A_Guide_to_Standards-based_Instruction_in_Job_Corps.pdf

A Guide to

Standards-Based Instruction in Job Corps

Part I

A Guide to Standards-Based

Instruction in Job Corps

Prepared For:

The National Office of Job Corps

Prepared By:

Coffey Consulting, LLC

U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration

Blanket Purchase Agreement #: DOLQ121A21895 – DOL ETA 15-U-00004

Office of Job Corps High School Equivalency Transition II

February 2015

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

Chapter 1: Standards and the Challenge of Change

Chapter 2: Standards

Chapter 3: Effective Instructional Process for

Standards-Based Instruction

Chapter 4: Effective Teaching Strategies in

Standards-Based Instruction

Chapter 5: Planning the Unit & Lesson

Chapter 6: Vocabulary Instruction

Chapter 7: Teaching Multi-Step Instructions

Appendix A: Center Options for

Increasing Student Achievement

Appendix B: Teacher-Student Relationships

& Classroom Management Practices

Appendix C: How Teacher Collaboration

Helps Students Master the Standards

Appendix D: Samples: Prefixes, Roots, and Suffixes

Appendix E: The 10 Key Standards for

Each of the 11 Industry Groups

A Guide to Standards-Based Instruction in Job Corps February 2015

Executive Summary Page 1

A Guide to Standards-Based Instruction in Job Corps

Executive Summary

Overview of the Framework

Job Corps’ new curriculum framework consists of two parts:

1. Industry/technical, academic, and career success standards, and

2. A Guide to Standards-Based Instruction in Job Corps (referred to as the Guide).

The standards describe what needs to be taught, and the Guide describes how the standards should be taught. Although the latter is referred to as a guide, it is not a traditional “course guide” that details the step-by-step process used to deliver specific instruction in a content area. Rather, the Guide describes the elements that are fundamental to teaching and learning within Job Corps’ new program delivery model known as a standards-based system. The Guide informs the development and selection of curricula used to teach the standards and provides examples of program structures that support standards-based teaching and learning. The Guide can also be used to provide a description of Job Corps’ standards-based system to interested readers both within and outside of Job Corps.

Structure and Contents of the Guide

A standards-based system represents a different approach to teaching and learning within Job Corps, so the Guide begins with a discussion of the challenges of change in Chapter 1. Because content standards are new to Job Corps, Chapter 2 describes the three types of standards adopted by Job Corps, explains the function of each, and shows how academic standards were developed to support technical skill attainment and align with TABE and HSE test objectives.

Chapters 3, 4, and 5 delve into the design and delivery of standards-based teaching and learning.

Chapter 3 provides an overview of what effective instruction looks like. It gives a step-by-step description of the process teachers use to provide students with the intense learning experience required to master rigorous standards. Students need practice, practice, practice for fluent mastery of key knowledge and skills.

So Chapter 3 broadly describes a three-step instructional process that builds student understanding and includes enough practice to master the information. It also offers strategies for increased opportunities for practice within the classroom and through extended-day study or training.

Chapter 4 provides the specific instructional strategies used during the three-step instructional process and practice described in Chapter 3. The nine categories of instructional strategies discussed in this chapter make a significant

Executive Summary Page 2 difference in student achievement. The strategies were identified by researchers at Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) under the direction of Dr. Robert J. Marzano and are sometimes referred to as the Marzano

Strategies.

The examples provided for each strategy in Chapter 4, as well as in other chapters, primarily focus on instruction in applied academic standards because:

Both academic and CT instructors can relate to the applied academic standards because they are simply statements about how academic knowledge and skills are applied to technical tasks.

Both academic teachers and technical instructors need to teach academic content in the context of a technical task to support technical skill attainment and help students pass certification exams. Teaching students to apply academic content to technical tasks represents a major shift in the role of Job

Corps’ academic instructors.

Publishers’ materials are currently only available for evidence-based instructional processes and strategies related to academic content taught in the academic classroom, not for career technical content taught in the CT classroom/shop, so the Guide provides CT instructors with a necessary and valuable resource.

Chapter 5 describes how to use the information presented in the preceding chapters to design a lesson and document the instructional process in a lesson plan. The lesson planning process describes how teachers consider learners’ needs and select instructional strategies based on those needs. The approach to lesson design described in Chapter 5 is found to be highly effective with all learners, particularly low achieving and learning disabled students. The reader is directed to Appendix E for sample lessons in each industry area that can be used immediately and/or can be adapted or used as models for teacher-developed plans.

