2016

November

Chandrea Walker, Mississippi State Department of Education (MDE); Kimberly Rawls,Marion County CTE Student Services Coordinator (SSC) and ASK-CTE Trainer/Coach;and AIR’s Senior Technical Assistance Consultant Ramona Chauvin co-facilitated ASKCTE5’s Follow-Up Webinar on November 7, 2016. Representatives from the followingfour CTE Centers participated in the webinar: Clarke County, Jefferson Davis, LarrySummers Yazoo City, and Vicksburg. CTE Center representatives shared specificdetails regarding their CTE lesson implementation (e.g., content topic, text selection,learning task, strategy used to help students access and comprehend text, and explicitclosure statements). They also discussed briefly observations and assessment resultsfor their three focal students. Lastly, the CTE representatives identified future lessonimplementation.

October

Chandrea Walker, Mississippi State Department of Education (MDE); Kimberly Rawls,Marion County CTE Student Services Coordinator (SSC) and ASK-CTE Trainer/Coach;and AIR’s Senior Technical Assistance Consultant Ramona Chauvin co-facilitated ASKCTE5’s Follow-Up Webinar on October 4, 2016. Representatives from the followingfour CTE Centers participated in the webinar: Clarke County, Jefferson Davis, LarrySummers Yazoo City, and Vicksburg. CTE Center representatives shared informationregarding the administration and scoring of the Gates MacGinitie Comprehension andVocabulary pretest. Due to the limited number of test booklets, CTE Centers are atdifferent stages of test administration. Two CTE course instructors and theirrepresentative SSCs identified their three focal students based on pretest results,classroom observations, and other diagnostic measures. These two CTErepresentatives also shared how they used word walls, anticipation guides, and wordsorts to help their students access text and learn vocabulary terms in electrical circuitry,power tools, and automotive technology.On October 18-21, Port Gibson/Claiborne County CTE instructors, student servicescoordinator, and counselor participated in an intensive ASK-CTE 5 Literacy ProjectInstitute co-facilitated by Chandrea Walker from MDE and Ramona Chauvin from AIRand hosted by the CTE Director Norma Lewis. Content included agriculture, automotiverepair, digital media, early childhood education, engineering, health science, officemanagement, and teacher academy. Participants learned the following: Components andrequirements of the ASK-CTE 5 Literacy Project; the key research connecting CTE, disciplinaryliteracy, and CCRS; evidence-based disciplinary literacy strategies and learning tasks based oncontent skills and objectives; and research design, data collection, data analysis, and reporting.Port Gibson CTE participants wrote lesson plans, reflected on how their own learningapproaches can impact and inform their students’ learning, and engaged in explicit learningtasks that they will adapt, as necessary, when modeling evidenced-based strategies based ontheir students’ needs. These participants will join CTE Center triads from this year’s SummerInstitute in pre-and post-testing, lesson implementation, bi-weekly follow-up webinars, and theClosure Forum.

September

On September 26, Senior TA Consultant Ramona Chauvin and Chandrea Walker, MDE’s office director II in the Secondary Education Department, were co-leaders of the Mississippi ASK-CTE Literacy Project 5’s Follow-Up Webinar 1. ASK-CTE 5 participants from CTE centers in Clarke County, Jefferson Davis County, Vicksburg County, and Yazoo City County were reminded of the project’s tasks (e.g., administration of the Gates MacGinitie Third Edition Forms S or T as a pre-test, lesson plan implementation, selection of focal students, and follow-up webinar participation). Several sites shared lessons on safety units and automotive tools that had been implemented using anticipation guides, word sorts, and the initial construction of word walls. Follow-Up Webinar 2 will take place using GoToWebinar on October 4. 

August

Staff from MDE and SECC have had a series of communications via email messages and phone calls to discuss Year 5 work plans, biweekly webinar dates, and the administration of the Gates-MacGinitie Form S or T pre-test. Jessica Smith, MDE’s new director of Counseling and Support Services, and Chandrea Walker, MDE’s new assistant director of Counseling and Support Services, will be leading the MS ASK-CTE Literacy 5 Project for the 2016—2017 school year.

