California Achievement Tests (CATs)

One of several alternative sets of tests commonly used to measure how much a student has learned in various school subjects. Like most other such tests, the California Achievement tests are nationally normed, multiple-choice tests. Results are used to compare the scores of individual students and schools with others—those in the area, across the state, and throughout the United States.

Carnegie unit

A measurement used in most high schools to determine how much coursework a student has completed. Students usually need at least 20 Carnegie units to graduate; one unit is equal to a conventional 50-minute class taken five times per week throughout the school year. A one-semester course is worth one-half of a Carnegie unit.

The units were established and promoted 100 years ago by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Today, many educators involved in school reform oppose the use of Carnegie units, arguing that "seat time" is not necessarily a measure of learning.

Channel One

A television news service operated by Primedia that is broadcast daily to 8 million students in 12,000 schools. Channel One is controversial because its 10 minutes of news are accompanied by two minutes of advertisements, an example of the increasing intrusion of commercialism in public schools.

Chapter I

The label assigned at one time to a section of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The section, which is intended to benefit children who live in high-poverty areas, was originally called Title I, was renamed Chapter I when the legislation was reauthorized, and now is again known as Title I. The current version emphasizes higher learning standards and requires state assessments for measuring student progress.

character education

Teaching children about basic human values, including honesty, kindness, generosity, courage, freedom, equality, and respect. The goal is to raise children to become morally responsible, self-disciplined citizens. Problem solving, decision making, and conflict resolution are important parts of developing moral character. Through role playing and discussions, students are helped to see that their decisions affect other people and things. Service learning is frequently a part of a comprehensive character education program.

Character education is actively promoted by the Character Education Partnership, a coalition of education and civic organizations with viewpoints that range from liberal to conservative.

charter school

A self-governing educational facility that operates under contract between the school's organizers and the sponsors (often local school boards but sometimes other agencies, such as state boards of education). The organizers are often teachers, parents, or private organizations. The charter may detail the school's instructional design, methods of assessment, management, and finances.

Charter schools usually receive government funding, may not charge tuition, must be nonsectarian and nondiscriminatory, and must be chosen by teachers, students, and parents. To renew their charters, these schools are expected to show that they meet the expectations of parents and their governing boards, continue to attract families, and retain and attract teachers. In exchange for this form of accountability, charter schools are free from most state and local regulations, often including teacher certification requirements.

chief state school officer

The highest-ranking official responsible for public schools in each state. Because states call their highest-ranking school administrator by different titles—superintendent, commissioner, for example—the national organization of these officials is called the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSO).

child-centered

Educational programs designed around the assumed characteristics and needs of the child, rather than of parents, teachers, or society.

church-state separation

The requirement based on interpretation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and reinforced in numerous rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court that government programs may not advance religion. Because the language of the First Amendment is somewhat ambiguous (it only restricts Congress from adopting legislation "respecting an establishment of religion"), opponents of the court rulings insist that the supposed "wall of separation" between church and state is not as solid as claimed.

classroom climate

The "feel" or tone of a classroom, indicated by the total environment, including especially the way teacher and students relate to one another. Some classrooms have a cold, impersonal, or even antagonistic, climate, while others are warm and friendly. Some are business-like and productive, others disorganized and inefficient.

classroom management

The way a teacher organizes and administers routines to make classroom life as productive and satisfying as possible. What some people might describe narrowly as "discipline." For example, teachers with good classroom management clarify how various things (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.

coaching

Educators use this term, commonly used in athletics, to refer to any situation in which someone helps someone else learn a skill. The late Mortimer Adler, who devised the Paideia program, maintained that coaching is one of three basic modes of teaching (the other two are presenting and leading discussions). Coaching is also considered an important part of training programs in which teachers learn new teaching methods. A process in which teachers visit each other's classes to observe instruction and offer feedback is known as peer coaching.

Coalition of Essential Schools

A high school-university partnership established at Brown University and founded by Theodore Sizer. The coalition grew out of a study of secondary education sponsored by the National Association of Secondary School Principals and the National Association of Independent Schools.

