A Lexicon of Learning

What Educators Mean When They Say...

gender bias

The idea that one gender or the other is short-changed by school practices and expectations. The term may refer to the difficulties boys tend to have in conforming to classroom routines and learning to read and write, or it may refer to lower average achievement by girls in science, mathematics, and technology. Bias is sometimes suspected when test results consistently favor one gender or the other.

General Educational Development (GED) exam

The GED exam is a high school equivalency test that was first developed in 1942. Each year, approximately 800,000 adults receive a GED diploma—sometimes called an equivalency certificate—certifying that they have skills and knowledge equivalent to those of a high school graduate. The program is administered by the Center for Adult Learning and Educational Credentials of The American Council on Education.

As of January 2002, the GED consists of five tests that cover language arts-reading, language arts-writing, social studies, science, and mathematics. GED courses are often available in evening adult education programs in local school districts. The tests are given at 3,400 official GED testing centers across North America and elsewhere.

gifted and talented

The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) says "a gifted individual is someone who shows, or has the potential for showing, an exceptional level of performance in one or more areas of expression." For example, a person may be exceptionally talented as an artist, a violinist, or a physicist.

For much of the twentieth century, giftedness was usually measured by IQ tests, and people who scored in the upper two percent of the population were considered gifted. However, some authorities believe that giftedness is indicated not so much by test scores as by consistently exceptional performance. Federal legislation refers to gifted and talented children as those who show high performance capability in specific academic fields or in areas such as creativity and leadership, and who, to fully develop their capabilities, require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school.

Source: Quote from "Who Are the Gifted?" in Parent Information [Web page], Washington, DC: National Association for Gifted Children. Retrieved February 21, 2002, from http://www.nagc.org/ParentInfo/index.html

Goals 2000

The first national goals for education were established initially at a meeting of state governors convened in 1989 by President George Bush and, with minor changes, incorporated into legislation passed in 1994 under President Clinton. The eight goals, none of which were (or could reasonably have been) accomplished, were that by the year 2000

1. All children in the United States will start school ready to learn.
2. The high school graduation rate will increase to at least 90 percent.
3. All students will leave grades 4, 8, and 12 having demonstrated competence in challenging subject matter, including English, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, the arts, history, and geography. Every school in the United States will ensure that all students learn to use their minds well so they may be prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment in the modern economy.
4. students will be the first in the world in mathematics and science achievement.
5. Every adult citizen will be literate and will possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
6. Every school in the United States will be free of drugs, violence, and the unauthorized presence of firearms and alcohol, and all will offer a disciplined learning environment conducive to learning.
7. The teaching force will have access to programs for the continued improvement of their professional skills and the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to instruct and prepare all students for the next century.
8. Every school will promote partnerships that will increase parent involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional, and academic growth of children.

governance structure

Provisions for making official decisions in an organization. In schools, this refers to the distribution of power among levels of government—including national, state, regional, district, school, and classroom—and roles of various elected officials, administrators, teachers, parents, and students. Opinions differ as to the effectiveness of various governance structures, including the degree to which decision making is centralized or decentralized.

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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.