June

The Mississippi Department of Education and SECC/AIR conducted a four-day summer institute as part of the MS ASK-CTE Literacy Project 5. MDE selected Clarke County, Jeff Davis County, Yazoo/Larry Summers Center, and Vicksburg Center to participate in a multiyear commitment to infusing literacy strategies, modeling, and explicit closure statements within CTE content (e.g., construction, allied health, culinary arts, automotive technician, and engineering and robotics). Each center was established as a triad that would work together throughout fall 2016, spring 2017, and multiple years following to administer Gates MacGinitie Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary tests (Forms S and T) as pre- and post-tests. The institute included trainer modeling, coaching, delivery of adolescent literacy research, participation in explicit strategy processes, and role playing segments of lesson implementation. The participants also developed content-related lesson plans that were based on the following: CTE content and objectives, selected content texts and tasks, and the appropriate literacy strategy that would help students access, comprehend and apply information from CTE tests. After each day's session, the trainers and coaches debriefed and made revisions based on participant engagement.

May

Keshia Washington, supervisor of Student Services Coordinators at MDE, notified the following CTE centers that they were approved for participation in the MS ASK-CTE Literacy Project for 2016–2017 school year: Clarke County, Jefferson Davis, Vicksburg: Warren School District, and Larry Summers Vocational Center. The MS ASK-CTE Literacy Project’s Summer Institute will be held at the Hinds Community College Campus in Pearl, Mississippi, June 14–19. Selected trainers and site-visit coaches will attend a training session on June 13, which will be facilitated by SECC Senior TA Consultant Ramona Chauvin. Student Services coordinators who have been identified as MS ASK-CTE Literacy Project trainers are Kim Rawls, Carva King, and Keshia Washington; in addition, Katrena Hunter, Equanda Jackson, Brock Rogers, Christi VanLandingham, Dianne Wooten, and Sheila Sumrall will serve as coaches during both the summer institute and the CTE center site visits.

April

MDE hosted a planning session for the MS ASK-CTE Literacy Project on April 1, in Raymond, Mississippi. The session was hosted by Keshia Washington from MDE’s Office of Secondary Education and Wendy Clemons, MDE’s director of Professional Development. SECC staff attended the session and shared the project’s history, growth, promising results after two years of continued implementation of the project with fidelity, and the tentative enhancement of the project to include academic sites along with district CTE centers.The planning session was developed around the following outcomes:(a) utilize a focused process to produce an MDE agenda/plan for the MS ASK-CTE Literacy Project, (b) provide opportunities for participants to elaborate and present questions about the MS ASK-CTE Literacy Summer Institute, and (c) develop strategies and plan for “next steps” in promoting the continuation of the literacy model to other districts statewide.Eight MDE-selected student services coordinators (SSCs) attended the session to become more familiar with the project from the trainer’s perspective; one of the SSCs has served as a trainer and mentor/coach since Year 2 of the project.Drs. Jean Massey, MDE’s associate state superintendent, and Mike Mulvihill, MDE’s bureau director, sent application packets out to districts across the state, hoping to get both CTE centers and academic sites from the same district to apply. The deadline for the applications is May 23. The Summer Institute is scheduled for the week of June 13–17, at the Hinds CTE Center near Jackson, Mississippi.

2015

November

After presenting the results of the MS ASK-CTE Project over four years of implementation as part of the CTE summer institute in 2016, Gail Simmons, Office director for Career, Counseling, and Support Services with MDE, approached Jim Simmons, retired member of the Educational Assessment Department, and Ramona Chauvin, senior TA consultant for SECC, about co-writing an article about the CTE work. Jim Simmons began the writing, but over time, all three of the project leaders co-constructed the story of MS ASK-CTE from the video clip that sparked the possibility of Mrs. Simmons finding a way to help CTE students access, comprehend, and construct information to the development of a full-fledged project supported by and implemented along with SECC. The MS ASK-CTE story was built upon adolescent literacy research, explicit comprehension, and vocabulary instruction as well as explicit closure statements using the content from different CTE courses. The story includes information about the coaching approach used, the strategies modeled and practiced, the lesson plans written and implemented, and the data analysis and results. The full article will appear in the Spring 2016 Connections publication.

