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A
- ABC Program
- Arkansas Better Chance Program.State funded early care and education program that serves educationally deprived children,
ages birth through 5, excluding kindergarten programs. A top priority are districts where 75 percent of students score below proficient
in literacy and math on the benchmark exams, as well as those children in schools that have been designated on school improvement status.
Any willing provider may apply for funding as long as they meet the State Quality Approval and ABC Standards.
- Academic Content Standards
- The written documents that outline what a student should know and be able to do at each grade level. The state testing system is
based on (aligned with) these content standards.
- Academic Distress
- A classification assigned to any public school district in which 75 percent or more of its students perform at the "below basic"
performance level on the criterion-referenced assessments.
- Accountability
- Being held responsible for your actions. Student assessments are used to determine how well schools and school districts are
meeting their responsibility to help all students to meet the standards.
- Achievement Gap
- Refers to the difference in standardized test scores among different student groups, such as racial/ethnic or socio-economic groups.
- ACSIP
- Arkansas Comprehensive School Improvement Plan.A plan developed by a local school team that is based on student performance
data and other information and provides a plan of action to address areas where students are not scoring well on the benchmark tests.
The local school team members should include teachers, parents, and community members. The plan includes professional development,
technology, materials, and resources needed to carry out the plan. This plan determines how federal funds will be used at the school.
- ACTAAP
- Arkansas Comprehensive Testing, Assessment and Accountability Program.The blueprint for education in Arkansas which includes
the state's Smart Start Initiative (focuses on grades K-4), Smart Step Initiative (focuses on grades 5-8), and education for grades 9-12.
ACTAAP represents the result of extensive planning and discussion by Arkansas educators, policymakers, and school patrons. The authority
to implement ACTAAP is firmly established in legislation by Act 999 of 1999. ACTAAP is a comprehensive system that focuses on high academic
standards, professional development, student assessment, and accountability for schools.
- ADE
- Arkansas Department of Education.The state educational agency (SEA) designated in state law as responsible for the state supervision
of public elementary and secondary schools.
- Adjustment
- An adjustment to a budget:
· Will move money around within the approved budget categories, however, it will not change the total amount of money budgeted; and< br/>
· Does not add a new staff position, a new budget function code (Line item), budget object, or change capital outlay. Adjustments have a June 30 deadline.
- AIP
- Academic Improvement Plan.A plan that is to be developed for each student who fails to meet the satisfactory pass levels on any portion of the
criterion-referenced tests and for students in grades K-2 on the state mandated NRT for those grades. This plan is to have
a detailed description of supplemental and/or intervention and remedial instruction used to help a student in the areas
where he/she is not achieving. The AIP is developed by teachers, school personnel, and the student's parents and describes
the parent's roles and responsibilities as well as the consequences for failure to participate in the plan. Students who do
not participate in their remediation program are retained.
- Alternative School
- Schools that are set up to serve populations of students who are not succeeding in the traditional public school environment.
Students who are failing academically or may have learning disabilities or behavioral problems are provided an opportunity to achieve
in a different setting, often with more flexible schedules, smaller teacher-student ratios, counseling support, and modified curricula.
- Annexation
- The joining of a school district or parts of a district with a receiving district.
- Amendments
- An amendment to a budget will do one or more of the following:
· Increase or decrease the total amount budgeted;
· Adds a budget function code (line item) or budget object code;
· Add staff; or
· Increase the amount budgeted for capital outlay.
Amendments have a March 31 deadline.
- AP
- Advanced Placement.A high school level college preparatory course administered by the College Board that students can take to earn college
credit. Students must master a generally higher level of coursework and pass an accompanying test to earn college credit.
- AR HOUSSE
- Point-scale criteria by which a teacher can demonstrate content area competency by compiling points for activities conducted or
performed that are directly related to the content area the teacher teaches.
- Arkansas Benchmark Exams
- A type of criterion-referenced test that Arkansas administers to students in grades 3 through 8.
- Arkansas Better Chance for School Success Program
- State funded early care and education program that serves children ages 3 and 4 years from families with gross income not exceeding
200 percent of the federal poverty level.
