Certification

1. How early should I begin the process of renewal?
   Submit the renewal application form (available on website) and documentation, to include transcripts or grade reports, conference registration receipts, name tags, and other verification that renewal requirements have been met no earlier than 90 days prior to the certificate expiration date.
    

2. What other coursework do I need to do to get my 5 year certification?
    

3. I have received a notice from your office that my temporary certification is being processed.  In order to keep my certification, what classes will I have to take?  I was told there’s a summer course at MU?
    

4. I have to take the marketing curriculum course next summer.  Will it be offered at Lee’s Summit through CMSU again or possibly on-line?
    

5. Can any of these certification classes apply to graduate credit?
    

6. After a five year certificate is earned, then what?
   Deficiencies for 5 year certification standards are printed on the bottom of your teaching certificate.  In addition to eliminating at least one of the deficiencies, you must attend two summer conferences during the certification period – you can substitute a course or approved workshop for one of the two summer conferences - plus attend an approved workshop, conference, or course. Renewal requirements for 2 year and 5 year certificates are on our website.
   
   In the past MU has offered two of the required professional education courses, Lindenwood has offered one or two, and CMSU has offered two.  I anticipate that those institutions will continue to offer the courses.  If the resource becomes available to develop them as on-line courses I think they will provide them in that format.  SEMO and SMS occasionally offer a coordination course which meets the requirement.
    

7. When will method be offered?
    

8. Methods class in the spring?
    

9. When is methods of marketing going to be offered?
   I am hopeful that MU or CMSU or both will offer methods sometime before next fall.  It depends on the resource they can commit and what they perceive the demand to be for the courses.
    

10. What’s the name of the class we get credit for at CMSU for the mentor program?
    It will be a special projects class – probably PS5000.
     

11. PCI and Career Educational certification – are the requirements the same and does this mentor program also count for PCI?
    The requirements are not the same.  A PCI certificate is earned generally through completion of a teacher education program.  Career Educational certification is earned through completion of specific requirements related to the career program area. The mentor program should be one of the activities you include on your professional development plan which is required for renewal of your PCI certificate.
     

12. Are the October in-service meetings required?
    No.  But they are an efficient way to meet the 15 clock hour requirement, plus once in a while you can get something useful out of them.
     

13. Does our certification allow us to take the Praxis in another subject and then be able to teach that subject?  I was told Marketing certification does not meet this requirement.
    A PC certificate is required to qualify through Praxis for another certification area.  If you have a PC in Marketing Education, you can.  Career teaching certificates in Marketing do not meet the requirement.
     

14. How do I know if a course I want to take will meet certification requirements?
     

15. Where would I find a master list of all the Marketing Ed courses available and more importantly what schools offer them?
    If in doubt, call or better yet email this office.  There is no master list.  The professional education courses – there are three – are pretty clear cut.  In the subject matter it is not always as apparent.  For instance advertising meets the marketing subject requirement, but is sometimes taught in journalism so it does not have a marketing course number.
     

16. When will more schools offer Marketing Education courses?
    Teacher education in all areas throughout the country is being downsized.  It’s an issue of teacher access to classes, not the number of schools offering the courses.  I am hopeful that more on-line or distance ed courses will solve the teacher access issue.
     

17. Is there any reimbursement for my certification classes other than my district?
    Not that I am aware of.  No reimbursement is available through this office.  Your district does receive state professional development funds and federal Perkins funds which can be used for tuition.
     

18. What resources are available to help plan for re-certification every 5 years?  Is there an equivalent to a students’ career planner they use to ensure they cover the elements they need for a specific career?
    You should have a written professional development plan which includes the minimum requirements for certificate renewal, plus other professional development activities.  Your district probably has a form it uses with beginning teachers, or you can contact this office for a sample form.
     

19. What would be the minimum number of additional hours that would be required of someone entering Marketing Education with a PCI certificate in Business Ed?
    Typically people in that position need the three professional education courses and 12 semester hours of marketing, provided they have met the occupational experience requirement.
     

20. Is certification done on a case by case basis?  Or is there a consistent basis for gaining certification.
    The certification standards set by the State Board of Education apply to all teachers.  Everyone has to meet the full standards for issuance of a five year certificate.  People begin teaching with various levels of deficiencies, depending on which requirements they have met.
     

21. Which courses at the high school level require career educational certification?
    Any and all courses offered as part of a Marketing Education program require a Marketing Education  teaching certificate.  Other courses, such as Business Technology, Agriculture, Industrial Education programs, and occupational Family and Consumer Science courses also require the appropriate career educational teaching certificate.  You can check the Core Data Manual on the DESE website to see which courses require which teaching certificate.
     