Chapters 6 and 7 present detailed directions in how to teach the two academic standards identified by all academic and CT instructors as key to Training

Achievement Record (TAR) completion and certification attainment across all industries:

1. Defines vocabulary common to the industry; and

2. Follows multi-step instructions, making adjustments and seeking clarification as required.

Chapter 6 describes the collaborative role of the academic and CT instructors in selecting key vocabulary terms and evidence-based strategies to ensure that students have multiple opportunities to understand and master the terms. The reader is directed to Appendix D in the Guide, a list of prefixes, suffixes, and roots that are frequently taught in effective vocabulary instruction. An entire chapter is dedicated to vocabulary instruction because:

Executive Summary Page 3

Vocabulary terms specify the key concepts or “big ideas” in academics as well as technical training. Since the target goal for instruction is ensuring that students master the key concepts in the subject area, all lesson planning begins with “big ideas.”

Vocabulary is the language of the academic discipline and the technical trade. Without an understanding of the vocabulary, students cannot master academic content or work in the trade.

Increased reading comprehension is associated with vocabulary mastery, which in turn relates directly to positive outcomes such as TABE gains, high school equivalency and high school diploma completion, industry certification, and state licensure.

Chapter 7 describes the process used to teach students how to follow multi-step instructions, making adjustments and seeking clarification as required. An entire chapter is devoted to instruction in this area because:

Publisher materials on how to teach this standard are not currently available.

Students need to be able to perform hundreds of multi-step procedures every day, adjusting the procedures based on conditions, circumstances, material access, and other factors in order to complete education and training requirements, live in a dormitory setting, and transition into employment and higher education. The ability to follow multi-step instructions is required in every aspect of life, from driving a car to ensuring personal safety and the safety of others.

While Chapters 1 through 7 primarily focus on teaching and learning, the focus of

Appendices A through E is on structures that support standards-based instruction.

Appendix A describes center practices that maximize and minimize instructional effectiveness, promote evidence-based practices, and provide the intensity of instruction students need for mastery of rigorous standards. Practices that maximize effectiveness include cohort enrollments, foundation courses, extended-day training, open computer labs, tutoring, and supervised study groups. Practices that are likely to interfere with the instruction process, and therefore minimize instructional effectiveness, include A/B week schedules, trade waiting lists, pull-outs, classroom/shop interruptions, and length of stay.

Appendix A suggests ways to adjust center practice and infrastructure to maximize opportunities for all students to master rigorous standards.

Appendix B provides strategies to strengthen teacher-student relationships and classroom management practices to maximize student success, including techniques to forecast problems and react to potentially disruptive events, rules and procedures that decrease classroom disruptions, disciplinary interventions that increase instructional time, and how to communicate in a caring manner.

Executive Summary Page 4

Appendix C describes how teacher collaboration contributes to student standard mastery by helping teachers understand the use of collaboration time, envision what collaboration looks like in practice, and recognize the characteristics of effective collaboration.

Appendix D is a listing of prefixes, roots, and suffixes commonly found in foundation courses to help students acquire the necessary vocabulary and the ability to decode new words based on a knowledge of these commonly used combining forms. Mastery of these forms increases students’ reading comprehension and ability to learn new trade words and terms.

Appendix E is a listing of the 10 key academic standards for each of the 11 industry groups identified by Job Corps instructors and industry representatives as the content standards considered most essential for success in the industry.

The academic standards for each of the 11 industry groups are listed along with the corresponding Career Success Standard, when applicable. These key standards, associated with critical technical duties and tasks, are the 10 standards in each industry that are critical to successful TAR completion and certification attainment.

Conclusion

A Guide to Standards-Based Instruction in Job Corps is not set in stone. It will be updated to reflect new findings from research related to effective instructional practices and current examples of Job Corps’ standards as industry standards are revised and TARs updated/added. What will remain constant is that the Guide will always be dedicated to the committed Job Corps teachers and instructors who ensure that each student graduates prepared to succeed in a knowledge-based economy.

Chapter 1: Standards and the Challenge of Change Page 5

Chapter 1: Standards and the Challenge of Change

The Challenge of Change

It’s no news flash that change is difficult. It’s true in our personal lives. It’s true for our communities, for our nation, and for our world. Even when we recognize that change is needed and may even be crucial to our survival, it’s not easy to do.

Making changes in education is notoriously difficult. This is true in every venue of academic and career/technical education, not just Job Corps. The difficulty does not stem from educators wanting to be resistant. It is mostly because we, as a system of teachers, leaders, support personnel, and policy makers, may not be aware of what research tells us about change. So, let’s review some certainties about changes in education.

Certain Strategies Don’t Work. When researching and writing this Guide, we learned a lot about what doesn’t work in teaching and learning. Here are three important findings:

1. Quick fixes don’t work. We know this to be true from personal experience. How many good New Year’s resolutions have come and gone because they were based on a “quick fix” mentality (follow a certain diet, call Mom before breakfast every day, stop smoking)? We are really talking about changing human behavior, and that is not an overnight endeavor.

