Recipient Organization
SOUTHEAST ISLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT
1218 A SHORELINE DR
THORNE BAY,AK 99919
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Alaska currently grows just 5% of its own food. Not only is this economically unsustainable, it is also environmentally irresponsible. Southeast Island School District (SISD) is located on Prince of Wales (POW) Island, where local produce does not exist. The nearest city, Ketchikan, population 8,000, is a 30-minute floatplane or three-hour ferry ride, and has no agricultural operations. The economy of all SISD communities is closely tied to commercial fishing and timber harvesting on the 17 million acre Tongass National Forest. Poverty rate on the island is higher than the average in the state and all fresh produce is shipped to POW by barge from Seattle. Every school in the district except one is located at least an hour from the nearest grocery store and two schools are accessible only by floatplane, weather permitting.Motivated by its remote location, SISD is taking drastic, progressive measures to change the current food paradigm to a system that empowers our students and creates educational opportunities, economic growth, and healthy choices. Over the last seven years, the district has been building an agriculture program in nine remote schools. Growing food in southeast Alaska can be challenging since SISD is located in the middle of a temperate rainforest on an island with by far more rock than soil. To educate rural communities about sustainable food growth, the district believes the best place to start is in the schools.SISD embraces the idea of growing food not only to create a better learning environment, but also to give students the tools needed to lead healthy lives in a rural environment. The district has built four greenhouses with the intent of 1) developing students' awareness of where their food comes from, 2) providing valuable work experience, 3) supplementing the school lunch program, 4) creating career pathways in the Natural Resource field and 5) creating curriculum for all grade levels that can be used throughout the state in other farm to school programs.The challenge for the district is that it has an excellent start but has not been able to allocate the funds required to manage and oversee the four greenhouses or to develop curriculum so that agriculture becomes an integral part of the school experience. In addition to this problem, the district is now facing a $350,00 shortfall next year due to falling oil prices in the state and thus reduced funding for education. One administrative position will be reduced from full time to three-quarter time. With this proposal, Southeast Island School District is requesting $50,000 in funding for a two-year period so that it can assign a current employee at halftime to this project with 20% of his salary and the associated benefits coming from federal funds and the rest from SISD general fund. This position will be theAgriculture Education Coordinator. The impact of this proposal lies in what the district will be able to provide to its students and to other districts in the state of Alaska - "an exemplary education model" which ties hands-on learning to state standards in math, science and other content areas.The Agriculture Education Coordinator and a team of teachers will develop Career Technical Education (CTE) courses of study for high school students, integrate science, nutrition, agriculture, etc. into school curriculum in grades K-8, start a Future Farmers of America chapter on POW, start a new 4-H program on POW and conduct the project evaluation.SISD expects these 'deliverables'to have a lifelong impact on the students of SISD, the communities of Prince of Wales Island, and the residents of Alaska.a) As a result of the CTE courses, the district will be able to bridge the gap between secondary school and college by offering students an Agriculture Education track. This will open the door for students to explore possible career paths.b) By offering dual credit options, students will be able to get a head start on college, which is particularly important for first generation college students.c) The FFA chapter will allow students to develop leadership skills, and explore agriculture as a career. They will be eligible for scholarships and awards, creating opportunities for them after they graduate from high school.d) The 4-H program will encourage students K-12 to commit to responsibilities, learn new skills, and work as a team.e) The curriculum materials will make agriculture education more accessible for teachers and students. Focusing on Alaska's opportunities and challenges, these materials will inspire educators throughout the state.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The goal of this project is to build food growth capacity so as to create healthier communities and enrich students' learning.These activiteswill pave the way for schools around the state to replicate this K-12 program.The greenhouse manager/coordinator, who will besupported in partby this grant, will develop curriculum around the greenhouses, (three of four alreadyin operation) and the other farming enterprises such as outdoor raised beds for potatoes, anorchard and several chicken/egg operations at the schools. The intent is to create high qualitycurriculum for grades K12that can be replicated and used by other districts in Alaska or inother states. He will also start a 4Hprogram, a Future Farmers of America chapter, and create acareer pathway for students entering a postsecondary educational institution in food, agriculture,natural resource and human (FANH) sciences. The outcomes of this additional funding from theSPECA Challenge Grant are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timebound(SMART)The objectives are:1) provide .20 FTE of the greenhousemanager/coordinator, 2) start a 4-H program, 3) Create a Natural Resources Career and Technical Education Program of Study (CTEPS) for students in grades 9-12, 4) Develop and teach K-12 agriculture education classes district-wide, and 5) develop dual credit classes in collaboration with University of Alaska Fairbanks, and 6)start a Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter.
