Kimberly Rawls, Student Services Coordinator from the Marion County CTE Center, successfully facilitated the final Webinar on December 3. Participants shared implemented lessons (e.g., Text Impressions, Anticipation Guide, Read Write Talk, Discussion Web, Think Solve Pair Share) and their plans for post-testing using the Gates MacGinitie assessment in February 2013. Gail Simmons described the Webinar ReUnion, which is set for February 25, 2013, and will include both the pilot participants and ASK-CTE 2 participants. She also described the Closure Forum, which will be held on March 8 at the Hinds Community College campus in Pearl, MS. On December 13, 2012, Chauvin attended the Common Core State Standards meeting with Jean Massey, an RCU representative, and SECC Program Associates, Camille Chapman and Debbie Meibaum at the Mississippi Department of Education. One of the topics of discussion was the expansion of the MS ASK-CTE Project. Associate Superintendent Massey strongly supports the project and requested expansion to include 20–30 new CTE Centers for MS ASK-CTE 3, starting with the Summer Institute in June 2013. On December 18, Gail Simmons and Chauvin participated in a Google+ Hangout to discuss Action Plans for the upcoming expansion of the project. They discussed how capacity building had occurred in the project and identified the following mentor/trainers: Jean Bradley, Kimberly Rawls, Lila Broom, and Lisa Hathorn. Action plans included outcomes, responsible individuals and tentative timelines. Gail Simmons, Mike Mulvihill, and Chauvin are working on a brochure for marketing the project to additional centers at directors’ meetings.

SECC Program Associate Ramona Chauvin held a conference call with Mike Mulvihill and Gail Simmons on November 19. The purpose of the conference call was to discuss continuing the MS ASK-CTE Project for another year with the addition of 20–30 CTE centers. Chauvin shared that she, and SECC Program Associates, Camille Chapman and Debbie Meibaum were meeting with Jean Massey, Associate State Superintendent in charge of Vocational Education and Workforce Development, on December 13, and one of the topics would be the expansion of the MS ASK-CTE Project. On November 14, Citrix Online provided a practice GoToWebinar session for the mentors. Present for this session were Gail Simmons, Lila Broom, Lisa Hathorn, the Citrix Online representative, and Chauvin. This session was set up to provide information and procedures to the MS ASK-CTE mentor/trainers who would be cofacilitating future Webinars. On November 26, Lila Broom and Lisa Hathorn from the Jefferson Davis CTE Center successfully cofacilitated Webinar 8. MS ASK-CTE 2 participants shared content and literacy strategies that they had implemented since the last Webinar (e.g., Magnet Summary, Alpha Chart, Word Splash, Read Write Talk).

Follow-Up Webinars 3 and 4 were held September 10, and September 24, respectively. Most technical issues, consisting mainly of computer, microphone, speaker, or telephone issues, which prohibited the audio portion of the webinar for two of the districts, were resolved by the fourth webinar by Gail Simmons, the MS Citrix Online representative, and the impacted districts. Simmons and Kimberly Rawls, a trainer from Marion County, co-facilitated the third session. Topics included the Gates MacGinitie results from a few of the districts, descriptions of the three focal students, and the plans for administration of the assessment measure in districts having a later school start date. By Webinar 4, all districts had successfully administered the Gates MacGinitie and had completed a quick analysis of both the control group and the treatment group. Several districts shared lesson plan implementation of the following strategies: Alpha Chart, Anticipation Guide, I Have Who Has, Word Splash, and Text Impressions. The strategies as a whole were received well by the secondary students who were observed to be engaged and enthusiastic about trying something new to help them learn. Simmons and Chauvin, SECC program facilitator co-facilitated Webinar 4. The next webinar is scheduled for October 8.

Two MS ASK-CTE 2 Follow-Up Webinars were held using GoToWebinar for the structure and format of the hour-long sessions with MDE’s Gail Simmons and Ramona Chauvin, SECC program associate, serving as co-facilitators. The first webinar, held August 13, focused on team planning for the administration of the Gates MacGinitie 4th edition, Forms S or T to both a control group and a treatment group of secondary students. District team members shared information regarding the groups selected for the project. They also reminded the other participants of the CTE content for instruction. Course topics include auto mechanics, polymer science, early childhood education, carpentry, and digital media. The second Webinar, held August 27, focused on both feedback from those districts in which the Gates MacGinitie assessment had been administered and the lesson to be implemented prior to webinar 3.