- Assessments
- Tests or other tools that measure student skills and knowledge. They help educators and parents determine to which extent students
are meeting standards. Examples include: multiple choice tests, portfolio assessments, and performance tasks.
- AYP
- Adequate Yearly Progress.AYP is a measure used to ensure the same high standards of academic achievement apply to all
public elementary and secondary schools and students in the state, not just Title I schools and Title I students. The measure
must be statistically valid and reliable, and result in continuous and substantial academic improvement for all students. The
state plan must define the following elements:
· Primary assessments
· Other academic indicators
· Process of establishing AYP
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B
- Benchmark
- A detailed measure of what students should know and be able to do at particular ages, grades, or developmental levels.
- BMI
- Body Mass Index.A popular method used to gauge whether or not a person is overweight. BMI is calculated by dividing a person's weight (in kilograms)
by his or her height (in meters, squared). Schools are required to provide a student's body mass index as part of an annual student
health report to parents.
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- Charter School
- Independent public schools designed and operated by educators, parents, community leaders, educational entrepreneurs, or others
who operate outside of the traditional system of public schools. They are sponsored by designated local or state educational
organizations, which monitor their quality and effectiveness.
- Choice Transportation
- In the case of a school identified for school improvement, the school district will, not later than the first day of
the school year following identification, provide students enrolled in the school with the option to transfer to another
public school served by the school district, which may be a public charter school, that has not been identified for school
improvement, unless this option is prohibited by State law. In accordance the NCLB, transportation must be given to the
lowest achieving children from low-income families in providing students the option to transfer to another public school.
A district must meet the comparability requirement as follows: A district may receive Title I, Part A funds only if it uses
state and local funds to provide services in Title I, Part A schools that are at least comparable to the services provided
in schools that are not receiving Title I, Part A funds. Comparability reports are required for districts having more than
one school per grade level.
- Concurrent Credit
- Courses or coursework that satisfy both college and high school credit hours.
- Consolidation
- The joining of two or more school districts or parts of districts to create a single new school district.
- Content Standards
- The information, ideas, and facts students are expected to know and be able to demonstrate at each grade level.
- Core Curriculum
- The course of study recommended for all students.
- Corrective Action
- The significant intervention in a school that is designed to remedy the school's persistent inability to make adequate yearly
progress toward all students becoming proficient in reading and mathematics.
- CRT
- Criterion-Referenced Test.An assessment instrument that is customized according to the state's curriculum frameworks. The test
items are based on the academic standards in the Arkansas Curriculum Frameworks and are developed by a committee of Arkansas teachers, with
support from the Arkansas Department of Education and the testing contractor. This test is also known as the State's Benchmark Exam.
- Curriculum
- The subject matter, skills, and processes that are taught so students will learn standards that have been identified
at the national, state, and local level.
- Curriculum Frameworks
- The listing of what students should learn, by grade level, that guides the development of the curriculum.
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- Desegregation
- Involves eliminating the vestiges (traces) of segregation to compensate for past discriminatory acts, usually by reassigning
students or faculty to remove the prior racial or ethnic identifiability of schools.
- Disaggregated Data
- In education, this means that test results are sorted by groups of students with similar characteristics: those who are
economically disadvantaged, from racial and ethnic minority groups, have disabilities, or speak limited English. This helps
parents and teachers see how each student group is performing.
- Distance Learning
- The transmission of educational or instructional programming to geographically dispersed individuals and groups via telecommunications.
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E
- Early Intervention
- Short-term, intensive, focused individualized instruction developed from ongoing, daily, systemic assessment that occurs while
a child is in kindergarten through grade 1 (K-1) stages of learning.
- ELL
- English language learners. National-origin-minority students who are limited-English-proficient. see also LEP
- EOC Exam
- End-of-course Exam.Exam taken during the last 10 days of school or the equivalent for alternative schedules to measure
whether a student has the knowledge and skills necessary for proficiency in Algebra I, Algebra II, English I, Biology, Chemistry,
Geometry, Physical Science, Physics, Civics and Economics, and US History. Designed to assess the competencies defined by
the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.
