Governance in Career and Technical Education

1
Governance in Career and Technical Education
2
State Governance

• At the state level there is typically a state
  board of education.
• In North Carolina the State Board has 13 members
• Eight representing eight regions of the state
• Three at-large members
• The Lieutenant Governor and the state Treasurer
• The eleven citizens are appointed by the governor
  with approval from the General Assembly
• The State Board establishes state level
  educational policy.

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School Governance

• The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) is
  responsible for implementing state board
  policies, legislative mandates and federal laws.
• For example if the state board of education says
  test 4th graders, DPI develops the test and does
  the testing
• In many states this group is called the
  Department of Education.

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School Governance

• The head person in the Department of Public
  Instruction is the State Superintendent of
  Education
• Dr. June Atkinson is the State Superintendent and
  is elected by popular vote.
• In other states some superintendents are elected
  and some are appointed.

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School Governance

• Within the DPI there are three major divisions
• Financial and Business Services
• Responsible for budgets, accounting,
  transportation, lunch programs, textbooks,
  purchasing, etc.
• Information and Technology Services
• Student records, instructional technology

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DPI Divisions

• Instructional and Accountability Services
• Accountability Division
• Student testing
• Exceptional Children Division
• School Improvement Division
• Instructional Services Division
• Academic areas
• Career Technical Education

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Career and Technical Education

• The director of Career and Technical Education is
  currently Rebecca Payne, .
• CTE in North Carolina has 3 Section Chiefs that
  have responsibility for their program areas. The
  sections chiefs oversee
• 1. Business and Marketing Education
• 2. Agriculture, Family and Consumer Sciences,
  Technology Education, and TI
• 3. Health Occupations, Special Needs, and Career
  Exploration

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Workforce Development

• There are no DPI staff members responsible for
  agricultural education because these folks are
  located at NCSU.
• Agricultural Education is the only vocational
  program that has their leadership outside of DPI
• This fact is resented by the other vocational
  areas and can be a source of conflict and
  jealousy.
• Agricultural Education has a larger staff and
  larger budget than the other areas.

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In North Carolina

• The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) faced
  severe downsizing in the early 1990s.
• The number of DPI Ag. Ed. positions was slated to
  go from 4 to 1.
• When the agriculture teachers learned of this,
  they took action.

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In North Carolina

• In the mid 1990s, the state legislature created 5
  new state level agricultural education positions
  at North Carolina State University.
• This new leadership scheme was implemented in
  1996.
• These individuals performed the duties that were
  formerly done by the Ag. Ed. consultants in the
  DPI.

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Leadership in North Carolina
Gerald Barlowe is the State Agricultural
Education Coordinator.
David Harris isthe Western Coordinatorstationed
atFletcher
Jason Davis is the FFA coordinator and is at NCSU
Aaron Fleming is the State Curriculum
Coordinator and Southwest Region Coordinator
Horace Johnson is the Central coordinator,
stationedat Lillington
Benjie Forrest isthe Eastern Coordinatorstation
ed at Plymouth
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Leadership in North Carolina
The state is divided into eight regions
Northeast
Northwest
Central
East Central South Central West Central
Western
Southwest
Southeast
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Local Governance

• At the local level, there is school board that
• Establishes local educational policy
• Hires school officials such as the superintendent.

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Local Governance

• Most counties in North Carolina have a county
  wide school system (there are some exceptions)
• Every county has a Career and Technical Education
  Director (Vocational Director)
• These people are responsible for CTE programs at
  the county level.

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Local Schools

• Each school is headed by a Principal.
• Typically, a school is organized by Departments.
• Typically, there is a Career Technical
  Education Department.
• One of the CTE teachers serves as the department
  head.

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Chain of Command

• So who does an agriculture teacher report to?

Superintendent
County CTE Director
DPI
Principal
Why isnt there an arrow to the Ag. Ed. Team at
NCSU?
Department Chair
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NCSU Question

• The Ag Ed Team at NCSU does not provide
  leadership to the teachers by mandate or
  coercion.
• They lead by providing service and through
  inspiration and motivation (real leadership)
• Ag teachers voluntarily work with the NCSU Ag Ed
  Team

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Leadership in Ag. Ed.

• A number of other states have adopted the NC
  model.
• South Carolina
• Louisiana
• Montana
• New Mexico

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If a Martian landed

• Where would you take this person?

Greetings Earthlings! Take me to your leader (in
agricultural education)!
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Once the answer was simple!

• The Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 (the act that
  provided federal funds to support the teaching of
  high school agricultural education) established a
  Federal Board for Vocational Education.
• The Federal Board ruled with an iron hand.

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The Federal Board

• The Federal Board appointed individuals to
  Supervise agricultural education on a national
  basis
• There was a national Chief
• There were regional supervisors (4 regions of the
  country)
• Later, subject matter experts were added along
  with people with FFA responsibilities.
• In 1962, there were 12 national agricultural
  education officials

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The Feds

• The agricultural education officials in the
  federal government had absolute power.
• They could threaten states with lose of funding
• What they said was interpreted to be the law.
• They required all types of reports and records to
  make sure Smith-Hughes funds were being used
  properly.

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The Tide Turns

• The Vocational Education Act of 1963 did away
  with categorical funding for agricultural
  education.

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The 1963 Act

• Section 16
• Nothing contained in this part shall be
  construed to authorize any department, agency,
  officer, or employee of the United States to
  exercise any direction, supervision, or control
  over the curriculum, program of instruction,
  administration, or personnel of any educational
  institution of school system
• This signaled the end of strong federal (and
  state) control over agricultural education.

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The Fallout of the 1963 Act

• As federal agricultural education officials
  retired they were not replaced.
• By 1980 the number of federal level agricultural
  education officials had dropped to (2) two.

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The Feds Today

• Today, there are 2 federal agricultural education
  officials.
• The only reason they exist is because of a
  provision in Public Law 740 (the law passed in
  1950 giving FFA a federal charter)

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The Feds Today

• The two federal officials today work primarily
  with the national FFA where they have some real
  authority.
• They have no real power over state agricultural
  education programs.
• Their leadership status within Agricultural
  Education is sort of like that possessed by the
  Queen of England it is more titular and
  honorary than real.

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The Federal Officials in Ag. Ed.
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Agric. Education Leadership

• Because of the decline in Federal leadership, the
  profession created an independent National
  Council for Agricultural Education in the
  mid-1980s.

The National Council for Agricultural Education
provides leadership, coordination and support for
the continuous improvement of agricultural
education.
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Who Leads other CTE Programs?

• Answer There is no defined national leadership
  for other CTE program areas.
• Professional organizations within those program
  areas are left to provide the national leadership.