Education Acronyms and Terms

AASA – American Association of School Administrators

ACES – Activity Centered Elementary Science

Academic Expectations – Specific behaviors that characterize student achievement of the six Learning Goals.

Academic Indicators – Average of all content area scores; reported on Kentucky Performance Report.

Achievement Gap – Observed disparity in performance among groups of students (especially by gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status).

ACT – American College Test

ADA – Average Daily Attendance

ADD – Attention Deficit Disorder

ADHD – Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

ADM – Administrators

AEL – Appalachia Educational Laboratory; one of several regional educational research groups funded by the federal government and focusing on education issues.

AGC – Achievement Gap Coordinator

AIKCU – Association of Independent Kentucky Colleges and Universities

Alternative Education (AE) – Approach to teaching and learning other than traditional or mainstream education (e.g. charter schools, alternative schools, home-based learning).

AMO – Annual Measurable Objective in the No Child Left Behind law (currently reading and math)

AP CLASS/EXAM – Advanced Placement. The AP Exam is given by Educational Testing Service to high school seniors in academic areas. Classes are so identified in schools.

APR – Annual Performance Report 30

AR – Accelerated Reader. A commercial self-paced individualized computer-assisted reading program; children read books and then take computerized multiple-choice tests to measure their comprehension of the books.

ARC – Admissions and Release Committee. A group, with roles and responsibilities mandated by federal and state laws, that determines services for students with disabilities.

ASSIST – Assistance Support for School Improvement and Success Teams

ATC – Alternative Teacher Certification

At Risk – Children who have, or could have barriers that may later affect learning

AVEC – Area Vocational Education Center

AYP – Adequate Yearly Progress (required by NCLB)

BD – Behavior Disorders

Bell Ringers – 5-10 minute opening-class activity

BIP – Behavior Intervention Plan, requirement under IDEA.

BOE – Board of Education

CAC – Commissioner’s Advisory Council

Capitol Impact –KSBA service providing up-to-date information on legislation.

Carnegie Unit – Defined as at least 120 hours of instructional time in one subject.

Categorical-funded program – State monies designated for identified program, allocated only to districts, not schools.

CCA – Core Content for Assessment (essential content that will be on state assessment)

CCD – Combined Curriculum Document (identifies relationships between Academic Expectations, Program of Studies, and Core Content for Assessment)

CCS – Computer Center Software (the MUNIS vendor)

CEC – Council for Exceptional Children.

CERS – County Employees Retirement System

CHFS – Cabinet for Health and Family Services

Child Find – A service for identifying and diagnosing unserved children with disabilities

CIA – Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment

CIP – Comprehensive Improvement Plan. A planning process that allows the "consolidation" of state and federal grants in one application; a comprehensive improvement plan is required 31

of schools (School Improvement Plan) and districts (District Improvement Plan) that fail to meet state assessment standards.

CIPL – Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership (Conducted by the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence).

CIT – Commonwealth Institute for Teachers

Common Assessments – End of unit/chapter tests that are given to all students in the same course, regardless of teacher or class.

Coordinated School Health – A plan combining instruction with environmental, social and service support to ensure pro-health attitudes and behaviors, achieving high levels of health and well-being.

CPE – Council on Postsecondary Education

Credit Recovery – Program that provides opportunities for students to earn lost credit in courses (often through virtual learning).

Criterion-referenced test – Test that assesses how well students are mastering a specific set of knowledge and skills without comparison to other students; also called standards based test.

CTBS – Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills

CTE – Career and Technical Education

Curriculum Map – Content-specific "plan" for school year (contains core content).

DAC – District Assessment Coordinator

DD – Developmentally Disabled (or Delayed)

DECS – Division of Exceptional Children Services

DEIC – District Early Intervention Committee

DIP – District Improvement Plan

DIS – Department of Information Systems

DJJ – Department for Juvenile Justice

DSA – Division of Scholastic Assistance. The division within the state education department that oversees highly skilled educators.

DCBS – Department for Community-Based Services (Cabinet for Health and Family Services)

DOK – Depth of Knowledge. The degree of rigor associated with content and curriculum, rated on a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being the most complex.32

DOSE – Director of Special Education

DPP – Director of Pupil Personnel

DRT – District Review Team

DWoK – Different Ways of Knowing. An approach to elementary-level curriculum, activity- based and standards driven.

