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Introduction......
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The agricultural education curriculum enhancement project was initiated to develop performance-based assessment activities to assist Missouri instructors and students of agriculture in meeting Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP) standards. The project was unique in that the enhancement activities, while representing new material, were designed to complement and expand upon material instructors were already using.
Each enhancement corresponds to a unit in the existing agricultural curricula and consists of the following parts: a summary page that describes the performance-based assessment activity contained in the enhancement, along with helpful references and strategies and activities in the existing unit that prepare the student for the enhancement activity; an Instructor Guide and Student Handout that provide step-by-step instructions for a performance-based assessment activity that brings together principal unit objectives; and a Scoring Guide that indicates, in detail, the areas being assessed by the activity and the criteria used for assessment and includes spaces for the student’s score and additional comments or explanations from the instructor. (For a more detailed explanation of the individual parts of the enhancement, see the Components section, which follows this section.)
Because they build on existing curricula and are designed to work with the instructor’s individual teaching strategies, one of the key attributes of the enhancements is their adaptability. The importance of this feature was established during the development process and carries through all aspects of the enhancements in several ways.
First, the enhancements were designed to be flexible as they are currently written. Procedural steps in the Instructor Guide and Student Handout are clear and thorough but not limiting. For instance, a step in the Instructor Guide might indicate that students should incorporate a visual element into an oral report. The step will include suggestions, such as illustrations, a handout, a slide show using presentation software, or some combination of these or other elements, but it is left to the instructor to specify which of these he or she prefers. Likewise, the criterion in the Scoring Guide that corresponds to this aspect of the assessment will be written “Supporting materials emphasize and clarify key points,” rather than as a list of a particular kind and quantity of supporting visual elements that the instructor may not want to use. This allows the instructor to more easily guide the activity in a particular direction and to narrow or expand the scope of the activity based on his or her particular requirements. It also encourages the students to apply their creativity to the development of the project.
Second, a number of the activities can be used or adapted for more than one unit. This can be done in two ways. Some activities can be used as they are written to assess student performance in other units. For example, the performance-based assessment activity for Unit IX, Entrepreneurship, of the Agribusiness Sales, Marketing, and Management curriculum guide can be used without modification in place of the assessment activity for Unit III, Planning the Farm Business, of the Agricultural Management and Economics curriculum guide. Other activities involve a project that can be readily tailored to another unit, such as the performance-based assessment activity for the Introduction to Swine Production unit, which is to design a time line that follows the animals from conception to retail. By changing the references and substituting relevant management practices, this activity can be used as the assessment for the Introduction to Sheep Production unit. A cross-reference chart is included with the assessments that gives a list of all units, a brief description of their current performance-based assessment activity, and the location of other activities that can be used or adapted for that unit.
And finally, because the enhancements are made available by compact disc, any activity can easily be copied to a separate file and rewritten or adjusted by the instructor while still maintaining the original file unaltered. This allows the instructor the freedom to not only adapt one performance-based activity from one unit to another, but also to change specific aspects within the activity to make it more responsive to his or her needs and the needs of the students. In the Scoring Guide, for instance, the total point value of the assessment can be changed, the weight of any assessment area can be increased or decreased, and criteria can be modified, added, or removed.
It is very important to note, however, that if the instructor does change the activity in any way, whether by using the activity from one unit as the performance-based assessment for another unit or by making changes within the activity, the Show-Me Standards, the References, and the Scoring Guide, as well as the other aspects of the enhancement as it is currently written, may no longer apply. This can be true of even seemingly small adjustments. If the instructor does make any changes to a performance-based assessment activity, he or she should thoroughly review the entire activity for accuracy and suitability and make any additional adjustments these changes necessitate prior to assigning the activity to students.
It is also important to note that the performance-based assessment activities are not a replacement or alternative for activities, assessments, and competencies found in the unit or for more comprehensive activities that address the curriculum guide as a whole, such as the projects completed for the Agricultural Construction and Agricultural Structures classes. Students must complete all required competencies and should only complete the performance-based assessment activities if they have mastered all the relevant competencies and have the instructor’s permission.
These enhancements were designed to be precise, flexible, and functional. All of us who worked on this project sincerely hope that the instructors and students who use them will find them to be a practical and engaging addition to the agricultural curriculum.
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