Most members of the public simply do not expect to understand the work-related explanations of chemists, business executives, medical researchers, engineers, economists, mathematicians, statisticians, dancers, musicians, computer scientists, pilots, and lawyers. The issues central to the lives of such specialists are not held to be part of the public conversation; the public does not seek to direct the development of those issues. Hence, these practitioners rarely are required to define their terms using garden-variety English.
On the other hand, education is part of the daily public conversation, and educators' use of a special vocabulary can be viewed as being both unnecessary and an overt attempt to keep the public uniformed, misinformed, or disinformed regarding what is happening in the schools. In fact, educators — like any other specialists — have both reason and right to employ terms that add to the compactness and precision of discourse within the field. But because the public owns education, educators also must be prepared to explain complex matters related to teaching and learning by using a "7-Eleven" vocabulary.
Definitions of some education terms are relatively precise and widely-accepted, but many definitions are the subject of debate and evolution — i.e., are under construction. The pages that follow report uses and sources of terms being used to frame current discussions (debates?) of proposed changes in education. In some cases, a reported use is not an exact quotation, because phrases were deleted or combined or because syntax was altered. Each such instance is marked with an asterisk (*).
NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF STATE SCIENCE & MATHEMATICS COALITIONS
September 1999
Accountability
Accountability refers to the systematic collection, analysis, and use of information to hold schools, educators, and others responsible for student performance.
Designing and Implementing Standards-based Accountability Systems
Education Commission of the States
Accountability: Standards-Based
Standards-based accountability refers to collecting and reporting information based on student progress on achieving established standards.
Designing and Implementing Standards-based Accountability Systems
Education Commission of the States
Accountability Systems
Accountability systems show the public, parents, and policymakers how well schools are doing their job of educating students. Accountability systems describe a set of education goals, identify roles and responsibilities, measure student progress, and inform and involve all stakeholders in analyzing results and suggesting strategies for change.
So You Have Standards: Now What?
Education Commission of the States
Accountability Systems
Accountability systems comprise the systematic collection of input, process, and output data, as well as the use of these data, to make decisions about the effectiveness of schools, districts, or states.
Designing and Implementing Standards-based Accountability Systems
Education Commission of the States
Accountability Systems: Elements
Elements of an accountability system include input measures (such as qualifications of teachers or dollars spent on education), process measures (such as descriptions of how mathematics or science classes are taught), and outcome measures (such as student achievement measures or graduation rates).
Designing and Implementing Standards-based Accountability Systems
Education Commission of the States
Assessment
Assessment is a measure of what a student knows and is able to do, usually expressed in terms of progress toward a standard or mastery of a standard.
So You Have Standards: Now What?
Education Commission of the States
Assessment: Alternative/Authentic/Direct/Performance*
Alternative/authentic/direct/performance assessments typically engage students in real-world problems — requiring students to write an essay, solve a real-life math problem, or design and conduct a hands-on science experiment. Unlike machine-scanned tests, these assessments are scored by humans who examine student work and apply agreed-upon criteria.
A Policymaker's Guide to Standards-Led Assessment
Education Commission of the States
Assessment: Norm-Referenced*
A norm-referenced test is designed to provide a relative comparison of a student's test score with the scores of students in a group, such as a nationally representative sample. The average score is always the 50th percentile, meaning half of the students taking the test will score above the average and half will score below. The fact that a student scores at the 60th percentile in mathematics, for example, indicates the student did as well or better than others who took the test. It does not indicate how many mathematical skills the student has mastered.
A Policymaker's Guide to Standards-Led Assessment
Education Commission of the States
Assessment: Standards-Based or Criterion-Referenced*
A standards-based or criterion-referenced test is designed to provide a clear picture of what a student knows and can do. It yields an absolute rather than comparative description of student achievement with respect to specific standards or criteria. Student scores are not dependent upon what portion of the students tested meet a given standard. Thus, average scores may be high or low depending on student' knowledge of the standards or criteria. In some cases, students may be assigned a level of proficiency — such as advanced, proficient, basic, or nonproficient — on individual standards.
A Policymaker's Guide to Standards-Led Assessment
Education Commission of the States
Assessment: Portfolio
Portfolios are collections of student work designed to show progress over time and level of accomplishment.
So You Have Standards: Now What?
Education Commission of the States
Curriculum
A curriculum is an operational plan for instruction that details what mathematics students need to know, how students are to achieve the identified curricular goals, what teachers are to do to help students develop their mathematical knowledge, and the context in which learning and teaching occur.
Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Infrastructure: Levels I-III in Mathematics, Science, and Technology Information Reform
"Insights from Research: The Need for State-Level Reform Infrastructure"
National Alliance of State Science & Mathematics Coalitions
Infrastructure: State-Level
State-level infrastructure comprises all linkages between and among twelve system elements (Content Standards; Assessment Standards; Alignment of K-12 and Higher Education; Equitable Learning Opportunities; School Leadership; Instructional Materials; Teacher Recruitment, Preparation, and Induction; Teacher Professional Development and Evaluation; Public Understanding and Engagement; Broad-Based Leadership; Coherent Education Policy; System Accountability) as achieved through the combined policies and programs of the state's complex network of agencies, institutions, professional associations, foundations, businesses, advocacy groups, and individuals.
National Alliance of State Science & Mathematics Coalition
Policy*
Policy is a statement outlining principles to be followed with respect to specific matters; a guide to discretionary action; usually requiring rules or regulations to be formulated for its implementation; answering the question "What?" rather than "How?" Policies establish direction.
What Schools Can Do to Support Standards-Based Education
Colorado Association of School Boards
Scientific Literacy
Scientific literacy is the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity.
National Science Education Standards
National Research Council
Standard: Content Standard
Content standards are statements that clearly define what students should know and be able to do in various subject areas and at different points in their education.
What Schools Can Do to Support Standards-Based Education
Colorado Association of School Boards
Standard: Mathematics Content Standard
A standard is a statement that can be used to judge the quality of a mathematics curriculum or methods of evaluation. Thus, standards are statements about what is valued.
Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Standard: Science Content Standard
Content standards describe the knowledge and abilities students need to develop, from kindergarten through high school, in order to become scientifically literate.
Scientific literacy is the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity.
National Science Education Standards
National Research Council
Standard: Performance Standard
Performance standards provide concrete examples and explicit definitions of how well students must learn the material presented by content standards. Performance standards may be used to demonstrate students' proficiency at various points as they progress toward a standard.
What Schools Can Do to Support Standards-Based Education
Colorado Association of School Boards
Systemic Change/Reform/Improvement
Systemic change addresses the entirety of the education system rather than isolated components of it.*
Conference Summary: National Science Foundation Spring 1997 Meeting
National Science Foundation
Systemic change is a model of change that replaces isolated and piecemeal reform efforts by coordinated, coherent, and comprehensive approaches involving many different aspects of the education system.
Evaluation of the National Science Foundation's Statewide Systemic Initiatives: First Year Report
SRI International
Systemic change is a model of educational renewal that is characterized by continuous, coordinated evaluation of all key elements of a system of mathematics, science, and technology education: standards for content, instruction, and assessment; curriculum; educational technology; teacher education and professional development; school leadership; system capacity development; equity; education policy; partnerships; public engagement; higher education; and system evaluation/accountability. The model requires that evaluation and modification of the system be a cooperative effort across all major groups of education stakeholders: businesses/foundations, educators, community leaders, and policymakers.
"Defining Systemic Change"
National Alliance of State Science & Mathematics Coalitions
Systemic Reform: Key Elements
Systemic reform initiatives such as those funded by the National Science Foundation have identified "key elements of any system of mathematics, science, and technology education, all of which must be addressed in order to achieve systemic reform." Although no official lexicon exists for these elements, the following definitions were inferred from the use of the terms in the literature on systemic change.
"Defining Systemic Change"
National Alliance of State Science & Mathematics Coalitions
Systemic Change: Stakeholders
The working definition of systemic reform, like most discussions of systemic change, makes use of the word stakeholders. While it might be argued that every citizen has a stake in public education — i.e., is an education stakeholder — the term as used in the literature of systemic change (especially state-level systemic change) usually refers to leaders and, specifically, to state- or district-level representatives of one or more of four constituencies (i.e., stakeholder groups): business/foundation leaders, educators, community leaders, and policymakers. The members of these groups can be further described as follows.
Reports of the NSF initiatives suggest that partnerships comprising leaders from all four groups are necessary to implementing systemic change.
"Key Elements of Systemic Reform" National Alliance of State Science & Mathematics Coalitions
Technology*
Technology comprises the instruments and techniques that enable observation and manipulation of objects and phenomena that would otherwise be inaccessible due to factors such as quantity, distance, location, size, or speed. Technology also provides tools for investigations and analysis.
National Science Education Standards
National Research Council
Technology Education
Technology education is the study of how to make things and how things work.
Source Unknown
Technology Education/Technological Literacy*
Technology education is a school subject designed to develop a student's ability to use, manage, and understand technology. It is much more than knowledge about computers and their application. Also, it should not be confused with educational technology — that is, with using such tools as computers, audiovisual equipment, and mass media to enhance teaching and learning.
Technology for All Americans
International Technology Education Association
Workplace Competencies/Standards
The report of the U.S. Secretary of Labor's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS, 1991) identifies five categories of workplace competencies that might be considered hallmarks of expert workers and can be found in a broad range of jobs through the analyses of the performances of those expert workers.
"The Four-Minute Workplace Standards Report"
National Alliance of State Science & Mathematics Coalitions