When we rush to embrace the great quick-fix approach, we may experience the discouraging cycle of “attempt, attack, and abandon.” We come across a really good idea and decide to just do it and to do it now. Even when we plan well and discuss the potential pitfalls up front, we may implement change without providing the support people need over time.1 Self-help groups such as Alcoholic Anonymous have figured this out. Having a sponsor, attending meetings with others trying to make or maintain the same change, and voicing the fact that you will need help over time: the entire structure provides the support people need to be successful in implementing a major change.

2. Changing practice without considering the Big Picture doesn’t work. Because change is hard, it only works if it’s related to the Big Picture or primary mission.

In Job Corps, we want our students to graduate with not only a good job, but a great job that will lead to a life-long career. We need to ensure that our staff know that the change to standards is system-wide and strategic; this is not a

“flavor of the month” or an initiative that will go away if we wait it out. As we look at changing practices in Job Corps classrooms and trade areas, we must be careful to identify all the elements that will be affected so we don’t set up people for failure.

Chapter 1: Standards and the Challenge of Change Page 6

3. Too much change doesn’t work. If staff feel that too many changes are happening at once or the “attempt, attack, abandon” cycle characterizes the approach to change on their center, they may experience “change fatigue” and lose the capacity to implement new programs.2,3 We all recognize that too much change can be overwhelming. But, sometimes, in our eagerness to implement a new program or approach, we simply ask for too much.

So, what does work? The good news is that the research about change has identified very successful practices that can be used on our Job Corps centers.

Centers across the nation have successfully built a culture for change by:

1. Linking change efforts to the mission. Generally, people don’t work for Job

Corps for the big bucks or the prestigious position. They choose Job Corps for the sense of satisfaction they get by helping young people be successful, many for the first time in their lives, in academic and technical education.

People feel better about making changes, especially difficult changes, if those changes are clearly related to an organizational mission that they believe in.

Therefore, when centers demonstrate how the proposed change will improve services to Job Corps students and increase those students’ chances for good, sustainable jobs, everyone is more willing to accept the change and do the work necessary to implement it. When change positively impacts the lives of students, staff tend to embrace it.4

2. Promoting change that improves student relationships with their academic and career technical teachers. The kind of change Job Corps is undertaking will make learning easier for students even as the Training Achievement

Records (TARs) become more difficult. Pilots conducted by various centers across the country have shown that both students and teachers are more successful, more satisfied with their roles, and happier with each other when learning is clear and understandable. Thus, while some change is required to reach this goal, the payoff will be better success for students, better feelings of accomplishment for teachers, and better relationships between students and teachers.5

3. Basing interactions on partnership principles. Any change will be best accepted and implemented when all stakeholders have a voice in how the change will occur. We all know that some change is dictated “from the top,” but when teachers and leaders have equity, choice, dialogue, and some flexibility, change implementation can be collaborative and smooth. Without this equity and the respect behind it, the change process can be much more difficult.6

Chapter 1: Standards and the Challenge of Change Page 7

Change and Implementing the Standards

Standards are nothing more than the format used to specify employer requirements.

They are the voice of the employer telling academic and technical teachers what knowledge, skills, and behaviors are required for our students to be employed and ready to advance in an occupation. The need for change in Job Corps’ education and training programs is driven by changes in employer requirements. For example, in

Automotive Technology, our technical and academic requirements must change as employers’ need for auto mechanics disappears and their new demand is for automotive technicians. Or, in IT, when employers seek workers who can be both a business person and a technical person, Job Corps must adapt.

Job Corps is in the serious business of continually identifying employers’ needs and adapting its programs to meet these needs. However, determining and implementing the changes in “what” needs to be taught (the standards) is the easy part compared to changing “how” we effectively and efficiently deliver the standards. Changing the “how” represents, for many of us, a major change in the way we function in our shops and classrooms on a daily basis. This Guide is devoted to “how” to effectively and efficiently deliver instruction of the content standards, the “what” of Job Corps.

The next chapter focuses on standards. As you read it and discuss the ideas with your colleagues, think about what your center will need to do to implement the kinds of change that standards will bring.

1 Knight, J. (2006). Instructional coaching. The School Administrator. April, 36-40.

2 Beaudan, E. (2006). “Making change last: Getting beyond change fatigue.” Ivey Business Journal. 1-7.

3 Connor, D. (1993). Managing at the speed of change. New York: Villard Books.

4 Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, p. 18.

5 Fullan, M. (2001). Op. cit., p. 5.

6 Knight, J. (2002). Partnership learning fieldbook. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Center for

Research on Learning.