September

On September 17, Senior TA Consultant Ramona Chauvin held a conference call with MDE to consider the expansion of the MS ASK-CTE project. Representing MDE on the conference call were Gail Simmons, office director, Career Counseling and Student Services; Wendy Clemons, director of High School Programs; and Keshia Washington, program supervisor for Student Services Coordinators. A joint decision was made to expand the MS ASK-CTE project to include 9–12 academic disciplines. The expansion of the model offers districts and schools the unique opportunity to participate in PD using a coaching/mentoring approach focused on research-based strategies designed to increase literacy growth in all academic disciplines as well as in CTE. The expanded program will be named Mississippi Academics, Skills, and Knowledge with Literacy equals Growth (MS ASK-LG).

July

A team from MS ASK-CTE was invited to present at the MS ACTE 2015 Conference in Jackson, Mississippi, on July 29. The presentation team consisted of Gail Simmons, office director, Career Counseling and Support Services; Jim Simmons, retired MDE education technologist/statistician; and Ramona Chauvin, senior TA consultant, SECC/AIR. The focus of the presentation was to share the results of a four-year project (Summer 2011–Spring 2015) that included 17 CTE teams, comprised of the CTE director, the student services coordinator, and a course instructor. The main goal of the project was to increase adolescent student achievement through ongoing, job-embedded professional learning and coaching based on the latest research on adolescent literacy and professional development that impacts student achievement. The CTE teams were coached, mentored, and supported as teachers of specific CTE content. Their lessons were guided with CTE goals and objectives and the use of literacy strategies to help CTE students access, comprehend, and construct texts. Students were pre- and post-tested using the Gates MacGinitie assessments for comprehension and vocabulary. The project findings indicated that implementing the program with high fidelity works, and the results of student achievement were both practically significant and statistically significant.

March

On March 16, teams from the participating CTE centers gathered at the Hinds Community Campus Muse Center in Pearl, Mississippi, for the MS ASK-CTE 4 Closure Forum. Gail Simmons, MDE, facilitated the meeting with the following outcomes:• Utilize focused process to produce a complete draft for the final report of project results• Provide opportunities for each district to elaborate and present respective findings to the group• Develop strategic plan for “next steps” in sustaining the model in future yearsMost CTE team members were present along with Keisha Washington, MDE; Jean Bradley, MDE Consultant from the MS ASK-CTE pilot project; Kimberly Rawls, Marion County CTE Student Services coordinator, also from a previous MS ASK-CTE project; SECC Program Associate Ramona Chauvin; and Jim Simmons, education technologist at MDE, who talked with each team about their data and assisted them in exploring the best ways to analyze and describe or explain their findings. Each CTE team submitted a report at the end of the day to Dr. Simmons that will be reviewed by MDE staff involved in CTE as well as Drs. Simmons and Chauvin. Additionally, each CTE team shared their findings and their sustainability plan, which will be implemented in at least the next 2 years.

February

The MS ASK-CTE 4 centers are completing the collection of their data from the 2014–2015 project, including administration and analysis of the Gates MacGinitie posttest and the draft of the Summary Report. All of this work is in preparation for the Closure Forum, which will be held at Hinds Community College Rankin Campus, Muse Center, in Pearl/Jackson, Mississippi, on March 16. All MS ASK-CTE 4 team members are required to attend.

January

Participating CTE centers are continuing their implementation of research-based literacy strategies based on the core content, the lesson’s objectives, the assigned text(s), and the students’ instructional tasks.

2014

December

MS ASK-CTE 4 Follow-up Webinar Session 9 was held on December 8. All of the CTE centers were online: Amite, Fort Gibson, Holly Springs, and Sunflower. MDE leads, Jean Bradley and Keshia Washington, facilitated the webinar session. Agenda items included a review of the procedures for reporting out, a discussion of lessons for the second semester, posttest data collection using the alternate form (S or T) of the Gates MacGinitie assessment tool, instructions for the closure forum, and questions and answers. Team members reported using Insert Notetaking, ReadWriteTalk, Survey-Question-Read-Recite-Review (SQ3R), and Word Sorts. Bradley and Washington reiterated the significance of modeling and explicit closure statements; they also described the Closure Forum, which will be held on March 6, 2015, at the Muse Center on the Hinds Community College campus.