The coalition does not recognize any one school as a model school, believing that schools must be unique to best serve their particular communities, faculties, and students. Instead, coalition schools accept a set of nine governing principles that include helping young people learn to use their minds well; mastering a limited number of essential skills and areas of knowledge, rather than striving for broad content coverage; holding all students accountable for the same goals (using various teaching styles to accommodate the different ways in which students learn); maintaining a teacher-to-student ratio that permits teachers to know students as individuals; and arranging for competitive teacher salaries, as well as substantial planning and training time. The coalition supports the idea that students should demonstrate their mastery of certain skills and knowledge, decided on by the faculty and administrators along with the community, in order to graduate.

cognitive development

The process, which begins at birth, of learning through sensory perception, memory, and observation. Children are born into cultures and backgrounds that affect what they learn as well as how they learn. Children from enriched environments (in which parents and caregivers read to and with them, teach them letters and numbers, and take them to plays and museums) come to school prepared to learn; children from impoverished or abusive backgrounds often lack most or all of these preschool advantages. To stimulate the cognitive development of such children, teachers use strategies such as placing learning into a meaningful context, providing situations in which students can be active participants, and combining general information with specific learning situations.

cognitive learning

The mental processes involved in learning, such as remembering and understanding facts and ideas. Educators have always been interested in how people learn but are now becoming better informed about cognition from the work of cognitive psychologists, who in recent years have compiled a great deal of new information about thinking and learning.

cohort

A particular group of people with something in common. For instance, a cohort might be a group of students who had been taught an interdisciplinary curriculum by a team of junior high school teachers. Researchers might want to track their progress into high school to identify differences in success of students in the cohort compared with students who had attended conventional classes in the same school.

collaboration

A relationship between individuals or organizations that enables the participants to accomplish goals more successfully than they could have separately. Educators are finding that they must collaborate with others to deal with increasingly complex issues. For example, schools and school systems often form partnerships with local businesses or social service agencies.

Many schools teach students how to work with others on group projects. Some educators call this collaborative learning, although it is more commonly known as cooperative learning.

collaborative action research

 
Systematic investigation by two or more teachers of some aspect of their work in order to improve their effectiveness. Action research involves identifying a question or problem and then collecting and analyzing relevant data. (It is called action research because the participants are studying an aspect of their own work and they intend to use the results themselves.) For example, a group of teachers might decide to give their students different assignments according to their assessed learning styles. If the teachers maintained records comparing student work before and after the change, they would be collaborating on action research.

commercialism

The trend, which observers say is growing, to permit commercial advertising in public schools. Traditionally, public schools prohibited commercial advertising; however, in recent years some schools have begun to contract with distributors of particular beverages and to import television programs, such as Channel One, which are specifically designed to present advertising to young people. While advocates argue that advertising in schools is a harmless way of increasing funding, others argue that because students are a captive and impressionable audience, advertising should have no place in the public schools.

common ground

Fundamental values or goals that people agree upon, although they may disagree strongly on other matters. The term is sometimes used to refer to a process for improving communication between public educators and their critics.

community center schools

Organizations that provide services—often including medical and dental services, nutrition classes, parent programs, and social services—as part of the school program for both students and families. Community center schools, sometimes called full-service schools, provide essential services that many families could not otherwise obtain because they lack transportation, information, money, or time. The goals of such programs are to help urban parents feel comfortable with teachers, become a part of the learning community, and support their children's studies.

competency tests

Tests created by a school district or state that students must pass before graduating. Sometimes called minimum competency tests, such tests are intended to ensure that graduates have reached minimal proficiency in basic skills. In recent years, some states have replaced minimum competency tests adopted in the 1970s or '80s with more demanding tests aligned with adopted curriculum standards.

comprehensive school reform

An approach to school improvement that involves adopting a design for organizing an entire school rather than using numerous unrelated instructional programs. New American Schools, an organization that promotes comprehensive school reform, sponsors several different designs, each featuring challenging academic standards, strong professional development programs, meaningful parental and community involvement, and a supportive school environment.

computer-assisted instruction

Educational programs delivered through the use of computers and educational software. As computers have become more common in schools, the term and its abbreviation, CAI, are used less frequently.

CAI has a specific meaning as it applies to special-needs students. Many software programs and features have been designed to help students with dyslexia and poor fine-motor skills. Blind students can work on braille keyboards and command the computer to call up their work as synthesized speech or as a braille display. Students with physical challenges can operate computers by activating a switch with their head, foot, mouth, or the blink of an eye.

conflict resolution

Programs that teach students how to negotiate problems in a nonviolent way. Core concepts include recognizing that conflict can be a pathway to personal growth, understanding that there are alternative solutions to problems, and learning skills to solve problems effectively. Conflict resolution is often provided through peer mediation, in which children or teens assist other students to work through problems without resorting to violence.

constructed response

Test items on which students must provide an answer (short answer, explanation of the process for determining the answer, etc.) in contrast with items (known as selected response or multiple-choice) on which students choose from among answers provided. Some psychometricians say that selected response items are preferable because they are scored by machine and the results are therefore more reliable. Others, however, believe constructed response items are a better test of what students can actually do.

constructivism

An approach to teaching based on research about how people learn. Many researchers say that each individual "constructs" knowledge rather than receiving it from others. People disagree about how to achieve constructive learning, but many educators believe that students come to understand abstract concepts best through exploration, reasoning, and discussion.

continuous progress

A system of education in which individuals or small groups of students go through a sequence of lessons at their own pace, rather than at the pace of the entire classroom group. Continuous progress has also been called individualized education or individualized instruction and is one version of mastery learning.

