The Walters State Community College Perkins IV local plan was developed through the collaboration of career and technical education (CTE) faculty and staff, including deans of appropriate divisions, the Perkins IV coordinator and staff, and appropriate Advisory Board and business and industry members. Plans were also outlined for secondary counselors, administrators, and faculty in training sessions and meetings held during the 2007-2008 transition year. Secondary personnel were also provided with preliminary planning documents and a 2008-2009 activity calendar developed through the use of the 2008-2009 school calendars for all counties in the Walters State service area. Input and pertinent data was collected by the Division of Technical Education, and the local plan was developed based on received input.

1P1-01 Creation of a formal evaluation for career and technical programs to determine how each program meets industry-recognized standards
1P1-02 Purchase of equipment, instructional aids, publications, and other materials to maintain technology currency and applicability
1P1-03 Support for programmatic Advisory Boards

2P1-01 Provide professional faculty development activities for CTE instructors in trends and research, use of technology, presentations, and public relations
2P1-02 Creation of formal needs assessments for career and technical programs

3P1-01 Development and publication of written advising guides for use by students, counselors, parents, and faculty and staff
3P1-02 Technology training for faculty in videostreaming, D2L, vidcasting, podcasting, and other alternative delivery methods
3P1-03 Development of career and technical advising and planning for secondary and postsecondary students

4P1-01 Development and implementation of project-based learning activities that involve more than one program area

5P1-01 Continuation of a Women in Technology summer camp for girls in the service area, to promote underrepresented gender participation in career and technical programs

5P2-01 Creation and implementation of special populations seminars, designed to coordinate activities with other participants and attract underrepresented populations to career and technical programs

Perkins IV funds will be utilized to strengthen components of CTE programs by implementing a defined sequence of courses for each CTE program that leads to an A.A.S. degree, including the development of written advising guides for all CTE programs. This aspect will be developed for all programs over the course of the two years of this proposal, with approximately one-half of the programs completed in each year. These advising guides will also be posted on the Career and Technical Education Web site for Walters State, so that they will be available to secondary and postsecondary faculty and students, as well as to parents, business and industry members, and other concerned parties.

Linkages will be strengthened through the posting of the advising guides as outlined in Section IV.1 above. The Programs of Study documents that were developed during the 2007-2008 transition year will also be published and provided to all secondary schools, counselors, and Central Office staff, including CTE directors. Funding from the Reserve Grant portion of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 will also be used to further develop and strengthen these linkages.

During the two-year period, CTE programs at the college will implement a plan to integrate project-based learning including courses in different majors. The initial plan will involve collaboration between the Industrial Technology program and the Computer Science program, which will utilize at least five courses across the two majors to plan, design, and create a product using skills learned in these courses. Students will be required to use teamwork, strategy sessions, and planning meetings to complete the production. Other cross-program projects will also be investigated during this initial phase. The project will be presented to the appropriate Advisory Boards for feedback, and modifications will be made as deemed necessary upon receiving feedback.
Advisory Boards will also be presented with information concerning work-based learning, and planning will begin with businesses and industries willing to participate. Implementation of such plans will also require input from the appropriate accrediting agencies for each program involved.

Perkins IV funds will be used over the two-year period to provide training sessions to CTE instructors in the use of videostreaming, Desire2Learn, and computer simulation tools. Faculty and counselors will also be offered training sessions in alternative delivery methods for content, including online video, podcasting, and vidcasting. At least one training session in an appropriate area will be offered each semester, based on feedback from divisions and from Advisory Board and business and industry representatives. All training sessions will be developed to ensure that they are high quality, sustained, intensive, and classroom-focused in order to have a positive and lasting impact on classroom instruction and the teacher’s performance in the classroom, and are not 1-day or short-term workshops or conferences, as outlined by Section 124 of the Perkins legislation.

Professional development activities will be developed for both secondary and postsecondary faculty and counselors throughout the two-year period. These activities will include: training in technical writing and mathematics in both CTE and academic courses; training sessions in public relations for both parents and community groups, particularly for use in career fairs and open house events; training in finding and using appropriate research data to improve instruction in career and technical education programs; training in using technology, such as smart classrooms and feedback tools, in classroom settings; and presentations by selected members of business and industry to faculty and counselors in order to remain current in business and industry trends. These training sessions will be presented in on-ground and online formats, and will be developed for videostreaming and podcasting presentations as well in order to provide flexible delivery options. All professional development activities will be developed to ensure that they are high quality, sustained, intensive, and classroom-focused in order to have a positive and lasting impact on classroom instruction and the teacher’s performance in the classroom, and are not 1-day or short-term workshops or conferences, as outlined by Section 124 of the Perkins legislation.