Beginning with the 2009-2010 school year a student not meeting the satisfactory pass levels on an end-of-course exam must participate in an
AIP that is to include remediation activities and multiple opportunities to pass the exam. A student who does not pass an initial
end-of-course exam will not receive credit until:
· the student receives a satisfactory pass level on a subsequent end-of-course exam, or
· by the end of grade 12 the student has passed an appropriate alternative assessment related to
completion of an alternative exit course.
- EOG Exam
- End-of-Grade. EOG tests in reading and mathematics are taken by students in grades 3-8 during the last three weeks of the
school year.
- Equitable
- Fair to all students.
- Equity
- The right to treatment without discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, creed, national origin, gender, handicap,
lifestyle, or age. Within the educational arena, equity implies that children are treated fairly by receiving services according to
their individual strengths and needs.
- ESEA
- Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This is the principal federal law affecting K-12 education.
- ESL
- English as a Second Language. ESL is a program model that delivers specialized instruction to students who are learning English
as a new language.
- Essential Elements - Early Reading
- · comprehension - understanding and remembering what is read
· decoding and word recognition (phonics) - recognizing words accurately, fluently, and independently
· fluency - ability to read text accurately, quickly, and with expression
· phonemic awareness - ability to hear and manipulate the sound structure of language
· vocabulary - words that must be known in order to communicate effectively
- Even Start
- A grant-funded literacy program to help break the cycle of poverty by improving the educational opportunities of low income
families through the integration of early childhood education, adult literacy, and parenting education into a unified family
literacy program.
- Ex Officio
- Literal meaning "by virtue of one's office," the term refers to the practice that allows a member of an official group,
such as a school board, to designate someone to fill a certain role at the group's request. For example, a superintendent
might serve as a board's ex officio financial officer.
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F
- Family Literacy Services
- Services provided to participants on a voluntary basis that are of sufficient intensity in terms of hours, and of sufficient duration,
to make sustainable changes in a family, and that integrate all of the following activities:
· Interactive literacy activities between parents and their children.
· Training for parents regarding how to be the primary teacher for their children and full partners in the education of their children.
· Parent literacy training that leads to economic self-sufficiency.
· An age-appropriate education to prepare children for success in school and life experiences.
- Formative Evaluation
- · The collection of data to modify or revise a program, product, procedure in order to improve its efficacy.
· Uses an internal evaluator;
· Uses multi-methods and the process can be informal; and
· Focuses on what is working, what should be revised, and what may be improved.
- F&R Price Lunches
- Free and Reduced Price Lunches.Children who qualify, due to their parent's financial status, receive either free or reduced
priced lunches through a federal government program. See also National School Lunch Program
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G
- GED Test
- General Education Development Test.The GED Tests are a nationally recognized measure of high school knowledge and skills. The GED
credential is based
on five areas which cover reading, writing, social studies, science, and mathematics. The tests also measure communication,
information-processing, problem-solving, and critical-thinking skills.
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H
- Head Start
- A federally sponsored comprehensive child development programs that serve children from birth to age 5, pregnant women,
and their families. They are child-focused programs and have the overall goal of increasing the school readiness of young
children in low-income families.
- High Poverty School
- A school in the top quartile of poverty: seventy-five percent (75%) or above.
- Highly Qualified
- An evaluation that estimates the degree to which a program has been implemented so as to ascertain needed modifications.
The teacher
· Holds at least a bachelor's degree; and
· Holds an Initial or Standard Arkansas teaching license (or be successfully progressing in the AR Non-Traditional Licensure Program); and
· Demonstrates competence in the area the teacher teaches.
The paraprofessional
· Completed two (2) years of study at an institution of higher education; or
· Obtained an associate's (or higher) degree; or
· ParaPro Assessment passing scores
- HIPPY
- Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters.HIPPY is a parent involvement, school readiness program that helps parents prepare their
3-, 4-, and 5-year old children
for success in school and beyond. The program helps empower parents to be their child's first teacher by giving them the tools,
skills and confidence they need to work with their children in the home.
