Academic responding: One of three subcategories of student behavior defined by the MS-CISSAR taxonomy. Designates student behavior and engagement focused on learning and fulfilling academic tasks.

American Federation of Teachers: Trade union that represents workers in education, health care, and public service. The organization has more than one million members nation wide.

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): A severe difficulty in focusing and maintaining attention. ADHD often leads to learning and behavior problems at home, school, and work.

Autism: A brain disorder that typically affects a person's ability to communicate, form relationships with others, and respond appropriately to the environment.

Bar code scanning: Using an optical scanner with a laser light to read the information from a series of printed lines of varying width (i.e., the bar code).

Behavior disorders: Also referred to as "emotional disturbances" and "behavioral disorders," behavior disorders are patterns of behavior in children and adolescents that depart significantly from the expectations of their social surroundings. Behaviors that characterize behavior disordered students include, for example, defiance, uncooperativeness, shyness, withdrawal, passivity, self-consciousness, fearfulness, and anxiety. The severity and duration of these behaviors vary from student to student.

Behavior management: School-wide policies and procedures and individualized instruction designed to prevent and decrease problem behavior and to maintain appropriate behavior.

Behavioral assessment: Method of assessment in which the observer focuses on observing and recording targeted student behaviors, using repeated observations in the setting where the behavior occurs.

CWPT-LMS (Class-Wide Peer Tutoring Learning Management System): Software system which integrates mastery monitoring and the decision making model. It is designed to be used with Class-Wide Peer Tutoring.

Class-Wide Peer Tutoring (CWPT): Instructional intervention aimed at actively engaging students in academic tasks. Distinct characteristics of this instructional intervention are peer supervision of responding and practice, a game format, and a weekly evaluation plan. Research has shown that students at risk and with mild disabilities acquire literacy skills at a faster rate, retain more of what they learn, and make greater advances in social competence when using class-wide peer tutoring compared to conventional instructional methods.

Cognitive strategies: Operations and procedures an individual may use to acquire, retain, and retrieve different kinds of knowledge.

Competing, inappropriate behavior: One of three subcategories of student behavior defined by the MS-CISSAR taxonomy. Designates student behavior that interferes with classroom learning.

Curriculum-based measurement: An instructional and assessment tool which repeatedly measures student progress toward a general outcome, such as grade-level learning.

Data-based decision making: The utilization of systematically recorded observational data in the planning of instructional or behavioral interventions.

Decision making model: A graphic representation of the on-going decision making cycle which teachers may use to address students' behavior problems. The model seeks to identify behavior problems or behavior changes needed, identify potential solutions, change instruction to incorporate the solution, and evaluate success using assessment data.

Duration recording: A direct observation recording method in which observers measure and document how long specified behaviors last. The method is often used when behaviors are continuous rather than short, discrete events.

Dynamic Indicators of Early Basic Literacy Skills (DIBELS): Benchmark assessment material used to determine the growth in a child's phonemic awareness.

EBASS (Ecobehavioral Assessment Software System): Multifunction computer program that supports the collection and analysis of ecobehavioral data, i.e. teacher behavior, student behavior, and classroom ecological factors. In addition to data collection, EBASS integrates observer training, inter-observer agreement, data management, and data analysis features within the same software system.

Early Childhood Research Institute on Measuring Growth and Development: A joint research project between the universities of Minnesota, Kansas, and Oregon. The project is aimed at producing a comprehensive system for measuring the skills and needs of individual children with disabilities from birth to eight years of age.

Ecobehavioral assessment: Method of assessment which brings together assessment of the environment and behavior within the same observational taxonomies and procedures. The basic theoretical assumption behind this assessment method is that student behavior, teacher behavior, and classroom ecological arrangements are nested within and influence each other. For example, a change in an ecological factor may be followed by a change in student behavior which again may be followed by change in teacher behavior, and perhaps followed then by change in ecological factors. The goal of an ecobehavioral assessment is to display the interaction between student behavior, teacher behavior, and ecological factors.

Ecobehavioral observational assessment: (See Ecobehavioral assessment)

Ecological assessment: An observational assessment method that focuses on observing and assessing the organization and structure of the classroom environment.

Electronic data entry: The use of, for example, a computer keyboard, touch screen, or bar code scanner to record and store information in digital format.

Environmental-behavior relationships: The interdependence between classroom behavior and classroom ecological factors.

Event recording: A direct observation recording method in which observers count the frequency of a given student behavior during a specific period of time.

Functional assessment: The process of collecting information in order to develop hypothesis statements regarding the variables that maintain and predict a student's problem behavior.

General outcome monitoring: A method for monitoring student progress which measures progress toward a general outcome, such as grade-level math problem solving skills.

Grammar check: This program feature is typically found in word processing software. It flags syntactical structures identified as grammatically incorrect by the program and provides alternative suggestions.

Harris Poll: Public opinion surveys conducted by the Harris Interactive corporation. The Harris polls cover public opinion in the areas of health care, economy, science and technology, foreign affairs, politics, sports and entertainment, and lifestyles.