In continuous-progress programs, able and motivated students are not held back, and students take on new lessons only if they show they have the prerequisite skills. A criticism, however, is that unmotivated students often progress more slowly than they would in regular classes.

Coordinated School Health Programs

A model developed by the Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion that consists of eight interactive components: health education, physical education, health services, nutrition services, health promotion for staff, counseling and psychological services, healthy school environment, and parent/community involvement.

Source: From "A Coordinated School Health Program" by the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Retrieved April 2, 2002, from http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/cshpdef.htm.

cooperative learning

A teaching strategy combining teamwork with individual and group accountability. Working in small groups, with individuals of varying talents, abilities, and backgrounds, students are given one or more tasks. The teacher or the group often assigns each team member a personal responsibility that is essential to successful completion of the task.

Used well, cooperative learning allows students to acquire both knowledge and social skills. The students learn from one another and get to know and respect group members that they may not have made an effort to meet in other circumstances. Studies show that, used properly, cooperative learning boosts student achievement. Schools using this strategy report that attendance improves because the students feel valuable and necessary to their group.

core curriculum

The body of knowledge that all students are expected to learn. High schools often require a core curriculum that may include, for example, four years of English, three years of science and mathematics, two or three years of history, one or two years of a foreign language, and one year of health studies. Courses that are not required are called electives.

The term core curriculum was used in the mid-20th century to refer to a block-of-time program (two or more class periods) in which students and their teacher chose the topics they would study, but few of today's schools have such programs now.

core knowledge

Refers specifically to a reform movement founded by E. D. Hirsch, professor of English at the University of Virginia. The movement is based on the idea that there is a body of knowledge that students and citizens need to know, so school districts should offer a sequential, uniform curriculum. Such a curriculum is outlined in the Core Knowledge Resource Series, a collection of books that specify what students at each grade level should know.

Opponents argue that schools should emphasize the process of learning and the skills of gathering information, and place less emphasis on coverage of particular content. Another argument concerns how to determine the content that all students should learn: Who should decide? On what basis? The inclusion of certain topics, literary pieces, or historic events and the exclusion of others raises issues of cultural bias.

creationism

The view that human beings were specifically created by God and did not evolve from other forms of animal life through the process of natural selection. Advocates of scientific creationism believe that the creationist view should be taught alongside evolution in science classes. Opponents argue that creationism is a religious, not a scientific, position. They insist that the only ideas that should be taught in science classes are those that are based on scientific evidence and that are subject to rigorous scientific scrutiny.

criterion-referenced tests

Tests designed to measure how thoroughly a student has learned a particular body of knowledge without regard to how well other students have learned it. Most nationally standardized achievement tests are norm-referenced, meaning that a student's performance is compared to how well students in the norming group did when the test was normed. Criterion-referenced tests are directly related to the curriculum of a particular school district or state and are scored according to fixed criteria.

critical thinking

Logical thinking based on sound evidence; the opposite of biased, sloppy thinking. Some people take the word critical to mean negative and faultfinding, but philosophers consider it to mean thinking that is skillful and responsible. A critical thinker can accurately and fairly explain a point of view that he does not agree with.

cultural literacy

The idea of E. D. Hirsch, professor of English at the University of Virginia, that there is a certain body of knowledge (core knowledge) that people must know to be well-educated, well-rounded American citizens.

curricula

plural of curriculum. May be Anglicized as curriculums.

curriculum

Although this term has many possible meanings, it usually refers to a written plan outlining what students will be taught (a course of study). Curriculum documents often also include detailed directions or suggestions for teaching the content. Curriculum may refer to all the courses offered at a given school, or all the courses offered at a school in a particular area of study. For example, the English curriculum might include English literature, literature, world literature, essay styles, creative writing, business writing, Shakespeare, modern poetry, and the novel. The curriculum of an elementary school usually includes language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and other subjects.

cyber schools

Educational institutions, many of them charter schools, that offer most or all of their instruction by computer via the internet. More such schools are being established each year.

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This document contains some material that was previously published in The Language of Learning: A Guide to Educational Terms, edited by J. Lynn McBrien and Ronald Brandt, 1997, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.