Education Glossary

Accreditation Process
Process by which schools are evaluated and recognized by the state as having met specific standards of adequacy or excellence.

Achievement Test
A measurement device used by schools to assess the general achievement of students, as compared to a national group.

American College Test (ACT)
A battery of tests designed to measure achievement; created and administered to groups of students by the American College Testing Program. It is used as a criterion for college and university admissions.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
A federal law that prohibits discrimination against disabled individuals in all terms and conditions of employment and requires employers to make "reasonable accommodations" for disabled applicants and employees, unless the employer can demonstrate that doing so would create "undue hardship" for the organization.

Assessment
Process of gathering data and putting it into interpretable form. It is the first step in making a judgment or a decision about a program's importance. This term also applies generally to tests which measure student learning.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
A controversial diagnosis of a neurobiological disorder in children that can make it difficult for affected students to succeed in school. ADHD students often appear unmotivated, irresponsible, or inconsistent in their actions. Also known as "attention deficit disorder (ADD)."

Barrier Free Architecture
Buildings and other physical constructions (such as curbs) that eliminate architectural barriers, allowing disabled persons to easily enter, move about, and use the facilities or constructions.

Bilingual Education
Instruction in which a student's home language is used in addition to English.

Block Grants
Federal or state funding distributed in a lump sum ("block") directly to states or localities for the states or locations to administer and direct programs.

Certification (teaching)
Process by which a state or approved board authorizes a qualified person to teach in public schools; may also called licensure.

Class Load
Total number of classes or pupils taught by one teacher.

Community Analysis
A systematic process of collecting, organizing and analyzing detailed data/information about a community/ environment, its strengths, weaknesses, needs, and desires. Its purpose is to provide basis for designing a system that meets the needs of the students who attend school there.

Competency Based Education
Organized system of teaching and learning designed to ensure mastery of prescribed skills and behaviors.

Criterion Referenced Assessment
A test or other assessment method that measures how well each student masters each objective of the district's curriculum.

Criterion Referenced Test (CRT)
Assessment instrument used to diagnose skill levels achieved on each of several specific tasks applicable to a particular situation in a given classroom or school.

Curriculum
All the courses of study offered by an educational institution; a particular course of study within a special field.

Disaggregation of Data
Separation of data into the component parts (gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age/grade, attendance center) at both the local and state levels.

Dropout
Any student, grades nine through 12, who leaves school for any reason, except death, before graduation or completion of a program of studies and who does not transfer to another school.

Early Childhood
Any organized developmental and/or educational program staffed by certified professionals for children aged 0-5.

Early Childhood Education
The program and curriculum for children in nursery school and kindergarten.

Elective
Any of a number of nonrequired studies a student is allowed to select.

Evaluation
The school will evaluate its progress toward achieving the identified improvement plan outcomes. The evaluation should answer the following questions:
a. How do we know we are making progress on implementing our improvement plan?
b. How do we know we have achieved our improvement plan outcomes?

Extracurricular
Activities of students, teams, or clubs that are not considered part of (and, therefore, outside of) the school curriculum.

Fine Arts
Curricular subjects that include theater, drama, dance, speech, music, and visual arts.

Fiscal Year
Any annual period established for accounting purposes.

Hardware
Machines and technical equipment used in audiovisual and computer applications (as opposed to "software," which refers to the programs used with the machines and equipment).

Homebound Instruction
Individual teaching in a child's home by a traveling teacher; it provides for education of students with disabilities who are unable to attend school.

Inclusion
Educating children with disabilities to the maximum extent appropriate along with children without disabilities. The concept advances the belief that separate schooling, special classes, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment should occur only when the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services can't be satisfactorily achieved.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
A federal funding statute requiring schools that receive monies under this law to provide a free appropriate public education to all eligible children with disabilities.

In-service Training
A general term used to describe efforts to promote employees' professional growth and development while on the job.

Instructional Leadership
One of the seven characteristics of effective schools. In an effective school, the campus administrator acts as an instructional leader by effectively communicating the mission to staff, parents, and students; by staying close to the day-to-day instructional program; by closely monitoring pupil progress; and by providing systematic feedback on goal attainments throughout the school year.

Instructional Strategies
Plans of action designed and used by educators to maximize student learning and achievement of the desired outcomes. The selection of strategies is based upon the nature of the outcomes and students' learning styles and needs.

Integrated Curriculum
Unites all curricula through clearly defined outcomes in order to meet the common needs of all learners.

Interdisciplinary Instruction
An instructional process that combines information from two or more subject areas or creates a team situation that allows teachers from different academic disciplines to cooperatively plan, teach, and evaluate the progress of their students.

Language Arts
The skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

Lesson Plan
A teaching outline of the important points of a lesson arranged in the order in which they are to be presented; it may include objectives, points to be made, questions to ask, references to materials, assignments, and evaluation methods or tools.

Magnet School
Comprehensive school offering enriched curriculum in one or more subject areas.

Mastery
Ability to use a skill, capacity, proficiency, at an identified level.

Mission Statement
Answers the questions "Why?" and "Why do we exist?" States the purpose of the organization; defines the chief function; justifies existence and identifies the customer (those who are served). It is outcomes driven and articulates those outcomes; is broad, idealistic and philosophical; is determined through community needs assessment/analysis. The mission statement is broad enough that it need not change unless the community environment changes.

Monitoring
Systematically checking. ( 1 ) Monitoring of student progress. In an effective school, student academic progress is measured frequently by using a variety of assessment procedures. Results are used to improve individual student performance and to improve the instructional program. (2) Monitoring is a required step in the school improvement process. A State Board initiated audit team will visit each school at least twice during each 4year accreditation cycle in order to validate the degree that goals/targets have been attained.