Chapter 2: Standards Page 8

Chapter 2: Standards

The Role of Standards

The mission of Job Corps is to teach students “the skills they need to become employable and independent.” To teach the skills required for employment and independence, Job Corps professionals need to focus on what students must know and be able to do. These are the Standards—technical, career success, and academic. They are the voice of the employer telling academic and technical teachers the knowledge, skills, and behaviors required for our students to be hired, retrained, and ready to advance in an occupation. They are the competencies, identified in extensive research that students need to master to lead independent and productive lives.

We must remember that standards are the “what,” not the “how.” Standards are learning goals; they do not tell us how to reach these goals. We see this relationship in our own lives. A common New Year’s goal is to lose ten pounds. While more than one person may adopt this goal, each individual plans her/his own path to achievement. Some may join a gym, while others join Weight Watchers. Other chapters in this Guide are dedicated to “how” to design and deliver standards-based instruction to meet the needs of all students. This chapter provides a description of the standards themselves and shares the information we learned through the standards development process.

The Relationship Between and Among Standards

The following illustration shows the associations between and among standards and certifications adopted by Job Corps. As indicated, all paths lead to success for every student.

Chapter 2: Standards Page 9

Job Corps is now in a continuous cycle of updating its national Training Achievement

Records (TARs) to reflect industry standards and certification requirements. The most recent TARs were used to associate academic standards in English/Language

Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Critical Thinking with the duties and tasks in 11 industry areas. From this alignment, applied standards specific to each industry and to each TAR were then developed, and the prerequisite knowledge and skills for each of the applied standards were identified.

Finally, the following relationships were determined:

Relationship of TARs to certification

Relationship of TARs to applied standards

Relationship of academic standards to GED test objectives

Relationship of academic standards to Career Success Standards

Relationship of prerequisite knowledge and skills to the TABE

MidContinent Research for Education and Learning (McREL), one of the ten Regional

Educational Labs funded by the U.S. Department of Education, completed the academic standards development work and created the relationships described above. At the McREL facility, representative Job Corps Career Technical Training instructors from each of the 11 industry areas worked with academic teachers to conduct a line-by-line review of the McREL findings. These teams analyzed the work of the standards developers in identifying the correct applied standard for each TAR item and made adjustments as needed.

The representative instructors also helped to identify the 10 most important or key academic standards in each of the 11 industry areas that are critical to successful TAR completion and certification attainment. Identification of these key standards helps

Job Corps focus its initial implementation efforts on standards that return the highest dividends in terms of student success. A list of the 10 key academic standards in each industry area is found in Appendix E of this Guide. Part II of the Guide includes sample lesson plans for each of the key academic standards. We will discuss two standards that made the top ten list for every industry in greater detail later in this chapter.

The following sections provide a more detailed analysis of the relationship among and between standards and the other Job Corps benchmarks of learning.

Industry Standards

As previously mentioned, Job Corps will continue to update its national TARs to reflect industry standards. While a few industry organizations provide a list of academic skills associated with a training area, the list is not comprehensive, and it is not always clear where academic skills are applied. To effectively support technical skill attainment, academic and technical teachers need to know the

Chapter 2: Standards Page 10 academic underpinnings of TAR technical tasks. So, McREL identified the academic tools required to complete each technical task.

The Automotive General Service Technician (GST) TAR provides us with an example of an academic tool. To be proficient in more than 30 of the line items in this TAR, students need to be able to read and interpret charts, tables, or graphs. To diagnose and complete repairs on an automotive system, GST students need this academic tool, along with critical thinking skills such as problem solving and the traditional tools of the trade (wrenches, sockets, etc.).

Academic & Applied Standards

The academic underpinnings for each technical task are written as academic standards in English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Critical Thinking.

These standards become applied standards when associated with specific TAR line items. For example, Automotive students completing the General Service Technician (GST) TAR need to demonstrate proficiency in the following TAR line item:

Diagnose electrical/electronic integrity of series, parallel and series-parallel circuits using principles of electricity (Ohm’s Law).

Construction students completing the Plumbing TAR need to demonstrate proficiency in the following TAR line item.

Install a DWV [Drainage, Waste and Vent] system using appropriate hangers and correct grade or slope.

The same academic standard in mathematics is associated with both of these TAR line items. In other words, both the Automotive and the Construction Trades students need the same academic tool to complete their respective technical tasks. The academic tool specified as an academic standard is:

Simplifies expressions and solves simple algebraic equations.

Because the two students will apply the academic standard or “tool” differently, the applied standard specifies how the academic standard is applied or used to complete the technical task. The GST student completing the sample TAR item will use the academic standard in equations that solve for voltage, current, or resistance, while the Plumbing student will use it to calculate grade or slope. Notice in the examples below how the applied standard provides specific information on how the academic standard is used.