- Home School
- A school conducted primarily by a parent or legal guardian for their own children.
- HQT
- Highly Qualified Teacher.A teacher who proves that he or she knows the subjects he or she is teaching, has a college degree,
and is state-certified. No Child Left Behind requires that all core academic courses must be taught by a Highly Qualified Teacher.
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I
- IDEA
- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.A federal law that requires all states to provide all eligible children who have
disabilities with a free, appropriate public education, from infancy through age 21 years, consistent with State law age provisions
for making education available.
- IEP
- Individualized Education Plan.The IEP is a written statement for a student with a disability that is developed, at least
annually, by a team of professionals knowledgeable about the student and the parent. The plan describes the strengths of the child
and the concerns of the parents for enhancing the education of their child, and when, where, and how often services will be provided.
The IEP is required by federal law (IDEA) for all exceptional children and must include specific information about how the student will be
served and what goals he or she should be meeting.
- Inclusion
- The practice of placing students who have disabilities in regular classrooms, a practice also known as mainstreaming.
- IRI
- Intensive Reading Improvement Plan.An intervention program for any K-2 student identified with substantial reading difficulties.
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L
- Lawsuit
- a legal action between persons or organizations in a court of law where one party seeks justice from the other as determined
by a judge or jury.
- LEA
- Local Education Agency.A public board of education or other public authority within a state that maintains administrative control of public
elementary or secondary schools in a city, county, school district, or other political subdivision of a state.
- LEP
- Limited English Proficiency.When used with respect to an individual, means an individual:
· Who is aged 3 through 21 years; who is enrolled or preparing to enroll in an elementary school or secondary school;
who was not born in the United States or whose native language is a language other than English; who is a Native American
or Alaska Native, or a native resident of the outlying areas; and
· Who comes from an environment where a language other than English has had a significant impact on the individual's level
of English language proficiency; or who is migratory, whose native language is a language other than English, and who comes
from an environment where a language other than English is dominant; and
· Whose difficulties in speaking, reading, writing, or understanding the English language may be sufficient to deny the
individual the ability to meet the state's proficient level of achievement on State assessments; the ability to successfully
achieve in classrooms where the language of instruction is English; or the opportunity to participate fully in society.
see also ELL
- Longitudinal Tracking
- A system that uses test scores to keep up with the progress of the same student from year to year and from grade to
grade, regardless of whether the student moves from one school to another or one district to another. Educators can use
the system to help students who aren't making appropriate academic gains. Longitudinal tracking can also be used to help
develop site specific, targeted, quality professional development for educators.
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- Modeling
- Teaching by showing a student how to do a task with the expectation that the student will copy the action.
- Multiple Choice
- A test question that asks students to select the correct answer from a list.
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- NAEP
- National Assessment of Educational Progress.NAEP, often referred to as the Nation's Report Card, is a standards-based test assesses
the educational achievement of elementary and secondary students in various subject areas. It reports the percent of students who reach the
"basic" level, the "proficient" level, and the "advanced" level, as well as those who are below the basic level. NAEP exams are given to
a representative sample of the student population in grades 4, 8, and 12 in every state.
- National School Lunch Program
- Low-cost or free meals that are provided to children who are determined eligible according to federal guidelines.
Children from families with incomes at or below 130 percent of the poverty level are eligible for free meals. Those
with incomes between 130 percent and 185 percent of the poverty level are eligible for reduced-price meals, for which
students can be charged no more than 40 cents.
- NCLB
- No Child Left Behind.A federal law requiring states to give tests in reading and math in grades 3 through 8
every year. According to the NCLB website, the law is built on four principles: accountability for results, more choices
for parents, greater local control and flexibility, and an emphasis on doing what works, based on scientific research.
NCLB is the more recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Authorization Act and represents a sweeping change
in the federal government's role in local public education. NCLB has a variety of goals, but the most dominant ones are for
every school to be at 100 percent proficiency by 2013-14 as measured by student achievement on state tests and for every
child to be taught by a "Highly Qualified" teacher. The new law emphasizes new standards for teachers and new consequences
for Title I schools that do not meet student achievement standards for two or more consecutive years.
