| adequate yearly progress | Under the No Child Left Behind Act, each state establishes annual criteria to determine school district and school achievement. Schools that fail to meet the AYP criteria (often determined by standardized tests) are held accountable and may be closed.
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| authentic assessment | A type of evaluation that represents actual performance, encourages students to reflect on their own work, and is integrated into the student's whole learning process. Such tests usually require that students synthesize knowledge from different areas and use that knowledge actively.
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| canon | The collection of literature and other works that typically reflects a white, Euro-centered view of the world.
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| content standards | The knowledge, skills, and dispositions that students should master in each subject. These standards are often linked to broader themes and sometimes to testing programs.
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| core curriculum | A central body of knowledge that schools require all students to study.
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| core knowledge | Awareness of the central ideas, beliefs, personalities, writings, events, etc. of a culture. Also termed "cultural literacy."
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| Creationism | The position that God created the universe, the earth, and living things on the earth in precisely the manner described in the Old Testament, in six, 24-hour periods.
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| critical pedagogy | An education philosophy that unites the theory of critical thinking with actual practice in real-world settings. The purpose is to eliminate the cultural and educational control of the dominant group, to have students apply critical thinking skills to the real world and become agents for social change.
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| curriculum (formal, explicit) | Planned content of instruction that enables the school to meet its aims.
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| evolution | As put forth by Charles Darwin, a keystone of modern biological theory and postulates that animals and plants have their origin in other preexisting types and that there are modifications in successive generations.
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| extracurriculum | The part of school life that comprises activities, such as sports, academic and social clubs, band, chorus, orchestra, and theater. Many educators think that the extracurriculum develops important skills and values, including leadership, teamwork, creativity, and diligence.
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| Intelligent Design | The argument that instances in nature cannot be explained by Darwinian evolution, but instead are consistent with the notion of an intelligent involvement in the design of life.
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| metacognition | Self-awareness of our thinking process as we perform various tasks and operations. For example, when students articulate how they think about academic tasks, it enhances their thinking and enables teachers to target assistance and remediation.
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| multicultural education | Educational policies and practices that not only recognize but also affirm human differences and similarities associated with gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, and class.
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| null curriculum | The curriculum that is not taught in schools.
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| opportunity to learn standards | (also called delivery standards) These standards attempt to recognize and respond to individual differences and circumstances. Poorer students learning in schools with fewer resources should receive more appropriate and adequate learning opportunities, and if some students need more time to take tests, additional time should be provided.
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| performance standards | Statements that describe what teachers or students should be able to do, and how well they should do it.
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| self-censorship (also called stealth censorship) | In order to avoid possible problems and parental complaints, some educators quietly remove a book from a library shelf or a course of study. Teachers practice the same sort of self-censorship when they choose not to teach a topic or not to discuss a difficult issue.
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| spirituality | A personal and pluralistic view of life's meaning, broader than any particular religion, but encompassing many ideas common to all religions. It includes beliefs and activities which renew, lift up, comfort, heal, and inspire both ourselves and others.
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| standards-based education | Education that specifies precisely what students should learn, focuses the curriculum and instruction (and perhaps much more) on meeting these standards, and provides continual testing to see if the standards are achieved.
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| textbook adoption states | States, most often those in the South and West, that have a formal process for assessing, choosing, and approving textbooks for school use.
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