December FCS/Human Services Update

Division of Community Colleges & Workforce Preparation

 Message from Lisa

The first semester is winding down, and I am sure the work of preparing and grading final tests and projects has begun for you! I hope you were able to enjoy the holidays and a bit of your winter vacation spending some time relaxing with your friends and families. 

This past month I was fortunate to attend the annual ACTE VISION Conference in Las Vegas with about fifty other Iowa educators. This event was attended by a record 4,500 participants from all areas of career and technical education (FCS, Business, Ag, etc.). There were tremendous keynote speakers, breakout sessions, tours, meetings, workshops, and networking. Through my involvement, I was able to lead sessions dealing with the CTE (and FCS) teacher shortage.  I also co-lead a session and served in a caucus that is working on furthering discussions with CTE educators to identify issues that CTE educators face and identify activities that can increase teacher recruitment, retention, and improve student learning.   Next year, ACTE VISION will be held in Nashville, TN. For more information, click VISION 2017.

I will be finishing up my term as Iowa's Region III representative in July and we will be in need of a member to serve the next three years.  I would encourage you to step up for Career and Technical Education and Family & Consumer Sciences!  It is an excellent way to learn about CTE programming and issues in our surrounding states as well as the nation. 

Here are just a few pictures from VISIONS 2016:

ACTE delegates at VISIONS 2016 Iowa ACTE board and Quality State Association Award

LEFT: Iowa ACTE Assembly of Delegates:  Brad Colton (MBAEA and IACTE president), Lisa Stange (IDOE and Region III Rep.), Dana Lampe (Linn-Mar HS and IACTE Awards chair), Kelli Diemer (IDOE and ACTE VP/Business).  RIGHT: Iowa ACTE at Quality State Association breakfast:  Greg Kepner (IHCC, IACTE Vice President), Sandy Miller (IACTE Executive Director), Lisa Stange, Kelli Diemer , LeAnne Wilson (ACTE Executive Director), Pradeep Kotmraju (IDOE, CTE Advance President Elect), Brad Colton 

 

 Council Bluffs CTE educators at VISIONS

ABOVE:  Council Bluffs CSD:  Deb Goodman (CTE Curriculum Specialist), Brook Parson, Erin Grachek, Charm Smith and Cathy Straub (Human Services/FCS Instructors).

CTE Redesign - Impact on Family & Consumer Sciences

Secondary CTE Redesign focuses on middle and high school students and is in line with the Future Ready Iowa initiative by building Iowa's talent pipeline and closing the skills gap so that more Iowans have quality career opportunities and employers have the skilled workforce they need.    

CTE redesign will:

  • Improve access to high-quality CTE through a statewide system of regional planning partnerships to assist school districts in providing an effective, efficient, and economical means of delivering programs.
  • Encourage alignment of secondary CTE offerings to in-demand occupations to meet the needs of employers.
  • Reform career and academic planning and CTE programming to encourage students to explore opportunities aligned to their interests through holistic career guidance, exploratory CTE coursework, and work-based learning opportunities.

Go to High-Quality CTE Framework which is ACTE's draft version of a definition of high quality CTE for more information.

Iowa's realigned service areas:

  1. Business, Finance, Marketing and Management
  2. Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources
  3. Arts, Communications, and Information Systems
  4. Applied Sciences, Technology, Engineering, and Manufacturing
  5. Health Sciences
  6. Human Services

Click Career and Technical Education Infographic for our state of Iowa graphic that shows the service areas and clusters represented in each area.

I have been traveling to many consortium and CTE meetings across the state and have had the opportunity to share some guidance for how we can best address the pieces of the bill that affect FCS curricula, courses, and program offerings.  Many of you meet together and discuss standards, critical competencies, and technical skills assessments as part of your work.  The bill directs us to move from voluntary approval of programs to mandatory approval.  The Regional Planning Partnerships that are currently being formed will be the first level for approval before they come to the state for final approval.  That means that even if your program was approved, it will need to be re-approved in the near future.  The timing of that will be written in the multi-year plan that the Regional Planning Partnerships will be developing in the coming year.  

With that in mind, this is a great time to have a deep look at your overall program goals, standards and critical competencies (not as independent courses, but the overall goals and standards of the program).  This will ensure that you have the groundwork done when it is your turn to have your program approved. Since the bulk of our programs are comprehensive, think about how those standards and goals link to Human Services careers. 

Another piece of the bill is that all service areas will adopt standards.  We currently have model state standards in FCS and our program management committee will be working to adopt standards once the National Standards are re-validated this coming spring.  As I have previously communicated, we do not anticipate big changes, so for now use the current model standards that can be found on the DE website at the bottom of the page on this link.