Initial presentations of programs of study were provided to Advisory Board members during the 2007-2008 transition year. Feedback will be used to update and revise programs of study that have been developed, and will also be used to develop consistent programs of study for all CTE programs available through Walters State. A model CTE program evaluation will also be designed during the 2008-2009 year. This evaluation will be completed by faculty and staff, and feedback will be used to design an evaluation plan appropriate to all CTE programs. This evaluation will be designed to utilize research data provided by the Office of Planning, Research, and Assessment, and will integrate data collected to meet the college’s Final Agreed Upon Performance Levels as outlined in Section III of this proposal.

Each CTE program will submit a list of technology needs to the Perkins coordinator, who will work with an internal committee to determine areas which are most in need of technology updates and allocate funds as available to provide for these needs. These needs will also be communicated each semester to the Walters State TAF committee, to develop the best possible response to meeting these needs. Needs assessments will also be developed for new program areas, and these areas will be addressed as funds and administrative approval allow.

A portable computer lab will be used to provide services to students in both secondary and postsecondary institutions, including career advising, training, and planning. The Coordinator of Technical Education and P-16 will design and offer these services, with the assistance of CTE instructors, the Student Success Center, and the staff of the Technical Education division at the college. Presentations will be reviewed by all parties and by business and industry representatives to determine effectiveness and appropriateness, and reports will be developed and kept on file with the Perkins IV Coordinator for documentation purposes. These services and presentations will be developed, reviewed, and presented throughout the course of the two years of this proposal.

The Coordinator of Technical Education and P-16 and the Perkins IV coordinator will work with WIA, the Student Success Center, the P-16 Committee, and individual programs to develop and support seminars providing these special populations, including single parents and displaced homemakers, with seminars and printed information on assistance programs designed to make training and access to jobs in high skill, high wage, and high demand occupations. These plans will include the use of data from local job markets, local businesses and industries, and the Tennessee Office of Economic and Community Development.

Advisory Boards will meet annually to review CTE programs that are developed under this proposal, and online feedback will be solicited from board members. Advisory Boards were updated and met during the 2007-2008 transition year; new advisory committees will be created as determined necessary, and meetings will continue to be held with parents, businesses, and other concerned parties within each LEA to determine the needs of the community as they relate to the career and technical education programs of study.

The Coordinator of Technical Education and P-16 has completed CTE Advisory training, and will develop training sessions for secondary CTE directors, counselors, and teachers in the development of materials and guides for use in counseling students concerning CTE programs. This will also include the dissemination of information concerning career paths that lead to baccalaureate degree programs. All training sessions will be developed to ensure that they are high quality, sustained, intensive, and classroom-focused in order to have a positive and lasting impact on classroom instruction and the teacher’s performance in the classroom, and are not 1-day or short-term workshops or conferences, as outlined by Section 124 of the Perkins legislation.

The college will develop a database of local businesses and industries that are willing to participate in job shadowing activities, and this pool will be made available to secondary and postsecondary institutions. Contacts with business and industry will also include coordination with the Office of Distance Education to find qualified industry professionals who are willing to serve as adjunct faculty members for the college in needed areas. A summer workshop for teachers and faculty involving visits to local businesses and industries will be developed as funding allows.

These programs are outlined in Section III.9 above.

As appropriate and requested, Perkins IV funding may be used to support student organizations through related college programs, and may include personnel and facilities to accommodate regional, statewide, and national competitions as funds allow.

Not planned at this time.

As available, funds will be used to purchase equipment, instructional aids, publications, software, and other materials designed to strengthen and support academic and technical skills achievement. This initiative was begun in the 2007-2008 transition year, and will be carried out with the assistance of the Center for Workforce Education, a CBJT-funded program in the Division of Technical Education.

Training sessions for secondary and postsecondary teachers in CTE areas were begun with secondary Drafting and Design instructors in the 2007-2008 transition year, and will be expanded to other areas as appropriate and desired. All training sessions will be developed to ensure that they are high quality, sustained, intensive, and classroom-focused in order to have a positive and lasting impact on classroom instruction and the teacher’s performance in the classroom, and are not 1-day or short-term workshops or conferences, as outlined by Section 124 of the Perkins legislation.

