Understanding Education-ese
Public education can be a maze of cryptic terms and confusing acronyms. AASB has developed this short guide to help you get up to speed quickly.
Education's Alphabet Soup
A+ A+ Education Foundation
AAS Association of Attendance Supervisors
AASA American Association of School Administrators
AASB Alabama Association of School Boards
ABE Adult Basic Education
ACE Alabama Coalition for Equity
ACNPS Association of Child Nutrition Program Supervisors
ACOE Alabama Conference of Educators
ACSBA Alabama Council of School Board Attorneys
ACT American College Test
ADA Average Daily Attendance, Americans with Disabilities Act
ADD Attention Deficit Disorder
ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder
ADM Average Daily Membership
AEA Alabama Education Association
AERA Alabama Education Retirees Association
AESA Association of Elementary School Administrators
AFT American Federation of Teachers
AHSGE Alabama High School Graduation Exam
AMSTI Alabama Math, Science & Technology Initiative
AP Advanced Placement
ARFI Alabama Reading First Initiative
ARI Alabama Reading Initiative
ARMS Alabama Risk Management for Schools
ASB Alabama School Boards magazine
ASBO Association of School Business Officials
ASCD Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development
ASSP Association of Secondary School Principals
AVA Association of Vocational Administrators
AYP Adequate Yearly Progress
BOE Board of Education, Business Office Education
CASE Council of Administrators of Special Education, Council for the Advancement and Support of Education
CSFO Chief School Financial Officer
CLAS Council for Leaders in Alabama Schools
CNP Child Nutrition Program
CUBE Council of Urban Boards of Education
DD Developmentally Delayed
EC Emotionally Conflicted
ECS Education Commission of the States
Ed.D. Doctorate of Education
ELL English Language Learner
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
ESEA Elementary-Secondary Education Act
ESL English as a second language
ESP Education Support Professionals
ETF Education Trust Fund
FY Fiscal Year
GASB 34 Governmental Accounting Standards Board Statement 34
GED General Equivalency Diploma, General Educational Development (test)
HI Hearing Impaired
HQ Highly Qualified teacher
IB International Baccalaureate
IDEA Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
IEP Individual Education Plan
LAF AASB’s Legal Assistance Fund
LD Learning Disabled
LEA Local Education Agency
LEAPS Report Local Education Agency Personnel System Report
LEP Limited English Proficient
MR Mentally Retarded
NAEP National Assessment of Educational Progress
NAESP National Association of Elementary School Principals
NACTE National Association for Colleges of Teacher Education
NASSP National Association of Secondary School Principals
NBPTS National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
NCES National Center for Education Statistics
NCLB No Child Left Behind Act
NEA National Education Association
NESIC National Education Standards and Improvement Council
NGA National Governors Association
NMSQT National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test
NSBA National School Boards Association
NSPRA National School Public Relations Association
NTE National Teacher Exam
OERI Office of Educational Research and Improvement
OI Orthopedically Impaired
PEEHIP Public Education Employees Health Insurance Plan
PEPE Professional Education Personnel Evaluation
PSCA Public School and College Authority
PSAT Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test
PTA Parent-Teacher Association
PTO Parent-Teacher Organization
PTSA Parent-Teacher-Student Association
RIF Reduction in Force
RSA Retirement Systems of Alabama
SACS Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
SDE State Department of Education
SERVE Southeastern Regional Vision for Education
SLEAPS Support Local Education Agency Personnel System Report
SLI Speech and Language Impaired
SREB Southern Regional Education Board
SSA School Superintendents of Alabama
TBI Traumatic Brain Injury
TRS Teachers Retirement System
VI Visually Impaired
VOC ED Vocational Education (now usually called Career Tech)
4x4 Curriculum - the state’s requirement that students take four years each of math, science, social studies and English in order to graduate from high school.
Alabama Math, Science & Technology Initiative - a hands-on approach to teaching math and science. Participation currently is limited because of funding.
Alabama Reading Initiative - a program which provides intensive training to better prepare teachers in selected schools to teach reading as part of a schoolwide project. Beginning in fall 2004, it will be used in K-3 classroom statewide.
Adequate Yearly Progress - the amount of improvement various student demographic groups are required to make each year under the No Child Left Behind Act. Failure to make the required AYP results in sanctions.
