Glossary

What Does It Mean?

Accommodations—Changes in teaching strategies, standards, test presentation, location, timing, scheduling, expectations, student responses, environmental structuring and/or other attributes which provide access for a student with a disability to participate in a course/standard/test, which do not fundamentally alter or lower the standard or expectations of the course/standard/test.
(Source: National Association of School Psychologists, www.nasponline.org)

Assistive Technology—The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 2004 defines “assistive technology device” as any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of a child with a disability.
(Source: IDEA 2004, Part B, Sec. 602(1)(A))

Classroom Management—The way a teacher organizes and administers routines to make classroom life as productive and satisfying as possible. For example, teachers with good classroom management clarify how various tasks (such as distribution of supplies and equipment) are to be done and may even begin the school year by having students practice the expected procedures.
(Source: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), www.ascd.org)

Curricular Adaptations—Changes permissible in educational environments that allow the student equal opportunity to obtain access, results, benefits, and levels of achievement. These adaptations consist of both accommodations and modifications.
(Source: National Association of School Psychologists, www.nasponline.org)

Data-Based Decision Making—Analyzing existing sources of information (class and school attendance, grades, test scores) and other data (portfolios, surveys, interviews) to make decisions. The process involves organizing and interpreting the data and creating action plans.
(Source: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), www.ascd.org)

Differentiated Instruction—To recognize students’ varying background knowledge, readiness, language, preferences in learning and interests, and to react responsively. The intent of differentiating instruction is to maximize each student’s growth and individual success by meeting each student where she/he is and assisting in the learning process.
(Source: National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum, www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_diffinstructudl.html#definition)

Disaggregated Data—Test scores or other data broken down so that various categories or subgroups can be compared. For example, schools may break down the data for the entire student population (which is aggregated into a single set of numbers) to determine how minority students are doing compared with the majority, or how scores of girls compare with those for boys.
(Source: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), www.ascd.org)

Distance Learning—Taking classes in locations other than the classroom, where teachers are not physically present. Distance learning uses various forms of technology, especially television and computers, to provide educational materials and experiences to students. Small high schools may arrange for their students to take courses, such as those for advanced foreign language instruction, by television. Many colleges and universities broadcast credit courses for students who live in isolated locations or who for other reasons cannot attend classes on campus.
(Source: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), www.ascd.org)

Diversity—In education, discussions about diversity involve recognizing a variety of student traits including those of ethnicity, language, socioeconomic class, disabilities, and gender. School reforms attempt to address these issues to help all students succeed. Schools also respond to societal diversity by attempting to promote understanding and acceptance of cultural and other differences.
(Source: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), www.ascd.org)

Information Literacy—The ability to use a variety of sources, including computers, to locate desired information.
(Source: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), www.ascd.org)

MI-Climb—A product that contains clarification of each core area benchmark in the Michigan Curriculum Framework. Because arts education, English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies content areas use specialized language, MI-Climb explains each benchmark so that it is easily understood.
(Source: www.miclimb.net)

MI-Map—A new toolkit, developed by the Michigan Department of Education, that provides practical strategies and materials to shape, support, and sustain system-wide innovation and school improvement.
(Source: Michigan Department of Education, www.michigan.gov/mde)

MI-Plan—The first state-provided Web-based mechanism for streamlining a school’s improvement planning and implementation process. MI-Plan was developed to assist school building principals and their school improvement teams.
(Source: Michigan Department of Education, Center for Educational Performance and Information, www.michigan.gov/cepi)

Modifications—Changes in course content, teaching strategies, standards, test presentation, location, timing, scheduling, expectations, student responses, environmental structuring and/or other attributes which provide access for a student with a disability to participate in a course/standard/test, which do fundamentally alter or lower the standard or expectations of the course/standard/test.
(Source: National Association of School Psychologists, www.nasponline.org)

Proxy Server—Software and hardware system that allows several computers simultaneous access to the Internet.
(Source: MDE, Office of School Improvement, MI-MAP 9:4 Web-Enhanced Technology to Assess Student Achievement)

Rubric—A scoring tool, or set of criteria, used to evaluate a student’s performance, usually on a holistic test.
(Source: MDE, Office of School Improvement, MI-MAP 9:4 Web-Enhanced Technology to Assess Student Achievement)

Section 504—Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 mandates accessibility for individuals with disabilities. This is a civil rights law that stipulates that individuals with disabilities cannot be denied access to services or programs as well as that a student should have an evaluation and be given a free and appropriate public education.
(Source: www.ed.gov)

Universal Design for Learning—A process for 1) considering the needs of all students in the classroom—including those with exceptionalities, linguistic diversities, and varied learning styles—from the beginning of the planning stage, and 2) designing curriculum, instruction, and evaluation with sufficient flexibility so that each student benefits.
(Source: Hitchcock, Meyer, Rose & Jackson, 2002; Pisha & Coyne, 2000)

Web-Based Program—A program that requires no installation of software onto a computer in order to run the application.
(Source: MDE, Office of School Improvement, MI-MAP 9:4 Web-Enhanced Technology to Assess Student Achievement)

For additional technology glossary terms, visit http://webopedia.com.

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