November

MS ASK-CTE 4 Follow-up Webinar Sessions 7 and 8 were held on November 3 and 17. Keshia Washington, supervisor of student services coordinators at MDE; Gail Simmons, director for the Office of Career, Counseling, and Support Services for MDE; and Jean Bradley, a mentor/trainer who was a course instructor during the MS ASK-CTE pilot project, facilitated the two webinar sessions. Webinars 7 and 8 continued the focus on sharing lesson plan implementations and observations on their three focal students (e.g., above level, at level, and below level). Teams reported greater student participation and engagement when the literacy strategies were being implemented, probably because they incorporated more hands-on, interactive learning tasks.Team members shared lessons that incorporated the following literacy strategies: Anticipation Guide, Discussion Web, Links in the Chain, SQ3R, and Word Sort. Webinar Session 9, the final webinar, is scheduled for December 8.

October

MS ASK-CTE 4 Follow-up Webinar Sessions 5 and 6 were held on October 6 and 20. Keshia Washington, supervisor of Student Services Coordinators at MDE, and Jean Bradley, a mentor/trainer who was a course instructor during the MS ASK-CTE pilot project, facilitated the two webinar sessions. Webinars 5 and 6 focused on sharing lesson implementations and observations of each site’s three focal students (e.g., above level, at level, and below level). Center teams shared successes and challenges, such as increased participation from all students to questions around text selection and amount of guided practice needed for students to internalize the instructional strategies that help them to access and comprehend text. Teachers have begun sharing implementation, focal student observations, and explicit closure statements via email. Educators at the CTE sites are spending more time modeling, which has had a significant impact on student participation with the course content and the literacy strategies. Follow-up Webinar Sessions 7 and 8 are scheduled for November 3 and 17.

September

The MS ASK-CTE 4 Follow-up Webinar Sessions 3 and 4 were held on September 8 and 24. Keshia Washington, Program Supervisor for MDE’s Student Services Coordinators, and Jean Bradley, a mentor/trainer who was a course instructor during the MS ASK-CTE pilot project, facilitated the two webinar sessions. Webinars 3 and 4 focused on feedback from districts, especially around the administration of the Gates MacGinitie pretest, strategy lesson implementation, data collection, explicit closure statements, and observations of focal students. Representative strategy lessons that were implemented included word sorts, Links in the Chain, exit tickets, Think-Pair-Share, and anticipation guides in the areas of Public Law and Safety, Digital Media, and Automotive Mechanics. Webinar Sessions 5 and 6 are scheduled for October 6 and October 20.

August

The MS ASK-CTE 4 Follow-Up Webinar Sessions 1 and 2 were held on Monday, August 11, and Monday, August 25. Keshia Washington, from the MDE’s Office of Secondary Education and the new program supervisor for Student Services Coordinators, and Jean Bradley, a mentor/trainer who was a course instructor during the MS ASK-CTE pilot project, facilitated the two webinar sessions. SECC Program Associate Ramona Chauvin, who formerly served as the key facilitator, is now participating in the webinar sessions in a consulting role.Webinar Session 1 included topics such as the following: Webinar etiquette, team planning for the administration of the Gates MacGinitie 4th edition as a pretest, and the structure for future sharing by each center team. Webinar Session 2 focused on feedback from participating districts regarding their tentative schedules for the assessment administration and the selection of three focal students for observational data collection. Follow-up Webinar 3 is scheduled for September 8, 2014.

July

A team from MS ASK-CTE was invited to present at the MS ACTE 2014 Conference in Brandon, Mississippi, on July 29, 2014, on the topic of literacy in career and technical education (CTE). The presentation team consisted of MS ASK-CTE mentor/trainers including Lisa Hathorn, Kimberly Rawls, Lucy De Rossette, and SECC Program Associate Ramona Chauvin. Approximately 30 student services coordinators participated in the session, which included results from the ASK-CTE project since the Gates-MacGinitie pre- and post-test assessment has been administered. These results show statistically significant growth in comprehension and vocabulary development across the CTE sites. Trainer mentors modeled the following instructional strategies using allied health terms: Word Sort, Links in the Chain, Coin-a-Word, and Survey-Question-Read-Recite-Review (SQ3R).