- NRT
- Norm-Referenced Test.A standardized exam based upon a student's broad-based exposure to a variety of topics. Examples of norm-referenced
tests are Stanford 9 or 10, Terra Nova, and the Iowa Basic Skills Test. A norm-referenced test is used to measure and
compare student performance and progress against a national sample of students at the same grade level.
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O
- Open Response
- A test question that asks students to develop their own answer, rather than pick one from a list.
- Opportunity Gap
- A measure used on the Just for the Kids website that shows how well an individual school performed compared to the
strongest-performing schools in the state serving equally or more disadvantaged students. The opportunity gap shows the
difference in proficiency levels between the selected school and the top comparable schools, identifying each school's
potential for improvement. If your school's scores are higher than your comparable schools, you have a positive opportunity
gap. If the scores are lower, you have a negative opportunity gap.
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P
- Paraprofessional
- A classified employee, under the direct supervision of a teacher. The paraprofessional may be assigned to:
· Provide one-on-one tutoring for eligible students, if the tutoring is scheduled at a time when a student would
not otherwise receive instruction from a teacher
· Assist with classroom management, such as organizing instructional and other materials
· Provide assistance in a computer laboratory
· Conduct parental involvement activities
· Provide support in a library or media center
· Act as a translator
· Provide instructional services to students under the direct supervision of a highly qualified teacher
- Parent, Family and Community Involvement
- The term is used broadly in referring to several different ways in which parents and community members or organizations
take part in all aspects and levels of the educational process on behalf of children. Participation is both formalized (such
as PTA, PTO, school-business partnerships, parent-teacher conferences, school volunteer programs, and so on) and informal
(reading to children in the home, parental supervision of homework, supporting millage issues, and the like).
- Parent-School Compact
- A written agreement of shared responsibility that defines the goals and expectations of schools and parents as partners
in the effort to improve student learning.
- Parental Involvement
- The participation of parents in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other
school activities, that includes ensuring:
· Parents play an integral role in assisting their child's learning;
· Parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child's education at school;
· Parents are full partners in their child's education and are included, as appropriate, in decision-making and on advisory
committees to assist in the education of their child;
· The carrying out of other parent involvement activities.
- Partnership
- A mutually supportive arrangement between parents, businesses, or community organizations and a school or school district,
often in the form of a written contract, in which the partners commit themselves to specific goals and activities intended to
benefit students.
- Pass Rate
- A level of performance on student assessments that is determined by the standard-setting process, which establishes the level
below which students are required to have an AIP and must participate in remediation.
- PEP
- Personalized Education Plan. Plans specifically designed to improve a student's performance to grade-level proficiency.
PEP also stands for Principals' Executive Program. This preparation program for principals provides relevant and rigorous professional
development opportunities based on the best current theories and practices.
- Performance Standards
- Skills and knowledge that a student is supposed to be able to demonstrate by the end of a particular grade.
- Portfolio Assessments
- A purposeful or systematic collection of selected work and self-assessments developed over time, gathered to
demonstrate and evaluate progress and achievement.
- Poverty Rate
- The poverty rate of a school is generally determined by the percentage of students who are eligible to receive
free or reduced-cost meals.
- Professional Development
- Activities that:
· Improve and increase teachers' knowledge of academic subjects and enable teachers to become highly qualified;
· Are an integral part of broad school-wide and district-wide educational improvement plans;
· Give teachers and principals the knowledge and skills to help students meet challenging State academic standards;
· Improve classroom management skills;
· Are sustained, intensive, and classroom-focused and are not one-day or short-term workshops;
· Advance teacher understanding of effective instruction strategies that are based on scientifically based research; and
· Are developed with extensive participation of teachers, principals, parents, and administrators.
- PSAT
- Pre-Scholastic Assessment Test. The PSAT is normally taken by high school juniors as a practice test for the SAT. Some
schools use the PSAT as a diagnostic tool to identify areas where students may need additional assistance or placement in more
rigorous courses.