Program Standards/Evaluation

1. For 3^rd cylce MSIP, how do you want the Marketing Ed curriculum presented/ documented?  Don’t you want us to go above/beyond what is listed for 6.1? 
   For established programs, if your curriculum passed on the 2d cycle MSIP review, it will not be reviewed on the 3^rd cycle visit.  If it did not pass, it will be reviewed against the second cycle standards.  For new programs, the curriculum will be reviewed against the standards listed in 7.3.
    

2. What are all the forms that we need to have the students fill out?  Training agreement, weekly report, end of the year evaluation, etc. etc. – what else.
   For students participating in coop, the minimum to start with is a training agreement and periodic reports of employment – like wage and hour reports on a weekly basis.  Many teachers also include a “procedures list” that includes the rules of the program not covered on the training agreement.  For DECA there is the delegate conduct code and medical consent form.  You may choose to use some type of student evaluation of instruction as a year end check for program evaluation.  There are lots of other forms teachers use to gather and record information.
    

3. What are the components of a program evaluation?
    

4. What should be included in the program evaluation we need for MSIP?
   Program evaluation starts with goals – what are you trying to achieve – then a process for gathering, analyzing and reporting data, and a plan for improvement.  A guide for written evaluation plan and a model evaluation plan can be found on our website.
    

5. Do state staff members review our program before we are evaluated by MSIP?
   Not unless specifically requested to do so, and we can fit a visit into our schedule. 
    

6. Aren’t we supposed to meet each standard for our courses, or should we choose the “most important” ones?
   Curriculum standards, program standards, certification standards, it might depend on which set of standards you mean, but they all should be met.  Certainly start with the most important first.
    

7. Is there a standard form for student competencies?
   The Instructional Materials Lab at MU produces a competency checklist, but you are better off producing your own based on the competencies in your curriculum.  The list of curriculum competencies can be found on our website.
    

8. What forms are we required to send in to State Dept?
   Only those required for specific activities, like conference registrations, dues, equipment reimbursement, and the like.  We do not require other reports from teachers.
    

9. How frequently are we evaluated by DESE and how?
   The Missouri School Improvement Program reviews school districts on a five year cycle.  Career programs are included in the MSIP program reviews.  Teachers and districts are expected to conduct an annual review of their programs and activities for improvement purposes.
    

10. What are the three most important elements to have in place for 3^rd cycle MSIP review?
    Curriculum, DECA, and program evaluation.  Established programs which have passed curriculum in second cycle will not have their curriculum reviewed, but continual improvement, to include alignment and performance based assessment, should be part of your curriculum development process.

Curriculum

1. I teach mainly seniors and I teach marketing curriculum which may or may not always relate to MAP. I am constantly being pressured to bring MAP scores up.  How should I respond?
   First, no part of the MAP is administered to seniors, so there is nothing you can do for those specific students.  However there are three ways you can contribute to improved student performance related to Show-Me standards in your district.  The first is to work with academic teachers to share instructional activities which use skills related to the Show Me standards in practical situations.  For instance determining price using a variety of methods. Or presenting marketing research results using tables and charts.  Examples of performance events, rather than objective tests, hold the promise of biggest gains for most districts.  The second is to reinforce awareness that your program does an excellent job of addressing those Show Me standards which are not tested by MAP, but nevertheless important for student success.  Third, be supportive of the MAP process with your students and community.
    

2. Since there is a new program at my school, should there already be a curriculum prepared for the marketing program?
   Probably not, except for the topical outline submitted with the application for new program approval.
    

3. Are the examples of COE curriculum program available?
   The learner outcomes and competencies for cooperative education programs is available on our website.  We have not developed curriculum guides for COE, or any other program.  Individual teachers may have curriculum guides they are willing to share.
    

4. What is the best way to expand your curriculum from Marketing I to the good stuff – Marketing II and above? 
   Expanding a curriculum requires enough student population and interest to make enrollment after a prerequisite feasible.  You need enough students in the pipeline to fill an advanced course section, which usually means enrolling juniors or sophomores. Success at generating that interest is much more dependent on the teacher than the curriculum content.  Once there is enough student interest, a course can be added.
    

5. Ideas on keeping track of competencies as they are mastered?
   Keeping track of competencies mastered requires that assessments be designed and tested competencies identified during the curriculum development process.  If that’s done adequately, then the mastery record and grading process coincide.  Simple printed checklists based on curriculum competencies, teacher developed databases, and building level computer based record keeping systems all work.
    