Individualized Education Program (IEP): Mandated under IDEA 97, the IEP is a plan that is developed for a student enrolled in a special education program by a team of professional educators, the child's parents, and, when appropriate, the child. The IEP must include a statement of the student's present levels of educational performance, annual goals, short-term objectives, specific services needed by the student (including assistive technology services or devices), dates when those services will begin and be in effect, and when the student should be re-evaluated.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997 (IDEA): The 1997 amendment to Public Law 94-142. The act guarantees all children with disabilities access to a free and appropriate public education. It mandates that an Individual Education Program (IEP) be developed for all students enrolled in special education services.

Instructional adaptation: Adjustments made in instruction or instructional strategies with the purpose of producing higher learning outcomes in students.

Interobserver agreement test: This test is used to assure the objectivity of a given behavior measurement instrument. It is done by having two or more separate observers record data while observing the same behavior. If the agreement between the observers' recorded data is high (80-100%) the measure is shown to be objective.

Interval occurrence recording: A form of interval recording in which the observer records only one occurrence of an event during each interval. The observation results show the percentage of intervals in which the event being observed occurred.

Interval recording: A direct observation recording method that takes a predetermined period of time and divides it into a number of shorter intervals. The observer records whether or not the targeted behavior occurred in each successive interval.

Intervention strategies: Procedures and instructional techniques used to address and modify problem behavior.

Lotus 123: Spreadsheet software that allows users to create graphs, charts, and other graphic illustrations of quantitative data.

MBSP (Monitoring Basic Skills Progress): Computer-assisted measurement program that tests and monitors progress in the areas of basic reading, basic math, and basic spelling.

MS-CISSAR (Mainstream Version of the Code for Instructional Structure and Student Academic Response): A system for collection of classroom ecobehavioral data, the MS-CISSAR provides the observer with a detailed taxonomy of observable events and procedures for observation. The MS-CISSAR is designed for observation of students in general and special education settings. The Ecobehavioral Assessment Systems Software (EBASS) supports the use of MS-CISSAR for ecobehavioral assessments.

Mastery monitoring: Progress monitoring method which measures student performance according to different areas and levels of skills.

Microsoft Excel: Spreadsheet software that allows users to create graphs, charts, and other graphic illustrations of quantitative data.

Momentary-time sampling: A form of interval recording in which the observer records a behavior only if it occurs at the beginning of an interval.

Observational assessment: Methods of systematic observation used to identify problematic behaviors that interfere with classroom learning.

Observational data: The "raw" information generated from observation of, for example, student behavior, teacher behavior, and classroom ecology in an educational context.

Partial-interval recording: A form of interval recording in which the assessor observes in the first part of the interval and records in the last part.

Performance data: Information pertaining to the academic performance of groups of or individual students.

Phonemic awareness: "An explicit understanding that words are composed of segments of sound smaller than a syllable, as well as knowledge, or awareness, of the distinctive features of individual phonemes themselves" (Torgesen, 1999, p.129).*

Post-testing: Assessment of student academic performance following the implementation of a given instructional strategy.

Pre-testing: Assessment of student academic performance prior to the implementation of a given instructional intervention.

Pretest/posttest gains: The progress -- or lack of such - in student achievement identified by testing students prior to and following the implementation of a given instructional intervention.

Problem behavior: Student behavior difficulties which interfere with the learning of both the student exhibiting the behavior problem and his or her peers.

Scope and Sequence Charts: Guidelines for the skills, compentencies, and knowledge students should have at a given grade/age level.

Skill hierarchy: A sequence of skills to be learned within a specific subject area. A skill hierarchy is the product of a task analysis.

Social/ecobehavioral assessment: (See Ecobehavioral assessment)

Spell check: A computer program that automatically scans text files, comparing spellings with words that are spelled correctly in a dictionary file. Words that do not match a word in the dictionary are flagged by the program. The user is given the opportunity to correct the word manually or have the spelling checker change the spelling automatically to match the word in the dictionary.

Standardized achievement test: Yearly tests, such as the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT) which measure student performance against a defined set of age and grade level academic standards.

Task analysis: A process by which a curriculum is broken down into a set of subskills. These subskills are, in turn, sequenced into a skill hierarchy. The task analysis is an essential element of mastery monitoring.

Task management behavior: One of three subcategories of student behavior defined by the MS-CISSAR taxonomy. Designates student behavior and engagement focused on managing learning routines and tasks such as learning to raise one's hand for help.

Taxonomy of observable events: System of classification which clearly defines the events that an observer should record. An example of a taxonomy of observable events is the MS-CISSAR.

Touch screen entry: Recording data in a computer system via a touch-sensitive display screen.

Universe of skills: The entire range of skills students are expected to learn in a specific subject during an academic year or during their K-12 education.

Whole-interval recording: A form of interval recording in which the observer records a behavior only if it occurs throughout the entire interval.