Perkins IV funds will be used to implement videostream courses to other Walters State campuses, secondary schools, and business and industry locations that are capable of receiving the video feeds. The videostreamed offerings will allow students who are not able to travel to the main campus in Morristown to attend classes leading to an Associate of Applied Science degree in selected programs. For courses requiring labs, alternative schedules will be developed to allow students to attend lab sessions in a format that is more convenient to them and that reduce costs associated with travel. This is designed to increase the number of potential participants in A.A.S. programs.

Articulation agreements currently exist for selected CTE programs with the four-year colleges and universities in the Walters State area. Likewise, the college offers dual credit and dual enrollment courses to all secondary students in the service area. Funding will be used in the two-year proposal to create other transition opportunities into baccalaureate programs as appropriate. It is not anticipated that there will be large expenses associated with these activities.

Not addressed in this proposal.

Not addressed in this proposal.

No activities planned at this time.

Not planned at this time.

No specific activities or services planned at this time.

The Perkins IV coordinator will work with the Career Center located in the Center for Workforce Education at Walters State to develop and enhance job placement services. The Center for Workforce Education is the product of a Department of Labor Community-Based Job Training Grant, and is located in the Technology Building at the college. The services will be offered to the secondary schools in order to encourage secondary students to pursue continued education at the postsecondary level in order to fill high growth, high wage, and high demand jobs in the area. Scholarships will be provided to students who meet applicability requirements through funds from the CWE, so no charges to Perkins IV will be incurred from this activity.

A “Women in Technology” summer camp for rising 8th and 9th grade girls was developed and offered in the summer of 2008. The purpose of this camp is to offer girls a chance to explore opportunities in traditionally male-dominated subject areas, and included computer science, agriculture, and industrial technology in the first year. This summer camp will be continued and expanded to include other subject areas in the 2008-2010 plans.

Not planned at this time.

Not planned at this time, but contacts will other recipients will be maintained throughout the proposal time period in order to investigate possible opportunities for innovative programs or data systems.

Not planned at this time.

Walters State Community College currently has written agreements with each LEA to provide dual credit testing in at least one area of career and technical education twice per academic year. These agreements were put in place under the Tech Prep model, and were modified in the 2007-2008 transition year to accommodate changes in the Perkins funding model. These agreements will be renewed each year, as signed by the President of Walters State and the Director of Schools in each LEA in the service area of the college. In addition, all LEAs are offered the opportunity to provide dual enrollment courses at the secondary schools in the LEAs, provided qualified faculty are available to teach these courses. The dual enrollment courses are coordinated through the Office of Distance Education at Walters State with Linda Roberts, the Dean of Distance Education. Associate to baccalaureate linkages exist with East Tennessee State University, Lincoln Memorial University, Tusculum College, and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. These linkages are coordinated through the Student Success Center, and are monitored by Melissa Duff in that office. Programs that are included in linkages to upper-level institutions include Industrial Technology, Computer Science, Agriculture – Pre-Veterinary Medicine, Agriculture Science, Agriculture Business, Nursing, and Early Childhood Education. Opportunities for other program linkages are being explored, particularly with Lincoln Memorial University, Tusculum College, and East Tennessee State University.
In order to improve and expand links between upper- and lower-level institutions and schools, Perkins funds will be used to institute program reviews and evaluations in order to determine areas of linkage and areas requiring improvement. These reviews will be completed by faculty and administration within the selected programs, and findings will be presented to Advisory Boards and to appropriate personnel in order to facilitate resolution of any problems and to implement necessary changes to improve these linkages.

All students at the college, whether in an academic or a career and technical education program, must fulfill college and TBR requirements for graduation. Grade point averages, course and program requirements, evaluations, and all planning and research activities and reports are common to all programs. Many career and technical education programs include laboratory components, which require additional activities that are not included in all academic courses. All courses, regardless of content or subject area, are required to publish course objectives that are approved by the college administration in the course syllabi. Plans are in place to train all faculty members, in both academic and career and technical programs, in the construction and implementation of student learning objectives, which will more clearly define the specific skills to be obtained by students in each class and how the attainment of these skills will be measured.

Activities implemented within this proposal are designed to utilize input from business and industry in the design, implementation, and evaluation of career and technical education courses. Plans are in place to work with Nashville State Technical Community College in case-based learning in the summer of 2008. The plan outlined in Section IV.3 under Required Uses outlines another example of cross-training for all aspects of an industry unit, including design, manufacture, packaging, and quality control. This plan will be designed in the 2008-2009 academic year, with implementation in the 2009-2010 academic year. This model will be expanded to other program areas after the 2008-2009 year, with a similar timetable for the selected program. Funds will be used to provide support for faculty and administration to plan these cross-program activities, meet with business and industry for review and input, and implement, review, and modify activities as deemed necessary.

