Perkins FAQ

Measuring proficiency of Technical Skill Attainment (TSA) is a critical measure of Career and Technical Education program effectiveness. (Is the cte program meeting the industry's needs for future employees/professionals?)

Advisory Committee's Role?

1. An Advisory Committee (local, regional, or community college APPROVES the Technical Skill Assessment that will be used.
2. The Advisory Committee APPROVES the LEVEL which is designated as PROFICIENT.
3. The Advisory Committee serves as a 3rd PARTY in approving the VALIDITY and RELIABILITY of assessments used.

Proficient Level? (What LEVEL of skill performance is PROFICIENT?)

A standardized test or paper/pencil exam is a poor measure of TSA because skill attainment implies authentic assessment of skills acquired and performed by students. Advisory committee members serve as industry-experts to APPROVE the level of performance which is locally deemed as PROFICIENT.

For high school CTE program, PERFECTION is NOT realistic. Based upon comments I have heard from agricultue industry reps. they desire to hire employees that have had sufficient exposure to industry skills and the ability to learn more. Based upon industry comments, PROFICIENT should probably be a level at which students are PREPARED TO LEARN MORE, without signficant remediation in the basics..

Crude Example: Depending upon the grading system, a student that recieved an A in a welding class may be less proficient in the act of welding than a student that recieved a D in a welding class. Authentic assessment is the key. Sometimes, hands-on learners do not perform well on paper/pencil assignments, but can weld or replace a head-gasket.

Grades? Can we use grades to determine proficiency?

YES...IF...AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT is part of the grade. For many years the answer has been ,"No, you may NOT use grades to determine proficiency." The answer is still NO , UNLESS the grades include a significant number of scores from AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT(S).
(Authentic Assessment Example= Measuring a student's ability to weld a butt-weld by welding a butt-weld...RATHER THAN...only passing a paper/pencil test about butt-welding.)

Valid and Reliable?

Valid?

Knowledge and skills identified by industry experts as important to know to be successful in the business or industry. Some knowledge and skills are NEED-TO-KNOW while some others are NICE-TO-KNOW. The Advisory Committee would establish the NEED-TO-KNOWS that will be assessed for ALL students. (aka. Critical Competencies)

Low Validity Example:
Some Agriculture careers require strong communication skills, therefore high performing students (those with grades of B or above) will be assessed to determine their level of proficiency in communication.

High Validity Example:
ALL Agricultural Careers require strong communication skills, therefore ALL students will be assessed to determine their communication skills. An Advisory Committee-Approved RUBRIC will be used to assess communication skills performed during a group activity. (i.e., teams of students will build picnic tables and compete against each other)

Reliable?

The assessment can be measured the same way for each student, and the assessment measure the SAME knowledge and skills. Students perform the same knowledge and skills in the same setting.

Low Reliability Example:
Some students conduct butt-welds with a stick-welder, while other students perform a butt-weld with a wire-feed welder. Random scores are assigned to welds using nothing other than personal opinion. A standard scoring Rubric is NOT utilized.

High Reliability Example:
All students perform a butt-weld using identical dimensions of steel pieces with the same model of welder. A scoring Rubric is used to score each weld, and decrease subjectivity of assessment. BEFORE the assessment, all students will have received the scoring Rubric that will be used to score their welds.

Evaluated for Proficiency?
Students that were scored/graded on thier understanding/performance of critical competencies. (Hint: 100% of students that completed 1.5 units within the same cte program sequence should have been Evaluated to determine proficiency.)

Teacher Examples of TSA Assessments: (examples that make sense and are not costly or difficult)

1. Agricultural shop class: The course has a major emphasis is on communication skills, team work, and working to produce a quality product in a safe and efficient manner. The students worked in equal sized groups to build a project which was scored using a communication skills rubric.
(75 minute test period.)
2. Food Science Class: Individually students complete a series of activities to assess their competency levels. (a) general knowledge test, (b) a product development presentation, (c) an aroma's test, (D) a triangle test to identify which product is different than the others, and (E) a food safety and sanitation component.
3. Horticulture Class: Individually the students will be take a three part assessment. (a) a general knowledge exam, (b) design a landscape plan, and (C) evaluate a design plan.

