Coyote Creek S.A.C
Glossary
GLOSSARY
OF EDUCATIONAL TERMS
(or School Language in Plain English)
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Any situation in which students move around and do things rather than sitting at their desks, filling out worksheets, or listening to the teacher.
AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress)
A measure of the expected growth made by a student after one year’s worth of instruction.
After-school Enrichment
Programs scheduled after school that provide additional opportunities for student experiences. Check CCE’s Information Board just outside the Music Room for current offerings.
Alignment
The practice of matching state content standards, district curriculum, and instruction and assessment in the classroom.
Assessment
An activity or written test that measures a student’s skills and/or knowledge in a particular subject area.
Basic skills
The basic building blocks of school curriculum that usually refer to reading, writing, and mathematics. Within these subjects, basic skills usually refer to the ability to decode words, comprehend those words and the meaning of the context those words are in (reading), spelling those words correctly within a student’s writing and to write coherent and understandable paragraphs (writing), and the ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide, and to solve mathematical problems.
BOE (Board of Education)
The school board and governing body for a school district.
BOE (Body of Evidence)
A collection of work maintained by a classroom teacher to document a student’s learning progress. In Douglas County Schools, the items to be placed in the Body of Evidence is prescribed by the district.
Brain-based Learning
Approaches to schooling that rely on recent brain research that shows how the brain learns at a maximum level, utilizing activities that are authentic (simulating real-world experience).
(BRT) Building Resource Teacher
Douglas County Schools provide a BRT for every building. This person’s first priority is the mentoring of teachers who are new to the building or district, to ensure that they receive the support necessary to succeed as quality educators. BRTs are also charged with professional development for the entire staff of their school.
CBLA (Colorado Basic Literacy Act)
This act sets out required activities for schools to help students achieve at least grade level performance in reading.
CDE (Colorado Department of Education)
Arm of state government that oversees educational practice.
Charter Schools
A self-governing educational facility that operates under contract between the school’s organizers (parents, private organizers, etc.) and the sponsors (e.g. local school boards).
Classroom Management
Procedures teachers use to create a productive learning environment. Students learn how to cooperate, collaborate, and take responsibility for the choices they make in behavior and learning situations.
Classroom Organization
Physical arrangement of the classroom including the placement of desks, bookshelves, learning areas, wall displays, etc.
Cognitive Learning
The mental processes involved in learning, such as remembering and understanding facts and ideas.
Colorado Model Content Standards
State expectations of what children should know and be able to do when they leave the K-12 educational system.
Comprehension
The ability to understand and gain meaning from reading. A person who can expertly decode words but who does not understand the meaning of those words is not “reading”.
Computation
The finding of answers to mathematical problems by using addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and any combination of these functions.
Cooperative Learning
A teaching strategy designed to imitate real-life learning and problem-solving by combining teamwork with individual and group accountability. Working in small groups, with individuals of varying talents, abilities, and backgrounds, students are given a variety of tasks. Each team member is assigned a personal responsibility that is essential to the successful completion of the task. Cooperative learning allows students to acquire both knowledge and social skills.
Corrective Action
A school that does not make adequate yearly progress toward meeting standards is placed under a corrective action plan by the state. In Colorado, that corrective action is the school becoming a charter school administered by the state.
Criterion Referenced Test
Tests designed to measure how thoroughly a student has learned a particular body of knowledge without regard to how well other students have learned it.
Critical Thinking
Logical thinking based on sound evidence. A critical thinkier can accurately and fairly explain a point of view that s/he may not agree with.
CRT (Computer Resource Teacher)
A staff member who specializes in technology. In Douglas County Schools, each school has an Instructional CRT (works with students and teachers to teach and maintain computer skills) and a Technical CRT ( maintains hardware and network, embedding staff development).
CSAP (Colorado Student Assessment Program)
Measures student progress in meeting the Colorado Model Content Standards. Tests are given in reading, math, writing, and science as students move through Grades 3 to 10.
Curriculum
The approved subject matter that teachers teach at each grade level. Curriculum is “what” is taught, rather than “how” material is taught. In Douglas County Schools, curriculum is designed by district educators and is consistent throughout all schools.
DAC (District Accountability Council)
The district level representative council that is responsible for overseeing school accountability councils.
DCEF (Douglas County Educational Foundation)
Assists educational programs in Douglas County Schools with fundraising support.
DCKA (Douglas County Kindergarten Assessment)
An assessment administered to all kindergarteners as they complete kindergarten, to determine their level of readiness for first grade.
Decoding
Translation of the letters in written words into sounds and combining the sounds into meaningful words.
Developmentally Appropriate Education
Curriculum and instruction that is in accord with the physical and mental development of the student. Developmentally appropriate education is especially important for young children since their physical and mental abilities change quickly and with great variation from child to child.
