Illinois Agriculture Education Agricultural Animal & Plant Science Curriculum Revision

The current curriculums are to be updated and improved on CD-ROM for teacher use including development of additional CSAT test questions, student assessments, power points, e-units and 6 BSAA lessons with minor revisions.

District Training, Implementation Workshops & Section Meeting

Provide funds to support workshops to train teachers on identified items & offer time for Section meetings.

Implementation of Magic Kits

Grants to high schools & county coordinators to provide a set of the Magic kits and train students to do activities in their elementary schools from the kits.

Ag Literacy Professional Development Grants

Grants to agricultural literacy county coalitions to provide professional development activities to teachers and secondary agricultural education students in their counties.

IAVAT Professional Development/In-Service

Continuation of professional development activities for Illinois secondary Agricultural/Horticultural teachers and Agricultural Education student teachers.  Includes implementation of new curriculum and available technology.

IACCAI Professional Development/In-Service

Continuation of professional development activities for Illinois community college instructors to improve their curriculum, instructional abilities, and develop quality articulation agreements in Agricultural Education. 

University Research Project(s)

Develop university research project(s) addressing Illinois' Agricultural Education needs and priorities. 

Professional Development WIU 500 Beginning Teacher Exchange Experiences

Continue mini-grants for beginning secondary Agricultural/Horticulture teachers to visit selected programs as part of a mentoring/professional development activity.

Professional Development Experienced Teacher and/or Agricultural Literacy Coordinators Exchange Experiences

Continue mini-grants for secondary Agricultural/Horticulture teachers to visit selected programs as part of a mentoring/professional development activity to pay for substitutes and mileage. Provide grants for agricultural literacy coordinator to visit other county coalition to learn new techniques in meeting their goals.

FCAE Website, Teacher Database, & Resource Site

Maintenance of a website for Illinois Agricultural Education.  Included in the website is the FCAE homepage, a refined Illinois Agricultural Education teacher database, Agricultural Literacy Resource Guide, Illinois Agricultural Education position openings, an interactive agricultural career selection area, and hot links to other agriculturally related websites. 

FCAE List serve, email, and technical support

Annual expenditures for website technical support and hosting of website, list serve and email.

New Start-up Programs Resource Materials

Purchase of agricultural/horticulture resource materials for the new start-up secondary Agricultural/ Horticultural programs.

School Administrator’s Workshop

Provide a workshop during the Illinois State FFA Convention for administrators of new Agricultural/Horticulture programs.

Teacher Retention - Exit Survey Project

Mini-grant to develop an exit survey to determine reasons for teachers leaving the profession.

Teacher Retention – Mentors Project

Mini-grants with retired teachers to serve as mentors for second year teachers.

National FFA Convention Attendance Grants

Mini-grants for LEAs with new programs or that are considering opening an agricultural department to attend the National FFA Convention & Career Show to learn more about the importance of FFA as part of the agricultural program.

Program Improvement Grants

Competitive grants to LEAs to be used for program improvement/model program development.  Grants up to $10,000.00 will be awarded based on a competitive RFP selection process.

FFA Alumni Start-Ups

Continuation of providing local chapters with $100.00 grants to start up new FFA Alumni affiliates to encourage additional support from the public and past students for Illinois agricultural education programs.

FFA Alumni “First Impression” Matching Grants

Funds provided to the Illinois FFA Alumni Association to use to offer up to $1,500.00 grants to affiliates to partner with school districts to assist in enhancing local programs.  Grants awarded to local affiliates must be matched.

FFA Chapter Exchanges

$1,0000 Grants would be used to fund exchanges between FFA chapters from the urban/suburban areas of the Chicago Metro Area and students from rural areas across the state.

Agricultural Literacy Projects

Continuation of County Agricultural Literacy Coordinators – Continue support of the current County Agricultural Literacy Coordinators.

New County Agricultural Literacy Coordinators – Expand the County Agricultural Literacy Coordinator project to additional counties throughout the state to support agricultural literacy.    

ICAE Visual & Broadcast Marketing & CNU Productions

Development of new marketing strategies and materials for visual and broadcast promotion telling the story of Illinois Agricultural Education, career diversity available in the total field of Agriculture, including the value of Agricultural Education to the Illinois economy and its growth. (Barb Anderson & Julie White)

Beginning Agricultural Teacher Course – WIU Ag Ed 500

Recommended first year Agricultural Education instructor graduate course purchased for tuition waiver. Course covers actual classroom situations and how to handle them, teaching concerns, problem-solving skills building, and new curriculum developments.

Experienced Teachers Course – WIU 501

A recommended experienced Agricultural Education instructor graduate course purchased for tuition waiver. Course covers actual classroom situations and how to handle them, teaching concerns, problem-solving skills building, and new curriculum developments.

Agricultural Mechanics Courses – WIU Ag Ed 520

Provide an Agricultural Mechanics course for teachers to enhance their mechanics skills for classroom instruction in District V.

International Student Exchange Internships

Provide grants to universities for agricultural education students and high school teachers to study or do internships abroad.

Advancing Agriculture Conference

A conference in urban areas for schools that are considering offering an agricultural program to learn more about the components of a quality agriculture/horticulture program.

Ag Ed Planning/Exchange Grants

Planning or exchange grants to be used with schools considering opening a new agricultural department to be used for educational meetings, attendance to conferences, tours of outstanding programs etc, to learn more about the needs of a good program. 

Student Teaching Grants

Provide grants to students teachers to assist in expenses during the internship. Student teachers will develop a portfolio to be used during interviews.

