A Lexicon of Learning

What Educators Mean When They Say...

teacher certification

Official recognition, ordinarily by the state, that a person is qualified to be a teacher. A single certification used to last a lifetime, but many states now require certificate renewal every few years, with evidence of the completion of university or district inservice courses. Many teaching certificates are highly specialized by subject, grade levels, or specifics such as counseling or the ability to teach students with disabilities.

Alternative certification is a way for persons without the standard qualifications to teach while learning on the job (with continuing education and supervision).

In addition to required state certification, some highly accomplished teachers now apply for and are granted national certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

teacher licensure

More commonly called teacher certification (see definition).

teacher portfolios

Collections of items or exhibits intended to show a teacher's accomplishments and abilities. The idea comes from student portfolios, which may supplement or replace tests of student learning. Similarly, teacher portfolios can be used as a means of evaluation. The teacher certification program being pioneered by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards uses teacher portfolios.

teaching for understanding

Engaging students in learning activities intended to help them understand the complexities of a topic. Teaching for understanding is different from teaching simply for recall, which results in students being able to answer questions without knowing what their answers really mean. Specialists advise that a good way to know whether students understand is to ask them to perform a task that shows they can apply and make use of what they have learned in a realistic setting. For example, students might participate in a mock trial to demonstrate that they have developed their understanding of the rights of the accused.

teaching to the test

Preparing students for a test by concentrating on the particular things the test contains rather than on the broader body of knowledge the test is intended to measure. An extreme example would be drilling students on the 20 words the teacher knows will appear on a spelling test rather than teaching the whole set of words students are supposed to have learned to spell.

team teaching

An arrangement by which two or more teachers teach the same group of students. Teachers may teach together in many different ways. They may teach a course, or a combination of courses, for an entire school year, or they may plan and teach a particular unit of study. They may present content from the same, or different, subject areas. And they may keep the students in a single large group or divide them up for some purposes.

tech prep

Programs of study that prepare students for careers by teaching them computer skills and other technology skills in both secondary and postsecondary schools. Most tech-prep plans provide for two years of training in high school followed by two more years in a community college. Tech prep is intended to prepare students for good jobs without a college degree, but many students who enter these programs continue their education in a four-year college or university.

tenure

The legal provision that people in certain positions may not be fired without a good reason, which must be proven in court. Teachers and professors are often awarded tenure after a specified trial period. Once they have established their competence to teach and have been given tenure, they may not be dismissed for improper reasons, such as teaching an unpopular idea or belonging to the wrong political party. Opponents of tenure charge that the elaborate procedures required to dismiss a tenured person, commonly known as "due process," are so onerous that they prevent school systems from discharging poor teachers.

thematic instruction

Organizing all or part of the instruction of a particular group of students around a theme, such as the Dependence and Independence. Advocates say it makes the curriculum more coherent and helps students see relationships among things they are learning.

thematic unit

A segment of instruction focused on a given theme. School courses are frequently divided into units lasting from one to six weeks. For example, a literature course might include a four-week unit on The Individual and Society.

Title I

Refers to Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, which is intended to improve education in high-poverty communities by targeting extra resources to schools and school districts with the highest concentrations of poverty. These are areas in which academic performance tends to be low and the obstacles to raising performance are the greatest.

First enacted as part of the War on Poverty, Title I was known for a while as Chapter I. ESEA must be periodically reauthorized. The most recent reauthorized version of the law, named No Child Left Behind, requires states to administer annual assessments in reading and math for all students in grades 3–8. Schools will be expected to demonstrate that all students are making adequate yearly progress in achieving proficiency on state standards, as measured by test scores. Schools not making adequate yearly progress will be targeted for improvement and they will receive additional assistance from the state. Schools continuing to not achieve adequate yearly progress will be subject to sanctions, including reconstitution of staff or conversion to a charter school.

tracking

The practice of dividing students for instruction according to their perceived abilities. Students are placed on a particular track (college-bound, general, vocational, and remedial) and given a curriculum that varies according to their perceived abilities and future positions in life. At the elementary level, the practice is called grouping. Advocates argue that it makes instruction more efficient and provides students with instruction adapted to their abilities and previous knowledge. Critics argue that it deprives students of equal opportunity, unfairly and inaccurately labels some students, and perpetuates racial, ethnic, language, and social inequalities.

trade books

Individual novels and storybooks that are available for purchase at most retail bookstores. Some teachers incorporate trade books into their lessons, especially in English and history, to create more varied and interesting units of study. Some elementary reading programs depend almost entirely on trade books rather than basal texts.

tuition tax credit

Reduction of income taxes paid by parents for school expenses, especially for tuition to nonpublic schools. Advocates say parents, especially low-income parents, should not be required to pay both school taxes and private school tuition. They also support the right of parents to choose the kind of school their children will attend and often contend that having competition improves the public schools. Opponents argue that using government funds for private religious schools, even indirectly through tax credits, violates the separation of church and state. They also charge that, like vouchers, tax credits reduce the amount of funding available to public schools.

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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.