A Lexicon of Learning

What Educators Mean When They Say...

IB

See international baccalaureate.

illiteracy

Lack of the skills needed in a literate society. Whereas literacy once meant minimal ability to read and write, the term is now used to refer to many types of knowledge and skills, such as computer literacy. People may also speak of scientific, mathematical, economic, or musical literacy.

immersion

As used in bilingual education programs, immersion means having students learn a second language by speaking, hearing, and reading it all day (or part of the day), including being taught several subjects in that language. If all students speak the same language, as they usually do in bilingual programs for Spanish-speaking students, the lessons are constructed around the students' language competencies, and the instructor is fluent in both the students' language and the language being learned. Immersion programs in the United States are usually for non-English speakers, but some enrichment immersion programs are designed for English speakers to learn a second language.

inclusion

The practice of educating all children in the same classroom, including children with physical, mental, and developmental disabilities. Inclusion classes often require a special assistant to the classroom teacher. In a fully inclusive school or classroom, all of the children follow the same schedules; everyone is involved in the same field trips, extracurricular activities, and assemblies.

The 1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act (P.L. 94-142) made inclusion a controversial topic by requiring a free and appropriate education with related services for each child in the least restrictive environment possible, and an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for each qualifying child. In 1991 the bill was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the revision broadened the definition of disabilities and added related services. One controversy involves interpreting the phrase "least restrictive environment possible." Supporters of full inclusion interpret the phrase to mean full provisions in the regular school; others advocate case-by-case decisions, considering the individual student and available staff and facilities. For example, some professionals and some parents of children with learning disabilities believe that these children benefit from partial inclusion, with some activities and learning experiences occurring in alternative facilities using different teaching strategies.

Inclusion has passionate advocates and adversaries. Opponents, including many parents of children with special needs, feel that the presence of many children with disabilities holds back average and gifted students and that special-needs students are frequently disruptive and are not well-served by inclusion. Advocates of inclusion argue that all students are better served in structured inclusive classrooms—that children with disabilities receive more understanding and respect from their peers and that all students profit from working together.

indicator

A statistic, such as the percentage of students attending school daily, used as evidence of success in accomplishing an abstract goal, such as student interest in learning. The long-term results of education are difficult to measure, so people use measurable indicators—such as drop-out rates, honors won, and test scores—to help judge school quality.

individualized education

Also called individualized instruction, the practice of giving lessons and assignments according to each student's needs and strengths. Students work at their own pace, so ideally, slow students master prerequisite knowledge before moving on and fast learners move ahead without waiting for others. However, such programs require self-explanatory instructional materials and extensive record keeping, which, before the invention of personal computers, caused management problems. Now, some schools use fully developed computer-based individualized programs called integrated learning systems.

Individualized Education Program (IEP)

Students with certain special needs, as specified by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), have a legal right to a special plan written by a multidisciplinary team. After a series of tests and observations determine the child's need for an IEP, a team (generally including a special education teacher, a classroom teacher, a building principal, a psychologist, and the child's parents or guardians) designs a program of services to blend the best methods of teaching with the most conducive learning environment for the child.

The process of creating the IEP allows the parties to discuss and resolve any differences of opinions and needs. The document specifies the decisions and anticipated outcomes, and it includes the child's current level of educational performance, specific services to be provided, who will provide those services and when, the amount of time the child will be in regular and special classrooms, and short- and long-term goals. The IEP objectives are used to determine the child's progress toward the goals. A well-written, carefully developed IEP protects the child because schools are legally responsible for implementing it.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

A revision of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, the IDEA is a federal law passed in 1991 and amended in 1997 that guarantees a free appropriate public education for eligible children and youth with disabilities. According to the law, a child with a disability means a child with mental retardation, hearing impairments (including deafness), speech or language impairments, visual impairments (including blindness), serious emotional disturbance, orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or specific learning disabilities.

information literacy

The ability to use a variety of sources, including computers, to locate desired information.