Chapter 2: Standards Page 11

The GST student will diagnose electrical problems by using the following applied standard in math:

Manipulates equations or substitutes measured values for variables in formulas to solve for voltage, current, or resistance (Ohm's Law).

For instance, a GST student needs to know why a 15 amp fuse keeps blowing after new driving lights are installed on a 12 volt system. He concludes that he has 0.4 ohms of resistance. To determine if the fuse is properly rated for the new lights, he must substitute the known values for the variables in the Ohm’s Law formula and determine the current (Amperes). Aha! A 30 amp fuse is needed to handle the lights.

The applied standard was the tool needed to diagnose the problem. The same tool will be used to determine current or resistance and to solve other automotive problems.

However, the student completing the Plumbing TAR will install a DWV system with the correct grade or slope by using the following applied standard in math:

Manipulates and uses formulas to solve for the fall, run, grade (slope), and/or percent grade of a pipe.

For instance, a Construction Trades student is installing a Drain, Waste, and Vent

(DWV) system and needs to determine the fall or “drop” for a drainage pipe. She knows that the run (or horizontal distance) from the house to the city sewer line is 60 feet. City code requires a minimum grade or slope of ¼ inch per foot of run. In order to figure the fall for the drainage pipe, the student uses the formula (F)all = (S)lope x

(R)un and determines that the fall needs to be 15 inches. The formula is the Plumbing student’s multi-purpose tool. When two of the variables are known, she can use the same formula tool to find the value of the unknown variable.

The prerequisite knowledge and skills are not written as standards. They are statements that specify what students should already know or be able to do in order to benefit from instruction in the applied standard. In the examples above, both the

GST and the Plumbing student would need to have mastered the following prerequisite knowledge and skills:

Adds, subtracts, multiplies, or divides whole numbers, decimals, or fractions.

Understands how written symbols represent mathematical ideas.

Understands the concept of multiplicative inverse.

Understands operations on algebraic expressions.

Understands that variables can be used in many ways, can be placeholders for specific values, and can represent a range of values.

The academic standard and the prerequisite knowledge and skills used in the examples above relate to the TABE and the High School Equivalency (HSE) test objectives. In other words, students need to be able to simplify expressions on the

Chapter 2: Standards Page 12

TABE and solve algebraic expressions on the HSEs. Teachers can provide significant support for technical skill attainment while preparing students for the HSE and the

TABE when they know the relationship of:

Academic standards to the HSE test objectives and the TABE, and

The prerequisite knowledge and skills to the academic and applied standards.

This information also helps academic teachers immediately engage students in technical content that creates relevancy in the curriculum.

Career Success Standards

Industry standards do not include the social and behavioral skills required to succeed in employment and to live independently. Job Corps’ Career Success

Standards help students to obtain the social, independent living, and employability skills necessary to lead productive professional and personal lives. Where applicable, the Career Success Standards are associated with the academic standards. For example, the applied standards tell us that Homeland Security students need to know how to:

Record information clearly and accurately on incident reports, log books, and other pre-printed forms associated with the security industry.

The Career Success Standard for Information Management requires students to know how to:

Organize, maintain, and use information.

Clearly the two standards are associated. Understanding how academic, technical, and Career Success Standards are associated helps both academic and technical teachers develop lessons that model authentic work. These lessons integrate academic, technical, and social competencies and demonstrate how standards in all three areas contribute to completing real-world tasks.

Standards Development Findings

Analysis of the standards produced the five findings discussed below. These findings will help Job Corps better align its academic and technical programs and develop an efficient and effective program delivery system.

Chapter 2: Standards Page 13

Finding 1: Explicit instruction1 in trade vocabulary and in following multi-step instruction is important. Two of the ten key academic standards identified by Job

Corps’ representative instructors are clearly consistent across all industry areas.

The student must understand and be able to:

Define vocabulary common to the industry; and

Follow multi-step instructions, make adjustments and seek clarification as required.

Vocabulary standard: There are several reasons why the vocabulary standard shows up in every industry ranking of the Top 10 standards, those most important for success in the industry, including TAR completion and certification attainment. They are standards associated with critical technical duties and tasks.

Vocabulary mastery is required for students to understand a technical area.

Here is something to think about: A student must learn more terms in a Job

Corps technical training area than in the first year of a foreign language class.

Each industry area has its own language, and our students need to be fluent in this language to be successful.

