election of a new state FFA officer team at the delegate business session. The Georgia FFA Convention will be highlighted by some incredible FFA talent, the retiring addresses of the State FFA Officer team, and the recognition of many FFA sponsors. The Georgia FFA will also celebrate 10 consecutive years of membership growth by announcing another all time high in FFA membership for 2007-2008 of more than 27,000. Georgia is the 3rd largest state FFA association behind only California and Texas. The theme of the 80th Georgia FFA Convention is Blue Jackets, Bright Futures.
Agricultural Education Curriculum
Agricultural Education teachers are preparing for the coming year by engaging in self-examination of teaching strengths and weaknesses. Teachers are being offered the opportunity to strengthen their knowledge and teaching skills through a rigid offering of in-service courses taught by an excellent staff of college and industry professionals. With more and more emphasis being placed on students acquiring supportive academic skills, while at the same time preparing themselves for the world of work, teachers must keep their skills honed. This summer agricultural education teachers will have the opportunity to participate in numerous offerings making them more qualified for the task at hand. Beginning in February, agriculture teachers found themselves embarking in a new era of accountability with the introduction of a new web based record keeping system which involved the utilization of their own personal web portal. The web portals offer teachers the unique opportunity to extend instruction beyond the structured classroom environment. It not only serves as a web site for the teacher and local program but provides the ability to share with students and parents such things as class assignments, event calendar, show entry information, and on-line access to other instructional support materials. Teachers' Program of Works is currently being entered electronically and will be used to determine teacher productivity and acceptable program performance. The continued use of the web portals will no doubt create even more opportunities in the future as we learn ways to further develop its use.
Georgia Young Farmer Association
The Georgia Young Farmer program continues to move forward by providing instructional and skill development activities for its constituents across the state. Young Farmer teachers have been assisting farmers and agribusiness people prepare for the coming crop year with instruction on new innovations in the agriculture industry. Risk analysis, production efficiency, water and energy conservation has been the focal point of many young farmer classes this spring. Monsanto Chemical Company has formed a working relationship with the Georgia Young Farmer program and is sponsoring a staff development learning experience to their research facilities in Mississippi in early June. This experience will allow Georgia Young Farmer teachers to see the latest in seed and chemical technology of the future. This should prove to be a productive relationship with a major agriculture industry. The annual Georgia Young Farmer summer tour is scheduled for June 20-21, 2008. Lowndes and Brooks Counties are the host this year. Any CTAE Director interested in attending can register on-line at georgiayoungfarmer.org. The tour will showcase the diversity of agriculture in the South Georgia area with crops, livestock and industry.
Enhancing Leadership at the Georgia FFA-FCCLA Center
The Georgia FFA-FCCLA Center is a camp and conference center located in Covington, GA. The Center prides itself on providing educationally based programs that are just as fun as they are insightful. Leadership has become the main driver for the programs and services we offer and is essential for the success of our students. Being able to see these students build lasting friendships, experience new things and walk away with a foundation of how to become a great leader is truly amazing. There are numerous opportunities available at the Center including B.A.S.I.C. Training and our new High Ropes Course, not to mention functional meeting spaces where you can host your next retreat or conference:
B.A.S.I.C. Training (Building and Achieving Success in Chapters) is a field trip program designed for any student organization. The training programs are designed to teach team skills to students in an exciting and hands-on low ropes course environment. Leadership themes taught during BASIC include: developing unity and communication, building trust and confidence and improving leadership and cooperation. The goal is to develop your chapter into a successful and effective team. All aspects of the program are flexible and can be tailored to your needs and goals. If you would like additional information, please visit www.BuildingChapters.com.

Page |5 The High Ropes Course in a new addition to the leadership training programs offered. Featuring a 40ft.
rock climbing wall, a 300 ft. zip line and numerous other aerial obstacles, it is sure to be a huge hit! FFA-FCCLA Summer Leadership Camp is filling up fast! We are excited about the increase in FCCLA
involvement and registration is as strong as ever. If your FFA and FCCLA chapters haven't signed up for Summer Leadership Camp yet, now is the time before it's too late! Visit www.GeorgiaSLC.org for more information. The Center is a great place to hold your next event! The Center has dining, lodging, recreation and meeting facilities that are available for all student organizations. From CTSO training for new officers to CTSO planning retreats, the Center can meet your needs! Weekend conferences, weekday conferences, or day meetings are available and tailored to the group's requests. For more information, please visit www.GeorgiaFFACamp.org. Additional programs offered: FFA Wildlife Camp (for boys and girls 10-16) and FFA Horse Camp (for girls 10-13). For more information, please visit www.WildlifeCamp.com and www.FFAHorseCamp.com.
From the Accountability/Improvement Team, Charles Banks, Program Manager
Accountability Leadership Funding (ALF) Conference
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who helped to make the Winter CTAE Leadership Conference and Perkins Strategic Planning a success. The Accountability Leadership Funding (ALF) conference was held February 10-12, 2008 at Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain, GA. Based on the evaluation forms, the attendees were very pleased with the location, meeting arrangements and handouts. There are a few handout packages available. Please email Lplan if you desire to have copies and arrangements will be made to deliver these to you. Plans are in store for next year's winter conference, possibly at the same site, due to your feedback.
Spring Update
The spring update for CTAE administrators held March 11 13, 2008 also appears to have been a success. The updates were held in Tifton, Macon and Athens. The feedback received by region coordinators indicate the updates were very useful.
Local Plan Technical Assistance Workshops
We have planned three very informative, hands on, one on one technical assistance workshops across the State on the dates listed below.
April 15 (Tuesday) Tifton: RDC April 16 (Wednesday) Dublin: DuBose Porter Training Center April 17 (Thursday) Athens: Classic Center April 22 (Tuesday) Dalton: Dalton Technical College April 23 (Wednesday) Brunswick: Glynn County District Learning Center April 24 (Thursday) Evans: Columbia County Board of Education
Grant Application Deadline
Please remember May 15, 2008 is the final sign-off date for all grants applied for through the Consolidated Application. Only the data portion of the grant should be signed off by Director and Superintendent.
From Program Delivery Team, Scott Carey, Program Manager
I hope each of you is enjoying an exciting year of CTAE activities. Our CTSO spring leadership conferences are in full swing and will continue throughout the month of April. Our teachers and students are doing an outstanding job - a true reflection of the quality of work that is being done in the classroom. I look forward to our CTSO winners competing on the national level.