inservice

Also written as in-service, this is the continuing education needed by people in most professions when they have completed their preservice training and are employed. In education, inservice training or education is now usually called staff development or professional development.

integrated curriculum

A way of teaching and learning that does not depend on the usual division of knowledge into separate subjects. Topics are studied because they are considered interesting and valuable by the teachers and students concerned, not necessarily because they appear in a required course of study. Both integrated curriculum and interdisciplinary curriculum are intended to help students see connections, but unlike an integrated curriculum, an interdisciplinary curriculum draws its content from two or more identifiable disciplines.

integrated language arts

A way of teaching reading (including phonics), grammar, handwriting, spelling, and other language skills together rather than as separate subjects. Students spend their instructional time reading, writing, listening, and speaking; teachers teach skills as they are needed. Critics contend that students may miss important information and skills without systematic instruction. Proponents of integrated language arts say that teaching skills in context is more interesting and meaningful to students and therefore more effective.

integrated learning systems

Computer-based systems that provide interactive instruction to individual students and maintain records of each student's progress. Sophisticated systems adapt the level of instruction to the student's achievement, giving slower students additional help and moving successful students to more challenging levels.

interactive learning

Occurs when the source of instruction communicates directly with the learner, shaping responses to the learner's needs. Tutoring—one teacher teaching a single student—is highly interactive. Computers and other modern technological applications have made it theoretically possible to provide effective interactive instruction to any learner on any subject.

interdisciplinary curriculum

A way of organizing the curriculum in which content is drawn from two or more subject areas to focus on a particular topic or theme. Rather than studying literature and social studies separately, for example, a class might study a unit called The Sea, reading poems and stories about people who spend their lives on or near the ocean, learning about the geography of coastal areas, and investigating why coastal and inland populations have different livelihoods. Effective interdisciplinary studies have the following elements:

• A topic that lends itself to study from several points of view.
• One or more themes (or essential questions) the teacher wants the students to explore.
• Activities intended to further students' understanding by establishing relationships among knowledge from more than one discipline or school subject.

Interdisciplinary curriculum, which draws content from particular disciplines that are ordinarily taught separately, is different from integrated curriculum, which involves investigation of topics without regard to where, or even whether, they appear in the typical school curriculum at all.

international baccalaureate (IB)

International baccalaureate, a rigorous, pre-university course of study that leads to examinations accepted by more than 100 countries for university admission. In the Diploma Programme, candidates for IB diplomas study languages, sciences, mathematics, and humanities in the final two years of secondary schooling. The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) now also offers the Middle Years Programme for students ages 11–16 and the Primary Years Programme for students ages 3–12. The headquarters of the International Baccalaureate Organization is in Geneva, Switzerland, but the IBO also maintains regional offices around the world.

The idea for an IB grew from concerns of schools that had to prepare students to take university entrance exams in different countries. In 1962 the International Schools Association began to explore the creation of an international standard examination, and by 1970 the first exam was offered to 20 schools. The IB is now offered by more than 1,000 schools. Schools must meet certain criteria to offer IB curriculum and to administer the examination. Students can take the IB exam only if they are enrolled in an authorized school.

invented spelling

The way young children write some words when they have not yet mastered all the conventions of English spelling. Most children, if encouraged to write when they don't yet know how to spell every word, will try to use simple phonetic principles. For example, they might write "muthr" for "mother" or "reed" for "read." Some language arts specialists say invented spelling is a natural, positive way for children to learn to write. Critics think children should be expected to spell correctly from the beginning.

IQ

Intelligence quotient—a number derived by dividing a child's "mental age" (derived from her score on an intelligence test) by her actual age. IQ is based on the principle that children who score well on intelligence tests have mental ability comparable to older children who are only average. A child whose performance would be expected for his age has an IQ of 100. A child with mental ability considerably higher than his actual age might have an IQ of 130. The term "IQ" is no longer used as frequently as it used to be, but intelligence tests continue to be scored using the familiar scale.

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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.