What Does That Mean? Educational Acronyms Explained

  • CAAS: Performance Series/Computer Adaptive

    Performance Series/Computer Adaptive (CAAS) is a cross-curricular (Reading, Language Arts, Math and Life Science) computer adaptive test that allows teachers to identify the proficiency level of a student regardless of the student’s current grade level. This allows schools to accurately place students who might need corrective or enrichment learning. The test items are normally normed which allows students and teachers to better predict performance on high stakes tests. 
     


    CCRPI: College and Career Ready Performance Index
    CCRPI is a comprehensive school improvement, accountability, and communication platform for all educational stakeholders that will promote college and career readiness for all Georgia public school students.
    Learn More on GA Department of Education's Site

     
     
     
     
    CEP: Community Eligibility Provision
    Community eligibility is the newest opportunity for schools with high percentages of low-income children to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students. It increases participation by children in the school meal programs, reduces labor costs for schools, and increases federal revenues. In short, it allows for a healthier student body and a healthier school meal budget.
     


    Charter System
    The Charter System model provides opportunities for flexibility, governance, and best aligns with the needs of all students across our diverse school system.

    The Charter System Philosophy: A district must want to truly change how it does business and believe that, in order to increase student achievement, schools must be operated in a different way, with greater parent and community buy-in at every single school. Schools are empowered to develop solutions free from the established educational bureaucracy of legislature-driven education mandates, State Board rules, and even the district’s own policies and practices. With this freedom from the law, the district and its schools in turn agree to be held accountable for significant increases in student achievement.
     
     

    CRCT: Criterion-Referenced Competency Test
    The CRCT was designed to measure how well students acquire the skills and knowledge described in the state mandated content standards in reading, English/language arts, mathematics, science and social studies. The assessments yielded information on academic achievement at the student, class, school, system, and state levels. This information was used to diagnose individual student strengths and weaknesses as related to the instruction of the state standards, and to gauge the quality of education throughout Georgia.

    The CRCT program was retired after the 2013-2014 Summer Retest administration. The Georgia Milestones Assessment System has replaced the CRCT beginning with the 2014-2015 school year.
    Learn More


    ELA: English Language Arts/Literacy
    At Atlanta Public Schools, the English/Language Arts program is under the auspices of the Office of Literacy in the Department of Teaching and Learning. Our goal is to ensure that all students receive high quality, standards-based literacy instruction by teaching to and through the strengths of students. To this end, we endeavor to provide a balanced curriculum and responsive pedagogy that will prepare students academically and socially to meet the challenges of a global society.
    Learn More

    Georgia Milestones (Milestones)
    The Georgia Milestones Assessment System (Georgia Milestones) is a comprehensive summative assessment program spanning grades 3 through high school. Georgia Milestones measures how well students have learned the knowledge and skills outlined in the state-adopted content standards in language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. Students in grades 3 through 8 will take an end-of-grade assessment in each content area, while high school students will take an end-of-course assessment for each of the eight courses designated by the State Board of Education.

     


    GOSA: The Governor's Office of Student Achievement
    Vision: As the state's P-20 education agency, the Governor's Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) strives to increase student achievement, school completion, and life opportunities for all Georgia students.

    Mission: The Governor's Office of Student Achievement provides policy support to the Governor and ultimately the citizens of Georgia through:

    • Communicating meaningful education data to stakeholders;
    • Providing research support and data analysis on various education programs in Georgia to inform the Governor’s policy, budget, and legislative efforts;
    • Auditing education programs to ensure fidelity at the district and school-level to performance and accountability requirements; and
    • Identifying, supporting, and sustaining educational innovations that align with the Governor’s education priorities.

    Core Values: To achieve our mission, GOSA conducts all business according to high standards of transparency, accessibility, objectivity, strategic collaboration, and innovation.

    Collaboration: While GOSA's direct affiliation remains with the Governor's Office, it also works closely with all of Georgia's education agencies, including the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE), the University System of Georgia (USG), the Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL), the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC), and the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GaPSC).
    Learn More

     
     

    IB: International Baccalaureate
    Founded in 1968, the International Baccalaureate® (IB) is a non-profit educational foundation offering four highly respected programs of international education that develop the intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills needed to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world. Schools must be authorized, by the IB organization, to offer any of the programs. To learn about the authorization process, visit our Become an IB World School section.

