- EAS
- Educating All Students — the NYSTCE field 201 pedagogy test most NY teacher candidates must pass.
- NYSTCE
- New York State Teacher Certification Examinations — a suite of tests run by Pearson for NYSED.
- EAS passing score
- A scaled score of 520 (range 400–600); 500 is the Safety-Net Requirement. Reported pass/fail.
- EAS format
- 40 selected-response items + 3 constructed-response items, computer-based, in a 2 hr 30 min appointment.
- Culturally responsive teaching
- Using students' cultural backgrounds and experiences as assets, with high expectations for all.
- Differentiated instruction
- Adjusting content, process, product, or environment so each student reaches the same goal.
- Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
- Designing flexible instruction up front: multiple means of engagement, representation, and action/expression.
- Equity
- Giving each student the specific supports they need to reach the same high outcomes — not identical treatment.
- Equality vs. equity
- Equality = same treatment for all; equity = the support each student needs to reach the same outcome.
- Implicit (unconscious) bias
- Unconscious attitudes or stereotypes that can affect a teacher's expectations and decisions.
- Deficit thinking
- Viewing students' differences (culture, language, background) as deficits — to be avoided; use an asset-based view.
- Asset-based view
- Treating students' cultures, languages, and experiences as resources for learning, not obstacles.
- Funds of knowledge
- The knowledge, skills, and experiences students bring from family and community that teachers can build on.
- Inclusion
- Educating students of all backgrounds and abilities together, with supports, so everyone belongs.
- Multicultural education
- Education that values diverse cultures and prepares students to live in a diverse society.
- Differentiating by readiness
- Adjusting tasks to a student's current skill level (e.g., tiered assignments).
- Differentiating by interest
- Connecting tasks to what students care about to increase engagement.
- Differentiating by learning profile
- Adjusting for how students learn best (e.g., visual, hands-on, collaborative).
- High expectations
- Holding every student to a rigorous standard; a hallmark of equitable, culturally responsive teaching.
- Tiered assignment
- A task offered at varied levels of complexity so students of different readiness reach the same concept.
- Flexible grouping
- Grouping students in changing ways (skill, interest, mixed) based on the task and data.
- Stereotype
- An oversimplified generalization about a group; teachers must avoid letting stereotypes shape decisions.
- Multiple means of representation (UDL)
- Presenting content in more than one way (text, audio, visual) so all learners can access it.
- Multiple means of engagement (UDL)
- Offering varied ways to motivate and involve learners (choice, relevance, collaboration).
- Multiple means of action/expression (UDL)
- Letting students show learning in different ways (writing, speaking, building, performing).
- Culturally relevant pedagogy
- Ladson-Billings' approach: academic success, cultural competence, and critical (sociopolitical) consciousness.
- Whole-child approach
- Attending to students' academic, social, emotional, and physical needs together.
- Bias in assessment
- When a test or task unfairly disadvantages a group; reduce it with fair, accessible design.
- English language learner (ELL)
- A student whose home language is not English and who is developing English proficiency (also MLL/EL).
- Multilingual learner (MLL)
- New York's preferred term for a student learning English while developing in their home language.
- BICS
- Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills — everyday conversational English, often acquired in 1–2 years.
- CALP
- Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency — academic language of school, which can take 5–7 years.
- BICS vs. CALP
- Social/conversational English develops fast; academic English takes far longer — don't confuse them.
- Stages of language acquisition
- Preproduction, early production, speech emergence, intermediate fluency, advanced fluency.
- Preproduction (silent period)
- Early stage: the learner listens and builds receptive vocabulary with minimal speech.
- Early production
- The learner uses one- to two-word responses; ask either/or and short-answer questions.
- Speech emergence
- The learner produces simple sentences with errors; support with sentence frames and modeling.
- Intermediate fluency
- The learner uses more complex language and can express opinions; build academic vocabulary.
- Advanced fluency
- The learner uses near grade-level academic language with light ongoing support.
- Scaffolding
- Temporary, targeted support (frames, visuals, modeling) that fades as the learner gains independence.
- Zone of proximal development (ZPD)
- Vygotsky: the gap between what a learner can do alone and with guidance — where scaffolding works best.
- Comprehensible input
- Language and content made understandable to the learner, slightly above their current level.
- Sentence frames/starters
- Provided language structures that help ELLs produce academic language.
- Realia
- Real objects used in teaching to make abstract content concrete and comprehensible.
- Cognates
- Words that look/sound similar across languages (e.g., 'family/familia') — a bridge to English.
- Home language as an asset
- Using a student's first language and prior literacy as a resource for learning English.
- English as a New Language (ENL)
- A New York program providing English-language instruction and support to ELLs.
- Bilingual education
- A program teaching content in both English and the student's home language.
- Translanguaging
- Letting multilingual students use their full language repertoire to learn.
- ELL rights
- ELLs have a legal right to meaningful, comprehensible instruction and language-support services.
- Lau v. Nichols
- 1974 Supreme Court case requiring schools to provide meaningful access for non-English-speaking students.
- English-language-proficiency assessment
- A test used to identify ELLs and monitor their English development (e.g., NYSESLAT in NY).
- Family communication for ELLs
- Provide interpreters and translated materials — don't rely on a child to translate school information.
- Visual supports
- Pictures, diagrams, and gestures that make content comprehensible to ELLs.
- Graphic organizer
- A visual tool (chart, web) that organizes thinking and lowers the language load.
- Total Physical Response (TPR)
- A method linking language to physical movement to support early acquisition.
- Modeling/think-aloud
- Demonstrating a process and verbalizing thinking so learners can imitate it.
- Newcomer support
- Extra orientation and scaffolds for recently arrived ELLs unfamiliar with the school/culture.
- IEP
- Individualized Education Program — a legally binding plan (under IDEA) of goals, services, and accommodations.
- 504 plan
- A plan under Section 504 giving accommodations so a student with a disability can access the curriculum.
- IEP vs. 504 plan
- IEP = specialized instruction + services + accommodations (IDEA); 504 = accommodations for access only.
- IDEA
- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act — the federal law guaranteeing special education and related services.
- FAPE
- Free Appropriate Public Education — IDEA's guarantee of an appropriate education at no cost to families.
- LRE
- Least restrictive environment — educate students with disabilities with non-disabled peers to the max extent appropriate.
- Accommodation
- A change in HOW a student accesses content or shows learning (e.g., extended time) — same expectation.
- Modification
- A change in WHAT a student is expected to learn (e.g., fewer or simpler objectives).
- Accommodation vs. modification
- Accommodation changes HOW (access); modification changes WHAT (the expectation/standard).
- Section 504
- Part of the Rehabilitation Act barring disability discrimination; basis for 504 plans.
- Response to Intervention (RTI)
- A tiered system of increasingly intensive, monitored support for struggling students.
- MTSS
- Multi-Tiered System of Supports — a broad framework (academics + behavior) that includes RTI.
- RTI Tier 1
- High-quality core instruction for all students, with universal screening.
- RTI Tier 2
- Targeted small-group intervention for students who need more than Tier 1.
- RTI Tier 3
- Intensive, often individualized intervention; data may lead to a special-ed referral.
- Special-education referral
- A formal request to evaluate a student suspected of having a disability.
- Evaluation (special ed)
- A full, nondiscriminatory assessment (with parent consent) to determine eligibility under IDEA.
- Eligibility determination
- Deciding whether a student qualifies under one of IDEA's disability categories.
- IEP team
- The group (including the parent and a general-education teacher) that writes and reviews the IEP.
- Annual review
- The IEP must be reviewed at least once per year.
- Reevaluation
- A student with an IEP must be reevaluated at least every three years.
- Present levels (IEP)
- The statement of a student's current academic and functional performance in the IEP.
- Measurable annual goals
- Specific, measurable IEP targets the student is expected to reach in a year.
- Related services
- Supports like speech therapy, OT, PT, and counseling provided under an IEP.
- Assistive technology
- Tools (text-to-speech, communication devices) that help a student access learning.
- Mainstreaming/inclusion
- Educating students with disabilities in the general-education classroom with supports.
- Co-teaching
- A general and special educator teaching together in the same classroom.
- Procedural safeguards
- IDEA protections for parents/students (consent, notice, due process, records access).
- Parent consent
- Required before an initial special-education evaluation and before services begin.
- Disability categories (IDEA)
- The categories under which a student may qualify (e.g., specific learning disability, autism, OHI).
- Specific learning disability (SLD)
- A disorder in processes affecting reading, writing, or math (e.g., dyslexia, dyscalculia).
- Gifted and talented
- Students with exceptional ability who need enrichment and appropriate challenge.
- Twice-exceptional (2e)
- A student who is both gifted and has a disability — support both at once.
- Differentiation for SWD
- Adjusting instruction and using accommodations so students with disabilities meet goals.
- Behavior intervention plan (BIP)
- A plan to address a student's challenging behavior with positive supports.
- Positive behavioral supports (PBIS)
- A proactive, school-wide framework that teaches and reinforces positive behavior.
- Mandated reporter
- A teacher legally required to report reasonable suspicion of child abuse or maltreatment.
- Mandated reporting (NY)
- In New York, teachers must report suspicion directly themselves — not delegate it to a supervisor.
- FERPA
- Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act — a federal law protecting the privacy of student education records.
- DASA
- Dignity for All Students Act — a NY law protecting students from harassment, bullying, and discrimination.
- Confidentiality
- Keeping student information private; share only with those who have a legitimate educational interest.
- Professional boundaries
- Maintaining appropriate teacher-student relationships and conduct.
- Reflective practice
- Analyzing one's own teaching and student data, then making concrete changes to improve.
- Professional development
- Ongoing learning teachers pursue to strengthen practice and stay current.
- Code of ethics
- Professional standards guiding fair, responsible conduct toward students and colleagues.
- Reasonable suspicion (reporting)
- The threshold to report abuse — you don't need proof, and you don't investigate.
- Statewide Central Register (NY)
- Where NY mandated reporters call to report suspected child abuse or maltreatment.
- Good-faith reporting
- Reports of suspected abuse made in good faith are legally protected from liability.
- Legitimate educational interest
- The need-to-know standard under FERPA for accessing a student's records.
- Duty of care
- A teacher's legal responsibility to keep students reasonably safe from foreseeable harm.
- Negligence
- Failure to exercise reasonable care, leading to student harm — a legal risk for teachers.
- In loco parentis
- 'In place of the parent' — teachers' authority and responsibility for students during school.
- Collaboration with colleagues
- Working with other educators (PLCs, co-planning) to improve student outcomes.
- Data-driven instruction
- Using assessment data to guide teaching decisions and reflection.
- Formative assessment
- Low-stakes checks during learning used to adjust instruction.
- Summative assessment
- An assessment of learning at the end of a unit or course (e.g., a final test).
- Formative vs. summative
- Formative = for learning (adjust along the way); summative = of learning (final judgment).
- Self-assessment (teacher)
- A teacher's honest appraisal of their own practice to plan improvement.
- Mentoring/induction
- Support programs that help new teachers grow in their first years.
- Professional learning community (PLC)
- A team of educators who collaborate regularly to improve practice and student learning.
- Child abuse vs. maltreatment
- Abuse = inflicted harm; maltreatment/neglect = failure to provide adequate care — both reportable.
- Family engagement
- Building two-way, respectful partnerships with families as partners in their child's education.
- Two-way communication
- Communication in which families both receive information and have real chances to respond.
- Parent-teacher conference
- A meeting to share a student's progress and plan support collaboratively with the family.
- Strengths-first communication
- Leading with positives and good news, not only problems, when contacting families.
- Culturally responsive family outreach
- Respecting families' cultures, languages, and circumstances when communicating.
- Language access for families
- Providing interpreters and translated materials for families whose home language isn't English.
- Family as partner
- Treating families as collaborators in decisions and goal-setting for their child.
- Community resources
- School and community supports (counselors, social workers, health, after-school) for students and families.
- Referral to support services
- Connecting a student/family to a counselor, social worker, or community agency when needed.
- School-community partnership
- Collaboration between the school and community organizations to support the whole child.
- Home-school connection
- Linking learning at school with families and home to support student success.
- Communicating about an IEP/504
- Including and informing families as required members of the planning process.
- Barriers to family engagement
- Obstacles like language, work schedules, or past negative experiences — teachers work to remove them.
- Welcoming environment
- A school climate where all families feel respected and invited to participate.
- Collaborating with counselors/social workers
- Partnering with student-support staff to meet academic and non-academic needs.
- Family input in decisions
- Inviting families to contribute to planning and goal-setting for their child.
- Confidentiality with families
- Sharing a student's information only with that student's own parents/guardians, not others.
- Whole-child supports
- Coordinating academic, social-emotional, health, and family supports around a student.
- Bloom's taxonomy
- A hierarchy of thinking from remember/understand up to analyze, evaluate, and create.
- Higher-order thinking
- Cognitive skills beyond recall — analyzing, evaluating, and creating.
- Maslow's hierarchy of needs
- Needs from basic (food, safety) to belonging, esteem, and self-actualization; unmet needs hinder learning.
- Social-emotional learning (SEL)
- Teaching self-awareness, self-management, social skills, and responsible decision-making.
- Growth mindset
- The belief that ability grows with effort; contrasted with a fixed mindset.
- Cooperative learning
- Structured group work in which students depend on one another to learn.
- Culturally sustaining pedagogy
- Teaching that maintains and values students' cultural and linguistic identities.
- Microaggression
- A subtle, often unintentional slight toward a marginalized group; teachers learn to recognize and address it.
- Inclusive curriculum
- Curriculum that represents diverse identities, histories, and perspectives.
- Equitable participation
- Structures (e.g., wait time, turn-taking) that ensure all students take part.
- Wait time
- Pausing after a question to give all students, including ELLs, time to think and respond.
- Choice boards
- A menu of task options that lets students choose how to learn or show learning.
- Anchor charts
- Reference visuals co-created with students to support independent work.
- Backward design
- Planning by starting with desired outcomes, then assessment, then instruction.
- Learning styles caution
- Tailor by readiness and need; matching to fixed 'learning styles' lacks strong evidence.
- Socioeconomic awareness
- Recognizing how poverty/resources affect learning and providing equitable supports.
- Gender-inclusive practice
- Treating all students fairly regardless of gender identity or expression.
- Trauma-informed practice
- Teaching with awareness that trauma affects behavior and learning; respond with support, not punishment.
- SIOP model
- Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol — a framework for teaching content to ELLs comprehensibly.
- Content + language objectives
- Lessons for ELLs target both subject content and specific language skills.
- Word wall
- A visible display of key vocabulary supporting ELLs and all learners.
- Pre-teaching vocabulary
- Introducing key terms before a lesson so ELLs can access the content.
- Native-language support
- Using a student's home language to build understanding and bridge to English.
- Receptive vs. productive language
- Receptive = listening/reading (understood first); productive = speaking/writing.
- Academic vocabulary
- The Tier 2/3 words of school texts and tests that ELLs need explicit instruction in.
- Code-switching
- Alternating between languages or registers; a normal multilingual practice.
- Acculturation
- The process of adjusting to a new culture, which affects newcomer students.
- Affective filter
- Anxiety or low motivation that can block language learning; lower it with a supportive climate.
- Comprehension checks
- Frequent checks (thumbs, paraphrasing) to confirm ELLs understand.
- Visual schedules
- Picture-supported routines that help newcomers know what to expect.
- Peer support/buddy
- Pairing an ELL with a supportive peer for language and social access.
- Differentiation for ELLs
- Adjusting input and output (visuals, frames) while keeping grade-level content.
- Long-term ELL
- A student classified as an ELL for many years who needs targeted academic-language support.
- Dual-language program
- A bilingual model developing literacy and content in two languages.
- Dyslexia
- A specific learning disability affecting accurate, fluent reading and spelling.
- Dyscalculia
- A specific learning disability affecting number sense and math.
- ADHD
- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; may be served via IEP (OHI) or a 504 plan.
- Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
- A developmental disability affecting social communication and behavior; an IDEA category.
- Other health impairment (OHI)
- An IDEA category for limited strength/vitality/alertness (e.g., ADHD, chronic illness).
- Emotional disturbance
- An IDEA category for conditions affecting emotional/behavioral functioning and learning.
- Speech or language impairment
- An IDEA category for communication disorders affecting education.
- Intellectual disability
- An IDEA category involving significant limits in intellectual and adaptive functioning.
- Universal screening
- Assessing all students to identify those who may need intervention (Tier 1).
- Progress monitoring
- Frequently measuring a student's response to intervention or IEP goals.
- Differentiated assessment
- Offering varied, accessible ways for students with disabilities to show learning.
- Manifestation determination
- A review of whether misconduct was caused by a student's disability before discipline.
- Least restrictive environment continuum
- Settings from general classroom (most inclusive) to separate placement (most restrictive).
- Prior written notice
- IDEA requirement that schools inform parents before changing identification/placement/services.
- Due process (IDEA)
- A formal procedure to resolve disputes between families and schools over special education.
- Adaptive behavior
- Everyday practical and social skills; considered in some eligibility decisions.
- Functional behavioral assessment (FBA)
- A process to understand the function of a behavior before writing a BIP.
- Transition planning
- IEP planning for life after high school (work, college, independent living).
- Specialized instruction
- Individually designed teaching to meet a student's unique disability-related needs.
- Inclusive practices
- Strategies (co-teaching, UDL, accommodations) that include SWD in general education.
- Rubric
- A scoring guide listing criteria and performance levels for fair, transparent grading.
- Validity (assessment)
- The degree to which a test measures what it claims to measure.
- Reliability (assessment)
- The degree to which a test gives consistent results.
- Backward planning from standards
- Designing units to meet specific learning standards and objectives.
- Learning objective
- A clear, measurable statement of what students will know or do.
- Differentiated feedback
- Specific, actionable feedback tailored to each student's needs.
- Classroom management
- Systems and routines that create a safe, productive learning environment.
- Positive reinforcement
- Encouraging desired behavior by following it with something valued.
- Restorative practices
- Approaches that repair harm and rebuild relationships rather than just punish.
- Equitable discipline
- Applying consequences fairly and consistently, free of bias, with supports.
- Cumulative record
- A student's official file; access is limited under FERPA.
- Standardized test security
- Protecting test materials and following administration rules — an ethical duty.
- Academic integrity
- Upholding honesty in student work and modeling it as a teacher.
- Continuing education
- Ongoing coursework/workshops required to maintain certification.
- Self-reflection tools
- Journals, video review, and peer feedback used to improve teaching.
- Collaboration with families
- Communicating and partnering with parents as part of professional duty.
- Ethical use of student data
- Handling student data securely and only for legitimate educational purposes.
- Open house
- An event inviting families to learn about the classroom and build relationships.
- Progress reports
- Regular updates to families on a student's achievement and growth.
- Family-school compact
- A shared agreement on how school and families support student learning.
- Communication log
- A record of contacts with families to track engagement and follow-up.
- Positive phone call home
- Contacting a family with good news to build trust and partnership.
- Translated communications
- Sending newsletters and notices in families' home languages.
- Parent volunteers
- Inviting families to contribute in the classroom and school community.
- Wraparound services
- Coordinated supports (health, counseling, social services) around a student and family.
- Title I parent involvement
- Federal expectations for engaging families, especially in high-need schools.
- Conferencing with an interpreter
- Using a qualified interpreter so non-English-speaking families fully participate.
- Student-led conference
- A conference in which the student presents their own progress to family and teacher.
- Building trust with families
- Consistent, respectful, two-way communication that treats families as partners.
- Connecting to community agencies
- Referring families to outside organizations for housing, food, or health needs.
- Family literacy support
- Helping families support reading and learning at home.
