JCM

Attached are several scoring guides I use. I'm in Missouri so these relate to the Missouri Secondary record book. You may need to make modifications for your recordkeeping system. Each quarter student recordbooks and notebooks are graded with each counting as 5% of the class grade. SAE's are scored as well and are worth 10% of the quarter grade. I have long been an advocate that FFA should not be a part of the class grade as many students are unable to participate even if they wanted to. Comes from living 20 miles from school growing up and being allowed to only participate in one after school activity each week after I got my drivers license. I tell my students that FFA activities should be things they want to do not feel like they have to. Puts the responsibility on the executive committee to come up with things members want to do. We use an activity point sheet for the FFA and members who earn a pre-set number of points are recognized with a school FFA letter at the school awards program on the last day of school. Who goes to national convention is also determined by these points as well. I found out a long time ago that you can't make students get involved but you sure can reward those who do. This works for us and with a little experimenting you'll find what works for you.

Dan

Technically, FFA is not extra credit, nor should it be treated that way.

Public Law 740 (and subsequent renewal 105-225) makes FFA an integral part of the curriculum. It is INTRA-curricular, not extra-curricular.

While I do not "REQUIRE" membership in FFA (ie; payment of dues) I certainly "ENCOURAGE" them heavily. At the end of the day, all aspects of leadership training and processes to organize and manage FFA events and activities are done via committee which all students are members of regardless of dues payment or not. Because it is a part of the curriculum and part of the class. I use applications as class projects and as a way to evaluate SAE growth and performance.

These are tools for teaching organization, leadership and teamwork. Anything that is held outside of class time they are not required to attend (that would be "extra"), but you can bet they were probably required to help plan it during school if I've built that into the lesson.

For outside activities we use FFA participation points, not extra credit. The FFA points can count up to a maximun of 10% bonus (not extra credit) in the class. It can only help the students grade, not hurt it. They know this ahead of time. These points are also used to determine who gets to attend National FFA Convention. Students who contribute the most to the chapter's success, get to go to National.

In regard to SAE, that has been built into the program since Smith-Hughes. It is REQUIRED for a student to have an SAE. It is also NOT extra credit. You can look at my earlier post to see how I evaluate their grade on this.

Granted some SAEs are more or less spectacular than others. BUT if a student has nothing for an SAE, its the same and not performing a lab activity for a class. Their grade in penalized accordingly. Students are informed ahead of time that an SAE is required.

I am pretty strict on these points. Any exceptions or adjustment are made on a case by case basis. You do have to be flexible. However, students know its the exception, not the rule. Students generally respond favorably to the policy once they get used to it. If they can't tolerate it and refuse to abide by it, then you probably don't want them in your program anyway.

BTW, we do have a good FFA Booster Club that helps students with SAEs and FFA activities if they have difficulty being involved because of finances etc. They do this either in the form of a grant or a loan, whichever the student feels comforatable with.

At our school I proposed a equal split of all parts of the Agriculture Education Program to the board and they approved. Classroom 34%, FFA 33%, and SAE 33%. This caused alot of questions in the beginning; but know they know what to expect when they sign up for an ag class.