- Public Engagement
- The sustained, active involvement of parents, community members, and taxpayers in the improvement of schooling and efforts to reform schools.
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- Reading First
- A part of No Child Left Behind that is dedicated to making sure all children learn to read on grade level by the
third grade. Reading First provides money to states and school districts to support high quality reading programs
based on the best scientific research.
- Refrigerator Curriculum
- Documents that are on the Arkansas Department of Education website that show what students will be taught
and expected to learn at each grade level. These easy-to-read downloadable documents contain curriculum samples
for parents to use in supporting and helping their child achieve in the classroom.
- Remediation
- The process of providing extra instruction to help a student improve in a particular subject area identified
in a student's academic improvement plan (AIP).
- Resources
- Sources of supply or support.
- Rigor
- The goal of helping students develop the capacity to understand content that is vague, complex, and
personally or emotionally challenging.
- Rigorous
- Demanding strict attention to rules and procedures; allowing no deviation from a standard.
- Rubric
- A scoring guide, showing what kind of work qualifies for a particular score.
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S
- SAT
- Scholastic Assessment Test. The SAT, which is often taken by high school juniors and seniors as a precursor to
college/university admission, assesses a student's verbal, mathematical, and writing skills.
- School Attendance Area
- The geographic area in which the children who are normally served by that school reside. A district must rank
order all of its attendance areas according to their percent of poverty. After a district has ranked all of its school
attendance areas, the district must first serve, in rank order of poverty, areas having above 75 percent poverty,
including any middle schools or high schools. Only after a school has served all of its areas with a poverty rate
above 75 percent may the district serve lower ranked areas. The district has the option to continue on with the
district-wide ranking or rank remaining by grade span groupings. A district with an enrollment of less than 1,000
students or with only one school per grade span is not required to rank order its school attendance areas.
- School Board
- the local legislative unit of school district governance, charged with operating the district according to
the mandates of laws and regulations.
- School District
- a defined geographic and governmental area, overseen by a locally elected school board and managed by a
superintendent, in which the public schools serve students who either live within the area's borders or enroll
through school choice or a legal transfer from a different school district.
- School Dropout Rate
- The percentage of students who leave school for any of the following reasons: incarceration, failing grades,
suspension or expulsion, lack of interest, conflict with school, economic hardship, pregnancy, marriage, peer
conflict, lack of attendance, alcohol, drugs, or other.
- School in Need of Improvement
- This is the term No Child Left Behind uses to refer to schools receiving Title I funds that have not met state
reading and math goals (AYP) for at least two years. If a school is labeled a "school in need of improvement," it
receives extra help to improve. Also, children in the school have an option to transfer to another public school
within their district, including a public charter school. Children in these schools may also be eligible to receive
free tutoring and extra help with schoolwork (SES).
- School Report Cards
- The Annual School Performance Report Card, commonly referred to as the Report Card, is produced annually by the
Arkansas Department of Education. While the Report Card does not grade or rank Arkansas schools, it does provide
parents and school patrons with a wide variety of statistical information about schools and school districts.
- School-Wide Programs
- School-wide programs use Title I money to support comprehensive school improvement efforts and help all students,
particularly low-achieving and at-risk students, meet state standards. At least 40 percent of a school's students must
qualify as low-income to be eligible to have a school-wide program.
- Scientifically Based Research
- Research that:
· Involves the application of rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures to obtain reliable and valid knowledge
relevant to education activities and programs
· Employs systematic, empirical methods that draw on observation or experiment; involves rigorous data analyses that
are adequate to test the stated hypotheses and justify the general conclusions drawn
· Relies on measurements or observational methods that provide reliable and valid data across evaluators and observers,
across multiple measurements and observations, and across studies by the same or different investigators
· Is evaluated using experimental or quasi-experimental designs in which individuals, entities, programs, or activities
are assigned to different conditions and with appropriate controls to evaluate the effects of the condition of interest, with
a preference for random assignment experiments, or other designs to the extent that those designs contain within condition
or across-condition controls; ensures that experimental studies are resented in sufficient detail and clarity to allow for
replication or, at a minimum, offer the opportunity to build systematically on their findings
· Has been accepted by a peer-reviewed journal or approved by a panel of independent experts through a comparably rigorous,
objective, and scientific review
- SEA
- State Educational Agency. The term state educational agency means the agency primarily responsible for the State
supervision of public elementary schools and secondary schools (Arkansas Department of Education).