Project Methods
The Agriculture Education Coordinator will work with the administration team and report directly to the school district superintendent to decide the direction of agriculture education in SISD. The district will implement trainings during in-service and develop action plans for each of the proposed initiatives. These actionplans will include district teachers, students, and administrators. To ensure the success of this program, the coordinator will need agricultural liaisons ("ag coaches") from each of the eightsites in SISD. Their responsibility will be to assist students in daily learning activities, whether the student is involved in CTE, 4-H, or FFA.In order to meet state requirement of a CTE Program of Study, students must complete four "focused" courses in that area of concentration, such as Natural Resources. The coordinator will create a syllabus for each of the four classes; two in the first year and two in the second year. Partnerships with Alaska universities will be formed in order to complete the procedures for approval of these classes as dual credit. The coordinator will also develop lessons for K-12, making them accessible on the website and through the state Farm to School Program and Alaska's Agriculture in the Classroom organization, the Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District.The district grants coordinator will assist in managing the grant's budget and tracking of the stated goals and objectives. The manager will maintain close correspondence with the granting agency to ensure reporting requirements are fulfilled on time. The district business manager will be the official in charge of managing the budget and submitting reimbursement requests. This individual has long-standing experience with grants and similar projects.Evaluation:When the project begins in September 2016, a baseline for student information will be established. This may be done with student surveys as well as a tracking of high school students' credits and preliminary queries about their plans after graduation.In both years of the grant, SISD elementary and secondary teachers will participate in beginning of the year training regarding curriculum revisions and will collaborate in feedback of sample lesson plans developed by the Agriculture Education Coordinator for classroom implementation. Teachers will use a rubric to complete lesson evaluations and submit them for committee review/revision. Quarterly professional development meetings will continue to provide time for lesson plan collaboration, sharing and reflection.In the secondary CTE Agriculture classes that will be offered through VTC to 9-12 students across the district, students will complete pre/post surveys to measure knowledge growth with an anticipated growth average of 80%. Fifty percent or more of enrolled students will receive college credit as well as high school credit in the first year and 75% will achieve this goal in the second year. Numbers of students enrolled and reaching completion of these classes will be another evaluative measure. Student enrollment in classes developed in year one will reflect a 10% increase in student enrollment in year two.For the younger students the district will look at state testing scores in science as part of the evaluative process. The younger grades do not participate in AK state testing so other measures of student learning and engagement will be used that are grade level appropriate.To evaluate the success of the 4H club and the FFA chapter, the district will look for at least a 10% growth in membership. Meeting agendas and activities will be recorded and the Agriculture Education Coordinator will write a summary report to submit to the grants manager. Parents, community members and participants will complete surveys designed to measure ongoing interest, learning, and benefit of club/chapter membership.At the end of each year of the grant, teachers will complete a survey answering questions about the impact of the project on both the students and themselves as teacher/collaborators. This feedback will give the administration and the Coordinator valuable information about who has benefitted the most from the project, ways to improve the program, and ideas for future sustainability. Evaluation tools will include both qualitative and quantitative data that can be shared with other partner districts as well as contribute to required reports. In the long-term evaluation the district will investigate how many students go into FAHN fields in college who have participated in SISD's programs. To evaluate far-reaching effects, the district will ask partner organizations to participate in surveys in order to gauge the impact of the project in the state or outside it.