1. AD: Athletic Director. The athletic director is a position within a school building and a district that is in charge of all things sports. Hiring coaches, setting up games, requesting transportation, and managing the sports facilities are just some of their duties.
2. ADA: Americans with Disabilities Act. This act ensures that students cannot be discriminated based on disability.
3. AESOP: Absence and Substitute Management. This is a system that teachers use to request subs.
4. AP: Advanced Placement. In most high schools, there are Advanced Placement classes, where students may take an exam near the end of the year that can earn them college credit.
5. BIA/ONE: Bureau of Indian Affairs/Office of Native Education. There is a strong push within education, especially within the social studies subjects, to teach about tribal history and government. We are seeing these two government entities showing up within education more and more!
6. CBA: Classroom-Based Assessment. This is test or assessment that takes place within the classroom.
7. CCSS: Common Core State Standards. These are the state standards that most states in the United States are following for English and Math. Check them out here!
8. DEAR: Drop Everything And Read. At my school, Fridays are DEAR days in the English department, where students just read for the entire class period.
9. DO: District Office. The office for the school district. Typically where Human Resources, Payroll, the Superintendent, and other district departments are located.
10. edTPA: Educative Teacher Performance Assessment. This is a big portfolio that student teachers complete to earn their license. You create lesson plans, videotape yourself teaching that lesson, and then analyze your teaching. This is a newer format and the one that I had to do!
11. ELA: English Language Arts. These are the English classes that are typically required all 4 years of high school!
12. ELL: English Language Learners. This abbreviation relates to students that do not speak English as their first language. They will often times have an ELL teacher/class and will be tested at least once a year to see where they place.
13. ESD: Educational Service District. Similar to a school district, but it serves a whole region. Often times, its several districts combined together.
14. ESL: English as a Second Language. Same as ELL, see above.
15. FERPA: Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. This law provides protection and privacy of student education records. Typically, the protections apply to parents and students, until the student turns 18.
16. FTE: Full-time Equivalent. This abbreviation refers to the workload that someone has, typically with number of classes are taught. If you’re 1.0, then you have a full class load.
17. GPA: Grade Point Average. Grade point averages provide an idea of the student’s academic achievement. In my area, we have a scale up to 4.0, but there are some schools that have it be weighted due to AP classes, and can go over 4.0.
18. HIPAA: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. HIPAA provides regulations that protects the privacy and security of certain health information. Typically this applies to healthcare services that students are receiving through the district, as often times, there are quite a few medical programs, such as rehab and counseling.
19. HS: High School. Usually a school with 9th to 12th graders, sometimes they house 6th to 12th!
20. IDEA: Individuals with Disabilities Act. This act guarantees that students with disabilities will receive a free public education that will be tailored to their needs. This relates to the abbreviation below – IEP.
21. IEP: Individualized Education Plan. If students have qualified for special education services, they will have an IEP. This explains their learning goals, subjects that they qualify for, and the accommodations they are to receive. Legally you have to follow the accommodations!
22. ISS/CES: In-School Suspension. ISS, or in our region, it’s been changed to CES, is In-School Suspension. This is when students are removed from classes, while remaining in school. Typically, there is an ISS/CES room on campus that students are referred to.
23. KWL: Know, Want to Know, Learned. This is a very popular strategy for students to start sharing information about a topic. What do they already know, what do they want to know, and what have they learned.
24. MS: Middle School. Typically has grades 6 through 8, but depends on the district!
25. NCLB: No Child Left Behind. No Child Left Behind was signed in 2002. It focuses on schools being held accountable for how students learn and ensuring growth. This is fairly controversial with teachers, as it pushes standardized testing and schools lose funding if they do not show improvement.
26. NEA: National Education Association. The NEA is the national teacher union. If you are in a state that has unions, they are most likely under the NEA.
27. NES: National Evaluation Series. The NES is one of several assessments that teachers can take to demonstrate their knowledge of various subjects. I took the English Language Arts one to become ELA certified!
28. NHS: National Honor Society. National Honor Society is typically a club, where students must have a high GPA and complete several community service hours each semester.
29. PLC: Professional Learning Community. Currently within education, there is an increase in teacher collaboration. PLC time is weekly or every other week, where teachers can meet with other teachers in building or in the district to collaborate with curriculum and strategies.
30. PRAXIS: This is another educator test, to demonstrate knowledge of various subjects. Check with your state to find out which tests you’re supposed to take!
31. SBAC: Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. The SBAC is the current standardized test that is being implemented – it tests Reading, Writing, and Math.
32. SD: School District. School districts are in charge of hiring teachers, maintaining budgets, and running the schools within the district.
33. SES: Socio-Economic Status. Within education, we often talk about how students’ SES impacts their learning. This is generally linked to their social class and how much money their family earns.
34. SIP: School Improvement Plan. Every year, schools are required to come up with School Improvement Plans and work towards how they will improve the school. Generally, there are academic and social goals involved.
35. SPED: Special Education. The Special Education department focuses on providing resources and updating IEPs every year for students to keep accommodations up-to-date.
36. SRO: School Resource Officer. SROs are police officers that are stationed on school campus. Depending on the districts resources, they may be a one school full-time or split their time between high schools and middle schools. Unfortunately, this is the society that we live in.
37. SS: Social Studies. Social studies refers to all the different subjects that can be taught under this subject – anthropology, economics, psychology, sociology, geography, and history.
38. STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Math.
39. STEAM: Same as above, but adds Art.
40. TIER 1 2 3: Students are placed into groups based on their need for intervention – Tier 1, Tier 2, or Tier 3. Tier 1 is the majority of students, that are able to learn in the classroom in a typical classroom setting. Tier 2 generally means they need extra support, more small-group instruction, and some targeted intervention time. Tier 3 typically means they require one-on-one intervention and they need extra supports, sometimes like drug assistance, therapy, or assistance with food/medical needs.
41. TOSA: Teacher On Special Assignment. At the District Office, there will be teachers working in unique positions, and they are referred to as TOSAs. Typically they will work as District Mentors, focus on curriculum development, or be subject coaches – usually for technology, math, or English.
42. WEST-B: Washington Educator Skills Test – Basic. This is the Washington State skills test, that much be passed before you can go into teaching or continue with your specific subject.
43: WEST-E: Washington Educator Skills Test – Endorsements. Same as the above, but it’s used to demonstrate knowledge for subjects. I took my WEST-E to get endorsed in Social Studies.
Bonus word: Prep – In classrooms where teachers teach within limited time periods, they will most likely have a prep period – to run copies, grade, etc. Along with that definition, teachers also refer to each subject they teach as a prep. If you teach 3 different types of history, you have 3 “preps,” but still only 1 prep period.