Bid Law - state law requiring public agencies to take bids for all purchases of labor, services, work, materials, equipment, supplies or other personal property involving $7,500 or more.
Block Scheduling - breaks the school day into four periods of about 90 to 100 minutes. This is used mainly in high schools to teach a year’s worth of material in one semester. Allows students to take more courses in a year.
Charter Schools - schools created through “charters,” or contracts authorized by state or local school boards, colleges or other groups. Usually operate free of legal restrictions and mandates imposed on traditional public schools.
Contract Principal - a person ineligible for tenure or one who has relinquished tenure in return for what is usually a multi-year contract.
Cooperative Learning - practice of grouping students for class projects or discussion. Students learn by working together rather than direct lecturing by the teacher.
Core Curriculum - the four years each of math, science, English and social studies students must take to graduate.
Data-driven Decision Making - The practice of analyzing students’ performance on various tests as the basis for school and school board decisions.
Disaggregated Data - test results that are broken down to show the performance of students in specific groups (usually broken down by race, poverty level, English proficiency and special education status).
Embedded Credit - allows a student to earn an academic credit for a core curriculum course required for graduation based on work done in a vocational class.
Fair Dismissal Law - state law governing the termination and transfer of non-certified employees, such as aides, bus drivers, custo-dians and lunchroom workers, who work 20 hours or more in a normal week. Grants non-probationary status (that is in some ways similar to teachers’ tenure) to workers after three calendar years.
Financial Assistance - the term for the SDE's take over of a school system's financial affairs. The state superintendent can appoint a person to provide continuous, on-site advice on the day-to-day operations of the board.
GASB 34 - rules from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board requiring school boards to report financial data using both the modified and full accrual accounting methods, which can make them appear financially unstable.
Highly Qualified Teacher - a teacher who has demonstrated competence in all the academic subjects he teaches. The state offers several options for proving that competence. Under No Child Left Behind, all teachers must be deemed HQ by the summer of 2006.
Interdisciplinary Teams - teams of teachers from different subject areas who coordinate their instructional materials/approach in teaching a grade level(s).
LEAPS Report - Local Education Agency Personnel System Report. Submitted by school systems to show the number of certified workers it employees.
Looping - assigning a teacher to stay with a group for several school years, usually in a self-contained class and usually for the primary grades.
Multi-Age Grouping - assigning students of different grade levels or ages to a single class. Can be for an entire school year or a single subject.
No Child Left Behind Act - common name for the 2002 reauthorization of the federal law known as the Elementary Secondary Education Act. Imposed new accountability standards, including mandated testing, performance requirements for various student population groups and school choice in chronically failing schools.
Opens Meetings Act - the state law that requires that most meetings of school boards and other public bodies be open to the public and governs when they can go into executive session.
Persistently Dangerous School - a school in which, for three consecutive years, five students or 1 percent of the student population (which-ever is greater) annually are expelled for violent criminal offenses. Schools labeled PDS must allow students to transfer out.
Personal Leave - vacation days teachers may take during the school year. State law allows boards to give teachers up to five personal days annually. The state funds two of the days and they must be given with pay. Any additional days allowed by a local board can be with or without pay.
Professional Learning Community - describes the relationships and attitudes toward learning when school staff and their administrator(s) unite in their commitment to student learning. They share a vision, work and learn collaboratively, visit and review other classrooms, and participate in decision making.
School Fiscal Accountability Act– the chapter in Alabama code adopted in 2006 to require sound fiscal management policies with specific requirements for those handling school funds.
Sixty-five Percent Solution –a proposal to spend at least 65 % of every education dollar on “classroom instruction”. The proposal is misleading because it is not research-based, has no correlation with student achievement, and hinges on what is included in the definition of “classroom instruction.”
State Intervention - state take over, or partial take over, of a school or school system based on poor financial or safety performance.
Sunshine Law - see Open Meetings Act above.
Tenure Law - state law that provides teachers who have worked for three years with certain rights relating to transfer and dismissal. It also mandates that new principals be placed on contracts and spells out their job protections and duties.
Vouchers - direct public financial assistance or tax incentives given to parents to help offset the cost of tuition at private or religious schools.
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