What to do when you may be losing your program from AAFCS

Family and Consumer Sciences:
Empowering Individuals, Strengthening Families and Enabling Communities

"The prosperity of a nation depends upon the health and the morals of its citizens' and the health and the morals of a people depend mainly upon the food they eat and the homes they live in." Ellen H. Richards

Program History:
· The discipline of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS), formerly Home Economics, was
created in 1889 by Ellen H. Richards, first woman graduate of M.I.T. and founder of the American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences (AAFCS).
· More than 37,000 Family and Consumer Sciences middle and high school educators, who possess Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctorate degrees, reach over 5 million students nationwide.
· FCS is also taught in Asia, Africa, Europe, South America, Central America, and Canada.

Program Description:
· The FCS curriculum is based on the National Standards for FCS Education, which integrate math, science,
English, and social studies, and build communication, critical thinking, and problem solving skills.
· Classes are research-based and taught in preschool through college in order to prepare students with the skills to
be productive as individuals, parents, and members of a family, the community, and workforce.
· Subject areas include nutrition, personal finance, child development, career exploration, human relations, and
more.

FCS Classes:
· Already exist with facilities and trained staff in many school districts.
· Are contextual—Students understand WHY they have to learn something. Lessons apply to everyday life.
· Are hands-on—Students learn by doing, resulting in a higher retention of subject matter.
· Include high levels of interaction with the community, utilizing low- or no-cost methods, such as service learning, career development internships, and cross-age teaching. For example, high school students enhance their literacy skills and those of the preschool and elementary children to whom they present lessons and stories.
· Develop school- to-career transition skills and reinforce the SCANS competencies.
· Utilize cutting-edge methods, such as the use of cooperative learning and portfolio assessment.
· Include exposure to and application of new technology.
· Improve pupil-teacher interaction and trust.
· Increase student confidence and social and emotional intelligence.
· Required in some U.S. states and certain countries, including Waveland, Indiana; Tokyo, Japan; and Kenya. Africa.

Evaluation results show a high rate of success and transferable skills.
· General data is usually available at local and state departments of education.
· Individual teachers evaluate on a yearly basis by utilizing standards, rubrics, portfolios, reflection,
observations, skill demonstrations, and summative and formative evaluations by parents, peers, and self.
· FCS Teachers of the Year report annually on the highly positive impact of their classes.
· Research is currently underway to determine the specific long-term impact of these courses.
· Parents say they wish they’d had a class like that when they were in school!

National and Local Awards/ Honors:
· Teachers receive numerous prestigious awards for their programs, such as State and National Teacher of the Year, AAFCS Teacher of the Year, AAFCS Leader and New Achiever, Association of Career and Technical Education (ACTE) Teacher of the Year, Disney Outstanding Teacher Awards, Milken Awards, Teacher’s Hall of Fame, and countless state and federal grants, such as Carl Perkins and Learn and Serve.
· FCS teachers are often recognized by local groups, including school boards, Chambers of Commerce, and Civic and not-for-profit organizations, and chosen as speakers, textbook authors, and reviewers.
· In addition to state teacher licensure, many FCS teachers achieve the national Certified in Family & Consumer Sciences (CFCS) credential.

Everyone Needs the FACS of LIFE!
Marilyn Swierk, AAFCS President Elect 2008-09
For more information, please contact Gwynn Mason, AAFCS Senior Communications Manager, at gmason@aafcs.org or visit www.aafcs.org

Service learning information request

Hello, Colleagues,
I need some ideas for service learning projects you might be doing in your FACS classes.
Let me know what's working for you.
Thanks!
Julie

Hi,

Does anyone offer any on-line FACS classes at this time or are you pursuing them? I noticed that TIES is offering classes in setting them up. What are your policies and procedures for this?

Thanks.

Sandy Krause

Mahtomedi High School Family & Consumer Sciences

Mahtomedi, MN 55115

FACS in the News/American Teacher Publication

I am not sure if you all saw this..but in the most recent American Teacher Publication Vo.93 No.5 Feb. 2009...on page 18 Retired teacher Margaret R.King from Southhampton, NY responds in the mailbox section....she says...

"she couldn't wait to read the Eating across the curriculum article in American Teacher (Tools for Teachers, December 2008/January 2009). But was disappointed, as a retired family and consumer science teacher, nowhere was the valuable subject matter mentioned as a resource in the article. She goes on and is quoted as saying:

"In our classes we teach math, science, health, history and language arts.Food has always been a wonderful starting point to teach students about the everyday things that they take for granted. We teach math when we double or halve a recipe. We teach science when we discuss leavening agents before making breads. For 30 years, I taught about culture and foods. Why do people eat the way they do? Why is one food a staple of a particular culture and not of another? In these economic times, what we do in family and consumer science class is more important than ever, including teaching how you can get the most out of your limited food dollar".

HATS off to Margaret...Fun to see FACS in the "News"!
Thought you would enjoy this-
Heidi

Feeling Lucky

At St. Francis High School, we have an enrollment of about 1750 and three full time FACS teachers. We get a lot of support from the administration for our classes. They appreciate how flexible we can be with our curriculum and in accomodating students. I'm sure you have all been there. We have 13 different class offerings. I don't know exactly what we are doing right, but something is working. There are always things that can go better. For instance, all of our classes are electives. It would be good for students and us if students were required to take one FACS class during their high school career. I keep waiting for the right time to launch that campaign. Now doesn't seem to be the right time though. Budgets are VERY tight and we are just trying to stay under the radar as much as possible. We are constantly working to update and improve our curriculum. We listen to students and try to adjust as much as possible. I get curriculum help from teachers outside our district and I am willing to share whatever might be useful. I wish I knew why so many administrators feel FACS is expendible. It breaks my heart to see FACS shrinking. Even at the college level, there are not enough students graduating with licenses to teach FACS. Are we not getting enough of the "high level" students to carry on the program?

Beth Widell
St. Francis High School
St. Francis, MN

Keeping FACS in the forefront

True Confession: This is the first time I have ever blogged! But I am doing it
because I truly feel that one way for FACS professionals to succeed is to stay ahead of the trends in technology. Schools are so hungry for technology that if you can teach students new skills in this area while teaching your subject matter, students will want to take your classes and other teachers will see you as a curriculum leader. My second suggestion for success is to promote what you do in as many ways as you can. I share my successes in the classroom with the school board every month and through the media outlets (newspaper, etc.) in our area. Sometimes I have students write the stories and take the photos. If you want to see some of the news releases we have done, go to the website of The Daily Journal in International Falls and search the archives for Indus School. Currently, our Teen & Family Issues class is producing documentaries to enter into a C-SPAN contest. Finally, we should regularly promote student achievements, such as students who ranked in the top 25th percentile of the National Financial Literacy Challenge. This shows we are making an impact!

Lois Lewis
FACS teacher
Indus School
Birchdale, MN

Moving forward

We as FACS professionals face many difficulties with financial cuts in our field. The FACSed group and MAFCS are looking for ways to "help" each other in times when programs are facing school boards and the board of directors giving valid reasons for their schools FACS programs.

It is vital that each of us stay involved and make sure that we are current with the teachings in our state. Career Pathways is well underway and their are many workshops available to help us understand the direction of our field in the coming weeks.

FCCLA will be hosting a day with speakers on March 2nd and the department of education along with MAFCS with be hosting two informational sessions in Feb that can be seen by via media in several locations through out the state. The first is being planned for Feb 5th and more information will follow.

If you have presentations and facts about FACS that have helped you sustain your school and work programs please share them with others so that they can use these tools and their areas of work or school districts.

Jane H.