Defining terms is the key to a good argument! Below are a few key terms that relate specifically to Nyack. We also have reproduced the Nation Coalition for Education Activist's (NCEA) definitions which have been formulated from a variety of sources.
Nyack District
Anti-racist education: "Equipping students, parents and teachers with the tools needed to combat racist and ethnic discrimination" (Enid Lee)
Multi-cultural education: has come to mean something quite superficial--- the dances, dress, dialect and dinners of other cultures. A strong multi-cultural education needs to focus on the values and the power relationships that shape a particular culture. (Enid Lee)
Individual Education Plan (IEP): exactly what it says it is--- an individualized learning plan for your child. Each child is supposed to have one as part of their file.
Tracking: "The categorizing of students according to particluar measures of intelligence into distinct groups for purposes of teaching and learning." (Anne Wheelock). "This is based on the century-old belief that a crucial job of schools is to ready students for an economy that requires workers with quite different knowledges and skills" (Jeannie Oakes)
De-Tracking: doing away with tracking based on overwhelming evidence that nearly every child is capable of achieving every worthwhile educational goal, regardless of his or her scores on outmoded measures of intellectual ability. (Jeannie Oakes)
English Language Arts Test (ELA): New York State English Language Arts Tests administered in Fourth, Eight and Twelfth Grades
Terra Nova's: Standardized tests being given to all Third and Fifth Graders. Tests are administered at the end of April
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NCEA CONFERENCE 2000
LIST OF TERMS
Language. It is the tool we use most to communicate with each other - yet we often don't have a common understanding of the words we use to talk about education, activism, and social change. We'd like to offer some common language for the discussions we have during the conference. It is not a complete list of terms, and we won't all agree on the definitions we've provided. We hope it will be useful as a starting point, and hope you will give us your feedback - and words and definitions to include in future lists.
Assessments, tests and exams
Assessments
are ways to find out what students know, so teachers (as well as parents and students) can improve and support student learning. Tests or exams are one kind of assessment. Assessment methods should be fair to all students. Parents, community activists, and students, as well as educators, should understand, review, and help improve assessment systems.Alternative assessments are methods other than standardized tests, for getting information about what students are learning and where they may need help. Students may answer questions, develop special reports or projects, create a portfolio (collection of work) or perform demonstrations to show off their knowledge and skills.
Criterion-referenced tests (CRTs) are intended to measure how well a person has learned a specific body of knowledge and skills. Multiple-choice tests most people take to get a driver's license and on-the-road driving tests are both examples of criterion-referenced tests. As on most other CRTs, it is possible for everyone to earn a passing score if they know about driving rules and if they drive reasonably well.
High-stakes tests — are the determining factor in grade promotion, tracking, ability grouping, graduation or entrance into special programs, college, or university.
Norm-referenced tests (NRTs) compare a person's score against the scores of a group of people who have already taken the same exam. Most NRTs are multiple-choice tests. Some also include open-ended, short-answer questions. The questions on these tests mainly reflect the content of nationally used textbooks, not the local curriculum. This means that students may be tested on things your local schools or state education department decided were not so important and therefore were not taught.
NRT's include the California Achievement Test (CAT); Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS); Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) and Tests of Academic Proficiency (TAP); Metropolitan Achievement Test (MAT); and Stanford Achievement Test (SAT, not to be confused with the college admissions SAT). "IQ," "cognitive ability," "school readiness," and developmental screening tests are also NRTs.
Performance exams
are tests that ask students to demonstrate particular knowledge or skills. A. performance exam might include a math question asking students to explain in words why and how they did what they did or a reading test asking students to reflect at some length (depending on grade) on the meaning of a short essay.Rubrics — a guide for grading performance assessments or any student work. Rubrics describe what student work must look like to be considered excellent or satisfactory. Rubrics should be given to students when they begin the work so it is not a mystery how it will be graded.
Standardized tests are given to large numbers of students under similar conditions. They are usually multiple choice, but some might ask for short answers or even essays. Most require a "correct" answer and are frequently scored by computer. Most do not help identify how deep a student's understanding is or whether s/he can use knowledge in real-world situations.