Vocabulary terms can be used to organize instruction that meets the needs of all learners. Vocabulary terms specify the key concepts or “big ideas” in academics as well as in technical training. When teachers organize instruction around the terms that specify the “big ideas,” all students, including low achieving and learning disabled students, are more likely to master a complex subject matter. For example, “infection” is a major concept taught in

Clinical Medical Assisting (CMA). A large number of vocabulary words are associated with this term including pathogen, parasite, contamination, virus, and bacteria. When students memorize the terms as discrete facts on a vocabulary list, they may gain only a superficial understanding and are less likely to connect the terms back to the “big idea.” On the other hand, when the CMA instructor provides explicit instruction in the associated terms and consistently helps students make connections with the major concept, students are more likely to gain a deep understanding of the causes of

“infection.” And, if the academic teacher is involved, the student has the advantage of additional repetitions and connections.

Vocabulary mastery is strongly associated with increased reading comprehension.1 Increased reading comprehension is associated with positive outcomes for students such as TABE gains, GED completion, industry certification, and state licensure. Explicit vocabulary instruction in technical

1 The intentional design and delivery of information by the teacher to the student in casual instruction, or students, in the case of small group or whole-class instruction. It begins with (1) the teacher’s modeling or demonstration of the skill or strategy; (2) a structured and substantial opportunity for students to practice and apply newly taught skills and knowledge under the teacher’s direction and guidance; and (3) an opportunity for feedback.

Chapter 2: Standards Page 14 terms can support technical skill attainment and, at the same time, generate literacy gains. While reading is directly assessed on the TABE, it is indirectly assessed on all written exams including HSE exams, industry certification tests, and state licensure exams.

Because mastery of trade vocabulary is absolutely essential for success, Chapter 6 of this Guide provides specific recommendations and methods for teaching vocabulary so students learn, retain, and become fluent with the terms of the industry.

Follows Multi-step Instructions Standard: Like mastery of trade vocabulary, the ability to follow multi-step directions is essential in nearly every industry.

To successfully complete a training area and earn education credentials, a student needs to be able to perform hundreds of procedures. A procedure is an operation or a series of acts involved in a particular form of work. Technical training examples include machine tool operations and steps involved in building a house. Education examples include the order of operations for math calculations and the steps to writing an essay. Instructions are used to communicate what series of acts need to be performed to complete the procedure or operation. Instructions usually have multiple steps for all but the most elementary of operations.

Instructions are not cast in stone. They frequently need to be adjusted based on conditions, circumstances, and other factors. Different conditions often change all or part of the normal instructions. For example, Culinary Arts students need to know how to adjust their cake-baking procedures when working in high altitudes. Furthermore, instructions may not always be clear or make sense, particularly when the reader is not familiar with the technical terms and acronyms and/or when novice learners are not yet fluent in the operation. For example, “use a spark plug gapping tool to check the measurement between the electrodes” may only make sense to the

Automotive student who understands the vocabulary, can identify the location of the electrodes, and has the skill to use the gapping tool.

The importance of knowing how to follow multi-step instructions is reflected in the fact that it is both an academic standard and a Career

Success Standard. And, while not explicitly stated as a duty and task, it is implied in every TAR. Furthermore, Job Corps students cannot complete education and training requirements, live in a dormitory setting, or transition into employment and higher training without mastering this skill. The ability to follow multi-step instructions is required in every aspect of life from driving a car to ensuring our own safety and the safety of others. However, despite its importance, we seldom teach students how to follow multi-step instructions, Chapter 2: Standards Page 15 make adjustments, and seek clarification as required. Chapter 7 of this guide provides specific help in teaching students to master multi-step directions.

Finding 2: Science is important. Job Corps provides instruction in technical areas that are science intensive. For example, Automotive and Construction each have more than 90 applied science standards, and Health Care has over 60. However, science instruction is not a significant part of the academic program within Job

Corps.

The reality is that the HSE science tests are often as much a measure of reading comprehension as of significant understanding of scientific principles. Few, if any, high school diploma students complete upper-level courses that teach the physical sciences applied in Automotive and Construction or the life sciences applied in

Health Care. Given rapid technological advancements, existing labor demand in

STEM occupations, and an emphasis on green technologies, science requirements will likely continue to grow. Centers will need to determine how and where these science standards will be taught.

Finding 3: Speaking, listening, and writing skills are important. Job Corps provides instruction in technical areas where the English/Language Arts skills required are far beyond the basic reading comprehension skills needed for TABE or

HSE completion. For example, there are more English/Language Arts than Science standards required for success in Health TAR completion and licensure attainment.

According to automotive industry representatives, the ability to write a clear and complete work order may translate into an additional $20,000/year in wages.

Nonetheless, writing is only a requirement in Job Corps for the HSE exams. Centers will need to fully integrate speaking, listening, and writing into academic and CTT instruction to prepare students for industry certification and employment success.

Finding 4: Critical thinking skills are important, but they differ from the critical thinking skills taught in a traditional high school curriculum. Typically, the critical thinking skills taught in a high school classroom setting tend to be

“predictable.” This means that they use known information and have a predictable outcome, such as proving a hypothesis.

