Definitions of Commonly used Terminology Associated with Collaboration in Special Education
1. Accommodations: Describe changes in format, response, setting, timing, or scheduling that do not alter in any significant way what the test measures or the comparability of scores. Accommodations are designed to ensure that an assessment measures the intended construct, not the child’s disability. Accommodations affect three areas of testing: 1) the administration of tests, 2) how students are allowed to respond to the items, and 3) the presentation of the tests (how the items are presented to the students on the test instrument).
Accommodations may include Braille forms of a test for blind students or tests in native languages for students whose primary language is other than English.
2. Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) – This is the term No Child Left Behind uses to explain that your child’s school has met state reading and math goals. Your school district’s report card will let you know whether or not your child’s school has made AYP.
3. Advocacy: Recognizing and communicating needs, rights, and interests on behalf of a child; making informed choices
4. Annual Goals: A set of general statements which represent expected achievement over a year's time for handicapped persons enrolled in special education programs and services.
5. Assessment: 1. A collecting and bringing together of information about a child's learning needs, which may include social, psychological, and educational evaluations used to determine assignment to special programs or services; a process using observation, testing, and test analysis to determine an individual's strengths and weaknesses to plan, for example, his or her educational services. It is also referred to in some instances as "evaluation". 2. As related to early childhood programs, assessment is the ongoing observations and monitoring of progress by qualified personnel throughout the period of a child's eligibility to identify the child's unique needs; the family's strengths and needs related to development of the child; and, the nature and extent of early intervention services that are needed by the child and the child's family to meet the needs of the child.
6. Assistive Technology: technology used to help a person with disabilities
7. Benchmark- Levels of academic performance used as checkpoints to monitor progress toward performance goals and/or academic standards.
8. CST – (Child Study Team): The membership of the team shall include the principal or assistant principal, a Child Study Team coordinator, the child's teacher, at least one other staff member knowledgeable about the particular child's grade and/or developmental level, the child's parent(s), a representative from the special education staff, a member of the diagnostic support team, and school nurse as available.
9. Collaboration: Working in partnership on behalf of a child, e.g., parent and teacher, or special education teacher and general education teacher
10. Consent: A written agreement to carry out an activity after being fully informed in one's native language of all information relevant to the activity.
11. Core Academic Subjects:Basic Subjects: mathematics, reading, writing, science and social studies.
12. Co-Teaching – a service delivery option for providing special education or related services to students with disabilities or other special needs while they remain in their general education classes. It occurs when two or more professionals jointly deliver instruction to a diverse group of students in a single physical space.
13. Due Process: Procedural safeguards to protect the rights of the parent/guardian and the child under federal and state laws and regulations for special education; includes voluntary mediation or a due process hearing to resolve differences with the school
14. Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE): Entitles a public school child with a disability to an educational program and related services to meet her unique educational needs at no cost to the parents; based on IEP; under public supervision and meets state standards
15. Inclusion:a term which expresses commitment to educate each child, to the maximum extent appropriate, in the school and classroom he or she would otherwise attend. It involves bringing the support services to the child (rather than moving the child to the services) and requires only that the child will benefit from being in the class (rather than having to keep up with the other students). Proponents of inclusion generally favor newer forms of education service delivery.
16. Full Inclusion: means that all students, regardless of handicapping condition or severity, will be in a regular classroom/program full time. All services must be taken to the child in that setting.
17. Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT): This is the term No Child Left Behind uses for a teacher who proved that he or she knows the subjects he or she is teaching, has a college degree, and is state-certified. No Child Left Behind requires that your child be taught by a Highly Qualified teacher in core academic subjects.
18. Informed Consent: Agreement in writing from parents that they have been informed and understand implications of special education evaluation and program decisions; permission is voluntary and may be withdrawn
19. Individualized Educational Program (IEP):A written education plan for a school-aged child with disabilities developed by a team of professionals (teachers, therapists, etc.) and the child's parents. IEP's are based on a multidisciplinary evaluation of the child, describes how the child is presently doing, what the child's learning needs are, and what services the child will need. They are reviewed and updated yearly. IEP's are required under Public Law 94-142, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
20. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA):New title for Education of the Handicapped Act, mandating that states and local divisions provide special education for children with disabilities
21. Least restrictive environment (LRE):1. The most "normal" environment possible for instruction, treatment, and/or living. 2. An educational setting or program that provides a student with disabilities the chance to work and learn to the best of his or her ability; it also provides the student with as much contact as possible with children without disabilities, while meeting all the child's learning needs and physical requirements. (In some instances, placement in a least restrictive environment can be "more restrictive" for that child, i.e., if only one deaf child and interpreter are using signing as the means of communication for that child, that situation can be a most restrictive environment.) 3. As defined in special education rules: A learning environment for a child in need of special education or private education and related services, including a child placed in a public or private institution or another care facility, that includes to the maximum extent appropriate children who are not in need of special education or special education and related services, as determined through mainstream: The usual educational placement of a child. To mainstream a child is to place him in a regular class or something approaching it, rather than in a self-contained special class. See also "mainstreaming".