Multiple Assessment
An assessment process which comprises the use of more than a single test or evaluation procedure; data are collected from multiple sources, such as formal and informal tests, curriculum based procedures, observation of the student, and interviews or reports from parents and professionals.

Needs Assessment
Self evaluation by each school. Required step to be followed in the school improvement process; first year data is used to establish a baseline; in subsequent years, data is used for future goal setting.

Outcome
Statement of agreed upon results. The results of an educational program.

Outcomes Based Accreditation (QPA)
A set of regulations and procedures used to decide if a school and/or district has met program specifications in terms of identified outcomes.

Outcomes Based Education
Education which focuses and organizes all of the school's programs and instructional efforts on clearly defined outcomes that all students must demonstrate when they exit.

Paraprofessional
A Paraprofessional assists the Instructor in creating a positive learning environment to facilitate the personal, social, and intellectual development of students.

Parent Teacher Conference
Discussion held among an individual student's parents and teacher(s) in which students are often included. Such conferences are frequently organized to include several teachers as a way of providing a school-wide perspective on the student's progress.

Percentile
A statistical term indicating the ranking of a score on a standardized test. If a student scores in the 99th percentile on a test, for example, that means that of all persons tested, only one percent scored higher.

Phonics
A method of teaching reading that begins by having students learn the sounds of letters or groups of letters and building words from them.

Policy
Statement adopted officially by a school board or an administrative agency outlining principles to be followed in specific matters. It usually requires rules or regulations to be formulated for it to be implemented and is broad enough to provide for administrative decisions about the manner in which it will be put in place although its implementation in some manner is mandatory.

Preschool Education
Theory and method for guiding very young children in a group, generally in nursery schools; emphasis is placed on developing capacities of the individual and on helping him or her to develop abilities to address challenging situations.

Professional Development
In-service training designed to help school employees, especially teachers, add to or strengthen the specialized knowledge and skills they draw upon in the conduct of their profession.

Profile
A description of baseline data which reflects current information and depicts change as the school/district works toward its improvement goals. Basic elements include indicators of student outcomes and student behavior; effective instructional practices; school climate; community and parent attitudes and involvement; staff development priorities, attitudes, and perceptions; employer feedback; and community attitudes about the educational program.

Pupil/Teacher Ratio
Average number of pupils per teacher in a school district or school.

Quality Performance Accreditation (QPA)
An accreditation system adopted March 12, 1991, by the State Board of Education which addresses school improvement, accountability, and individual student performance at the building level.

Quartile
One quarter range of percentiles; a student with a test placement of 75 or better (out of 100) would be in the first quartile.

Race/Ethnicity

Asian or Pacific Islander
A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, or the Indian subcontinent. This includes, for example, China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippine Islands, and Samoa.

Black (Not of Hispanic Origin)
A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.

Hispanic
A person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race.

Native American or Alaskan Native
A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North America and who maintains cultural identification through tribal or community recognition.

White (Not of Hispanic Origin)
A person having origins in any of the original people of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East.

Reading Readiness
The phrase used to refer to a child's intellectual and physical ability to learn to read

Remedial Instruction
Procedure used to teach students whose performance is judged to be below normal in a given subject; remedying below normal performance.

Sabbatical/Sabbatical Teaching Year
A leave or absence, with full or partial compensation, to be used for self-improvement following a designated number of consecutive years of service.

Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT)
An instrument used to measure student achievement, administered by the College Entrance Examination Board to students in both middle and high schools and used as a criterion for college and university admission; formerly called the Scholastic Achievement Test.

School Improvement
Programs and/or activities organized for the purpose of increasing the academic achievement levels of all students.

School Improvement Plan
A step in the school improvement process requires that each school develop and submit to the State Board specific plans to achieve its locally developed goals.

Social Studies
Combines courses of study in history, geography, economics, sociology, and political science.

Software
Programs needed to operate a computer. There are two major types of software: system and application. System software consists of programs to control the operations of computer equipment, including how to perform the functions of loading, storing, and executing an application. For a computer to operate, an operating system must be stored in the computer's main memory. Application software consists of programs that tell a computer how to produce information; this includes software for word processing, spreadsheets, and graphics.

Special Education
Specially designed Instruction provided, at no cost to parents, to meet the unique needs of children with disabilities.

Stake Holders
All individuals involved in or affected by decisions made regarding local education. This may include parents, students, classified personnel, certified personnel, patrons, and local business owners.

Standard
Goal statement indicating the acceptable level of excellence.

Standardized Test
Assessment instrument administered, under similar controlled circumstances, to many individuals.

Student Teacher
College student assigned to a school through a teacher education program to observe and to do directed teaching under the supervision of a certified teacher.

Support Staff
Employees who provide administrative, technical, and logistical support to a school or education program.

Tax Base
Assessed value of local real estate that a school district may tax for yearly operational monies.

Tax Levy
Total sum to be raised by a tax; or the legislative measure by which an annual or general tax is imposed.

Tax Rate
The amount of tax paid for each increment (usually $100) of assessed value of property.

Team Leader
Organizational designation for the teacher assigned or selected by peers to organize and administer a team teaching program.

Team Teaching
Two or more teachers cooperatively planning, teaching, and evaluating the progress of their students.

Tenure
Guaranteed job security, usually granted by law to teachers after a specified number of years of satisfactory service; it cannot be rescinded except for specified reasons.

Title IX (Of the Education Amendments of 1972)
Provision of federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally assisted education programs and extracurricular activities.

Vision
An imaginative mental image of how something is perceived. Visionary leaders promote and creatively manage change by searching for more ideas and solutions.

Vocational or Technical Education
Technical education that integrates elements of academic education necessary for enabling lifelong learning with workforce skills necessary for building successful careers.