Glossary

Belonging: Belonging is the feeling of security and support when there is a sense of acceptance, inclusion, and identity for a member of a certain group. Creating genuine feelings of belonging for all is a critical factor in improving engagement and performance. (Cornell University)

Cultural Competence: Recognizing, valuing, and leveraging differences in order to interact effectively and better serve our students, staff, and community. (GCPS Cross-Functional Action Team Report, Becoming a Culturally Competent Organization, 2015)

Diversity: The practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds.

Educational Return on Investment: Educational return on investment (ROI) seeks to maximize achievement or other student outcomes (e.g., higher graduation rates, lower discipline incidents, or increased career options) for the greatest number of students, given the available resources. (Education Resource Strategies)

Effectiveness: The degree to which something is successful in producing a desired result; success.

Empathy: The ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

Equity: The conditions under which each and every child receives what they need to develop to their full academic and social potential.

Excellence: The quality of being outstanding or extremely good.

High-quality Instructional Materials (HQIM): HQIM are content-rich, fully accessible, culturally and linguistically relevant, free from bias, research-based, and aligned to AKS standards. HQIM help to create a guaranteed, viable curriculum that supports higher student achievement.

Inclusion: The practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as those who have physical or mental disabilities and members of other historically underserved groups.

Key Performance Indicator (KPI): A key performance indicator (KPI) is a calculable measure used to evaluate the success in meeting objectives for performance.

Local School Plan for Improvement (LSPI): Each school creates a collaborative Local School Plan for Improvement (LSPI), with targeted goals based on student achievement results. These goals are dynamic, like our schools, and are updated to reflect changes that occur in schools.

Multi-tiered System of Supports (MTSS): Multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) is a framework that integrates data and instruction within a multi-level prevention system to maximize student achievement and support students’ social, emotional, and behavior needs from a strength-based perspective. (Center on MTSS at the American Institutes for Research)

Operational Management Plan (OMP): Every department or division creates a yearly work plan that aligns with the strategic priority areas, goals, and objectives. These plans include relevant KPIs to measure success and progress.

Positive Behavior Intervention & Supports (PBIS): PBIS is an evidence-based, tiered framework for supporting students’ behavioral, academic, social, emotional, and mental health. When implemented with fidelity, PBIS improves social emotional competence, academic success, and school climate. It also improves teacher health and well-being. It is a way to create positive, predictable, equitable, and safe learning environments where everyone thrives. (Center on Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports)

Restorative Practices: Restorative practices are a continuum of processes that include preventive, proactive, and responsive measures for both staff and students. Restorative Practices do not negate the need for disciplinary consequences; rather, they enable students to examine their attitudes and behaviors in a supportive environment while working to repair harm in a way that is meaningful to those who were affected.

Science of Reading (SoR): SoR is a vast, interdisciplinary body of scientifically-based research about reading and issues related to reading and writing. This research has been conducted over the last five decades across the world, and it is derived from thousands of studies conducted in multiple languages. The science of reading has culminated in a preponderance of evidence to inform how proficient reading and writing develop, why some have difficulty, and how we can most effectively assess and teach and, therefore, improve student outcomes through prevention of and intervention for reading difficulties. (The Reading League)

Social Worker: School Social Workers are trained mental health professionals who can assist with mental health concerns, behavioral concerns, positive behavioral support, academic and classroom support, consultation with teachers, parents, and administrators, as well as provide individual and group counseling/therapy. (School Social Work Association of America)

Social Emotional Learning (SEL): Strategies designed to help students acquire and apply knowledge, skills, and attitudes to manage their emotions and achieve goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.

Structured Literacy (SL): Structured literacy approaches emphasize highly explicit and systematic teaching of all important components of literacy. These components include both foundational skills (e.g., decoding, spelling) and higher-level literacy skills (e.g., reading comprehension, written expression). (International Dyslexia Association)

Targeted universalism: A process of setting universal goals and using targeted processes to achieve those goals. “Within a targeted universalism framework, an organization or system sets universal goals for all groups concerned.” (Minnesota Department of Health)