- SES
- Supplemental Educational Services.This is the term used by No Child Left Behind to refer to extra help children from low-income families may
be eligible to receive, such as tutoring and schoolwork assistance in subjects like reading and math. This help
is paid for by the school and is provided free of charge to the parent. The tutoring service is chosen from a
list of approved providers and generally takes place outside the regular school day, such as after school or
during the summer.
- Staff Development
- See professional development
- Standards
- Content standards are a description of what students need to know and be able to do. Performance standards are a
description of how well students need to demonstrate on various skills and knowledge to be considered proficient.
- Standard-based Test
- A test that tells how a student's performance compares to some standard of quality.
- State Board of Education
- The policy-making body for public elementary and secondary education in Arkansas. The Arkansas State Board of
Education is a nine-member group of business and community leaders. The board is to be composed of two members from
each of the state's four congressional districts, and the remaining member is to be selected at-large. The Governor
appoints members for a single seven-year term. The board meets on the second Monday of each month.
- Statutes
- laws that are created by state or federal legislation.
- Summative Evaluation
- · Is the collection of data to determine the effectiveness of a program, especially in a comparative sense;
· Uses an external evaluator;
· Uses technically sound instruments and the process is quite formal; and
· Focuses on what are the results, in what situations, and requiring what costs, material, and training.
- Supplemental Educational Services
- As noted in Supplemental Educational Services Non-Regulatory Guidance (2003), "When students are attending Title I schools that have not
made adequate yearly progress in increasing student academic achievement for three consecutive years, parents of eligible children will be
provided opportunities to ensure that their children achieve at high levels. Students from low income families who are attending Title I
schools that are in their second year of school improvement (i.e., have not made adequate yearly progress (AYP) for three or more years),
are eligible to receive these services."
The term supplemental educational services means tutoring and other supplemental academic enrichment services provided to low income
students attending a school not meeting AYP that are:
· In addition to instruction provided during the school day;
· Specifically designed to increase the academic achievement of eligible students as measured by the State's assessment system; and
· Enable these children to attain proficiency in meeting State academic achievement standards; and
· Of high quality and research-based.
- Supplement versus Supplant
- A district shall use federal funds received in a specific program part only to supplement the funds that would, in absence of such
federal funds, be made available from non-federal sources for the education of pupils participating in programs assisted and not to
supplant funds. Federal funds from one program may not be used to meet other federal, state or local district requirements. (Example:
Federal funds may not be used to meet State standards.)
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- Teacher Mentoring Program
- Mentoring programs pair novice teachers with more experienced professionals who serve as role models and provide practical
support and encouragement. High-quality, structured mentoring programs have a positive effect on the retention of qualified teachers.
- Thematic Units
- Units of study built around a particular theme or topic that draws from two or more subject areas.
- Title I
- Title I is the largest federal aid program for elementary and secondary schools. Funding is based on the number of low-income
students enrolled in a school, generally those eligible for the free lunch program. Schools use Title I money to pay for extra
educational services for children who are behind or at risk of falling behind in school.
- Title III
- Title III is the section of No Child Left Behind that provides funding and addresses English language acquisition and standards
and accountability requirements for limited English proficient students.
- Title IX
- Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 bans sex discrimination in schools receiving federal funds, whether it is in
academics or athletics.
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U
- URS
- Uniform Readiness Screening.A state mandated, developmentally appropriate assessment that shall be used to determine if
a student has substantial difficulty reading.
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V
- Value-Added
- Among educators, the term refers to the increase of learning that occurs over the time of a course of a course or program that
is provided to a student. For example, the difference between a students reading ability from the beginning of a certain program to
the end of it can be considered the value-added result.
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W
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X
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Y
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Z
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