Dual Credit – Partnership between a school and a local college/university to agree to share responsibilities for student learning (ensures postsecondary readiness and success).

Due Process – Action taken to protect the educational rights of students.

EBD – Emotional Behavioral Disorder

ECE – Early Childhood Education

EDGAR – U.S. Department of Education General Administrative Regulations

eMeeting – KSBA service for electronic Board Meetings

eNews – KSBA electronic service for gathering education news from around the state

EOCA – End of Course Assessments

EPAS – Educational Planning and Assessment System (Explore, Plan, ACT, WorkKeys)

EPSB – Education Professional Standards Board

ESL – English as Second Language (programs to assist students with limited English proficiency)

ESS – Extended School Services. State-funded program for students who need additional time extending the school day, week or year.

ESS Waiver – Program that allows a school to provide ESS services during the regular school day as well as after.

ESY – Extended School Year

eWALK –Walk-through of a school using a handheld electronic device.

EXPLORE – Required eighth-grade test that assists students with high school planning.

FAPE – Free Appropriate Public Education

FBA - Functional Behavioral Assessment, requirement under IDEA for special education students in discipline proceedings.

FERPA – Family Education Rights and Privacy Act

FMD – Functional Mental Disability

Formative assessment – Ongoing assessment for learning that provides immediate feedback.33

FPC – Facilities Planning Committee

FRL – Free and reduced lunch

FRYSC - Family Resource and Youth Services Center

FSPK – Facility Support Program of Kentucky

FTE – Full-Time Equivalent

GATE - Gifted and Talented Education

GEAR UP – Gained Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Education Programs. Federal grants requiring efforts to support and encourage to low-income students to pursue postsecondary education.

GED – General Equivalency Diploma (high school); General Educational Development (handled by Council on Postsecondary Education)

Goal Calculator – Predictive tool used in formative assessment. Used to identify achievement gaps and establish reasonable targets in meeting the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act.

GPA – Grade Point Average

GRADE – Group Reading Assessment Diagnostic Evaluation

G/T – Gifted and Talented Program

HSE – Highly Skilled Educators (formerly known as Distinguished Educators)

HSR – High School Restructuring

HSTW – High Schools that Work

I & I – Implementation and Impact Check. Process used to monitor progress in carrying out improvement plans.

IASA – Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994

IB – International Baccalaureate

IDEA (formerly IDEIA) – Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (federal special education law)

IEP – Individual Education Program for children with special needs.

IFSP – Individual Family Service Plan

IGP – Individual Growth Plan or Individual Graduation Plan (replaced by Individual Learning Plan) 34

Infinite Campus – Computer program that tracks student grades, attendance and information. (replaced STI).

Instructional materials – expendable and non-expendable books, kits, software and manipulatives.

ILP – Individual Learning Plan

ILT – Instructional Leadership Team

IQ – Intelligence Quotient

ISS – In-school suspension

KAC – Kentucky Arts Council

KAESP – Kentucky Association for Elementary School Principals

KAPE – Kentucky Association of Professional Educators

KAPT – Kentucky Affordable Prepaid Tuition

KAR – Kentucky Administrative Regulation

KASA – Kentucky Association of School Administrators

KASBO – Kentucky Association of School Business Officials

KASC – Kentucky Association of School Councils

KASS – Kentucky Association of School Superintendents

KASSP – Kentucky Association of Secondary School Principals

KBE – Kentucky Board of Education

KCHIP – Kentucky Children’s Health Insurance Program

KCCT – Kentucky Core Content Tests

KCID – Kentucky Center for Instructional Discipline

KCMP – Kentucky Continuous Monitoring Process

KCSS – Kentucky Center for School Safety

KCTCS – Kentucky Community and Technical College System

KCTM – Kentucky Council of Teachers of Mathematics

KDE - Kentucky Department of Education

KEA - Kentucky Education Association

KECCAG – Kentucky’s Early Childhood Continuous Assessment Guide

KECSAC – Kentucky Educational Collaborative for State Agency Children. A state agency responsible for educating children committed to the state.35

KEES— Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship

KELP – Kentucky Early Learning Profile. An assessment system used in the primary grades to continuously monitor student progress in the curriculum to ensure they are learning.