6. Our curriculum needs to be re-written to meet MSIP standards next year. Where do we start?
   Curriculum revision needs to be a continual process, not just once every five years. I would start with a unit you will be teaching 6 weeks from now – determine what you want students to know and be able to do related to that unit, how you will find out it they know it and can do it, and how you will teach it to get them to that point.  Make changes to what you actually do, don’t start from scratch designing a new curriculum document.  By doing a unit at a time over the course of a couple of years you will have revised the whole curriculum and have a process in place for continued revision.
    

7. Is there a guideline for coursework we are supposed to cover during the school year?  How do I split the Marketing Essentials between Marketing I and Marketing II classes so that students aren’t getting repeat info?
   The current Marketing Education Frameworks identifies advanced competencies.  You can either cover more competencies within each unit and fewer units in each course, or all units at one level in Marketing I and all units at an advanced level in Marketing II.  Don’t let Marketing Essentials be your curriculum guide.
    

8. Do we need to align to MO standards –Show-Me content and process standards – as well as competencies?
   Your curriculum should align to the Show-Me standards and the state Marketing Education competency list.
    

9. Do we use the competencies on the DESE website?  Are those the national ones?
   The current Marketing Education competency profile should be the basis for your curriculum.  It is not the same list as the national Marketing Education curriculum standards, but the content is very similar.
    

10. I am having a hard time locating a textbook that targets Marketing 2 students.  Any suggestions?
    Marketing Essentials is designed to be used for both first and second year marketing students.  Don’t rely on a textbook – Marketing 2 should be lots of projects, application experiences, simulation, Internet research, etc. not textbook content for curriculum.
     

11. What sources are available for Cooperative Education programs?
    There are several textbooks which cover general employability skills, job seeking and retention skills, SCANS competencies and leadership.  Success in the World of Work is one commonly used. Employers can provide trade publications, training manuals, website links, professional organization materials, and expertise.
     

12. I am using Marketing Essentials for both Small Business Management/Entrepreneurship classes as well as Marketing classes – is there another textbook to use?
    Yes, several in both small business management and entrepreneurship.  Some combine the topics, although entrepreneurship and business management are two different things.
     

13. How do other programs set up marketing program block classes or 1 hour classes?
    Many districts have gone to block scheduling, or some hybrid thereof.  The basic curriculum does not change, but the planning for instruction is of course different in block classes than 1 hour classes.  There are as many varieties as there are teachers.
     

14. What is the best way to cover competencies and assess they have been met?  My students aren’t really sure of the importance of these competencies – they know about Show Me Standards though.
    This question is at the heart of curriculum design – what to teach and how to teach it.  Competencies specify what the student should know and be able to do as a result of instruction.  They serve to identify the content of the course.  Assessment of student mastery of competencies should come in all forms, from objective tests of knowledge to application in real world settings. The competencies should be important to students because they set the expectation for their performance.
     

15. What is the quickest and easiest way to record completed student competencies?
     

16. I s the tracking of competencies required for all students?  If so, what’s the best way to to do this?
    A checklist is quickest and easiest, provided you have done the curriculum planning at the front end.  See question #5.  A database will let you group students and view the data a variety of ways, and should be more useful for curriculum revision than a paper checklist.
     

17. How long to keep student record and which to keep?
    Your gradebook becomes the official record once the year is over.  You are not required to keep other records such as wage and hour reports, class projects, etc.  You should maintain a list or database of students with contact information and employer if they participated in coop for follow up purposes.
     

18. How important is it to cover all units?
     

19. If my curriculum is designed around the student competency profiles am I covering what is expected?
    It’s about student learning, not teachers covering units.  The competency profiles define the course content.

Cooperative Education

1. What are three questions that should be asked of every employer before a training station is approved?


What will the student be doing?
What will they be paid?
What will their hours be?
Are your employees covered by workers comp insurance?
Will you participate in the program as expected – coordinator visits, student evaluations, etc?
 

2. What questions should be asked at each meeting with training sponsors to see how things are “really” going?
    

3. What other things do we discuss with employers, other than how the student is doing?
   Ask specific employability questions – is the student arriving and leaving according to schedule, is work being performed satisfactorily, is the student learning as expected, is the student’s attitude and initiative OK.  Also ask program/curriculum related issues – has the student assumed any new job duties, are there areas where the student needs improvement that could be addressed in school, are there specific applications of your current unit curriculum competencies the student could observe or perform on the job.
    