CTE - TO Do List - FY2009 thru FY2012

1. Program Self-Assement
2. 3rd Party Approval
3. TSA per course
4. POS
5. Relax have fun

1. Conduct a program self-assessment. - - takes approx. 15 minutes
Your progam assessment should be utilized in determining legitimate uses of Perkins dollars. Perkins dollars are not "your" dollars, they are intended to improve cte progams based upon identified needs.

2. Utilize advisory committee as as 3rd party to APPROVE your local assessment tool(s) for technical skill attainment (TSA).
I have always said, "do not use grades." But if authentic assessment of competency performance is included in your course grades, it now makes sense to determine TSA with course grades. (Which is probably easier, than determining TSA for "completers".)

3. Measure and record TSA for each course. NOT ALL competencies, only the competencies taught in the specific course.
   Your local advisory committee approves the level of performance needed to be considered "proficient". TSA is reported to the state (Feds) for concentrators...students that have completed 1.5 units,in the identified 3.0 units of ag courses.

4. Work with community college to develop Plans of Study (aka Programs of Study).
    By 2012, 75% of your district's CTE programs must have Plans of Study.

5. Relax and have fun, fighting the battle against ignorance. Contrary to what you may have heard the changes in Federal Perkins are minor, not major.
     Plans of Study are NOT required until 2012. Some ag programs were doing all of these requirements years ago, so nothing new for some, other than dcoumenting course plans (Plan of Study) things on paper.
     If you are already conducting dual-credit courses, the changes are basically whipped.

Significant Perkins Changes for FY08 thru FY12

What MUST ALL CTE teachers do?

a. Identify "Occupational/Technical proficiency"

a. (Personally, I would recommend recording "occupational proficiency" for each student in each course in the sequential program. Each CTE course MUST include competencies. If a student is proficient in 1.5 units of courses, they ARE occupationally proficient.

b. Virtually ALL other student data is collected through Project EASIER via student files submitted to the state (ie., JMC reports, etc.).

DEFINITIONS:

COMPLETER is NO longer a key measurement tool. It is still used for some special populations indicators, but it is NOT a key measurement tool for ALL students.

CONCENTRATOR - Concentrator replaces Completer as a key measurement tool.

At the Secondary level, a concentrator is any student that has completed1.5 units in a single specific CTE program. (ie., ag business, bus, fcs, etc.)

At the Postsecondary level, a concentrator is any student that has 1.) been accepted into a CTE program; 2) completes 12 credits of technical core in a specific CTE program; or 3.) completes a short-term CTE program of less than 12 credits, that terminates with an award of an industry-recognized credential, or a certificate.

Occupational Proficiency must be reported on any student that qualifies as a concentrator. Therefore, it may be wise to quantify occupational proficiency at the completion of each course.

Personal "Gruis" recommendation: At the end of each course, record whether students did or did not complete an acceptable level of course's COMPENTENCIES. (Remember, according to state code, CTE programs MUST be competency-based.)

The old...90% level of competencies attained... IS GONE. In its place, a level of successful ATTAINMENT must be a level identified by a third party or your local advisory committee as ACCEPTABLE.

Gruis Editorial: The law uses the word "test"; however, "test" could be a checklist of competencies or skills that students successfully acquired. I define "successfully acquired" as ... "Students learned enough to perform the competency at the next level (college or work)."

Academic Proficiency (no change): ITED data is automatically collected via Project EASIER.

Career/Technical Program – At the Secondary (high school) level, students must be enrolled in at least one Career and Technical Education (CTE) program that is comprised of three or more sequential units. (“Sequential” does NOT infer that the courses must be taken in a specific order. “Sequential” implies that the CTE courses must build upon the competencies required for occupational success within a specific pathway.) Local school districts determine which CTE courses make up the program sequence. Arts & sciences or liberal arts courses (ie., math, English, etc.) are NOT allowed as part of the 3 unit CTE course sequence. Because Iowa has comprehensive high schools, it is assumed that ALL students will complete enough math, science, social studies, and language arts to graduate; however, these courses are NOT allowed to be identified as part of the 3 CTE unit minimum for a CTE program.

Federal Perkins Law interpretations- - Welcome to the world of “gray”. Very few expenditures are identified as “black-and-white” (legal or illegal) in Federal code. ALL legal expenditures do need to meet the INTENT of Federal law; and therefore, a simple list of legal/ not-legal expenditures is impossible to generate.