     
    Lexile Scores
    A Lexile is a standard score that matches a student’s reading ability with difficulty of text material. A Lexile can be interpreted as the level of book that a student can read with 75% comprehension. Experts have identified 75% comprehension level as offering the reader a certain amount of comfort and yet still offering a challenge. The Lexile Framework Map shows Lexiles ranging between approximately 200 and 1700. However, some reading materials and readers do have Lexiles below 200 and may have a code of BR for beginning reader.
    Learn More
     


    LSC: Local School Council
    Local School Council is an initiative of the Georgia A+ Education Reform Act of 2000 functioning within the parameters of Georgia state law and Atlanta Public Schools’ Local Board of Education policy. Local School Councils are advisory bodies that provide advice, recommendations, and assistance to principals, teachers, and, where appropriate, the local boards of education and local school superintendent on any matter pertaining to improving student learning and school improvement.

     
     

    LSGT: Local School Governance Team
    Restructuring as a charter system deepens this shift by positioning those closest to students to make decisions for their schools through Local School Governance Teams (LSGTs). Decentralized decision-making recognizes the expertise and insight of educators and the community at the school site level and empowers them to align resources and strategies to their students’ needs.

    Comprised of parents, staff, community members and the principal, LSGTs will determine solutions for their schools through an annual process of budgeting and improvement planning. School level decision-making is aligned to a cluster strategic plan, which is a multi-year vision developed by a committee of representatives from each school in the cluster called the Cluster Advisory Team (CAT). The elected chair of each of the nine CATs participates in a CAT Executive Committee, which convenes to review and recommend approval or revision of any initiative presented to this committee by the Superintendent. This multi-tiered level of support and input equips school sites within a cluster to align, support one another, and provide feedback on district-level initiatives.

    A key characteristic of charter systems is their distributed leadership decision-making structure. Within such a structure, a charter system must implement school level governance and grant decision-making authority in personnel decisions, financial decisions, curriculum and instruction, resource allocation, establishing and monitoring the achievement of school improvement goals, and school operations
    Learn More: Charter System and Local School Governance Teams

     


    NCE: Normal Curve Equivalent Scores
    NCE scores, or Normal Curve Equivalent scores, are a method of reporting test scores created for the US Department of Education. They range from 1-99 with a mean of 50, similar to percentiles. However, unlike percentiles, NCE scores maintain equal interval and can be meaningfully averaged and differenced.


    PTA: Parent Teacher Association (Georgia)
    Membership is open to anyone who believes in the Mission and Purposes of National Parent Teacher Association. Individual members may belong to any number of PTAs and pay dues in each. Every person who joins a local PTA automatically becomes a member of both the state and National PTAs.

    PTA Vision: Every child’s potential is a reality.


    PTA Mission: To make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children.
     
    PTA Values
    • Collaboration: We work in partnership with a wide array of individuals and organizations to accomplish our agreed-upon goals.
    • Commitment: We are dedicated to promoting children’s health, well-being, and educational success through strong parent, family, and community involvement.
    • Accountability: We acknowledge our obligations. We deliver on our promises.
    • Respect: We value our colleagues and ourselves. We expect the same high quality of effort and thought from ourselves as we do from others.
    • Inclusivity: We invite the stranger and welcome the newcomer. We value and seek input from as wide a spectrum of viewpoints and experiences as possible.
    • Integrity: We act consistently with our beliefs. When we err, we acknowledge the mistake and seek to make amends.
    The Purposes of the PTA are:
    • To promote the welfare of the children and youth in home, school, community, and place of worship.
    • To raise the standards of home life.
    • To secure adequate laws for the care and protection of children and youth.
    • To bring into closer relation the home and the school, that parents and teachers may cooperate intelligently in the education of children and youth.
    • To develop between educators and the general public such united efforts as will secure for all children and youth the highest advantages in physical, mental, social, and spiritual education.
    Learn More
     

    RTI: Response to Intervention
    Atlanta Public Schools follows Georgia’s four-tiered Student Achievement Pyramid of Interventions to provide appropriate and effective Response to Intervention services, which incorporates universal screening, targeted interventions, and a team approach to decision-making and the development and implementation of services.



    SLOS: Student Learning Objectives
    SLOs are content-specific, grade level learning objectives that are measureable, focused on growth in student learning, and aligned to curriculum standards. As a measure of teachers’ impact on student learning, SLOs give educators, school systems, and state leaders an additional means by which to understand, value, and recognize success in the classroom.

    The primary purpose of SLOs is to improve student learning at the classroom level. An equally important purpose of SLOs is to provide evidence of each teacher’s instructional impact on student learning.