KERA – Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990

KERS – Kentucky Employees Retirement System

KESN – Kentucky Effective Schools Network

KESPA – Kentucky Education Support Personnel Association

KET – Kentucky Educational Television

KETS – Kentucky Education Technology System

KHEAA – Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority

KHSAA – Kentucky High School Athletic Association

KIDS First – KSBA Political Action Committee

KIER – Kentucky Institute for Education Research

KLA – Kentucky Leadership Academy

KMSA – Kentucky Middle School Association

KPIP – Kentucky Principal Internship Program

KPR – Kentucky Performance Report (school "report card")

KRS – Kentucky Revised Statute

KSB – Kentucky School for the Blind (Louisville)

KSBA – Kentucky School Boards Association

KSBIT – Kentucky School Boards Insurance Trust

KSD – Kentucky School for the Deaf (Danville)

KSTC – Kentucky Science and Technology Council

KSTC – Kentucky State Textbook Commission

KTIP – Kentucky Teacher Internship Program

KTLN – Kentucky Telelinking Network

KTRS – Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System

KYPTA – Kentucky Congress of Parents and Teachers

KYSPRA – Kentucky School Public Relations Association

KVHS – Kentucky Virtual High School36

KVL – Kentucky Virtual Library

LD – Learning Disability

LEA – Local Education Agency

Learning Checks – Periodic test of academic progress.

Learning Goals – Six goals established by KERA as what students should know and be able to do as a result of their school experience.

Learning Walks - Another term for classroom walk-through with specific template.

LEP – Limited English Proficiency

LH – Lighthouse School Board Project

LPC – Local Planning Committee (for local district facility plan)

LRC – Legislative Research Commission

LRE – Least restrictive environment

LSAC – Local Superintendent Advisory Council

LSBMAC – Local School Board Members Advisory Council

MCQ – Multiple Choice Question

MMD – Mild Mental Disability

MOA – Memorandum of Agreement

MOE – Maintenance of Effort. A federal term requiring districts to document that federal funds (e.g., Title I, exceptional children) are not used to take the place of local or state funding.

MOU – Memorandum of Understanding

MUNIS – Municipal Information Systems. The fund accounting system used by Kentucky school districts.

NAEP – National Assessment of Educational Progress. The only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America’s students know and can do in various subject areas.

National Merit – Academic scholarship competition for recognition and college scholarships.

NBCT – National Board-Certified Teacher

NBPTS – National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (highest form of certification for teachers)37

NCATE – National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education

NCTM – National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

NCE – Normal Curve Equivalent. A method of reporting scores of norm-referenced tests where the difference between two successive scores on the scale has the same meaning throughout the scale.

NCLB – No Child Left Behind. 2001 federal law mandating assessment and achievement levels.

NMSQT – National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test

Non-Academic Indicators – Attendance rate, dropout rate, retention rate, graduation rate, successful transition (high school).

Norm-referenced test – Test (usually multiple choice) that compares a student with other students.

NSBA – National School Boards Association

NSLP – National School Lunch Program

NSP – New Standards Project. An organization that works with a partnership of states and large school districts to set high national academic standards and measure progress in meeting them.

NTAPAA – National Technical Advisory Panel for Assessment and Accountability

OAG – Opinion of the Attorney General

OASIS AWARD – KSBA Recognition for Outstanding Achievement in School Information Services

ODCP – Office of Drug Control Policy

OEA – Office of Education Accountability

OIG – Office of the Inspector General

OLSI – Office of Leadership & School Improvement

OR – Open Response

OSEP – Office of Special Education Programs (federal)

OSHA – Occupational Safety and Health Administration

OT – Occupational Therapy

P-16 Council – A group that advises the Kentucky Board of Education and the Council on Postsecondary Education on the preparation and professional development of teachers, the 38 alignment of competency standards, and the elimination of barriers that impede successful transitions from preschool through college.

PAC – Parent’s Advisory Council or Political Action Committee

PD – Professional Development

PDD – Pervasive Developmental Disorder

PEAK Award – Public Education Achieves in Kentucky. KSBA recognition for outstanding programs that improve student achievement.

Performance-based credit – Alternative to seat-time requirements for students to earn high school credit.

Performance standards – description of how well students have mastered the knowledge (content) and are able to use it (perform).