The workplace requires a different type of critical thinking: problem solving and decision making skills that often require the use of not-yet-known data and/or disparate sets of information applied to both predictable and unpredictable situations. Consider the hundreds of TAR items in Automotive alone that call for the student to perform a specific test or diagnose a certain situation and then “determine necessary action.”

McREL has identified the critical thinking skills required to complete technical tasks in the real world. This information provides Job Corps with the opportunity to

Chapter 2: Standards Page 16 incorporate occupation-specific critical thinking skills into each Career Technical

Training program. The graphic organizers discussed in Chapter 4 that help students master rigorous academic and technical standards can also be used as structuring devices to organize information, solve problems, and make decisions in the real world.

Finding 5: Collaboration is important. A different and very important finding came from the representative Job Corps instructors who validated the applied standards during sessions at McREL, rather than from an analysis of the standards themselves. With few exceptions, these academic and technical teachers embraced applied standards and consistently reported that:

Academic instructors want to support career technical training, Technical instructors welcome the support of academic instructors, and

Academic and technical instructors want and need dedicated time to collaborate around the design and delivery of standards-based instruction.

This Guide is dedicated to those instructors and to all of the committed Job Corps teachers who ensure that each and every one of our “at promise” students masters rigorous technical, academic, and Career Success Standards. The purpose of this

Guide is to support implementation of a standards-based system of teaching and learning: an instructional system based on what students need to know and be able to do to enter and advance in an occupation and lead independent and productive lives.

1 Institute of Education Sciences (August 2008). Improving Adult Literacy: Effective Classroom and

Intervention Practices, U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance.

Chapter 3: Effective Instructional Processes for Standards-Based Instruction Page 17

Chapter 3: Effective Instructional Processes for

How Students Learn

We are facing a new reality in Job Corps. Under the Workforce Innovation and

Opportunity Act (WIOA), Job Corps is required to assist youth in finding successful careers that will result in economic self-sufficiency, or enrollment in postsecondary education, including an apprenticeship program. The revised TARs and their associated academic requirements clearly demand student mastery of much more complex material than ever before. High school equivalency (HSE) examinations are more demanding, and many courses required for a high school diploma (HSD) in most states are reflecting the more rigorous Common Core State Standards. Job

Corps teachers must now figure out how to teach this more difficult content so students are able to master it efficiently and effectively. In this chapter, we first look at what research tells us about how students learn and retain new skills and knowledge. Then we examine some basic guidelines for instruction that can increase the effectiveness of our teaching and the efficiency of their learning.

How Do Job Corps Students Learn Most Effectively?

Job Corps students learn just like everyone else. They follow these steps:

1. Gain an understanding of the standard (skill, process, or concept) by watching, listening, and/or reading;

2. Try out what they have learned initially with some help (electronic, written, or human);

3. Practice the skill/concept application correctly a sufficient number of times for it to become fluent or automatic; and

4. Review the concept/skill often enough to maintain it.

Let’s look at an example: keyboarding. When you begin to learn keyboarding, you have to understand the basic concepts and the explicit steps required for the skill:

how to place your hands on the keyboard, how to keep the “home” orientation while fingers reach for the correct keys, how to operate the function keys, etc. At first, you practice a bit with software or a teacher or a book to make sure you are getting it right. You probably begin your individual practice striving for accuracy. Then you work for fluency: accuracy plus speed. If you are fast but inaccurate, most people will be frustrated or put off by what you produce. If you are accurate but slow, most people will never see your work because you will not finish it on time. In neither case are you fluent.

Once you are fluent at a skill, you need to keep practicing or you will not remember it when you need it. Almost all of us learned fractions growing up. But how many times do we have to stop and think of the right measurements when doubling the

Chapter 3: Effective Instructional Processes for Standards-Based Instruction Page 18 ingredients of a cookie recipe? Use it or lose it! This same practice and repetition is required for all Job Corps standards, whether they are TAR items, academic knowledge, or Career Success Standards.

So, how much practice is needed to become fluent or automatic with a new skill? Of course, it depends on the complexity of the task. Let’s take a look at the time it might take to learn a single, new TAR vocabulary word or phrase. This chart gives us an idea1:

Type of Learner Number of Repetitions Required

High achieving 1-2

Average 4-14

Low achieving 20+

Other researchers have found that even more practice is required. They have documented that students usually do not reach 80% mastery until they have practiced a skill or concept 24 times2. At this point, the student can apply his knowledge with only minimal time to remember or conscious thought to figure it out.

In other words, he has achieved true fluency3.