FFA Alumni Conference – Ag Ed 500 Teachers

Provide lodging grants to “WIU 500 Beginning Teachers Course” teachers to attend the Illinois FFA Alumni Conference.

New Ag Literacy Coalition Start –up Materials

Provide grants to new county coalitions to purchase start-up materials & kits.

Special Projects Consulting

Consulting fees to individual(s) to manage assigned FCAE projects.

PAS Start-up Grants

Provide community colleges with $750 grants to start up new PAS Chapters and use for participation in PAS activities.

PAS Participation Grants

Provide community colleges with existing PAS Chapters $ 500 grants for travel and other cost related to participation in statewide PAS activities.

E-Z Record books Subscription

Provide funds to reduce the subscription rate by 50% for the E-Z Record book.

Illinois Agricultural Industry Employment Study

Revise “The Illinois Agriculture, Food, Fiber, and Natural Resources System: 1998 Employment Study”.

PSAE/ACT Practice Problem

Develop Reading/English Language Arts Practice Problems relating to agriculture for the PSAE & ACT exams.

Illinois Ag Ed Leadership Conference

Conference for high school agricultural education students that are interested in the Agricultural Education Teaching Profession as a career.

BSAA State Exam

Develop chapter and final exams for the State Approved Biological Science Application in Agriculture (BASS) course deliverable though the Computerized Student Assessment Tracker (CSAT) system.

VIP Program

Provide grants for agricultural teachers to participate in the Vocational Instructional Practicum where they receive on-the-job agricultural related training at industry sites. 

Agricultural Education Leadership Conference

Fall Agricultural Education Leadership Conference (1-2 days) to encourage high school students to consider Agricultural Education/Teaching as a career.

School Staff Development

Professional development activities on Agricultural Education for high school administrators & guidance counselors.

Ag Communication & Leadership Curriculum Development

Phase I of the development of Illinois Agriculture Education Agricultural Communication & Leadership Curriculum on CD-ROM for teacher use including development of additional CSAT test questions to determine student assessment.

Additional Improve Your Agricultural Education Program Grants

Provide funds for additional grants.

Provisional Teacher’s Methods Course

Develop an on-line graduate level “Methods of Teaching” course for provisional agriculture teachers to meet state requirements for full certification.

On-line Record Keeping Course

Contract with the University of Illinois to provide the on-line record-keeping course to teach best practices in teaching computerized record keeping and the “E-Z Records System”.

FFA Alumni Conference Grants

Provide funds to the Illinois FFA Alumni Association for grants to the local FFA Alumni Affiliates to attend their Annual Illinois FFA Alumni Conference.

Cooperating Teacher’s Workshop

Provide grants to the four agricultural education teacher-training institutes to offer a workshop for Cooperating Teachers hosting agricultural education student teachers.

International Agricultural Education Study Program

International extended (2-3 weeks) Agricultural Education Study Abroad Program.

Agricultural Careers DVD

Develop an agricultural careers DVD for junior high & secondary students.

ISU Pro Star Course

Contract with Illinois State University to provide their “Pro-Star Simulation” course on agricultural business management for secondary agricultural teachers..

Companion Animal Course

Contract with the University of Illinois to offer their Animal Science’s “Companion Animals” course for secondary agricultural teachers to instruct the best practices with companion animals.

Advancing Agricultural Conference

Provide funds to the “Urban Program Advisor” to sponsor a conference for administrators, teachers, industry representative, etc. on the value of an agricultural education program in urban communities.

Minority Recruitment Initiative

Partnership with SIU and the District V FCAE in hiring an FCAE office assistant/ minority student recruiter.

On-Line CDE Training Modules

Develop interactive learning modules to make available via the www.agriculturaleducation.org website that prepares students for FFA CDEs.  The CDE training modules would be used in integrated into the existing curriculum activities.

“FFA Remodel Your Ag Department Grants” Additional Funding

Provide funding for additional “FFA Remodel You Ag Department Grants”

Ag Awareness Conference

Provide grant for elementary teachers to participate in the IAITC Ag Awareness Conference.

University Professor Agricultural Program Visits

Summer program exchanges for university agricultural education teacher educators to visit Illinois high school agricultural education programs.

Illinois Ag In The Classroom Coalition ‘Big Event” Grants

Provide grants to the IAITC County coalitions to sponsor a local event.

Illinois FFA Center Wireless Classroom

Provide funds to the IAVAT to develop a “wireless classroom” at the Illinois FFA Center.

SAE Summer Course

Summer course for secondary students to learn about SAEs and provide financial support for the agricultural teachers extended contract.

Illinois Ag In The Classroom Coalition Grants

Provide additional funds to the IAA for the IAITC county coalition grants.

Additional Funds for the University Mini-Research Grants

Provide additional fund for the University Mini-research Grants.

Horticultural Kits – Phase II

Develop additional Horticulture Science Education kits for the county coalitions.

mAGic Kits – Phase IV

Phase IV of the development of the mAGic kits.

Bio-Fuels Kit

Develop bio-fuel educational materials for grades Pre-K-12 with the assistance of the National Corn – to – Ethanol Research Center (NCERC).

Additional Funding for the Agriculture Teacher Mentor Projects

Provide additional funds for the Agriculture teacher Mentor Projects.

District Agricultural Education Advocacy/FFA Alumni Conference Grants

Provide grants to the Illinois FFA Alumni for agricultural Education Advocacy & FFA Alumni District Mini- conferences.