Career & Life Skills

1. Career & Life Skills Handout #3 Part III: The Standards Toolkit • Performance Indicators • Scope & Sequence • Career & Life Skills • Instructional Guide

2. Performance Indicator Progression • Is organized by grade level for each of the 5 content standards. • Contains descriptors of student learning toward a standard. • Describes evidence of student learning (e.g., what students should be in student work). • Reflects growing sophistication required in student work and performance.

3. Performance Indicator Progression Familiarizing yourself with the document: • Go to the Career and Life Skills section. • Find the Self-Awareness strand and standard. • Look over the performance indicators for Grade 2.

4. Standard: Career and Life Skills Benchmarks: See Grades K to 3 Strand: Self-Awareness Performance Indicators. The student: Describes positive characteristics about self. Shares what one likes about other students and why. Performance Indicator Progression

5. Using the performance indicators for Career and Life Planning, Self-Awareness: Read the Grade 2 example. Also read the Assessment Task. Find the Grade 2 performance indicators in the student work example. What kind of instruction is needed so students can produce work that contains evidence of the Performance Indicators? Performance Indicator Progression

6. Reflect on the following: Are the performance indicators clear descriptors of what needs to be in the student work? Are the indicators appropriate for Grade 2? Is rigorous work required to produce evidence of the performance indicators? Performance Indicator Progression

7. Option 1—Discussion: What other kinds of student work might be collected to show evidence of the performance indicators for Self Awareness? What instructional strategies might teachers use to teach Self Awareness? Performance Indicator Progression

8. Option 2—Discussion: Compare the grades 1, 2, and 3 Performance Indicators for Self-Awareness. What differentiates the grade 2 from the grade 3 Performance Indicators? What kind of instruction is needed so students can produce work that contains the Performance Indicators for Self-Awareness? Performance Indicator Progression

9. Using the performance indicators for Career and Life Planning, Self-Awareness: Read the Grade 5 example. Also read the Assessment Task. Find the Grade 5 performance indicators in the student work example. What kind of instruction is needed so students can produce work that contains evidence of the Performance Indicators? Performance Indicator Progression

10. Reflect on the following: Are the performance indicators clear descriptors of what needs to be in the student work? Are the indicators appropriate for Grade 5? Is rigorous work required to produce evidence of the performance indicators? Performance Indicator Progression

11. Reflect on the following: Do the indicators for subsequent grade levels demand more rigor in the student work? Can the indicators be taught/learned? Where are most students in relation to their grade level performance indicators? Performance Indicator Progression

12. Instructional Guide (Overview) • Organized by grade level K-12 • Standards are listed in each grade level • Connects a standard, benchmark, performance indicator to one sample assessment task and one sample instructional strategy

13. Instructional Guide (Assessment) The sample assessment task is designed prior to teaching. The task sharpens the focus of instruction because it embodies what we want students to understand and be able to do. The assessment task guides our decision-making about what content to emphasize in instruction.

14. Instructional Guide (Instruction) “Most likely, the familiar and favorite activities and projects will have to be modified in light of the evidence needed for assessing targeted standards [benchmarks, performance indicators].” (Wiggins, McTighe, Understanding By Design, p. 17)

15. Instructional Guide (Instructional Activity) “The teaching methods and resource material are chosen last, mindful of the work that students must produce to meet the standards.” (Wiggins, McTighe, Understanding By Design, p. 17)

16. Instructional Guide (Preview) • Go to grade 2, Career and Life Planning. • Locate the self awareness strand. • Read across the page identifying the standard, benchmarks, performance indicators, assessment task, and instructional strategy. • Do the assessment and instructional strategy address both of the performance indicators?

17. Instructional Guide (Consideration) • Standards and benchmarks are not a curriculum. They are used to guide the development of curriculum. • The Instructional Guide gives one example of an instructional strategy. It is neither comprehensive nor definitive – a teacher who carries out an activity and assessment task should not assume that the performance indicator(s) have been met. • Task and strategies – in reality– should and can address a number of standards and indicators simultaneously.

18. Parting Shots As we use these tools, remember: • One size does not fit all. We must acknowledge a continuum of learning rather than a schedule. • We must guard against viewing the career and life skills standards as a content to be address in isolation. Career and Life Skills standards should be integrated in a holistic approach to teaching and learning.