From Soccer to Home and School

		Act 2 Scene 1 Narrator: Mike goes home from soccer practice that day, feeling better about why he was selected for the All Star Team. He also understood the concept of standards much better. He learned from Coach Capra how soccer standards and school standards are similar. This helped him understand what a standard is. When his dad comes home, hešll discuss this some more with him. However, dad walks through the door from the Parent Teacher Association meeting with a serious frown on his face. Mike: "Uh-oh. What did I do now?" Narrator: Mikešs dad is upset because the school is planning on putting in a new soccer field in Budding Park. Mike: "Great idea! A new soccer field couldnšt be better! So, why are you so upset?" Mike's Dad: "Go get your science book. Išll explain to you why Išm upset about the proposal to build the new soccer field in Budding Park." Narrator: Mike brings his dad the science book. His dad opens to the section on ecosystems, and then takes a pencil and paper and draws a map with a web. Understanding ecosystems and how one species affects another in a connected web is a standard of science and also in real life. As Mike's dad explains, when the soccer field is put in Budding Park, digging will occur. Trees will be cut down, trees that took years to grow. People wonšt have certain benches to sit on to feed the pigeons. The birds will be affected by the loss of the trees and the loss of the bird feed from people sitting on the benches. The pond might be filled in for more space for the soccer field. Think of the ecosystem in the pond, the web of all the organisms that are connected. In the pond, you have frogs and sometimes small fish and turtles. The ducks like to float on top of the water. These creatures will all be affected. We may even have an endangered species living in this Budding Park ecosystem that no one has considered. Now Mike understands the standard for disrupting or upsetting ecosystems if the soccer field were actually built. The new soccer field would be great for him and the other kids on the City Central Kickers, but what about all the rest? This ecosystem standard was really important to understand! A selection criteria or standard, must be used in selecting a site for a new soccer field, just like when he was selected to be on the All Star Team for the Sunflower High School Boys All Star Game. The community needs to use standards of science when carefully looking at the ecosystem of Budding Park before they disrupt the site. It would be helpful for the planning group to understand the standards in relation to the proposed site at Budding Park or any alternative sites. Mike reflects on this and believes speaking with team members, his coach, and even his cousin Michelle (who is also a soccer player) might be helpful so that they understand what is involved in making appropriate site selections for soccer fields.

		Narrator: Mike gathers a group of students his age together, including his cousin Michelle, at his house to look at the pond ecosystem. He draws a poster of the ecosystem and places objects on it that everyone in the group could move around to show what would happen if the soccer field is built. Michelle: "You know, it's not always a bad thing to disrupt existing ecosystems, such as Budding Park. It might turn out that putting in the soccer field is the best option and no real harm will be done to the park's ecosystem. We just need to understand ecosystems and that organisms are connected in a web and affected by one another. That is an important standard for us to know in school and life."

		Act 2 Scene 2 Narrator: At school the next day, Michelle's math teacher, Mrs. Freeman writes a standard on the board as an advance organizer to introduce the lesson for the day. Mrs. Freeman is in the habit of writing the standard and the lesson objective on the board for that day's lesson and having her student's copy it in their daily planner. This morning she tells the students that the lesson would be based on a standard. She places this Concept Diagram on the board. Michelle: "That looks familiar. That looks like the Concept Diagram Coach Jackson filled in with me at practice last night except this one is about Academic Performance Standards. This shouldn't be too difficult to understand."

		Mrs. Freeman: "Today we're going to discuss the concept of Academic Performance standards. The concept 'academic performance standards' can be placed within the larger, overall concept of 'standards,' because information never stands alone.

		Mrs. Freeman: "What are some words we think about when we hear the phrase 'academic performance standards'? You've seen standards stated in your math textbook. You've all heard the word standard, so you probably have some ideas. Michelle, you have your hand up, do you have any ideas?" Michelle: "Yes, Coach Jackson has been discussing soccer performance standards with us. How about benchmarks?"

		Mrs. Freeman: "I'll put the word benchmarks under the Key Words section." Now, I'll draw ovals around the words that we can say are examples, and I'll underline the words we think are characteristics we can use to describe academic performance standards. This will give us an idea of where to place our Key Words on the Concept Diagram.

		Next, let's identify the characteristics that are always, sometimes, and never present in academic performance standards. We begin by looking at the Key Word List. Which of our items on the Key Word List do you think should be placed in the 'Always' column, the 'Sometimes' column, and the 'Never' column? Grade levels are always present, but age levels are sometimes present. Why do you think that is?" Michelle: "Because students of different ages could be in the same grade. We can have high school freshmen who are thirteen, fourteen or even fifteen years old. So grade level is sometimes more important than age." Mrs. Freeman: "What is always present in academic performance standards is that they provide subject and grade level destinations a student should achieve by the end of a unit, term, or school year. Specific benchmarks are used to guide planning, instruction, and monitor student performance. Both of those characteristics can be placed in the 'Always Present' column. Let's look now at characteristics listed in the Key Word section that would sometimes be present. As Michelle said, age level is sometimes present, because people of different ages could be in the same grade." Michelle: "How about the column under 'Never Present'? Standards seem to include so much, what is never present in a standard?" Mrs. Freeman: "Good point, Michelle. Rules, grades, and test scores are never present in academic performance standards. Grades and test scores are two ways that your teachers, school, and community can assess your performance of the standards, but these are not academic performance standards. Please don't confuse rules and grades with academic performance standards. Now, we should look at the remaining words on our list of Key Words for examples and non-examples."

		Mrs. Freeman: "'Sixth to eighth grade level readers should be able to interpret a variety of informational text by using reading skills and strategies' is a great example of an academic performance standard in reading. 'Sixth to eighth grade level math students should be able to understand and apply basic and advanced concepts of statistics and data analysis' is another great example of an academic performance standard in math. We'll be looking at that in more detail later in this class. An academic performance standard in science is 'sixth and eighth grade level science students should understand how species depend on one another and on the environment for survival by knowing that an organism's patterns of behavior relate to the nature of the organism's environment.' I would put that as another example." Mrs. Freeman: "Class, we have some excellent examples of academic performance standards. What are some non-examples?" Michelle: "A student who follows the classroom rules isn't performing academic standards. Following classroom rules posted on the wall is a non-example. How about getting a report grade or the results of a standardized test, like the student state assessment tests we take each year?" Mrs. Freeman: "Yes, following classroom rules posted on the wall is a non-example. Since grades and test scores are never present in academic performance standards, getting a report card or the results of the state assessment are also non-examples. I'll place those in the non-example column."

		Mrs. Freeman: "Okay, we have most of the Concept Diagram completed. Let's work together on a good definition for the concept of an academic performance standard. A complete sentence must go into the definition. The names of the targeted concept and the overall concept should also go in the definition. The characteristics that are listed as 'Always Present' should also go in the definition. Let's look at the definition now. Academic performance standards are a type of standard, which provide grade level markers that a student should be able to achieve by the end of a unit, term, or school year. Academic performance standards have benchmarks used to guide planning, instruction, and monitor student performance. To finish up, I want you to think about what we've learned so far about academic performance standards. We'll be looking at this Concept Diagram again in this class for understanding statistics."

Soccer Performance Standards: A Short Story in Three Acts