The Washington state Future Farmers of America Association announced in a June 14 news release that Cheney High School’s agriculture education teacher and FFA advisor Allen Skoog had been awarded a $27,000 grant from the association.
The funding will be used to acquire CASE Curriculum equipment and technology to advance agriculture science education. The grant funding was included as part of the state Legislature’s 2018 capital budget allocation
Curriculum for Agriculture Science Education (CASE) is a system of instructional support for the classroom teacher, managed by the National Association of Agriculture Educators.
CASE is an interdisciplinary curriculum with a strong focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
In 2018, the Washington Legislature prioritized $1.75 million for local school districts to acquire CASE capital equipment and technology as an on-going effort to advance agriculture education course offerings. These grants are administered through the Washington FFA Foundation.
CASE certified teachers participated in a competitive application process for capital equipment grants in March 2018 with successful recipients being notified in May. Grant funds will be issued at the annual Washington Association of Agriculture Educators summer conference on June 25.
Schools awarded grants have chosen to employ a CASE certified instructor who has completed the national case training and certification. A CASE Institute is a professional development workshop to provide teachers training for the instruction related to a specific CASE course. Once a teacher has successfully completed 80 hours of intense professional development at a CASE Institute, the teacher is certified to teach the specific CASE course.
Skoog is certified to teach CASE classes in natural resource/ecology, agriculture food and natural resources and animal science. He also serves as a lead teacher, teaching institutes to train other teachers.
Skoog has taught institutes at the University of Nebraska and at Washington State University. This year he will teach at Oregon State University.
The scientific equipment used in these classes is “state of the art” equipment and helps to ensure an outstanding scientific hands-on approach to learning.
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