Section 52490.

(a) In order to ensure effective instruction in home economics careers and technology career technical education, instructors need access to updated curricula that prepares pupils with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to function as effective family members, citizens, and community leaders as well as productive employees in industries critical to the economic growth of California, including, but not limited to, hospitality, tourism, and food service. In addition, an ongoing professional development program tied to the latest research, educational trends, industry-validated curriculum standards, and effective teaching strategies is crucial if instructors are to provide quality, relevant instruction.

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that a statewide home economics careers and technology curriculum and professional development project be established to do the following:

(1) Create opportunities for researchers, higher education, faculty, and elementary and secondary school faculty to work together to accomplish all of the following:

(A) Identify exemplary teaching practices.

(B) Examine and develop research on learning, knowledge, and educational materials.

(C) Give consideration to the implementation of statewide curriculum standards in the content areas of both consumer home economics education and home economics-related occupations education, with particular attention to the learning needs and styles of an increasingly diverse pupil population, many of whom are underachieving.

(2) Be modeled after projects that have been successful in strengthening systematically the subject matter knowledge and instructional strategies of project participants, including, but not limited to, the California Writing Project and the California Mathematics Project.

(3) Include an evaluation plan designed to measure the degree of implementation of the statewide project and local sites, changes in the instructional practices of participating teachers, and improvements in the learning and involvement by pupils in career technical home economics careers and technology education.

(c) The project shall be established by contract at a university with a viable teacher education program that prepares instructors to teach in both consumer home economics education and home economics-related occupations education programs. The contract shall be awarded under the request for proposal provisions of Section 10344 of the Public Contract Code.

(d) The project shall operate under the direction of the Home Economics Careers and Technology Career Technical Education Unit within the State Department of Education to ensure effective collaboration and articulation of programs in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive.

(e) The project shall be funded only from available federal funds.

(Amended by Stats. 2000, Ch. 1058, Sec. 95. Effective January 1, 2001.)