Differentiation
Delivering instruction to students according to their individual styles and needs, rather than teaching all in the same way.
DLP (Differentiated Learning Plan)
A learning plan developed for students who are performing above grade level in the classroom setting. Students are tested to determine if, indeed, they are significantly above grade level. If so, the BRT, teacher, student and parent(s) write the plan together. The plan includes activities and agreements that will support the student in learning at his/her own pace.
Disaggregated Data
Test results are separated by student characteristics or other meaningful categories. This provides teachers with information that can be used to adjust and improve instruction in the areas of disaggregation.
Discovery Program
Douglas County Schools provides this program for students who are considered to be “gifted”. Students must qualify by scoring at a predetermined level on a test administered by the program. Elementary students must attend the particular school in which a Discovery Program is located. (Coyote Creek Discovery students attend Northridge Elementary.)
Distance Learning
Classes that take place in locations other than the classroom or other place where the teacher presents the lesson. Rural districts often use distance learning in the form of broadcasts to provide instruction in subjects for which they do not have the resources to provide locally.
Dyslexia
A condition that results in difficulties with reading. This very general term is used to describe many different specific difficulties.
ELL (English Language Learner) or ESL (English as a Second Language)
Refers to programs that serve students whose native language is other than English.
Embedded Professional Development
Educators learn and practice new skills in the context of their daily work, rather than sitting through a class or workshop with little or no support after returning to their classroom.
Enrichment Programs
Programs sponsored by school staff members which are provided outside regular school hours that provide “extracurricular” opportunities for students. Examples at Coyote Creek include Spelling Bee, Geo Bee, Math Olympiad, and Destination Imagination.
Environmental Print
Printed materials that are a part of everyday life, such as signs, billboards and labels. Recognition of these words is an expected pre-reading stage in the development of reading skills.
EPR (Elementary Progress Report)
This report is utilized by all Douglas County elementary schools, and provides information about student progress on grade level standards.
Experiential Education
Any form of education that emphasizes personal experience of the learner rather than learning from lectures, books, and other second-hand sources.
Flexible Grouping
Teachers place students in small groups to teach or re-teach specific skills. The makeup of these groups changes as the teacher sees the needs of students changing.
Fluency
A characteristic of oral reading or writing in which the language flows with meaning, sounding like authentic speech patterns.
Formal Assessment
Refers to tests that are established by federal, state, or district mandates. This term can also refer to any test that is designed by a teacher for a specific skill, as opposed to general observation of student performance.
FTE (Full Time Equivalent)
This phrase refers to staffing allotments for licensed employees in school buildings. For example, a teacher working full time is considered a 1.0 FTE.
Gender Bias
Different treatment of girls and boys based on their gender, in a textbook or by a teacher during instruction. This bias can take place deliberately or unconsciously.
Grapheme
The smallest part of written language that represents a sound in the spelling of a word. A grapheme may be just one letter, such as b, d, f, p, s; or several letters, such as ch, sh, th, -ck,ea, -igh.
Graphic Organizers
Visual representations of ideas that help students organize new information.
Guided Reading
This is the heart of a balanced reading program. A balanced reading program regularly provides several kinds of reading and writing. The teacher guides and assists students as they read aloud in small skill-based flexible groups. The ultimate goal is to help children learn how to use independent reading strategies successfully.
Heterogeneous grouping
Mixing students of all abilities into the same classroom. This term also can refer to a grouping practice that places students of different ability levels together for classroom instruction.
Higher Order Thinking
Asks students to go beyond the basic skill of memorizing information by developing their ability to process information and apply it to a variety of situations.
Home Schooling
The practice of parents teaching their children at home rather than sending them to public or private schools. Legal requirements vary from state to state.
Homogeneous Grouping
A grouping practice that places students of like ability levels together in the same classroom or in groups within a classroom.
ILP (Individual Literacy Plan)
A learning plan developed for students who are performing below grade level in reading. The plan includes activities and agreements (including parent responsibilities) that will support the student in reaching grade level performance in reading.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
A learning plan for students with special needs, as specified by the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), who have a legal right to a unique plan of education written by a team of Special Education staff members, classroom teachers for the particular student, and the student’s parents.
Inclusion
The practice of educating children with disabilities with their peers in a regular classroom in their neighborhood school. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires that disabled children be educated in the “least restrictive environment” possible.
Informal Assessment
Informal methods teachers use to assess student progress, such as observation of students’ performance, checklists, and anecdotal records.
Intermediate Grades
Grades four through six are considered the intermediate grades.
IQ (Intelligence Quotient)
A measurement of mental ability. Many critics claim that it measures experience and the ability to do well in school rather than innate ability.
Journals
Personal writing books in which learners write about their learning experiences, observations, and thought processes during problem-solving.
Kindergarten Readiness
Skills that students need to possess as they enter kindergarten for success in that experience. The focus is on social/emotional learning and healthy physical development, as well as prereading skills.