Standards based assessments or tests — a type of criterion-referenced evaluation (CRT). Many states and districts are in the process of replacing or supplementing standardized tests with tests tied to standards for what students in particular grades should know and be able to do. The new tests often combine multiple-choice questions with others requiring short or even fairly long responses. They also have performance standards that define how much of the content standards students should know to reach the "basic" or "proficient" or "advanced" level in the subject area. Tests are then based on the standards and the results are reported in terms of these "levels," which, of course, represent human judgment. In some states, performance standards have been steadily increased, so that students continually have to know more to meet the same level.
Bilingual Education
Bilingualism
- fluent command or ability in two languages.Bilingual education - an in-school program for students whose first language is not English or who have limited English skills. Bilingual education provides English language development and instruction in different subject areas in the student's native language.
English as a Second Language (ESL) - the most widely used teaching approach for teaching English to speakers of other languages.
"English only movement" - an organized effort to make English the official language of the United States. It is aimed at ending bilingual education, while fostering racism and anti-immigrant hysteria.
Maintenance bilingual program
- a bilingual education approach in which development of the native language continues after the child acquires English skills to ensure that a child maintains his/her native language and becomes fully literate in two languages.Transitional bilingual education - an approach to teaching children with limited English proficiency that uses the native language only to the extent necessary to facilitate acquisition of English language skills and content area instruction. There is no goal of bilingualism or effort to develop or maintain literacy in the child's home language.
Special education
Special Education and the IDEA
- Over twenty years ago congress passed a federal law that guarantees children with physical and mental disabilities a "free and appropriate public education." In 1990 the law was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. or IDEA. The IDEA is the law most people mean when they talk about special education.IEP or Individualized Education Program - a detailed plan describing a child's educational goals and objectives and the services the school will provide to help your child reach them and learn the general curriculum.
IEP Team - these are the people who work together to develop the IEP. By law, the IEP team must include: the parents; at least one regular education teacher (if your child takes or may be able to take regular education classes); at least one of student's special education teachers or service providers; a representative of the school district; a person knowledgeable about evaluations; other people the parents or school district want to invite who have special knowledge about the student; and the student, if appropriate and when discussing transition planning.
Initial Evaluation - the first time a child is tested to see if he or she is eligible to receive special education services. An Independent Evaluation is testing done by someone who doesn't work for the school system.
Least restrictive environment - means that children with disabilities should be taught with children who do not have disabilities. Schools may place children with disabilities in separate classrooms or schools only when supports and services are not enough to help the child learn in a regular education classroom.
Transition Plan - once a student turns 14, the IEP must include a transition plan, describing how the school will prepare the student for life after high school, such as college, employment or independent living.
Other terms
Anti-racist - describes intentional actions, practices and language aimed at eliminating racism and its effects in our society. (For example, one of NCEA's goals is to promote critical, anti-racist practices in classrooms.)
Charter schools are deregulated, autonomous public schools that receive money from a school district or a state department of education but are not held to the standards or mandates of that district or state. The regulations will vary from state to state - but typically charter schools are founded by groups of parents, teachers, or community members seeking forms of schooling not offered by local district schools. The group pledges to achieve specific educational goals and applies for a charter to whatever public authority the state has designated. If a charter is awarded the group receives funding on a per-pupil basis. In some states, funds are taken directly from the schools students leave when they enter a charter.
Cohort — a group sharing the same experience at the same time. For example all kindergartners who started school in 1999 or all beginning teachers.
Community organizing - a systematic way to mobilize people and resources to make change. There are several models of community organizing. Most models share an analysis of power - who has it, how they hold and use it, and what it will take to rearrange it. Many parents and education activists use community organizing models in their work to improve their schools.
Grouping — putting students together for a specific reason and for a specific amount of time. This decision is evaluated periodically. Example: grouping all students who read at a level for reading instruction for certain number of minutes each day while the rest of the day they are in a group of students with differing abilities. See tracking.
