Learning the Lingo

Anyone who has read an educational report or School Board policy has come face-to-face with strange words, phrases and acronyms. Information acquired from the School Board, any PTA or school meeting or other education-based organization is bound to contain some of these terms.  The following is a list of some of the more frequently used phrases and/or acronyms.


AYP: Adequate Yearly Progress is part of the national No Child Left Behind legislation that measures a school's performance in 8 subgroups.

BAT: Benchmark Assessment Test is a Broward developed assessment administered twice a year to students in grades 3-10 to assess their knowledge on the State Standards and benchmarks.  

BEEP: Broward Enterprise Education Portal is a secure, single point of access to digital resources for teaching and learning available to teachers, administrators, parents, and students.

CIS: Community In Schools, a non-profit organization that works with at-risk students, providing needed educational resources.

DA: Differentiated Accountability was developed by the Florida Dept. of Education in an attempt to align Florida’s school grading system with No Child Left Behind accountability.  It is a model that requires tiered support based on the needs and category of the school. 

DAC: District Advisory Council is a county-wide, School Board advisory group made up of a representative group of citizens, including individuals from a number of schools across the county.

DOE: Department of Education

ELT: Executive Leadership Team is the Superintendent’s leadership team.

ELL: English Language Learners

ESE: Exceptional Student Education, which includes students with physical or mental disabilities as well as gifted students.

ESOL: English for Speakers of Other Languages

FCAT: Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test is a state-wide standardized test used to assign schools letter grades "A"-"F".  

FISH: Florida Inventory of School Houses is the State DOE calculated permanent building capacity.

FRL: Free and Reduced Lunch (Subgroup used to compute Adequate Yearly Progress)

FTE: Full Time Equivalent, usually one student with no special needs, used by state officials to determine how much money is allocated to school districts from the Legislature.

GED: General Educational Development test, taken by students in order to receive a General Equivalency Diploma in lieu of a regular high school diploma.

GPA: Grade Point Average

IDEA:  Individuals with Disability Act is a federal law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation.

IEP: Individualized Education Plan is a document which explains precisely what special-needs students have to learn and what they should know by the end of each school year. In addition, it lists what school they will attend and the services to be provided by the school.

LEA: Local educational agency (school district or local county office of education)

LEP: Limited English Proficient (Subgroup used to compute Adequate Yearly Progress)

NCLB: No Child Left Behind is federal legislation enacted in 2002. 

PMP: Progress Monitoring Plan, formerly known as Academic Improvement Plan (AIP), is a curriculum intervention document designed to assist the child or the school in meeting state and district expectations for proficiency in mathematics and reading.

PMOC: Project Management Oversight Committee is a group comprised of executive leadership staff focused on the implementation and management of strategic organizational initiatives. 

PTA/PTO: Parent Teacher Association/Parent Teacher Organization

RtI: Response to Intervention is a multi-tiered approach to help struggling learners.  Students’ progress is closely monitored at each stage of intervention to determine the need for future instruction and/or intervention in general education, special education or both. 

SAC: School Advisory Council

SAF: School Advisory Forum

SIP: School Improvement Plan is required for every school in the State of Florida.

SRO: School Resource Officer  is a law enforcement officer assigned by local police departments to provide additional security in schools.

SAT 9: Stanford Achievement Test is a national standardized test that examines second- through ninth-grade students’ skill in math and reading.

SAT: Scholastic Assessment Test is a national standardized test used by colleges and universities for admission purposes.

SWD: Students with Disabilities (Subgroup used to compute Adequate Yearly Progress)