Given these findings, Job Corps students could need 20-25 repetitions to cement the learning at the fluent or automatic level. It will be important for you, as teachers, to use engaging and varying methods to make learning efficient and effective. We must plan instruction with many varied opportunities for correct practice. Each time a student is able to practice a skill or apply a concept correctly, it inches the student toward mastery. The quality of instruction is critical to student mastery. If the instruction is good, Job Corps students will learn material thoroughly and quickly. If instruction is poor, success may be inconsistent and progress slow.

What Does Good Instruction Look Like?

Good instruction has several elements that are covered in this Guide, including careful planning and the use of key instructional strategies. But behind both planning and delivery is the concept of intensity of instruction or providing as many different opportunities for student practice as possible within the time available.

We can design instruction to provide extra initial support for correct performance and extra opportunities to practice new skills to fluency by:

Adding more effective teaching strategies to our instructional methods;

Providing more instructional time; and/or

Reducing group size.

Chapter 3: Effective Instructional Processes for Standards-Based Instruction Page 19

For most centers, providing more instructional time or reducing class size is not an economic possibility. Therefore, the amount of correct practice afforded each student must be the focus of instruction. For all students, more intense instruction speeds mastery of academic and technical standards. We can measure intensity of instruction by the number of positive instructional interactions per minute. A positive instructional interaction happens when:

A teacher clearly explains and models a skill while a student takes notes;

A teacher (or peer) guides a student and provides feedback while the student practices a skill;

Students practice together, with one correcting the other; or

A student practices independently, self-correcting with an answer key or assessment guide.

To increase our intensity of positive instructional interactions per minute, let’s look at what we know about the conditions that increase—and decrease—our chances of high intensity instruction.

Intensity of Instruction

What Increases Intensity of Instruction?

The good news is that most of the factors that increase intensity are under our control. As Job Corps teachers, we can learn and implement key teaching strategies that absolutely will increase our instructional intensity and our effectiveness. These effective strategies are summarized below and detailed in Chapters 4 and 5.

Organizing instruction (lesson planning) around concepts or “big ideas.”

No one is good at remembering a series of unrelated facts. Indeed, the more items are related, the better chance we have of learning and retaining them, whether it is the steps in a process or the understanding of a concept.

Providing explicit, clear instruction while students take notes using an organizer. This instruction can be via software, the Internet, reading, video, audio, or teacher or peer presentation. Students need to learn and practice note-taking and to take notes from a variety of instructional methods.

Including multiple opportunities for practice and repetition. This, of course, is key to increasing instructional intensity. The slightly tricky part is to do this and still make the learning fun and engaging. This Guide provides such methods.

Focusing on key vocabulary term instruction. Every TAR is filled with trade vocabulary that students must master to be functional on the job. This Guide provides methods to teach these terms to result in student retention.

Chapter 3: Effective Instructional Processes for Standards-Based Instruction Page 20

What Decreases Intensity of Instruction?

This section presents some of the barriers to intensity of instruction which are often conditions beyond our control.

Several studies of the Job Corps system indicate that some center practices actually decrease intensity of instruction and keep students from learning as quickly and effectively as possible. Because of these approaches, summarized below, many Job

Corps students may not receive the number of repetitions required to master rigorous academic and technical standards.

Open Entry/Open Exit System. Job Corps currently enrolls students using an open entry/open exit system. As each new student enters a classroom, the instructor must quickly assess the student’s learning needs and bring the student up to speed as well as possible, while other students wait or operate on auto-pilot. Like most traditional school teachers, Job Corps instructors are faced with the challenge of presenting curriculum and teaching in a manner that reaches all levels of learners in the same classroom, but in Job Corps we add the difficulties created by constant flux in the student population.

A/B Weekly Schedules. At many centers, students spend one week (A week) in academics followed by one week (B week) in Career Technical Training.

Teachers and instructors are faced with the challenge of students forgetting what they have learned in the intervening week. CTT instructors and academic teachers both waste valuable time having to re-teach elements each week before moving on to new information. Some centers have moved to an

A/B schedule that alternates by days instead of weeks, and this daily schedule eliminates the learning loss of the A/B week.

Pull-Outs. Pull-outs occur when one or two students are called out of the classroom during an instructional period for appointments, student activities, or meetings. These pull-outs interrupt the instructional process, causing students to lose learning momentum. They also require you to spend more time bringing the individual students up to speed when they come back.

Centers should strive to eliminate or minimize pull-outs.

Continuous and uninterrupted instruction facilitates the repetition essential for all learners and especially for low achieving students. When we remove barriers to a continuous and uninterrupted flow of learning, our instruction becomes more efficient and effective, and students achieve mastery more quickly. Options for structuring the center environment that address some of these issues are covered in

Appendix B.

Chapter 3:…