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A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

ADAPTED CURRICULUM: Specialized teachers may accommodate a student’s learning needs by customizing sections of his or her curriculum.

ATTENDANCE RECORD: Teachers maintain student attendance records based on the number of contacts per month and work submitted. Periodic reports on student attendance are submitted to the school’s Attendance Counselor, who works with families to ensure ongoing teacher contact and student progress.

AURORA LEARNING: Laurel Springs created its own LMS, Aurora Learning, to deliver online courses to students and to track student progress. Curriculum developers can write courses to be used on Aurora, and teachers can use online management tools, such as an online grade book and instant reporting to assess how their students are doing.

ASSESSMENT: A process by which we make inferences about what a student knows, understands, or can do based upon measurement against a standard. It may also be applied to the performance of teachers. Reliable assessment requires multiple sources of evidence. A test is a kind of assessment, but so is a portfolio, an interview, or a survey. Authentic Assessment is measurement by multiple methods over time.

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C

CONCURRENT ENROLLMENT: Students from public, private, and charter schools often choose to enroll at Laurel Springs at the same time. Concurrent enrollment status is granted with the approval, and often the recommendation, of the home guidance counselor. Generally students choose concurrent enrollments to take courses not offered at their home institutions, to take additional courses outside of the normal school day, or to make up credit.

COORDINATED TEAM COACHING: Multiple teachers who are teaching the same student are provided with opportunities to discuss student learning needs and collaborate on instructional strategies.

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D

DISTANCE LEARNING: Where learning is completed in a self-paced environment, and occurs at any time and any place.

DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT: (Entrance Assessments): Diagnostic skills assessments designed to identify special areas of strength and weakness relating to grade-level content standards in K-8.

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E

EMBEDDED MILESTONE ASSIGNMENTS: Periodic assessments intended to measure student’s mastery of materials covered in the unit.

ENROLLMENT COUNSELORS: Counselors who guide the admission process to Laurel Springs School by administering initial assessments, discussing academic history and assigning curriculum and teachers.

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F

FEEDBACK: Vince Lombardi proclaimed that "Feedback is the Breakfast of Champions". Good feedback has four qualities: it must be a) timely, b) specific, c) understandable to receive and d) allow for adjustment. Grades are a minimal level of feedback. Milestones, given at regular intervals, applied to the end of units and graded by rubrics, are used as mid-course feedback. Benchmarks translate the standard into what the student should know and be able to do at developmentally appropriate levels. Benchmarks are models that teachers, parents and students can refer to when designing, implementing and assessing student outcomes.

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L

LEARNING STYLES: The particular ways in which individuals learn. Learning styles may be expressed as modalities (auditory, kinesthetic, and visual), dispositions, interests, and talents. Learning styles are assessed with the Learning Style Profile.

LEARNING STYLES PROFILE (LSP): An assessment that evaluates individual learning styles. The Learning Styles Profile also includes study strategies adapted for each learning style.

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M

MASTERY-BASED LEARNING: A philosophy of learning that complete mastery of subject material should be obtained before moving on to subsequent topics. Mastery-based learning promotes responsible study skills and student confidence.

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N

NORM-REFERENCED TESTS: An assessment in which individual or group performance is compared with the performance of a larger group.

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P

PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT: Is a broad term, encompassing many of the characteristics of both authentic assessment and alternative assessment. Generally, performance assessments provide students with opportunities to demonstrate their understanding and to thoughtfully apply knowledge, skills and habits of mind in a variety of structured and unstructured situations. These assessments often occur every time and result in a tangible product or observable performance. For teachers' this may refer to their effectiveness in working with learners as measured over time by end-of-course surveys, teacher evaluations, and student achievement.

PERSONALIZED LEARNING: A course of study tailored to a student’s individualized learning needs and interests.

PERSONALIZED DISTANCE LEARNING PROGRAM: An individualized course of study accomplished in a self-paced environment, embracing a support structure that features one-on-one instruction, personalized counseling, and dynamic curriculum and assessment.

PLACEMENT: A placement is a pre-assessment diagnostic, analogous to giving a physical exam prior to prescribing medicine. It is given at the onset of study to help determine mastery of skills and proper course assignment. Pre-assessments should focus upon a child's primary understanding and skills. they should not be graded. They reflect the student's "readiness" for a course of study.

PORTFOLIOS: Organized collection of milestone assignments from special classes containing Table of Contents, Student Reflection Sheet, and a Teacher Grade Form.

PROCESS ASSESSMENT: Refers to assessing a student's skills in progressing through a series of actions or operations. Process skills that teachers seek to assess relate to thinking abilities and applications of procedural knowledge. Some examples of process skills are critical thinking, creative thinking, problem solving, decision making, goal setting, cooperation, relating to others, leadership and management. For teachers this may refer to their ability to work smoothly within the larger system of the organization.

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R

RUBRICS: Assignment-special measures for assessing student work; used to grade milestone assignments.

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S

SELF-PACED ENVIRONMENT: Meaning that the family can determine their own schedules for learning, and work with a teacher to work towards and accomplish goals.

SPECIALIZED TEACHERS: Laurel Springs employs specialized teachers for special needs, gifted, English language learners, and psycho-educational counseling.

STANDARDS-BASED: Educational content designed to teach skills and knowledge relating to special state educational content standards and benchmarks.

STANDARDS-BASED PROFICIENCIES: Course-special assessments with questions taken from relevant standards but not relating directly to facts and exercises covered within the course.

STANDARDS-BASED REPORT CARD: For grades 1-7. Assessment of student mastery of the grade level content standards for the state of California. (Note: Pre-K and Kindergarten students receive a narrative evaluation.)

STUDENT AND COMMUNITY PROFILES: The student and community profile provides an overview of student achievement and demographic data. Laurel Springs used Focus on Learning criteria from the 2003 WASC-CDE Accreditation Process Guide to develop its student and community profile.

STUDENT EVALUATION FORM: Annual grade report that is added to a student’s cumulative file and transcript. The Student Evaluation form includes a letter grade, a narrative evaluation and a report of skills mastery.

STUDENT LEARNING PLAN: An information document completed by both parent and student containing general information about a student’s academic interests and goals, kept on file by teachers.

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