June

The MS ASK-CTE 4 Summer Institute was held during June 2–6, with June 2 being a train-the-trainer refresher session. SECC Program Associate Ramona Chauvin facilitated this session and provided technical assistance in a consultant role for the June 3–6 institute. Trainers for the summer institute included Gail Simmons, Jean Bradley, Lisa Hathorn, Kim Rawls, Keisha Washington, Lucy DeRossette, and Pearlie Goodman—all members of previous MS ASK-CTE projects. The institute was housed at the Hinds Community College, Pearl Campus.The following CTE district centers were represented: Amite, Claiborne, Holly Springs, and Indianola. Each center was required to send a team consisting of the center director, the student services coordinator, and a course instructor. CTE courses included automotive collision, automotive transmission, digital media, and public law and safety.

May

Information regarding the MS ASK-CTE 4 Project was sent out by Gail Simmons to CTE Directors and school superintendents. The deadline for potential acceptance in the project was established as May 16. The following centers met the criteria for acceptance: Amite, Claiborne, Holly Springs, and Indianola. The MS ASK-CTE 4 Summer Institute will be held during June 2–6, with June 2 being a train-the-trainer session. SECC Program Associate Ramona Chauvin will facilitate this session. Trainers for the summer institute will include Gail Simmons, Jean Bradley, Lisa Hathorn, Kim Rawls, Keisha Washington, Lucy DeRossette, and Pearlie Goodman. The session will be based at the Hinds Community College Pearl Campus.

April

MDE is accepting applications for the MS ASK-CTE 4 Project; the deadline for applications is May 16. The summer institute is scheduled for the first week in June at the Hinds Community College Pearl, Mississippi campus. SECC staff will serve in a consulting role.

March

On March 7, teams from participating centers (e.g., Clarksdale Municipal Schools, Cleveland School District, Grenada School District, and Humphreys County Schools), gathered at the Muse Center on the Hinds Community College Rankin Campus for the MS ASK-CTE 3 Closure Forum. A variety of content areas were used for implementation, including business education, computer technology, culinary arts, and management. Gail Simmons, with MDE, facilitated the forum with the following outcomes: (a) use a focused process to produce the final report from each completer site with ASK-CTE 3, (b) provide opportunities for each district to elaborate and present respective findings to the group, and (c) develop a strategies plan for “next steps” in promoting the continuation of the literacy model to other districts statewide.Dr. Jim Simmons, education technologist, spoke with the teams about data and assisted them in exploring the best ways to analyze and describe or explain their findings. Each team submitted a report to Gail Simmons that will be reviewed by MDE staff who are involved in CTE as well as Drs. Chauvin and Simmons. A discussion was also held to generate ideas about next steps given that MDE has plans to increase the number of centers in the MS ASK-CTE Project. The next steps are as follows: MDE (with assistance from SECC) will (a) review the reports and the feedback generated at the forum; (b) create the necessary paperwork for the extended project’s approval and funding; (c) expand the implementation with 10–12 additional schools; and (d) provide GoToMeeting/ webinar training for participants as needed and ensure that all centers have the required equipment (e.g., microphones or headsets for each presenter, computer speakers, telephone in a quiet place).Client satisfaction appears to be high as evidenced by the request for SECC to replicate its consulting work in the implementation stage. The centers, which participated in the MS ASK-CTE sessions, have made sustainability plans to include team member presentations to individual or all other career and technical instructors, team member presentations to academic instructors, and team member presentations at statewide career and technical conferences.

2013

December

MS ASK-CTE 3 Follow-up Webinar Session 9 was held on December 2, 2013. Four of the six centers were online: Clarksdale, Greenville, Grenada, and Vicksburg. Jean Bradley and Gail Simmons facilitated the webinar session. Agenda items included a review of the procedures for reporting out, a discussion of future lessons for second semester, posttest data collection using the alternate form (S or T) of the Gates MacGinitie assessment tool, instructions for the closure forum, and questions and answers. Team members reported using Links in the Chain with basic number theory, an Anticipation Guide with a culinary arts lesson, SQ3R with a dairy unit, and a word sort involving clothing and fashion. Participants shared interest in continuing to use Links in the Chain, Discussion Webs, Word Sorts, SQ3R, RAFT Writing, and Anticipation Guides because of the engagement seen when these strategies were first introduced. Ramona Chauvin, SECC program associate, talked with them about the significance of modeling and explicit closure statements.Gail Simmons described the Closure Forum, which will be held on March 7, 2014; teams will be notified of the location at a later date. PA Chauvin, Mrs. Simmons, and Mrs. Bradley thanked the participants for their dedication and commitment to the project and wished them all peaceful and happy holidays.

