CONTENT STANDARD

Indicator:

National studies (e.g., America 2000: An Educational Strategy [USDE, 1991]; Workplace Basics: The Skills Employers Want [Carnevale, Gainer, & Meltzer, 1988]; America and the New Economy [Carnevale, 1991]; What Work Requires of Schools: A SCANS Report for America 2000 [SCANS, 1991]) have identified skills that are essential for successful workforce training and development and for the nation's economic development. To ensure that curriculum content addresses the issues raised in these national studies, the curriculum should address the following concerns:

• Has the content been validated by industry? Does documentation indicate a business/technical advisory committee was used to validate the curriculum content? For example, the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) carpentry curriculum content and associated skills were cooperatively validated by two committees consisting of educators, curriculum developers, carpenters, and construction professionals.
• What is the copyright/publication date of the curriculum content? What was the last revision date and who conducted the revision?
• Has the content been certified by licensing and certifying agencies when appropriate? If the material covers an apprenticeship or a specific occupation requiring licensing or certification, was an appropriate licensing agency involved? For example, the Electronics Industry Association was involved in developing the Electronics Technician Skills for Today and Tomorrow skill standards publication.
• Has the content been field tested? Do commentary, trial results, and/or data indicate that the content has been field tested prior to final publication/development? Has it been used in the classroom?
• Are all aspects of the industry presented? As defined by the School-To-Work-Opportunities Act of 1994, "all aspects of an industry" means all aspects related to the particular industry (or industry sector) which a student is preparing to enter, including planning, management, finances, technical and production skills, underlying principles of technology, labor and community issues, health and safety issues, and environmental issues.
• Is the academic content consistent with national standards? If academic content is incorporated in the material, it should be consistent with the appropriate national standards. For example, material encompassing math should be consistent with the recommendations of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics; science-based materials should be consistent with the recommendations of the National Science Foundation; and materials involving Social Studies should be consistent with the standards recommended by the National Council for Social Studies.

Indicator:

The Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) report's skills and competencies, published and released in June 1991, were deemed necessary requirements of high school graduates or of persons entering the workforce--especially those expecting to become successful members of the workforce. The SCANS Foundational Skills and Competencies follow:

The SCANS Foundational Skills:

• Basic Skills: reading, writing, arithmetic/mathematics, listening, and speaking
• Thinking Skills: creative thinking, decision making, problem solving, seeing through the mind's eye, knowing how to learn, and reasoning
• Personal Qualities: skills concerning responsibility, self-esteem, sociability, self-management, and integrity/honesty

The SCANS Competencies:

• Resources: time, money, materials and facilities, and human resources
• Interpersonal: team member participation, teaching others, exercising leadership, negotiating, and working with diversity
• Information: acquiring and evaluating information, organizing and maintaining information, interpreting and communicating information, and using computers to process information
• Systems: understanding systems (e.g., complex interrelationships), monitoring and correcting performance, and improving and designing systems
• Technology: selecting appropriate technology for a task, applying technology, and maintaining and troubleshooting technology

The following matrix from Focus on Your Future: A Success Skills Planning Curriculum for Teens (Hendon, 1994) exemplifies the relationship of a curriculum's competencies to the SCANS Foundational Skills.

Indicator:

Some of the curriculum materials reviewed by the NCPQ have documented skills using a simple matrix configuration or table such as the example below. Others have been more detailed, and have documented the primary task or competency with supporting subskills, along with the occupational cluster and academic skill group the task is related to, and a description of the task. The following matrix from Introduction to International Trade (Crummett & Crummett, 1994) illustrates one type of design.

Related Academic and Workplace Skills List Unit 5: International Marketing

Task

Skill Group

Subskill

Description

Evaluate an international marketing plan

Foundation skills

Reading

Comprehending written information, and analyzing and applying what has been read to a specific task.

Writing

Communicating a thought or idea in a written form in a clear, concise manner.

Learning skills

Learning to learn

Developing the ability to apply knowledge to other situations.