As defined in Section III.5 under Required Uses, professional development activities will be developed for both secondary and postsecondary faculty and counselors throughout the two-year period. These activities will include: training in technical writing and mathematics in both CTE and academic courses; training sessions in public relations for both parents and community groups, particularly for use in career fairs and open house events; training in finding and using appropriate research data to improve instruction in career and technical education programs; training in using technology, such as smart classrooms and feedback tools, in classroom settings; and presentations by selected members of business and industry to faculty and counselors in order to remain current in business and industry trends. These training sessions will be presented in on-ground and online formats, and will be developed for videostreaming and podcasting presentations as well in order to provide flexible delivery options.
The training received by Cathy Woods in the area of Career and Technical Education Guidance in the 2007-2008 year will also be used to provide professional development activities for secondary and postsecondary faculty and guidance officers in the proper implementation of guidance in CTE programs. These activities will be developed and offered beginning in the 2008-2009 academic year. All professional development activities will be developed to ensure that they are high quality, sustained, intensive, and classroom-focused in order to have a positive and lasting impact on classroom instruction and the teacher’s performance in the classroom, and are not 1-day or short-term workshops or conferences, as outlined by Section 124 of the Perkins legislation.

Program advisory committees meet once per year at a minimum; some meet each semester. These advisory committees are provided with overviews of the programs and specific courses, course outlines, overall program objectives and goals, course objectives and goals, laboratory activities, equipment on hand, graduate numbers, and all other aspects of the corresponding CTE programs. Input is taken from the advisory committee members, and modifications are made to programs and courses based on the evaluation of these recommendations. At these committee meetings in 2008, the participants were also provided with printed copies of the Walters State CTE clusters and programs of study. These copies were explained to the advisory committee members, and feedback was solicited concerning the way these programs of study fulfill the needs of business and industry in the area. At the time of this writing, feedback is still being received from business and industry concerning the programs of study and the evaluation of these programs.
Input is also taken from accrediting agencies, such as NAIT and ACBSP, as to required content, methodologies, and evaluations needed to maintain an accredited status. Secondary instructors and CTE directors are provided with course and program information throughout the course of each academic year, in order to ensure alignment of secondary and postsecondary CTE programs of study. Meetings are held each semester with secondary CTE directors, guidance counselors, and instructors to explain and discuss programs of study, and to coordinate planning and activities. The calendar for these meetings in the 2008-2009 academic year has been developed and sent to all LEAs in the service area. Perkins requirements will also be included in these meetings.
Career and technical programs will also be discussed with the regional P-16 Council, in order to receive input and to disseminate information concerning the objectives, goals, and results of the programs of study. Input from the P-16 Council will be included in evaluation and planning for these career and technical programs of study.

Walters State Community College monitors each career and technical program of study on a yearly basis to ensure that the programs are of proper size, scope, and quality. Yearly reports are also completed and submitted to the Office of Planning, Research, and Assessment concerning employer feedback data, with specific steps outlined to address weaknesses in programs as defined by the employer feedback summaries. Advisory Board reviews of programs are used to evaluate the appropriateness of programs and content coverage, as is the input of business and industry participants who work with the college for employee training in specific programs. Yearly program evaluations will be developed in the 2008-2010 activity cycle, and these evaluations will be reviewed with the individual divisions and with the Office of Academic Affairs and the Office of Planning, Research, and Assessment, to assure that the programs of study meet the requirements of size, scope, and quality.
Accrediting agencies are an important aspect of all career and technical education programs. At the current time, career and technical program accrediting agencies include ACBSP, NAIT, NLNAC, the Paramedic Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs, the Culinary Arts American Culinary Federation, Inc., and other appropriate accrediting bodies. Accredited programs must undergo scheduled reviews by the appropriate accrediting agencies, and all reports generated from these accrediting visits require responses that are filed with the Division of Technical Education, the Office of Planning, Research, and Assessment, and the specific accrediting agency. No career and technical program at Walters State has lost accreditation due to a failure to meet the requirements of an accrediting body.

