Learn Your Acronyms Deciphering Your School System’s Alphabet Soup Can Be Daunting

In school districts across the country, using abbreviations and acronyms is as natural as A-B-C.

At Goddard, Kan.’s Primary Learning Center, where parents were enrolling their kindergartners and first-graders last week, secretaries answer the phone, “Goddard PLC.”

Michelle Wallace, who was enrolling her only child, Devon, in kindergarten, said she wasn’t sure what PLC meant when she called the district office to get enrollment information.

Parents who are confounded by unfamiliar terms should “just stop right then and ask. That’s what I’ve had to do,” said Deena Garvin, spokeswoman for the Wichita, Kan., public schools and mother of a 10-year-old student.

In her two years working for the district, Garvin has discovered that schools can be “just like the military; they have an acronym for everything.”

Even the place where Garvin works has an obscure moniker: EMRC.

It stands for Education Management and Resource Center. “It used to be called the Administration Building, but everyone used to point at you as if you were the Evil Empire,” said Garvin. The name change was made in part because the word “resource” sounds more helpful and less threatening.

So in the interest of clarity and helping you become a fuller partner in your child’s education, here are explanations of common terms to help you navigate your school system more smoothly.

Along the way, you can set a good example for your child by asking a lot of questions and getting involved:

IDEA. Education is all about ideas, but when the word is capitalized, it’s an acronym for the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. That’s the law that mandates special education programs in public schools.

Spec Ed. Special Education is an umbrella for school programs designed for children with special needs, whether because of disabilities or high IQ.

IEP. Every student in special education has an “individual education plan,” designed to ensure that needs are being met in the classroom. IEPs are drawn up and renewed annually, with input from parents, teachers, social workers, and health professionals.

ADD/ADHD. Attention deficit disorder and attention deficit with hyperactivity disorder are two recently recognized conditions that make learning difficult for children. Medical treatment is often recommended, although some find it controversial. School officials should be able to explain options.

AP. High school courses with an “Advanced Placement” designation are designed to prepare students to pass tests that allow them to earn college credits for basic courses such as algebra or English composition. Passing an AP class does not guarantee a student can “test out” of certain college courses while still in high school, but it certainly helps.

SAT/ACT. The Scholastic Aptitude Test and the American College Testing program are designed to evaluate college-bound high school students on a national level. The tests are offered several times a year and cost about $25. High school counseling offices will have specific information.

MAT-7. The Metropolitan Achievement Tests (seventh edition) are given to children in elementary and middle schools to help parents see how their child’s academic progress compares to others across the country. Scores are expressed as a percentile: A child who scores a 70 on the math portion didn’t get 70 percent of the answers right; he scored better than 69 percent of his peers.

PTO. Parent teacher organizations work to support schools through fund-raising events and other projects. Money raised by PTOs may be used to pay for field trips, computer software, playground equipment and other things that aren’t in schools’ operating budgets.

Latchkey. Conjuring the image of a child with a house key on a string, this program provides on-site child-care before and/or after school.

ESL/ESOL. These are programs that give special instruction to students who don’t speak English at home. Depending on the district, the program may be called English as a Second Language and English for Speakers of Other Languages.

Para. Paraprofessionals are school district employees who help teachers with classroom duties. Twenty years ago, they were called teacher aides.

Pre-K. Pre-kindergartens are preschool programs that focus on preparing young children academically and socially for kindergarten.

SRO. Forget “standing room only” at the school play. These days, SRO is the “school resource officer,” a member of law enforcement who patrols a school. The officer not only responds to trouble but also teaches crime-prevention workshops and counsels students.

BOE. This is short for board of education, the elected group that makes policy and financial decisions for the whole school district. Rarely will school board members get involved in individual complaints or discuss specific school situations. The BOE hires the school district’s superintendent, who is the top boss in the school administration.