Indicator:

Performance levels for skills and competencies expected of students can be designated in the curricula in the following ways:

• Identified performance levels that include quantified figures or percentages
• Competency or skill statements that allow for a "yes" or "no" response
• Performance descriptions (of what the student will be able to do) that can be reflected in a rating scale

The following three examples--Food Science and Technology (Martin, 1994), Fundamentals of Carpentry (Hendrix, 1985), and Focus on your Future: A Success Skills Planning Curriculum for Teens (Hendon, 1994)--illustrate appropriate ways to state performance levels for skills and competencies:

Example 1: Introduction to Food Sciences.

Unit 1 Outcomes: To receive a B for this unit, the student will complete 80% of each of the following outcomes:

Outcome 1: The student will be able to:

1. Define the study of food science and describe the main goal of food scientists.
2. Explain the interrelationship of food science and nutrition.
3. Identify and use laboratory equipment safely.
4. Write accurate and complete reports on food science experiments (Food Science Laboratory Report Form).
5. Know the requirements for working safely in a laboratory.

Example 3: Competency 7.0: Locate, evaluate, and interpret career information. Total time:
9 hours

• Indicator 7.01: Identify and utilize career information resources (e.g., computerized career information systems, print and media materials, mentors).
• Indicator 7.02: Describe information related to self-assessment, career planning, occupations, prospective employers, organizational structures, and employer expectations.
• Indicator 7.03: Describe the uses and limitations of occupational outlook information.
• Indicator 7.04: Identify the diverse job opportunities available to an individual with a given set of occupational skills.
• Indicator 7.05: Identify opportunities available through self-employment.
• Indicator 7.06: Identify factors that contribute to misinformation about occupations.
• Indicator 7.07: Describe information about specific employers and hiring practices.

Indicator:

To what extent is the content accurate?

Locate the development date of the material. Does the content meet today's standards or requirements for the particular topic or subject area? A hallmark of the material's accuracy and currency would be the documentation of a content or skills validation process used by the material developer. Did incumbent workers or workplace professionals participate in developing the curriculum?

Indicator:

Is the content designed using coherent clusters or themes?

To what extent are the content objectives and learner objectives aligned?

The learning objectives, outcomes, or concepts should be designed with a meaningful order or approach in mind. However, according to Boyle (1981), "[A] logical order in the sense of the discipline may not be logical from the standpoint of the learner" (p. 52). Bearing this concept in mind, examine the material and note whether the following characteristics are present as they relate to sequenced concepts:

• When pieced together, do the sequenced or clustered concepts reflect the "big picture" of the content area?
• Is the sequenced or clustered content (i.e., embedded concepts) going to be of specific value to the learner (Boyle, 1981)? Is this value stated in the material?
• Is the content (and its concepts) attainable and relevant to the learner in the programming/instructional situation in which it is being implemented?

Boyle, P.G. (1981). Planning better programs. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Indicator:

In 1987, John Kellor developed the ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction) Model, which focuses on "influencing learners' motivation to learn and for solving problems with learning motivation" (Smith & Ragan, 1993, p. 310). The model can be a useful tool to consider when examining instructional materials and related instructional strategies for opportunities to heighten student interest and relevancy. The ARCS Model includes the following components:

Attention Strategies (included in the curriculum material and supporting instruction) draw the learners' attention to the material and "frequently involve very specific techniques of content presentation or treatment" (Smith & Ragan, 1993, p. 310). Examples of these strategies include:

• Incongruity and conflict: The instructor introduces issues and topics that apparently counter student experience, playing "devil's advocate."
• Concreteness: The instructor acts on opportunities in the material (or instruction) for visual and verbal presentations, as well as applied practice.
• Variability: The material encourages diversity in instructional format, medium of instruction, layout and design of the instructional material, and learner interaction patterns (e.g., student with instructor, and student with student).
• Humor.
• Inquiry: The material includes problem-solving activities, "providing opportunities for learners to select topics, projects, and assignments" (p. 311).
• Participation: Learning experience encompasses activities such as worksite shadowing/experiences, role playing, and/or simulations. "Attention strategies should direct the learners' attention to the task" (p. 311).