Advocacy and Connections

Tuesday, January 31st (Exhibits in shifts or all day from 9 - 2)

CTE Day at the Capitol, State Capitol Rotunda Wings, Des Moines

This is an EXCELLENT way to share the value of FCS in Iowa to the people that help make programming decisions!  Contact Iowa ACTE Executive Director Sandy Miller if you would like to participate!

Purpose:

  • showcase high quality career and technical education programs in Iowa
  • have hands-on activities where students show what they are learning in their CTE program
  • showcase how CTE programs prepare students to be both college and career ready
  • convey the importance of high quality programs in our schools

Students are asked to:

  • dress in career-related attire/professional attire (FCCLA polos or jackets)
  • prepare a 1-2 minute "elevator speech" that they can use in visiting with legislators -- Who are you, what program you are involved in, why, how the program is preparing your for a career and further education, etc.
  • showcase/demonstrate skills being developed in your CTE program --(Note:  previously Culinary students have prepared gourmet s'mores, Health Science students did blood pressure checks, Ind. Tech demonstrated the 3-D printer.  All engaged the audience.)
  • Set up visits with your local legislators to talk with them about the importance of FCS as a part of strong CTE programming.

This is an EXCELLENT segue to February's CTE Month!  Check out these resources from ACTE as you get ready to CELEBRATE CTE!  CTE Month is coming in February! Don't forget to put this logo in your signature line!!

CTE Month Logo

Statewide Intermediary Network - Work-Based Connections Made Easier!

Your regional intermediary contact can:

  1. Connect high school students and teachers to local careers through relevant, work-based learning experiences
  2. Provide hands-on opportunities designed to help students better understand how to align their career goals with their post-secondary decisions
  3. Enhance classroom curriculum by showing real world applications

To find your regional Intermediary contact, click on the Intermediary Network List.

Save the Date:  Iowa Work-Based Learning Conference

For those of you looking to incorporate more business connections with your curriculum, the fifth annual Iowa Work-Based Learning Conference will be help April 4 & 5, 2017 at the new Waukee Innovation and Learning Center in Waukee, IA.  The first day will be a great overview on how to create and support collaborative work-based learning programs.  This is an excellent connection to the National Workforce Innovation and Opportunty Act (WIOA) as well as our own state initiatives to offer more work-based opportunities for our students. For more information, Contact Mindi Heitland, IWBL President.

 

FCCLA logo                                                  

Interested in learning more about how FCCLA can advance your FCS programming?  Attend a district meeting and see how you can get your students involved, build strong relationships, and help advance your student's leadership opportunities! For information on attending a district event near you, contact our Iowa FCCLA Executive Director, Timothy Marx, or the state website.

Some new resources worth checking out:

Financial Literacy Curriculum

Financial literacy graphic  

I recently came across a site that is similar to the much older "My Community Bank" curriculum that local banks or Credit Unions often sponsored called Banzai.  This curriculum is delivered online and has booklets that can be purchased by the local businesses or you can download the booklets and copy them yourself.  It looks like it could be a great supplement to some of the other resources you are using.  If you get a chance, check it out here.  Let me know what you think if you already use it or try it out so I can share with the field!

Top Food and Menu Trends 

Hot food trends for 2016

The National Restaurant Association recently released this video of top food and menu trends for 2017.  Consider incorporating some of these ideas into your culinary programs! Click here for the link to the video!

WANTED -- YOUR stories and resources!!!

Do you have resources or stories and pictures you'd like me to include in our monthly newsletters?  Upload them here and I will include them as a way to share our stories with the field!

Important Dates for your calendar:

  • FCCLA/CTE Day at the Capitol (Des Moines, January 16)
  • PROSTART State Competition (Des Moines, February 28)
  • ACTE National Policy Seminar (Washington D.C., March 13-15)
  • FCCLA State Leadership Conference (Des Moines, March 26-28)
  • IFCSE State Conference (Ames, June 11-13)
  • ACTE Region III Conference (Indianapolis, June 21-23)
  • AAFCS National Conference (Dallas, June 25-28)
  • FCCLA National Leadership Conference (Nashville, July 2-6)

Do you have other local competitions and events, such as post-secondary CTE days, district FCCLA, etc. that should be noted?  Please send them to me and we'll get them on the calendar!  Now that the state is using google, I hope to make a google calendar to share for 2017.

Go to this link for past FCS Education/Human Services Updates.


Lisa G. Stange, NBCT, MA Ed
Education Program Consultant
Family and Consumer Sciences
Bureau of Career and Technical Education
Division of Community College & Workforce Preparation
Iowa Department of Education
Grimes State Office Building
400 East 14th Street
Des Moines, IA 50319
515-242-5032 (O)
515-414-0864 (C)
lisa.stange@iowa.gov
Twitter: LGStange
www.educateiowa.gov
Family & Consumer Sciences logo