Institutional racism - the way in which a society's established structures, laws, practices and customs support and perpetuate racism. Institutional racism takes many forms. Many point to tracking, unequal funding, discriminatory hiring practices, and textbooks and curricula that exclude or distort the histories of people color as examples of institutional racism within our education system.
Pedagogy - an approach to or philosophy of teaching. How to go about teaching something.
Racism - the systematic mistreatment or subordination of members of targeted racial and ethnic groups who have relatively little social power in the United States (people of African, Arabic, Asian, Latin American, Native American and Pacific Islander descent and people of mixed heritage/people of color) by the members of another racial group who have relatively more social power (Whites/people of European descent). Racism is supported by the actions of individuals, cultural norms and values, and the institutional structures and practices of society.
"School choice" is an umbrella term that includes education reform programs like charter schools, vouchers, and public school privatization (schools run by private companies). School choice has supporters across the political spectrum - although for very different reasons.
School reform — local, state or national efforts to make changes in schools. There are many different models for school reform, and many different approaches to school change.
School-based budgeting — schools having more control over how the school's money is being spent. It requires many hours of investigation, meetings, and active participation if the priorities for the school budget are to change. School-based budgeting is usually the responsibility of a school governance council.
School-based management — models giving the teachers, staff and parents at a school more power over decisions concerning the school, governance councils or committees, campus advisory councils, and site-based committees are all different names for school-based management. School-based management includes representatives of teachers, parents, staff and community (at high schools there are often students) who are responsible for making important decisions for a school. These committees or councils seem to work best when the representatives are truly accountable to those they are supposed to represent. Some districts elect their representatives; in others organizations (staff and teachers' unions, PTAs, student council, etc) appoint people to represent their group.
Small schools - Across the country community groups are working with parents and educators to start small schools. These schools are often characterized by: a) small size, preferably no more than 350 students in elementary schools, and 500 students in high schools; b) a cohesive and self-selected faculty; c) substantial decision-making autonomy; d) a coherent curricular focus that ensures children a continuous educational experience from grade to grade; and e) an inclusive admissions policy.
Social justice unionism - tries to make education unions focus on the needs of students and communities as well as school staff. It calls for participatory union membership, education reform to serve all children, collaboration with community organizations, and a concern for broader issues of equity. It recognizes that teachers' long-term interests are closer to those of poor and working people whose children are in our public schools, than to the corporate leaders and politicians who run our society. A key priority of social justice unionism is building coalitions and alliances with parent and community advocacy groups that speak to both school reform and ensuring equity in society as a whole.
Standards — academic or content standards describe what students should know and be able to do in certain subject areas and at certain stages in their education. States, districts, or schools may set standards.
Title One - refers to federal funding for schools to provide extra services for students who are behind academically in school. Funding is based on the number of low-income children in a school (generally those who are eligible for free lunch) and is intended to supplement- not replace - state and city funds for the school. Schools receiving Title One monies are required to involve parents in deciding how these funds are spent and in reviewing the progress of Title One programs.
Tracking — grouping students by their supposed ability. Example: all below grade level readers are placed in one classroom where they also get their math, science and social science instruction. This has often led to segregation by race, class or gender within schools. Researchers have found that once a student is placed in a "low" track she or he rarely gets out. "Low" tracks often get the least experienced teachers.
Vouchers - State-provided funds that pay for students to attend private and religious schools, redirecting the money from the public school district that the student would have attended. In some areas vouchers are currently sponsored through private monies in an attempt to push states to fund vouchers.
Whole school reform - whole school reform means raising student achievement by improving the curriculum and instruction for the entire school. The idea behind whole school reform is that if a large number of students are not doing well academically, the whole school needs to improve -not just provide extra remedial services to low achieving students without addressing overall school performance. Whole school reform programs try to help schools improve the learning environment and provide a range of curriculum and professional development support to help teachers and administrators improve their practice.
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The definitions here were borrowed, sometimes directly, from many sources, including NCEA members and steering committee, and from publications produced by FairTest; NYU Institute for Education and Social Policy; ERASE; Rethinking Schools; Political Research Associates Activist Resource Kit; NCEA's newsletter Action for Better Schools; and Dollars and Sense.
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