Standards and Backwards Mapping

In this blog, I'm going to discuss developing a unit plan for State of Arizona Business Management and Administrative Standard 2.0: Demonstrate Marketing Concepts. The standard was taken from Arizona Department of Education Career and Technical Education standards and is part of the the Business Management and Administrative list of standards.

I chose this standard because I'll be teaching it and need to refresh on it. It is part of the entrepreneurship class and will be mostly taught to junior and senior level high school students. Although sophomores are eligible, I was informed that it is mostly taken by junior and senior level students participating in FBLA (Phi Beta Lambda) and DECA (Delta Epsilon Chi) clubs. Both clubs are active on the college level with FBLA additionally operating in the post-college, professional environment.

The standard asks students to "Demonstrate Marketing Concepts" by way of eight measurement criteria which are:

2.1 Explain marketing terminology
2.2 Analyze internal and external markets
2.3 Explain the difference between product and service-based marketing
2.4 Explain a marketing plan
2.5 Predict how changes in sales volume, unit costs and unit sales and pricing affect net income (Note to teacher: accounting - financial ratios)
2.6 Describe how businesses compete for market share in identified markets
2.7 Explain the impact marketing research has on the success of a business
2.8 Use desktop publishing to design and print a flier to market a product or service

Looking ahead to Activity 3, these criteria should also be viewed as objectives as there is an identifiable goal in each with a final goal of "demonstrating marketing concepts." Under Fink and Bloom's taxonomy we have:

1. Explain - Foundational Knowledge - Understanding and Remembering
2. Analyze - Application - Critical Thinking
3. Demonstrate - Application - Performance Skill, Human Dimension and Caring
4. Predict - Application - Practical Thinking
5. Describe - Foundational Knowledge - Understanding and Remembering
6. Explain -  Foundational Knowledge - Understanding and Remembering
7. Use - Application - Performance Skill

And does the Standard and it's measurement criteria fulfill SMART learning objectives? They will once conditions, time limits and relevant activities are attached to them. In their present state, they are missing a few SMART components.

Knowing that the district will be updating to Apple Macs in Fall 2016, I anticipate that this and other Business Management standards will be updated because they currently show Power Point and Word as tools to use and lesson plans listed under them. But I couldn't find a curriculum guide for the Business Management standards. There was reference to lesson plans, but I wasn't able to access them. The Accounting Curriculum Guide was complete in that it listed all standards plus measurement criteria, content, implementation, terminology plus assignments and projects for the teacher to use. Thus, although Accounting Standard 3.0 is very large, it is also very complete and features instructions for lesson plans in it. In that standard, the user would simply read the text under the heading, "Implementation," and use it to create a lesson plan.

As I stated above, I wasn't able to access lesson plans for Marketing Standard 2.0, only references to them. That being said, I created my own set of proficiencies, assessments and activities for the standard.

 Proficiencies

Four proficiencies students will have to demonstrate are: create a business plan, an infographic project and pass both midterm and final exams.

 Assessments

My three critical assessments are the midterm and final exams plus successful creation of a business plan. Because business plans can be complex, I'll divide students into groups. Each group will ultimately present the completed business plan to the rest of the class. In order to increase learning, some groups will work on business plans for service-based industries while others will focus on product-based industries.


Activities

I anticipate that many activities and projects will be attached to this standard. Some will include: create a business plan, a SWOT analysis project, a marketing mix project, a marketing research project, a pricing game and an infographic project instead of the flier project listed above. As I stated above, I'm anticipating that the Business Management and Administrative Standards will be updated as new technology is being introduced. Although teachers must follow curriculum guidelines, they are allowed to introduce topics and technology that may be helpful. For example, although the focus is on business marketing, I may suggest students study how marketing is used in political campaigns, by non-profits to encourage donations, the government as well as social impact and psychological marketing strategies. For example, one student did a project on the influence of marketing on gangs and how the desire for high-priced sneakers encouraged criminal behavior (stealing) while other students chose to look at successful strategies used by non-profits to boost membership and donations. I'll give my students a choice of topics to encourage learning.





References

The University of New Mexico School of Medicine. (2005). Effective Use of Performance Objectives For Learning and Assessment. Retrieved from: http://ccoe.rbhs.rutgers.edu/forms/EffectiveUseofLearningObjectives.pdf.