Learning styles
All children can learn, but each person concentrates,, processes, and absorbs new information differently. Teachers use this information as they plan lessons so all students in the class have the opportunity to learn from time to time using their preferred learning style. They also, then, have the opportunity to exercise resilience as they can practice using learning styles of others.
Letter Knowledge
The ability to identify the names and shapes of the letters of the alphabet.
License
The certification earned by educators which qualifies them to work for a school district. The minimum schooling in Colorado for an educator to earn a license is a Bachelor’s degree.
Literacy
Includes all the activities involved in speaking, listening, reading and writing.
Magnet School
A public school that has a particular focus for all learning activities (e.g. math, science, technology, the arts).
Manipulatives
Learning materials that students can work with physically to give them the opportunity to understand abstract ideas by using concrete objects.
Metacognition
The ability to be conscious of one’s own thinking process; “thinking about thinking”.
Multiple intelligences
A theory of teaching and learning that identifies eight types of intelligences: verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematic, visual-spatial, musical-rhythmic, bodily-kinesthetic, naturalist, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
A federally-funded program that provides assessment of what American students know and can do in various subjects; often referred to as The Nation’s Report Card. Schools are randomly selected for participation.
NCLB (No Child Left Behind act) of 2001
Federal law that provides guidance and money to assist schools and families in helping all children learn.
Norm Referenced Test
Standardized test designed to measure how a student’s performance compares with the scores of other students who took the test for norming purposes.
Performance-based Assessment
Requires students to show what they know and can do by performing a hands-on task (e.g., producing a play,conducting a science experiment).
Phonemes
The smallest parts of spoken language that combine to form words.
Phonemic Awareness
The ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words.
Phonics
The relationship between the basic sounds of spoken language and the way those sounds are represented by symbols.
Portfolio
A collection of student work chosen to exemplify and document a student’s learning progress.
Print Awareness
The knowledge that printed words carry meaning and that reading and writing are ways to get ideas and information.
Primary Grades
Kindergarten through grade 3 are considered the primary grades.
Prior Knowledge
What students know about a topic before they are introduced to new learning about that topic.
Professional Development
This term is used to describe the time educators spend learning new ideas and skills to help children learn.
PTA (Parent Teacher Association)
This group provides information and support for parental involvement in education. Coyote Creek’s chapter is a member of the National Parent Teacher Association.
Pull-out Program
This term refers to the process of taking students out of the regular classroom for additional instruction in a specific set of skills. Often the instruction is provided one-to-one or in small groups by a specialist.
Qualitative Data
This type of data usually includes words rather than numbers. Sources for information related to qualitative inquiry might include observations, interviews, or focus groups.
Quantitative Data
This type of data usually includes counting measures or ratings. It may include surveys, rating scales, or checklists.
Quality Indicators
Standards and rubrics used to identify high quality educational practices, programs, curriculum, and materials.
Resilience
Describes the ability to bounce back from a stressful event.
Rubric
Specific descriptions of what a particular performance looks like at several different levels of quality.
SAC (School Advisory Council)
This council is established by Colorado state law for the purpose of involving parents and educators in the development and monitoring of the required School Improvement Polan
Scaffolded Instruction
Instruction that builds on what students already know and can do, then provides support so that they can learn to do the next harder task.
School Choice
Allows alternatives for families when enrolling their children in school.
School report card
A report about each school in the state. The school report card gives information about the school’s academic performance, CSAP results, safety and discipline incidents,
student/teacher ratio, teacher qualifications, and how taxpayers’ dollars are spent. In Colorado this report is called the School Accountability Report (SAR).
Sight vocabulary
Words that a child can read without having to sound them out.
SIP (School Improvement Plan)
A plan developed each year to indicate the goals a school is targeting, and how those goals will be accomplished. Each school files an SIP each year with the school district which, in turn, provides the compiled information from all schools to the state.
Standards
Statements of what students should be able to know and do.
Temporary Spelling
A normal developmental stage as children begin writing. Words are spelled according to the child’s current knowledge of how words are put together. These approximations are addressed by the teacher as they appear in the child’s writing, with priority given to those words used most frequently in the English written language.
Title I
Federal program that provides additional educational services for low income students and families.
Vocabulary
The words students know, including spoken vocabulary, listening vocabulary, and written vocabulary.
Word Recognition
The ability to identify a printed word. Word recognition is a part of being able to read, but reading does not occur unless the reader understands the meaning of the text.
Word Wall
A systematically organized collection of words displayed on a wall in the classroom, to provide practice in word recognition and vocabulary development.
Writing Center
An activity center in the classroom supplied with a variety of different kinds of paper, writing utensils and other writing supplies for students to use in their daily writing.
Year-Round School
A school calendar that offers short, frequent breaks throughout the year, rather than the traditional three-month summer