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Development of Technical Content Standards For Career Fields of
Business
and Administrative Services, About MarkED (Contractor) Last updated: 3/4/06 Announcements:
Introduction This research initiative is sponsored jointly by the Ohio Board of Regents and the Ohio Department of Education. The project seeks to leverage MarkED/Career Paths’ prior and concurrent experiences with curriculum research to support program development in business and marketing education in three identified career fields:
Based on extensive secondary research, high levels of (business) community interaction, and participation of key educators, MarkED/Career Paths proposes to develop technical content standards and corresponding academic content to identify what students should know and be able to do to pursue employment and to prepare for continuing education. Specifically, this proposal seeks to support the delivery of quality career-technical education in Ohio and to ensure that business and marketing programs offer relevant, rigorous, and integrated curricula consistent with Ohio guidelines and integrated as appropriate with national academic and Career Cluster standards. Goals and Objectives
Additional research and developmental work will identify academic concepts and skills (content standards) that are requisite for high-level performance in the workplace and relevant to requirements of continuing education. Strategies for Implementation (Work Plan)
Standards for Career and Technical education
must reflect a balance of industry (business) expectations in terms of
knowledge and skill for employment and progression, and clear
identification of academic expectations to support both employment and
continuing education. Additionally, if they are to have meaningful impact
on programs, standards must be organized Therefore, along with the planning team, the proposed project incorporates the active participation of both educators and business leaders—business representatives to identify key skills and concepts in the workplace and educators to help organize business-validated content in a manner that is useful to local curriculum planners. Specifically, the project will utilize:
Established in 1971, MarkED/Career Paths is a consortium of 43 state education departments and other organizations. The Consortium maintains a headquarters staff in Columbus, Ohio. Key to this project is a staff of 8 curriculum specialists/writers with a broad array of experiences in both industry and education. Staff are employed on the basis of their academic and technical skills. As projects warrant, MarkED/Career Paths employs various specialists, including English and math teachers, and other specialists as warranted, to enhance staff capabilities for specific projects and initiatives. MarkED/Career Paths has provided leadership in curriculum research and instructional design over a period of some 35 years. The organization was established for the specific purpose of building curricula to focus on measurable instructional outcomes. Its original focus was marketing and work transition. Since 1987, the breadth of curriculum research has expanded to embrace a broad business “core.” Recent work has included proprietary research in marketing, finance, and business operations, and a supporting business administration core relevant to most business careers. MarkED/Career Paths is recognized by the State Directors of Career and Technical Education as a “lead partner” in the development of curriculum for 3 of 16 recognized Career Clusters. In that role, the organization has been instrumental in the overall design of content models and in the training of teachers to implement specific models nationwide. In addition, MarkED/Career Paths partners with other organizations, including both Career-Tech Student Organizations and various professional associations nationwide. MarkED/Career Paths provides extensive and ongoing teacher training, curriculum development, and other professional development activities for 43 states. Most recently, in cooperation with 24 state sponsors, the organization has developed a Business Administration curriculum model to address core concepts and skills in administration, finance, hospitality, management, and marketing/sales. Key to the project is an extensive academic integration element to help individual teachers effectively integrate key academic skills throughout the business administration model. Additional initiatives to encourage academic integration include:
MarkED/Career Paths has been a sole-source contractor for various state curriculum and professional development initiatives, including substantive projects in: GA, NC, NE, IA, IN, KY, MI, MO, OH, TN, TX, WA, and WV. Additionally, some 30 states have participated in various multi-state business curriculum initiatives over the past ten years. Recent major research initiatives include:
Principals and Qualifications Project Director. The proposed project will be directed by Dr. James Gleason who has served as Executive Director, President, and CEO of MarkED/Career Paths since 1977. Since his high school classroom teaching experience in the 70s, Jim’s career has focused on curriculum research and professional development of Career-Tech practitioners. He has been a guest lecturer and workshop leader in 40+ states and has served as adjunct university faculty in many. In Ohio, Jim has taught at Bowling Green State University and at The Ohio State University (both as adjunct). He is generally credited with visioning the existing national model for marketing education and is currently developing a similar vision for a broader “business administration” model to embrace all business careers. Principal Investigator: Beth Osteen will serve as principal investigator for all three career fields, providing oversight and quality management for all aspects of the research initiative. In addition, Beth will serve as the lead researcher for the marketing career field. Beth is a former high school teacher and has served