Title III, Part A, Section 311(a) of the Perkins Act:

The section states that "Funds made available under this Act for career and technical education activities shall supplement, not supplant, non-federal funds expended to carry out career and technical education activities and tech prep program activities."

Section 135(c)(7)

Clearly states that funds made available to an eligible recipient may be used for "leasing, purchasing, upgrading or adapting equipment, including instructional aids and publications(including support for library resources) designed to strengthen and support academic and technical skill achievement."

Textbooks, probably would meet the definition for instructional aids
and publications, but the recipient may be supplanting local funds with
federal funds. Thus the expenditure may not be an allowable use of
funds under that section of the Act. However, this would only be a
‘supplant’ violation, if the district is providing similar support for other programs while withdrawing the support of local funds from the program in question.

Supplement vs. Supplant

The underlying intent of Federal Perkins law is to improve the achievement of students in career and technical programs. Using Federal dollars to ‘supplement’ existing programs is a legal use of Federal funds; using Federal dollars to ‘supplant’ local dollars is NOT legal. (CTE programs are composed of CTE courses. Academic courses, such as math, English or science, are NOT part of a CTE program.)

Text books are one of the "gray" areas in the Federal Perkins law; there are no "black-and-white" rules on texts. So, here is our (Iowa DE) interpretation of Federal Perkins law with regard to textbookss. (Just joking…but, if you don’t like our interpretation, please move your school to another state; although, I can’t think of states that do not follow these same interpretations.)

1. Consumable items are NOT legal expenditures. One-time-use items such as student workbooks, welding rods, feed, etc. are NOT legal expenditures.

2. "Supplant" is NOT legal. If a district purchases text books, with Perkins $, that have normally (in the past) been purchased with other school dollars; this would be considered "supplanting" and is NOT legal.

Example: It is NOT LEGAL to purchase a course's ‘regular/standard’ textbook with Federal dollars. This is a tough call, because some/many CTE courses do not have a specific ‘course’ textbook. Courses such as math often have a designated ‘course’ text book. Any texts that could be defined as a ‘course’ textbook are NOT legal expenditures.

Crude Example: Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) -- Providing toilet paper is standard practice for operating a school, and would NOT be an allowable expenditure utilizing Federal dollars. Purchasing any materials or items of this type would be considered as standard-operating-procedures, and would NOT be allowable. Other examples of Standard-Operating-Procedures: a. providing desks, b. providing chalk, c. providing a teacher, d. providing a classroom, etc.

3. “Supplement” is LEGAL. Using Federal Dollars to purchase a set of texts which serve as supplemental resources or additional resources beyond the regular course textbook is legal. If a specific textbook is the ONLY books used in a course, and the textbook id used daily/frequently throughout the course; these would probably NOT be legal uses of Federal dollars.

Example: If a school purchases GPS units, with Federal Perkins $, a set of texts or materials purchased to assist students in using the GPS units would be allowable. If these texts or printed materials are the only texts used in the course, they would NOT be allowable. Essentially, texts that function as a “course’s” primary text would NOT be allowable. Supplemental materials or texts are allowable. (Consumable items are NEVER allowable.)

4. Equipment is a legal expentiture, IF it incorporates NEW or ENHANCED technology.

Examples:

 Hammers -No: …New hammer technology… I don’t buy it. Unless the purchase would be for a few hammers which are designed to meet the needs of students with physical disabilities.

 Computers -Yes: Computers are typically out-of-date as soon as they arrive; therefore computers are almost always allowable.

 Table Saw -Yes: Table saws typically have new and improved features, such as safety features.

 Table Saw Blades -No: One table saw blade to aid in the training of the new equipment is an acceptable Perkins expenditure. A pack of 10 extra table-saw blades would not be allowable because saw blades, drill bits, etc. are consumables.

The full version of the Project EASIER Plus CTE PowerPoint (from the Dec. 2007 ICNs) is linked below.

Project EASIER Plus - CTE Student Data Entry Steps for 2008

Perkins Basic Information

Perkins 101 (Powerpoint file)

All Aspects of an Industry (PDF file)

Perkins Tools

Project Easier - JMC Example

Occupational Proficiency Record Keeping Example

Iowa Vocational Education Standards?

3 Sequential units of CTE courses

State Reimbursement $

State Board Approval, etc.

Iowa Vocational Education Standards