Page |6 We are pleased to announce that Mrs. Phyllis Johnson will be joining our staff on June 1, 2008 to assume the Healthcare Science Technology program specialist position. Phyllis brings a world of experience in all areas of the healthcare field. Her students excelled in her program at Harris County. We look forward to having Phyllis join the CTAE team.
Architecture, Communication, Construction and Transportation
This year's SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference offers an exciting agenda allowing us to serve students and teachers at the highest level ever! The 2008 State Conference will host 106 competitive events involving 1,100 competitors from 130 schools across the state and offer its attendees two separate Career Expositions. The Construction Career Expo (Gwinnett County Fairgrounds) and the Transportation Career Expo (Gwinnett County Airport) will involve over 600 business and industry representatives with more than 5,000 total anticipated attendees. The Expos offer teachers and students an excellent opportunity to visit representatives from a variety of Technical Colleges and companies such as Georgia Power, Lowe's, Southern Company, Cessna Aircraft, Epps Aviation, Norfolk Southern Railroad, Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, and TIMCO Aviation just to name a few. SkillsUSA enjoys a tremendous amount of support from business and industry, which has a positive impact on our student members' future education and employment opportunities.
As we move forward in our plans to unveil the SkillsUSA Georgia Youth Development Foundation, our industry partners are moving in step with us by supporting our teachers and students, awarding scholarships, furnishing prizes, and providing financial benefits for our members. The culmination of these efforts creates a prime educational and career opportunity allowing more students to receive the benefits provided through their professional organization. If you would like to be a part of our SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference to be held on April 24-26, please contact Sonny Cannon at gcannon@doe.k12.ga.us) or Gayle Silvey at gsilvey@skillsusageorgia.org for more details.
Business and Computer Science
Field of Dreams Professional Development will be held at the Houston County Career Center in Warner Robins on June 16-19, 2008. The workshops will include: Phase I & II GPS, Industry Certification, Computer Applications, Programming and FBLA. Go to www.ctaern.org for more details and to sign up for the "free" workshops.
Georgia FBLA Welcomes the World in 2008! The FBLA National Conference will be held in Atlanta at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis and the World Congress Center on June 25-29, 2008. We are in need of judges (cannot be teachers) and hospitality personnel. Please contact Sarah Heath at sheath@doe.k12.ga.us if you are interested in assisting.
GPS Re-Delivery of Phase I for Business Education The Small Business Development Pathway Re-delivery through the ETTCs will be held on May 8, 2008, from 8-3 p.m. More details and registration will be available through www.ctaern.org.
I am in the process of securing a date with the ETTCs for the Computing Pathway Re-Delivery through the ETTCs. I will update you when I get the information.
Business and Computer Science State Advisory Committee Please email Sarah Heath at sheath@doe.k12.ga.us if you have a business person in your community that you believe would be an excellent addition to our BCS State Advisory Committee. I will send out an application via email to teachers who wish to join and will copy CTAE administrators in case you have a teacher you would like to urge to be on the committee.
Marketing, Sales and Service
The 62nd DECA International Career Development Conference will be held in Atlanta on April 25-30, 2008, at the Georgia World Congress Center. Most of the competitive event judging will take place on Monday, April 28. Over 15,000 students and their advisors will fill Atlanta's hotels. Many of you are sending students and teachers from your DECA Chapters to compete in the co-curricular competitive events and/or participate in the leadership academies. Please know that we appreciate your support for these DECA Chapters. Everyone should have received letters of invitation to the Administrator VIP Day on Monday, April 28. The program extends from 12 Noon until 3 p.m. and includes a networking session, lunch, and a behind-the-scene tour

Page |7 of the competitive events and leadership academies "in action." It's not too late to attend, so please contact Dr. Michelle Walter via email at michelle_walter@deca.org or by phone at (703) 806-5000. Please see the attachment below for additional information. Disregard the RSVP deadline if you would like to attend.
CTAE Administrators.doc
National Leadership Conference for CTAE Administrators
MarkED, Inc. has a premier, first ever, National Leadership Conference planned just for Career and Technical Education Administrators. This CTAE Administrators' Conference is part of the larger annual Conclave which is being held in Portland, Oregon this year. The Administrators' Conference will be held June 22-25. This conference will provide a fresh, insightful direction for business and marketing education that will, in turn, allow you to better plan for state-of-the-art local programs. Please see the attachment for all the details. If you plan to participate, please contact Linda Smith at lismith@doe.k12.ga.us. As the consortium representative for Georgia, I would like to know who will make up the Georgia delegation. For those of you who are sending teachers to the Conclave, please know that this marketing and business conference is second to none and that I greatly appreciate your support for these teachers!