Louisiana Administrative Code
Title 28 - EDUCATION
Part LXVII - Bulletin 1977-Business Education Content Standards Curriculum Framework for Louisiana
Chapter 3 - Standards and Benchmarks
Section LXVII-301 - Introduction

A. Standards and benchmarks provide a framework for local curriculum development. A school district's physical facilities, available equipment, resources, and community and business support are only a few of the factors that make the system unique and determine the curriculum offered.

B. In using this framework to develop curriculum, a standard is the major outcome of a course and benchmarks are the goals for obtaining that outcome. Local systems will select the career majors to be offered, the courses offered in these majors, and create the objectives and activities that teachers will use to direct their instruction to reach the benchmarks for the selected courses. This procedure will allow local systems to structure curriculum to meet the needs of their students, schools, and communities while remaining consistent with the overall framework for the entire state.

C. Local systems will use the career majors as a guide to select the courses that will be offered for each major. Not all career majors or all courses listed with the major in this framework must be offered locally. Employment opportunities and postsecondary education availability in the local area should be considered as curriculum is developed.

D. To be identified as a vocational completer, a student must successfully complete four courses in the career major, two of which must be competency courses. The other two courses must be selected from the competency courses and/or related elective courses identified in the career major.

E. Business Education programs shall provide opportunities for business education students to receive instruction in one or more career majors. A career major consists of at least four of the courses recommended for the major. Two of the courses must be at the competency level. High schools with two or less full-time teachers may offer required courses on an alternating basis in order to meet the requirements for program approval. An approved vocational program at the junior high level (grades 7-8) shall include a minimum of three classes in Business Education or Exploratory Business.

F. The first semester of Keyboarding is considered a foundation skill for each career major. Touch typing skill, keyboard layout, and business formats should be taught at the junior high (grades 6-8) level if possible, to allow time for concentration on competency courses in a career major. If students have not completed Keyboarding and Keyboarding Applications upon entering high school, these should be the first business courses taken.

G. The Business Education content standards and the five career majors are described in detail beginning on page 16. Each of the five career majors are defined by required competency courses and related elective courses, a focus statement that describes its importance and uniqueness, and examples of employment options available to the student upon the successful completion of the career major. (Page ii in the Appendix provides a matrix for easy reference to the career majors and recommended courses.)

H. Following each career major are the content standards that relate to that major. The standards identify what students should know and be able to do. In the column beside each standard are benchmarks that identify specific skills and knowledge and serve as points of reference to gauge student progress toward achievement of standards. Benchmarks set the direction of instruction. An asterisk (*) identifies benchmarks that encourage critical thinking.

I. Cross-references to academic content standards reinforce the integration of academic and business skills. English Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science academic standards are cross-referenced in the third column beside each Business Education standard. The referenced academic standards are listed in full in the appendix. Codes used in the table to identify the academic standards are given below: