Question | Answer |
Intrinsic rewards | Rewards that come from within oneself and are personally satisfying for emotional or intellectual reasons |
Extrinsic rewards | Rewards that come from outside oneself, such as job security and vacations |
Professionalism | An occupation characterized by a specialized body of knowledge with emphasis on autonomy, decision making, reflection, and ethical standards for conduct |
Autonomy | The capacity to control one’s own professional life |
Curriculum | What teachers teach |
Assessment | How student understanding is measured |
Standards | Statements specifying what students should know and what skills they should have upon completing an area of study |
Technician | A person who uses specific skills to complete well-defined tasks |
Decision making | Problems solving in ill-defined situations, based on professional knowledge |
Reflection | The process of teachers’ thinking about and analyzing their work to assess its effectiveness |
Ethics | Sets of moral standards for acceptable professional behavior |
Socioeconomic status | The amount of money students’ parents make, their parents’ level of education, and the kinds of jobs their parents have |
Reforms | Suggested changes in teaching and teacher preparation intended to increase the amount students learn |
Professional portfolio | A collection of representative work materials to document developing knowledge and skills |
Digital portfolio | A collection of materials contained in an electronic file that makes the information accessible to potential viewers |
Accountability | The process of requiring students to demonstrate understanding of the topics they study as measured by standardized tests, as well as holding educators at all levels responsible for students’ performance |
High-stakes tests | Assessment that states and districts use to determine whether or not students will advance from one grade to another, graduate from high school, or have access to specific fields of study |
Old Deluder Satan Act | Early colonial law designed to create scripture-literate citizens who would thwart Satan’s trickery |
Vouchers | Checks or written documents that parents can use to purchase educational services |
Character education | An approach to developing morality that suggests moral values and positive character traits, such as honesty and citizenship, should be emphasized, taught, and rewarded |
Common school movement | A historical attempt to make education available to all children in the United States |
Normal schools | Two-year institutions developed in the early 1800s to prepare prospective elementary teachers |
Comprehensive high school | A secondary school that attempts to meet the needs of all students by housing them together and providing curricular options geared toward a variety of student ability levels and interests |
Latin grammar school | A college-preparatory school originally designed to help boys prepare for the ministry or, later, for a career in law |
Academy | A secondary school that focused on the practical needs of colonial America as a growing nation |
English classical school | A free secondary school designed to meet the needs of boys not planning to attend college |
Junior high schools | Schools that were originally designed in the early 1900s to provide a unique academic curriculum for early adolescent youth |
Middle schools | Schools, typically for grades 6-8, specifically designed to help students through the rapid social, emotional, and intellectual changes characteristic of early adolescence |
Assimilation | A process of socializing people so that they adopt dominant social norms and patterns of behavior |
Separate but equal | A policy of segregating minorities in education, transportation, housing, and other areas of public life if opportunities and facilities were considered equal to those of nonminorities. |
War on Poverty | A general term form federal programs designed to eradicate poverty during the 1960s |
Compensatory education programs | Government attempts to create more equal educational opportunities for disadvantaged youth |
Head Start | A federal compensatory education program designed to help 3-to 5-year-old disadvantaged children enter school ready to learn |
Title I | A federal compensatory education program that funds supplemental education services for low-income students in elementary and secondary schools |
Magnet schools | Public schools that provide innovative or specialized programs that attempt to attract students from all parts of a district |
Culture | The knowledge, attitudes, values, customs, and behavior patterns that characterize a social group |
Cultural diversity | The different cultures that you’ll encounter in classrooms and how these cultural differences influence learning |
Ethnicity | A person’s ancestry; the way individuals identify themselves with the nation from which they or their ancestors came |
Multicultural education | A general term that describes a variety of strategies schools use to accommodate cultural differences in teaching and learning |
Culturally responsive teaching | Instruction that acknowledges and accommodates cultural diversity |
English language learners (ELLs) | Students whose first language is not English and who need help in learning to speak, read, and write in English |
Maintenance language programs | Language programs that place the greatest emphasis on using and sustaining the first language |
Immersion program | Language program that emphasizes rapid transition to English |
English as a second language (ESL) program | Language program that emphasizes rapid transition to English |
Transition programs | Language programs that maintain the first language until students acquire sufficient English |
Gender-role identity | Differences in expectations and beliefs about appropriate roles and behaviors of the two sexes |
Stereotype | A rigid, simplistic caricature of a particular group of people |
Single-gender classes and schools | Classes and schools where boys and girls are segregated for part or all of the day |
Sexual harassment | Unwanted and/or welcome sexual behavior that interferes with a student’s sense of well being |
Caring | A teacher’s investment in the protection and development of the young people in his or her classes |
Latchkey children | Children who go home to empty houses after school and who are left alone until parent arrive home from work |
Socioeconomic status (SES) | The combination of family income, parents’ occupations, and the level of parental education |
Middle class | Socioeconomic level composed of managers, administrators, and white-collar workers who perform nonmanual work |
Students placed at-risk | Students in danger of failing to complete their education with the skills necessary to survive modern society |
Underclass | People with low incomes who continually struggle with economic problems |
Resilient students | Students placed at-risk who have been able to rise above adverse conditions to succeed in school and in other aspects of life |
Upper class | The socioeconomic class composed of highly educated (usually a college degree), highly paid (usually above $170,000) professionals who make up about 5 percent of the population |
Learning style | Students’ personal approaches to learning, problem solving, and processing information |
State board of education | The legal governing body that exercises general control and supervision of the schools in a state |
State office of education | Office responsible for implementing a state’s education policy on a day-to day basis |
School district | An administrative unit within a state that is defined by geographical boundaries and is legally responsible for the public education of children within those boundaries |
Local school board | A group of elected lay citizens responsible for setting policies that determine how a school district operates |
School principal | The individual having the ultimate administrative responsibility for a school’s operation |
Property taxes | The major source of educational funding, determined by the assessed value of a home or property |
Categorical grants | Monies targeted for specific groups and designated purposes |
Block grants | Federal monies provided to states and school districts with few restrictions for use |
Weighted student formula | A means of allocating resources within a district to schools on an individual basis based on student needs |
Site-based decision making | A school management reform movement that attempts to place increased responsibility for governance at the individual school level |
Charter schools | Alternative schools that are independently operated but publicly funded |
Voucher | A check or written document that parents can use to purchase educational services |
State tuition tax-credit plans | A variation on school voucher programs in which parents are given tax credits for money they spend on private-school tuition |
Homeschooling | An educational option in which parents educate their children at home |