US Educational Terms Glossary (Garland Green)

Pacific Resources for Education and Learning

Parent Teacher Association

Parent Teacher Organization

A national organization of parents, teachers, and other interested persons that has chapters in schools. They rely entirely on voluntary participation and offer assistance to schools in many different areas

A program that encourages designated consulting teachers to assist other teachers who need help in developing their subject matter knowledge, teaching strategies, or both. They also help teachers to meet the standards for proficient teaching.

A program that trains students to provide their peers with counseling, education, and support on issues such as prejudice, drugs, violence, child abuse, dropping out, AIDS, and peer pressure. Students are also trained to provide tutoring and conflict mediation.

One way to compare a given child, class, school, or district to a national norm. (Ed Source)

Systematic and direct observation of a student performance or examples of student performances and ranking according to preestablished performance criteria. Students are assessed on the result as well as the process engaged in a complex task or creation of a product.

A description of the characteristics to be assessed for a given task. Performance criteria may be general specific analytical trait or holistic. They may be expressed as a scoring rubric or scoring guide. (See rubrics and scoring guide.)

An assessment exercise that is goal directed. The exercise is developed to elicit students application of a wide range of skills and knowledge to solve a complex problem.