The Perkins IV Coordinator will work with a committee to evaluate the performance of career and technical and occupational programs receiving funding under the Perkins IV Act on a yearly basis, and this information will be kept on file in the Coordinator’s office. This evaluation will include data reported to the individual divisions by the Office of Planning, Research, and Assessment, the Placement Office of the college, the Student Success Center, and by other offices within the college as deemed appropriate. These evaluations will be provided to all concerned parties. The evaluations will also include data used in the college’s FAUPL, and gains or losses will be reviewed and reported as well.
As described in Section III.6 under Required Uses of this report, initial presentations of programs of study were provided to Advisory Board members during the 2007-2008 transition year. Feedback will be used to update and revise programs of study that have been developed, and will also be used to develop consistent programs of study for all CTE programs available through Walters State. A model CTE program evaluation will also be designed during the 2008-2009 year. This evaluation will be completed by faculty and staff, and feedback will be used to design an evaluation plan appropriate to all CTE programs.
All collected data and reports will be on file and available to concerned parties, and will be shared with appropriate personnel in order to develop improvement plans for the career and technical and other occupational programs.
Programmatic evaluation will also be undertaken in accordance with Tennessee Board of Regents policies and guidelines, and will use program-specific accreditation agencies to demonstrate program quality.

Walters State Community College is developing initial plans to better identify special populations as defined under Section 4 of the Act. At the current time, the most common method of data collection for defining special populations is self-reporting by participants within the programs. Plans are being defined to work with Admissions, the Student Success Center, the Office of Enrollment Development, and other concerned parties and offices to develop a better methodology for student identification. Plans are to implement such a methodology during the 2008-2010 project period. The Coordinator of Technical Education and P-16 and the Perkins IV coordinator will work with WIA, the Student Success Center, the P-16 Committee, and individual programs to develop and support seminars providing these special populations, including single parents and displaced homemakers, with seminars and printed information on assistance programs designed to make training and access to jobs in high skill, high wage, and high demand occupations. These plans will include the use of data from local job markets, local businesses and industries, and the Tennessee Office of Economic and Community Development.

The current plan includes a “Women in Technology” summer camp for rising 8th and 9th grade girls that was developed and offered in the summer of 2008. The purpose of this camp is to offer girls a chance to explore opportunities in traditionally male-dominated subject areas, and included computer science, agriculture, and industrial technology in the first year. This summer camp will be continued and expanded to include other subject areas in the 2008-2010 plans. Other plans include the promotion of underrepresented genders through guest speakers from business and industry in the secondary and postsecondary classrooms, examples of underrepresented genders promoted on the college Web site, and other activities designed to encourage the inclusion of underrepresented genders in nontraditional occupations.

The Coordinator of Technical Education and P-16 will be in charge of offering career guidance and counseling support services to students in the career and technical programs of study at the college. She will work with the Student Success Center and the Office of Counseling and Advising at the college to improve counseling support services in this area. One of the goals in this two-year proposal is to improve the access to and availability of career and technical-specific advising services.
The Coordinator of Technical Education and P-16 has also completed CTE Advisory training, and will develop training sessions for secondary CTE directors, counselors, and teachers in the development of materials and guides for use in counseling students concerning CTE programs. This will also include the dissemination of information concerning career paths that lead to baccalaureate degree programs.

The college has begun annual adjunct fairs to recruit faculty members, particularly adjunct instructors, qualified to fill career and technical program needs. Contacts with business and industry through Advisory Boards, career fairs, and the Center for Workforce Education are also used to identify possible faculty, counselors, and administrators in career and technical program fields. These opportunities will be explored further as positions occur and as enrollment in programs increases. No other hiring in the occupational fields is planned for the 2009-2010 academic year.

The college will use data collected by the Office of Planning, Research, and Assessment, particularly results of employer and graduate surveys, graduation data, and other reports, to complete reports for internal and external use. The Office of Enrollment Development has also provided research data for the 2003-2007 academic years concerning career and technical courses to the Perkins Coordinator, which has been used to identify long-term trends in course offerings, student enrollment, and student success, and this data has been analyzed to determine areas for review. Methods for offering selected courses have been modified based on the analysis of this data.
Special population subgroups have been more difficult to identify, and most data for these areas has either been self-reported by students or has been collected from offices such as the Student Success Center, the Center for Workforce Education, WIA, and the Admissions office at the college. The identification and support of “at-risk”, non-traditional, and special populations groups will be a focus of the two-year proposal, but must be undertaken with the awareness and concern for confidentiality and security of data collected, and controls for access to this data. The Perkins Coordinator will work with administration to best determine how this data may be collected and utilized to improve performance of these subgroups in career and technical and occupational programs at the college.