| alternative licensure | A procedure for acquiring a teacher's license for those who have not graduated from a traditional state-approved teacher education program.
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| American Federation of Teachers (AFT) | A national organization of teachers that is primarily concerned with improving educational conditions and protecting teachers' rights.
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| board-certified teachers | Teachers who demonstrate high levels of knowledge, commitment, and professionalism are awarded this recognition of advanced teaching competence through a competitive review process administered by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
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| collective bargaining | A negotiating procedure between employer and employees for resolving disagreements on salaries, work schedules, and other conditions of employment. In collective bargaining, all teachers in a school system bargain as one group through chosen representatives.
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| merit pay | A salary system that periodically evaluates teacher performance and uses these evaluations in determining salary.
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| National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) | A professional organization charged with establishing voluntary standards for recognizing superior teachers as board certified.
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| National Education Association (NEA) | The largest organization of educators, the NEA is concerned with the overall improvement of education and of the conditions of educators. It is organized at the national, state, and local levels.
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| normal school | A two-year teacher education institution popular in the nineteenth century, many of which were expanded to become today's state colleges and universities.
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| pedagogy | The science of teaching.
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| tenure | A system of employment in which teachers, having served a probationary period, acquire an expectancy of continued employment. The majority of states have tenure laws.
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