22. Mainstream: The usual educational placement of a child. To mainstream a child is to place him in a regular class or something approaching it, rather than in a self-contained special class. See also "mainstreaming".
23. Modification: Modifications are changes in the delivery, content, or instructional level of a subject or test. They result in changed or lowered expectations and create a different standard for kids with disabilities than for those without disabilities
24. Multidisciplinary Evaluation/Assessment:An evaluation of a child's strengths and weaknesses from a variety of professional vantage points using a number of different sources of information, and involving the child's parents. Typically, the child's present levels of physical, neurological, cognitive, speech and language, psychosocial development, and self-help skills are assessed.
25. MDC - Multidisciplinary Conference:Refers to two or more professionals (like educators, psychologists, and others) working together and sharing information in the evaluation, assessment, and development of an IEP. A Multidisciplinary Conference is the meeting held to determine eligibility for special education services. It must be held prior to the IEP conference. The meeting can be comprised of parents, professionals, a representative of the local school district, the director of special education or the individual appropriately designated those persons who may provide services for the child, the child when appropriate and/or requested by the parent, and others chosen to attend by the district or parent.
26. NCLB – No Child Left Behind: the reauthorization of a number of federal programs that strive to improve the performance of America's primary and secondary schools by increasing the standards of accountability for states, school districts, and schools, as well as providing parents more flexibility in choosing which schools their children will attend.
27. Procedural Safeguards: 1. Laws that protect the rights of children with disabilities and their families. 2. The requirements of a law, for instance, IDEA requires that children with disabilities be served in the least restrictive environment appropriate to their educational needs. Non-discriminatory testing and multiple criteria in the determination of placement should be used.
28. Regular Classroom:Here your child attends the class and school he would attend if he did not have a handicapping condition, working right along with his non-handicapped peers. Consultants, therapists, itinerant teachers, special educators, etc., can provide special instruction in the regular classroom to your child.
29. Related Services:Services that must be necessary for the child to benefit from special education. It may include transportation and supportive services such as speech pathology, audiology, psychological services, physical and occupational therapy, recreation, early identification and assessment, counseling, interpreters for persons with hearing impairments, medical services for diagnostic or evaluation purposes, school health services, social work services in schools, and parent counseling and training.
30. Resource Room:A room separate from the regular classroom in which children with disabilities can receive specialized assistance to reinforce and supplement the regular class instruction. The amount of time that students spend each day in the resource room varies according to individual needs, and the remainder of the day is spent in his or her regular classroom.
31. Resource Teacher:A specialist who works with children with disabilities and acts as a consultant to their teachers, providing materials and methods to help children who are having difficulty within the regular classroom. The resource teacher may work from a centralized resource room within a school here appropriate materials are housed.
32.School in Need of Improvement – This is the term No Child Left Behind uses to refer to schools receiving Title I funds that have not met state reading and math goals (AYP) for at least two years. If your child’s school is labeled a “school in need of improvement,” it receives extra help to improve and your child has the option to transfer to another public, including a public charter school. Also, your child may be eligible to receive free tutoring and extra help with schoolwork. Contact your child’s school district to find out if your child qualifies.
33.State Assessments – This refers to the tests developed by your state that your child will take every year in grades 3-10 (FCAT). Using these tests, the state will be able to compare schools to each other and know which ones need extra help to improve. Contact your child’s school or school district to find out more details about your state’s tests.
34. Supplemental Educational Services (SES) – This is the term No Child Left Behind uses to refer to the tutoring and extra help with schoolwork in subjects such as reading and math that children from low-income families (eligible for free and reduced lunch) may be eligible to receive. This help is provided free of charge and takes place outside the regular school day, such as after school or during the summer.
35. Title I – Title I is the largest Federal aid program for elementary and secondary schools. Title I provides money to school districts around the country based on the number of low-income families in the district. Each school District uses its Title I funding to pay for additional educational services for children who are not reaching their potential in academic achievement. The purpose of Title I is to provide additional assistance for low-income students towards meeting the challenging state content and performance standards that have been adopted for all students. If a state does not yet have standards, Title I funds must be used to ensure that students, who are eligible for Title I services, are taught the same curriculum content as all other students. This is the part of No Child Left Behind that supports programs in schools and school districts to improve the learning of children from low-income families. The U.S. Department of Education provides Title I funds to states to give to school districts based on the number of children from low-income families in each district.
36. Transition: Process of preparing kids to function in future environments and emphasizing movement from one educational program to another, such as from elementary school to middle school, or from school to work
37. Transition services:A coordinated set of activities for a student, designed within an outcome oriented process, which promotes movement from school to integrated employment (including supported employment), postsecondary education, vocational training, continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living, and community participation. These activities shall: (a) be based upon the individual student's needs; (b) take into account students' preferences and interests; and (c) include, but not be limited to, instruction in community experiences, the development of employment and other post-school adult living objectives, and when appropriate, the acquisition of daily living skills and functional vocational evaluation and services. See also "transition plan".