Glossary

What Does It Mean?

Criterion-referenced test—A measurement of achievement of specific criteria or skills in terms of absolute levels of mastery. The focus is on performance of an individual measured against a standard or criterion rather than against the performance of others who take the same test. The standard for a criterion-referenced test is typically established in conjunction with the curriculum framework established by the group responsible for education (typically the state department of education).

Curriculum—The courses offered by an educational institution or a set of courses constituting an area of specialization. Educators often extend this definition to include what is taught in those courses and how it is taught.

Curriculum framework/pathway—A set of guidelines that serve as the standards for what students are expected to learn and at what level. The frameworks are specific enough to describe the types of skills and abilities students should learn in a given course and at the approximate grade level, yet they are broad enough to give educators discretion in how those standards are met.

Dual enrollment—An umbrella term used to describe an array of programs that allow high school students to enroll in courses where they can simultaneously earn both high school and college credit. Dual enrollment also has been extended to apply to students taking courses that count toward an associate’s degree, baccalaureate degree, or post baccalaureate degree at different institutions.

Grade-level content expectations—Similar to the curriculum frameworks, these are the set of expectations for what should be taught in a specific academic subject area and in a given school year at each grade level.

K–16 model—An umbrella term used to describe a policy and structural shift toward preparing all students for postsecondary education and minimizing the barriers for those who choose to pursue postsecondary education. The model recognizes that a postsecondary credential is fast becoming the standard for employability in the marketplace. This often translates into efforts to align the high school course requirements with postsecondary admissions expectations and high school assessments with college placement exams. This term often refers to seamless policy and practices between the K–12 and postsecondary systems.

MEAP—The Michigan Educational Assessment Program, Michigan’s version of a criterion-referenced test, which is administered to students throughout the state. Versions of the MEAP are currently taken by students in grades 4, 5, 7, and 8, as well as in grades 10–12 in high school. The MEAP serves as the metric for establishing Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) in line with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB)—The most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education (ESEA) Act of 1965, NCLB is the federal version of standards-based reform. Key provisions of the act include testing requirements at multiple levels of student performance and establishment of baseline school pass rates. The act also focuses on states and schools making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) toward the goal of 100 percent passing for students in mathematics and reading by 2014 in grades 3–8, plus high school. The legislation includes mechanisms for accountability, including designative schools that do not achieve AYP, supplemental services requirements in persistently underperforming schools, instituting school choice after a certain number of consecutive years of not making adequate progress, and eventually, restructuring of schools that fail to make AYP for a specified number of years.

Source: Final Report of the Lt. Governor’s Commission on Higher Education & Economic Growth, December 2004.