MS ASK-CTE Summer Institute 2 was held at Hinds Community College July 23–27, 2012. The following CTE district centers were represented: Fallin, Holly Springs, Leflore, Moss Point, Newton, Simpson, and Vicksburg Warren School District. Each center was required to send a team consisting of the center director, the student services coordinator, and a course instructor. CTE courses included auto mechanics, carpentry, digital media, early childhood education, and polymer science. The professional development institute was led by SEDL. Team members will implement the lesson plans that integrate content, text or task, and a literacy strategy, which were developed during the institute in the Fall 2012 semester. Ongoing support will be provided by MDE and SEDL through biweekly webinars during which participants will share successes and challenges of each lesson’s implementation as well as data collection and other evidence of student learning.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, MS ASK-CTE Summer Institute 2 had to be rescheduled; the selected dates are July 23–27, 2012. Nine district centers will be represented at the institute. In a series of emails, Ramona Chauvin, SECC program associate, codeveloped the presentation for the statewide MS CATE Conference with Lila Broom, CTE course instructor, and Lisa Hathorn, CTE Student Services coordinator; both from Jefferson Davis County. The trio will present at the conference on Wednesday, July 18, 2012. The title of their presentation is from a CTE student who participated in the 2011–2012 pilot project: “Are You Going to Teach This Stuff to All of Our Other Teachers?”: Building Student Success with Literacy Strategies.

Three regional Career and Technical Education (CTE) Directors’ meetings were held in late April and early May; one of the purposes of the meetings was to encourage directors from non-pilot centers to participate in the MS ASK-CTE Project, starting with the Summer Institute 2, which will be held on June 4–8, 2012, on the Hinds Community College campus. SECC Program Associate Ramona Chauvin attended the following two sessions: Gulfport and Brandon, MS. Approximately 15 centers have submitted interest applications for the limited slots. During this month, Gail Simmons and Chauvin worked to revise the handouts and the presentation for the Summer Institute; additionally, they worked on trainer’s notes to accompany the training. Four participants from the pilot project have been selected to serve as trainers/mentors for the 2012–2013 school year. They are Jean Bradley and Lila Broom, course instructors; and Lisa Hall and Kimberly Rawls, student services coordinators.

Three regional Career and Technical Education (CTE) Directors’ meetings will be held over the next month. A regional meeting will be held on April 25 in Senotobia, MS; April 27 in Gulfport, MS; and May 3 in Brandon, MS. SECC staff shared information about the MS ASK-CTE Project to 10–15 perspective CTE center directors and assisted the Mississippi Department of Education in developing an informational brochure to be distributed at the regional meetings.

On March 2, 2012, teams from the six pilot centers gathered at the Central Mississippi Research and Extension Center in Raymond, MS, from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for the MS ASK-CTE Closure Forum. A meeting to review the reports and the feedback from the MS ASK-CTE Closure Forum was held on March 15, 2012. Attendees included Mr. Mike Mulvihill, Mrs. Gail Simmons, and Dr. Ramona Chauvin, SEDL program associate.

The Mississippi ASK-CTE pilot project team from Jefferson Davis and SEDL accepted the invitation from MSCATE to present at its conference; the date and time of the presentation are July 18, 2012, from 9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Presenters will include Lisa Hathorn, student services coordinator; Lila Broom, Business and Computer Technology course instructor; and Dr. Ramona Chauvin, SEDL program associate. The team continued to finalize the Closure Forum scheduled for March 2, 2012.

The MS ASK-CTE pilot project concluded in December 2011. The team began planning a face-to-face Closure Forum, where all of the pilot project teams would come together to complete the analysis of their data and complete an informative summary report of their districts' experiences. On January 25, 2012, the Mississippi Association of Career and Technical Education (MSACTE) invited the Jefferson Davis County MS ASK-CTE team and SEDL to participate in a breakout session at the MSACTE Summer Conference in July 2012.