4. What is the state department stance on a student who loses his or her job?
    

5. What do you recommend ding with a student that gets fired?  Should he be removed, especially if there is litigation?
   If the job loss is no fault of the student, such as downsizing, reduced hours, or going out of business, then the student should be placed in a new training station as quickly as possible with no grade adjustment.  Alternative educational activities can be developed to substitute for the on-the-job learning during the period of non-employment.  If the student lost their job because of performance, then they have failed to be successful in a class and should be reported as failing the coop experience.
    

6. I need to develop IMP’s for each of my students.  How do I start?
   Go to textbooks, workbooks, our file of IMP’s, or employers for ideas for IMP’s.  Select those that reinforce the curriculum competencies within the context of the workplace.
    

7. If there aren’t enough contract days before the start of school, how can I find the time to meet my employers and do my evaluations?
   Employer contacts, training station approvals, job development, and placing students in businesses are all activities that should be completed before the start of classes, otherwise there is a loss of instructional time while logistics are arranged.  Districts need to realize that extended contracts are there to increase the educational value of programs and benefits to students.
    

8. Ideas for internship accountability?
   Training plans, Instructional Management Plans, weekly wage and hour reports, an employer who understands the purposes of the program and is willing to make a contribution, and supervisory visits by the coordinator all contribute to good accountability.
    

9. How many credits are available for COE?
   Students may earn no more than 2 units of credit per academic year for the cooperative education experience.  Refer to DESE Policy Letter 4.
    

10. How many training plans should you have per student per year?
    A training plan is the outline for instruction. Each student could have one per year.  Instructional Management Plans are specific assignments which tie the classroom curriculum to the on the job training.  Depending on the IMP, students could have between 8 and 36 IMP’s a year.
     

11. Training plans vs. IMP’s or both?
    Training plans and IMP’s serve the same basic purpose – a plan for instruction which links the classroom curriculum and the on the job training experience.  There is no need to maintain both – just so you have one or the other.
     

12. What kind of timeline should I follow in getting training agreements and IMP’s finalized?
    Training agreements should be completed as quickly as possible so that all parties are aware of the program purposes and procedures.  Imp’s can be developed as the year progresses during each new unit of instruction.
     

13. I am trying to begin our first ever advisory committee, however community members are resistant to commit to being a member – how do you motivate business people into being a part of another committee?

    Get community members involved in the program – as judges, guest speakers, parents who have an interest in the program, ex-students, etc.  As the base of individuals who are familiar with the program and support it grows, your base for advisory committee membership will grow.  Advisory committees do not only do work during the committee meetings, but can be very effective outside of regular meetings.  You can also start small with a group of three or four and let them recommend additional members.
     

14. Where do I draw a line on appropriateness of jobs?
    Students participating in the cooperative education component should be placed in jobs related to the curriculum and students career interest.  For students enrolled in Marketing Education coop jobs should be marketing jobs.
     

15. When can students begin tracking coop hours?  I’ve heard 1 or 2 weeks before and after each semester.
    Students can count those hours of employment worked during the school year – from the first day of school to the last.  Hours worked after school hours, on weekends or during holidays can count to meet the minimum number of clock hours required.
     

16. How do you handle students that have jobs, work required hours, get raises and advancements, complete IMP’s, get good ratings but receive cash rather than a pay stub?
    The first issue is related to liability – is the student reported as an employee and covered by the business’ workers comp policy.  If yes, then is the correct withholding and social security being paid for the student?  If yes, to both, then cash payment is probably OK as long as a statement of earnings is provided to the student.  If no to either, then the school may be open to liability and wage and hour standards concerns.  If the employer is unwilling to make the necessary changes, then the student should be placed in a different training station or removed from the program.
     

17. Methods of assigning grades for internship.
    Grades for internship should be based on what the student has learned through the coop experience, as demonstrated through IMP’s, employer evaluations, and coordinator observations of the student on the job.  Sixty percent for school determined items like IMP’s, and 40 percent for employer evaluation is one grading scheme, but many others are used to accommodate local needs.
     

18. What are some common standards or guidelines used in determining which students are accepted into coop?
    A career interest in the occupational area and ability to benefit from the program are primary considerations.  Some programs use teacher recommendations, employer recommendations, attendance and discipline reports, graduation credits, and student commitment to the program as measures.  Students with poor records in these areas are placed in higher risk by participating in coop programs – the things that made them unsuccessful in the past with be amplified in an employment setting.
     

19. What specifics should be covered during the first visit?
    Besides introducing yourself and getting acquainted, cover the purposes of the program, what you expect of the student, what role the employer should play and what your expectations are of them, what paperwork you will use, and contact information.  You should also find out what the typical schedule and work assignment will be for the student, how they can advance in pay and responsibility, and what training materials are available at the work place.