Relevance Strategies included in the curriculum material and supporting instruction influence how the content and supporting learning tasks/outcomes/objectives are presented to the student. These strategies could include:

• Experience: The content should build upon the learners' present skills and backgrounds. The analogies drawn in the material should help the students recall personal experiences. The content should be adaptable to student interests.
• Present worth: The content should have an immediate purpose.
• Future usefulness: The instructional goals should be linked to the learners' goals.
• Need matching: The content should include activities that allow learners to "exercise responsibility, authority, and influence" (p. 311).

Confidence Strategies focus on particular "learner performance" included within instructional material, making the content more interesting and appealing to the student. Examples of confidence strategies are "incorporation of learning goals into the instructional materials; learning activities sequenced in order of increasing difficulty that provide a continual challenge; informing students of success given different levels or choices of effort; encouraging students to develop an internal locus of control with regard to learning activities; providing practice skill sets and example techniques" (pp. 311-312).

Satisfaction Strategies that can influence interest and motivation include the following:

• Natural consequences
• Unexpected rewards
• Positive outcomes
• Avoiding negative influences
• Scheduling

The instructional material can better serve diverse student audiences if aspects of these strategies appear in the content.

In addition to the examples included in the ARCS Model, material should actively represent learners of both sexes, and of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The content should be free of any bias.

Smith, P.L. and Ragan, T.J. (1993). Instructional design. New York, NY: Macmillion.

Indicator:

When career values are reflected in curriculum, students see the connection between learning and real life. These integrated concepts allow students to adapt to changing work requirements. The following example illustrates how these concepts may appear within an instructional resource.

The CIMC's (Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center) Forestry curriculum guide (Oklahoma Department of Vocational and Technical Education, 1991) exemplifies an integrated career education unit within a specific occupational curriculum. In addition to career references and resources in each unit, the curriculum guide contains an entire unit entitled "Investigate Forestry Career Opportunities." The unit objectives (see below) and related supplements (e.g., "What You Need To Succeed [in forestry]," "Meet the People Who Work in Forestry") detail the following components:

• Terms Associated with Forestry Careers
• Forestry Profession Facts
• Forestry-Related Areas of Study
• Educational Requirements for Nonprofessional and Professional Forestry Positions
• Identifying Personal Requirements for a Career in Forestry
• Advantages and Disadvantages of a Forestry Career
• Organizations that Employ Foresters
• The Communication Skills Required in Forestry

The unit itself depicts women in nontraditional occupational roles, uses culturally inclusive language, and offers the student a breadth of forestry-related career knowledge.

Indicator:

• Are vocational and academic skills integrated?
• Are employability and life skills (e.g., getting to work on time) included?
• Is inclusive language used?
• Are diversity and commonality among people recognized?
• Are contributions from people of diverse backgrounds recoginezed?
• Is transferability of learned skills/knowledge emphasized?

The following example is excerpted from curriculum material developed by a high school in Brooklyn, New York. The material is designed for the school's integrated Health Occupations program, and addresses in part the diverse ethnicity of its students. A unit outline from that curriculum (shown below) gives students an opportunity to experience the integration of vocational and academic skills, an emphasis on life skills, and an expansion of knowledge regarding the diversity and commonalities among people and cultures.

The Cycle of Life: Activities of Daily Living/Life Skills

Core Focus: How do different cultures deal with death and dying? Students will:

• Discuss death and cultural differences in acceptance.
• Identify strategies used to prepare for approaching death.
• Describe ways that one person's death can benefit other members of society (e.g., living wills, organ donations).

Global Studies: How do people from India deal with death? Students will

• nvestigate how death is accepted in Indian cultures.

English: How might we reconcile the approaching death of an elderly loved one? Students will

• Read and discuss "Sixteen" by Jessamyn West. This short story is about a teenager's acceptance of a grandparent's approaching death.

Math: How does the death rate increase as age increases? Students will

• Use ratios to compare statistical information on death rates in different cultures, correlating age with other health-related factors.