1. USDA-NIFA Contract Update
Debra Spielmaker, Utah State University

2. Research & Evaluation Projects
New National Center for Agricultural Literacy Wiki that includes an Agricultural Literacy Wiki & Zotero Database of Curated Research
Collaboration on National Research Agenda – Priority 1
An Agricultural Literacy Publication Search Framework was developed and published: WR-AAAE Conference Proceedings
NALOs published as a research poster: WR-AAAE Conference Proceedings
Assessments Tools for 3-5 STEM NALOs are available. Assessment Tools for the K-5 NALOs in all themes are in progress
Evaluation Tools for pre-service and in-service teacher professional learning workshops are developed

3. agclassroom.org/matrix
Continued Development & Curation of Collaborative Content
400 Lessons
647 Companion resources
1,396 MyBinder accounts (23% increase in 3 months)
30% of traffic to agclassroom.org
18 States use the Matrix API
State Standards Searching
Downloadable lesson plan template & tutorials
Teaching Strategies Wiki

4. agclassroom.org/matrix
Matrix Philosophy
Not just a Google Search
Collaborative
Shareable
Student Centered: “You do, we do, I do”
Science lessons use the 5E approaches when appropriate and 3 Dimensional Learning to make sense of science/STEM (phenomena) as defined by EQuIP
Opportunities for PBL

5. agclassroom.org
2016 Analytics: 199,041 visits a 40% increase from the previous year.
Continual updates & social network posts
Development & Maintenance of State Websites
Recognition in NIFA 2015 & Annual Report

6. Programs Regional Meetings & National Conference
DC Fly-in: Leadership Summit
Teacher Awards
Tradeshows
Curriculum Development
APHG Lessons
Updates to Growing a Nation
Distribution of elementary student readers, nationwide.
On-Going Curation of Resources
NSF- FoodMASTERS
APHIS-Hungry Pests
FDA-Science and Our Food Supply
Sustainable Ag (J2050) Lessons
STEM “T & E” Lessons - Aquaculture

7. Spend by Aug. 31, 2017 ($106,000 is left in the Year 2 budget)
Item
Budget to request
Increase the number of National Excellence in Teaching about Agriculture Award recipients from 6 to 8 in 2017 (2 x $2,000)*
$4,000
Travel, participation, and exhibit materials in the NSTA conference in LA, April 2017*
$3,654
Deliver three NSTA web seminars for teachers in 2017.
$8,274
Revise, reprint Iowa readers with national focus ($40, issues several thousand of each reserving $2,000 for postage)**
$40,000
Update ‘Growing a Nation’ Update and dynamic timeline**
$44,072
Video work for 2017 teacher awards *
$6,000
Total
$106,000.00

8. Spend by Aug. 31, 2018 ($135,365 is remaining in Year 3 budget)
Item
Budget to request
Increase the number of National Excellence in Teaching about Agriculture Award recipients from 6 to 8 in 2018 (2 x $1,500 )*
$3,000
Develop aquaponics unit for middle school science & technology**
$27,004
Develop reliable and valid assessment questions around the NALOs for K-6 (NCAL/USU)**
$24,881
Purchase updated version of ‘Science in Your Shopping Cart’
$5,000
Career Posters from Purdue or online course module development for in-service teachers (classroom materials in prime award)*
Fire-up Grants 2017 (6 grants, 2 in each category)***
$65,000
Video production work for 2018 teacher awards***
$5,480
Total
$135,365.00

9. Spend by Aug. 31, 2018 ($54,699 for USU/NCAL and $155,000 NAITCO Sub = $209,699) is remaining in Year 4 budget
Item
Budget to request
Development of online modules for pre-service teachers ($7,000 for USU instructional designer, $3,000 video work, $3,199 interactive kit development work – instructional materials)*
$13,199
The 2018 National Conference
$50,000
National Excellence in Teaching about Agriculture Awards (8 recipients (8 x $1,500 )***
$12,000
Fire-Up Grants 2017 (the original submission request in 2016 asked for $32,500 for three awards, additional funding out of year 3 and year 4 would bring the total number to twelve possible awards in 2017)***
$65,000
Professional Development increase for AITC regional meetings (increase of 3,500 per region to $5,750 per region. Going from original budget of $14,000 to $23,000 (additional $9,000)***
$23,000
DC Leadership Summit (2018)***
$15,000
NAITCO Management of State Fire-up grants (2018), Regional Meetings (2018), DC Leadership Summit (2018), National Teacher Awards (2018) National Conference Contract (2018)***
$28,500
NAITCO Office supplies and postage
$3,000
Total
$209,699.00
* Realocates additional budget to previously approved initiatives in the prime
**New budget items with attached scopes of work and budgets
***NAITCO Subaward