November

The MS ASK-CTE 3 Follow-up Webinar Sessions 7 and 8 were held on November 4 and 18. Gail Simmons, director for the Office of Career, Counseling, and Support Services for MDE, and Jean Bradley, a mentor/ trainer who was a course instructor during the MS ASK-CTE pilot project, facilitated the two webinar sessions. Webinars 7 and 8 continued the focus on sharing lesson plan implementations and observations on their three focal students (e.g., above level, at level, and below level). Teams reported greater student participation and engagement when the literacy strategies were being implemented, probably because they incorporated more hands-on, interactive learning tasks.Center teams represented included Clarksdale, Greenville, Grenada, and Vicksburg. Team members shared lessons that incorporated the following literacy strategies: Anticipation Guide, Discussion Web, Links in the Chain, SQ3R, and Word Sort. Content areas included computer technology and culinary arts. Webinar Session 9, the final webinar, is scheduled for December 2, 2013.

October

MS ASK-CTE 3 Follow-up Webinar Sessions 5 and 6 were held on October 7 and October 21. Gail Simmons, office director for the Office of Career, Counseling, and Support Services for MDE, and Jean Bradley, a mentor/trainer who was a course instructor during the MS ASK-CTE pilot project, facilitated the two webinar sessions. Webinars 5 and 6 focused on sharing their lesson implementations and observations on their three focal students (e.g., above level, at level, and below level). Center teams shared successes and challenges, such as increased participation from all students to questions around text selection and amount of guided practice needed for students to internalize the instructional strategies that help them to access and comprehend text. Even though there continues to be technological issues with centers connecting during the webinar, teachers have begun sharing implementation, focal student observations, and explicit closure statements in Canvas, the project’s website for posting documents, such as the SQ3R guide shared by one of the participants. SECC Program Associate Ramona Chauvin has noticed from the webinars and the use of Canvas that the participants are beginning to work as a community of practice. Webinar Sessions 7 and 8 are scheduled for November 4 and November 18.

September

MS ASK-CTE 3 Follow-up Webinar Sessions 3 and 4 were held on September 9, 2013, and September 23, 2013. Gail Simmons, office director for the Office of Career, Counseling, and Support Services for MDE, and Jean Bradley, a mentor/trainer who was a course instructor during the MS ASK-CTE pilot project, facilitated the two webinar sessions. Webinars 3 and 4 focused on feedback from districts, especially around the strategy lesson implementation, data collection, explicit closure statements, and observations of focal students. Representative strategy lessons implemented included word sort and the anticipation guide from Greenville’s Early Childhood Education course, accessingtext by knowing about text structure, and vocabulary self-assessment from Clarksdale’s Culinary Arts program. Webinar Sessions 5 and 6 are scheduled for October 7 and October 21.

August

MS ASK-CTE 3 Follow-up Webinar Sessions 1 and 2 were held on August 12, 2013, and August 26, 2013. Gail Simmons, office director for the Office of Career, Counseling, and Support Services for MDE; and Jean Bradley, a mentor/trainer who was a course instructor during the MS ASK-CTE pilot project, facilitated the two webinar sessions. SECC Program Associate Ramona Chauvin, who formerly served as the key facilitator, is now participating in the webinar sessions in a consulting role.Webinar Session 1 included topics such as the following: webinar etiquette, team planning for the administration of the Gates MacGinitie 4th edition as a pretest, and the structure for future sharing by each center team. Webinar Session 2 focused on feedback from those districts where the Gates MacGinitie assessment had been administered, tentative schedules for the assessment administration from those districts where the Gates MacGinitie has yet to be administered, the selection of three focal students for observational data collection, and the lesson to be implemented prior to Webinar 3. Jean Bradley notified the team members of her site visit plans to mentor, observe, and provide feedback for lesson and strategy implementation. Center teams were asked to submit tentative dates for these site visits. Follow-up Webinar 3 is scheduled for September 9, 2013.