Distinguished – Deep understanding and able to analyze and interpret data

Proficient – Understanding of major concepts

Apprentice – Some understanding of concepts

Novice – Beginning to show some understanding

PLAN – 10th grade test, predictor of ACT success

POS – Program of Studies

PRAXIS – A series of content area teacher exams.

Prevailing Wage – The hourly wage, usual benefits and overtime, paid to the majority of workers, laborers, and mechanics for comparable work reflective of local wage conditions.

PRISM – Partnership for Reform Initiatives in Science and Mathematics

Promising practices – Successful possible options for instructional strategy implementation.

PSAT – Preliminary Scholastic Achievement Test

PT – Physical Therapy

PTA – Parent Teacher Association

PTO – Parent Teacher Organization

PVA – Property Valuation Administrator. An elected local official charged with determining the value of property for taxing purposes.

Ramp Up Courses – Mathematics technology intervention program.

RECC – Regional Exceptional Child Consultant39

Refocusing Secondary Agenda – Goal is to help schools move to a more individual performance rather than students being moved through the same curriculum in fixed groups.

RFP – Request for Proposal

RIAC – Regional Interagency Advisory Council. A group of mental health, education, medical and community professionals who identify goals and needs within regions of the state for children who need behavioral and mental health services.

RTC – Early Childhood Regional Training Center

RTI – Response to Intervention

Rubric – Scoring guide used to evaluate student work.

SACS – Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

SAFE – Suspension & Failure Elimination

Safe Harbor Index – No Child Left Behind classification given to a school or district that has not met the reading or math annual measurable objective (AMO), but does meet these criteria: 1) reduced subpopulation percentage by 10 percent; 2) subpopulation demonstrates improvement on the academic index.

SAT or SAT I – Scholastic Achievement Test. College entrance exam testing reading, math and writing.

SAT II – Scholastic Achievement Test - College entrance exam for specific subjects.

SAT – State Assistance Team

SBDM - School-Based Decision Making

SCAAC – School Curriculum, Assessment and Accountability Council

SDFS – Safe and Drug-Free Schools (Title IV)

Scholastic Audit – A process conducted by a team trained by KDE to work with schools earning designated accountability index scores to evaluate learning environment, efficiency and student academic performance. Districts are also subject to scholastic audits.

SEA – State Education Agency

SEEK – Support Education Excellence in Kentucky, the main funding program for Kentucky public schools.

SED – Severely emotionally disturbed

SFCC – School Facilities Construction Commission

SIAC – State Interagency Advisory Council40

SIP – School Improvement Plan

SISI – Standards and Indicators for School Improvement

SPP – State Performance Plan

SRO – School Resource Officer

SRIM – Statewide Reporting and Information Management System

STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics

STI – Software Technology Incorporated (electronic grade/attendance keeper replaced by Infinite Campus)

STLP – Student Technology Leadership Program

Summative assessment – Assessment that measures cumulative learning at specific times.

Support services – Any non-instructional components of an educational program i.e., transportation, food services, referrals to other agencies.

TC1-TC29 – Standard Certification Forms for teacher certification

TRT – Technology Resource Teacher

Tier 1 Funding – KDE program to allow districts to raise revenue above SEEK base for equity with state funds.

Tier 2 Funding – KDE program to allow districts to raise revenue above SEEK and Tier 1 with no matching assistance.

Tier 1 of NCLB – (two years not making AYP): Consequences: school choice, revise school plan.

Tier 2 – (three years not making AYP) Consequences: same as Tier 1, plus offer supplemental services.

Tier 3 – (four years not making AYP) Consequences: same as Tier 2, plus implement corrective action.

Tier 4 – (five years not making AYP) Consequences: Continue school choice, revise school plan, offer supplemental services, implement services, plus write a plan for Alternative School Governance.

Tier 5 – (six years not making AYP) Consequences: Same as Tier 4, plus implement Alternate Governance.

Title I – Federal law and dollars for helping disadvantaged children.

UDL- Universal Design for Learning. Educational approach that uses technology to enable students with diverse learning needs to be successful in the classroom.41

VISTA – AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America

WorkKeys – Voluntary test given in 10th-12th grade to measure readiness for the workplace; also provides career feedback.

YOYO – Youth One-Year Out Survey

YSC – Youth Service Center

Special thanks to the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence for their assistance in compiling this list of acronyms.