in various research capacities at the National Center for Research in Vocational Education and at MarkED/Career Paths. She has completed all coursework requirements for a Ph.D. at The Ohio State University. In her role as Vice President of Research and Development, Beth has led the development of scores of curriculum guides, course models, standards initiatives, and instructional materials, including 4+2 Tech Prep models. She has been the principal investigator for the well-accepted 1987and 2000 marketing education national standards, for the widely adopted national entrepreneurship standards (Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education), and for the recently-released 2005 Business Administration: Marketing curriculum standards model. Lead Research Associate, Finance: Jane Wright will serve as the primary researcher and writer for the finance career field. She is presently responsible for a parallel study to develop national standards for the State’s Career Clusters project, focusing on Business Administration: Finance. Jane’s relevant experiences include development of a course guide Building Wealth and as project manager for the development of some 22 instructional modules focusing on various aspects of strategic investing, including technical analysis of stock. Relevant experiences include senior management positions, an MBA from The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business, and college-level teaching experience in business – including industry and company analysis, financial ratios, and strategy. Jane has substantive experience working with the Technology Student Association and with technology teachers. She has actively participated in various aspects of industry-based curriculum validation activities (e.g., focus groups, interviews). Lead Research Associate: Business and Administrative Services: Janet Coulon will serve as the primary researcher and writer for the Business and Administrative Services career field. She is presently responsible for a parallel study to develop national standards for the State’s Career Clusters project, focusing on Business Administration: Operations. Janet’s relevant experiences include development of problems-based learning materials, senior management positions with major textbook publishers, including project management, editing, and writing. In addition, Janet has extensive experience with web site development for online learning and e-commerce applications. In her role at MarkED/Career Paths, in addition to extensive writing and secondary research responsibilities, she works with business leaders in the validation of curriculum model(s) and competency profiles. MarkED is actively seeking qualified business leaders to provide direct input into the development of these standards. Benefits to business participants are centered first and foremost on the opportunity of helping Ohio’s future leaders obtain a relevant and rigorous education with a strong emphasis on the development of key business skills and concepts. Participants will help shape the future of Ohio’s career and technical programs and provide substantive input into the development of curriculum for many of Ohio’s college and high school business students. Most participants find significant value in the focus group discussions. The opportunity to dialogue with other business leaders, using moderators to focus the discussion on specific activities and processes, routinely leads to very positive feedback. 90% of prior business participants volunteer to participate in future activities! No advance preparation is requested. The purpose of our focus groups and interviews is simply to understand better the nature of work in each career field and to learn more about your expectations for various workers and managers. Participation: Business participants will be selected on the basis of experience relevant to the specific career fields of study. Minimum qualifications include:
Industries/Specializations of interest include the following types of career responsibilities:
Activities include various interviews and survey processes, but will center on a series of focus groups throughout the nation. The Ohio meeting schedule follows: Cincinnati area
April 25:
*Senior managers of marketing, marketing research, May 23: *Retail merchandising *Corporate finance *Administrative services, office management May 24: *Marketing communications *Financial planning and investments *Operations management Cleveland area
April 27:
*Senior managers of corporate finance, financial planning and May 31: *Human resource management *Insurance
Columbus area
May
5: *Senior
managers of corporate finance, financial planning
*Senior managers of marketing, marketing research, communications,
*Senior managers of accounting, administrative services and office May 19: *Marketing research *Business information management May 25: *Accounting *Marketing management
Dayton area June 6: *General management *Professional selling
Marietta area May 16: *Professional selling May 17: *General management
Toledo area
April 28:
*Senior managers of accounting, administrative services and office June 1: *Business information management *Banking Specific meeting locations will be announced in mid-April. Each focus group will begin promptly at 8:30 and conclude no later than 1:30. Morning pastries and a light lunch is provided. Coffee break and introductions begin at 8:15.
Nominations for participation on a business
panel, including self-nominations (encouraged), Community/Technical College and High School business/marketing faculty with teaching experience in the specific field of study are encouraged to nominate themselves. Educator focus groups are being planned for late summer in Columbus. Dates will be announced approximately April 1.
Nominations
for participation on an educators’ panel, including self-nominations
(encouraged), Questions? Please e-mail us at Service@Mark-ED.org Be sure to include your contact information, including phone number.
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