July

A team from MS ASK-CTE was invited to present at the MS ACTE 2013 Conference in Pearl, Mississippi, on July 24, 2013, on the topic of instructional strategies using graphic organizers. The presentation team consisted of MS ASK-CTE 3 mentor/trainers including Lila Broom, Lisa Hathorn, Kimberly Rawls, and SECC Program Associate Ramona Chauvin. Approximately 75 student services coordinators participated in the session.Additionally, Chauvin presented a session for middle school teachers of Information Communication and Technology and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). The title of the presentation was “Technology, 21st Century Literacy, and the Common Core.” Forty-five teachers participated in the interactive session that included strategies such as the following: Anticipation Guide, Think-Ink-Pair-Share, Discussion Web and Insert Notetaking. The text used for modeling the strategies was “New Literacies and the Common Core” from Educational Leadership.

June

MS ASK-CTE Summer Institute 3 was held on the campus of the Cleveland Career Development and Technology Center in Cleveland, Mississippi, on June 3–7, 2013. The following CTE district centers were represented: Clarksdale, Cleveland, Grenada, Greenville, Humphreys, and Vicksburg. Each center was required to send a team consisting of the center director, the student services coordinator, and a course instructor. CTE courses included business fundamentals, child development, culinary arts, and informational technology. Gail Simmons from the MDE led the institute along with Jean Bradley, Lila Broom, and Lisa Hathorn, trainer/mentors from the MS ASK-CTE pilot project. SECC staff member Ramona Chauvin provided technical assistance in a consultant role.MS ASK-CTE 3 includes the following participant tasks: •Lesson plan writing that integrates content, text, and literacy strategies•Peer teaching•Critical friend feedback on peer teaching•Administration of pre- and post-testing using the Gates-MacGinitie assessment•Selection and close reflection of three focal students•Lesson implementation in Fall 2013•Participation in the following: o Bi-weekly webinars o Closure Forum o End of project survey

May

SECC staff met with Gail Simmons of MDE and Jean Bradley, a member of the MS ASK-CTE pilot project who is serving in a trainer/mentor role for MS ASK-CTE 3. The purpose of the meeting was to determine a plan for revising the project participant and facilitator manuals and additional handouts. The meeting attendees divided up the scope of work and set May 17 as the due date for all revisions. Periodically, revisions were sent via email attachments for feedback among the group members. The draft documents were submitted to SECC Communications Associate Chris Times on May 20. The MS ASK-CTE 3 Summer Institute was scheduled for the week of June 3–7, with June 3 being a train-the-trainer session with SECC Program Associate Ramona Chauvin training Gail Simmons, Jean Bradley, Lila Broom, and Lisa Hathorn, additional trainer/mentors from the pilot project.

April

MDE is accepting applications for the MS ASK-CTE 3 Project. The Summer Institute is scheduled for the first week in June 201,3 with the location to be determined based on the applications received. SECC staff will serve in a consulting role.

March

On March 8, six teams from across Mississippi gathered at Hinds Community College, Pearl Campus, to participate in the MS ASK-CTE Closure Forum. Gail Simmons facilitated the meeting; Drs. Jim Simmons and Ramona Chauvin were present for assistance with analyzing the data and providing feedback on the Summary Reports. Meeting outcomes were as follows: (a) utilize focused process to produce a complete draft of the Summary Report of project results, (b) provide opportunities for each district to elaborate and present respective findings with the group, and (c) develop a strategic plan for “next steps” in promoting the continuation of the literacy model to other districts statewide through a sustainability plan. Results gathered at the Closure Forum will be reported in April.

February

MS ASK-CTE2 and the pilot group from MS ASK-CTE held a Webinar Reunion on February 25, 2013. Participants from each cohort shared celebrations and successes, challenges, and sustainability plans. Additionally, Gail Simmons, mentor/trainers, and a few cohort members from the pilot group shared tips for analyzing data, completing the summary report, and tasks of the Closure Forum. The Closure Forum will be held at Hinds Community College Campus in Pearl/Jackson, Mississippi, on Friday, March 8. All MS ASK-CTE2 team members are required to attend.

January

Gail Simmons and SECC staff had a series of email communications during January 2013 to finalize plans for the February 25, 2013, Webinar Reunion with the pilot cohort and the cohort from 2012–2013. In addition, they also discussed the upcoming Closure Forum, which is set for March 8, 2013.

2012

December

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. 

November

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).

September

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.

August

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.

July

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.

June

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.

May

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.

April

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.

March

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.

February

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.

January

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.