Education has a language of its own. Unfortunately, the general public and even some educators have different understandings of what the terms mean. This book examines more than 200 terms used in K-12 education in the United States. The purpose of this book is to enlighten parents, school board members, business leaders, and other concerned…

Focuses on the paradigm talk on display in two "Handbook" chapters on next-generation methods for studying educational administration and new research paradigms for improving schooling. Discusses how talk about paradigms shapes our thinking and affects what we say about research methods on one hand and substantive issues on the other.…

Outcome-based education (OBE) advocates use mechanistic terminology suggestive of the business world, not organic words embodying reflection, serendipity, and discovery. With OBE, outside experts prescribe what is best for students and teachers, who remain essentially voiceless. Teaching is defined in technical dimensions. Such linear,…

Discusses the language used in mathematics classrooms and states that appropriate language is based not only on the words we say but also on how those words are being perceived. Indicates that teachers should give students time to develop the meaning of numbers, operations, or problems. (ASK)

Chronicles the current trend in "schoolspeak"--giving "glamorous" euphemisms to ordinary terms for education. Suggests that schoolspeak serves two purposes: (1) it applies new and approved labels to existing practices; and (2) it works to mask harsh realities. States that the essential debate as to the role and future of public…

Over the past 2 decades, a shift has taken place in the language of education. The most prominent semantic marker of this shift is the increase in the use of the word learning and the subsequent decrease in the use of the word education. This short paper contends that the very language educators use to speak and write about education makes certain…

Technopoly rhetoric hypes computers in classrooms without considering costs, ultimate purposes, technology's place in the curriculum, and technology's effects on learners and learning. Developed by the military and modern corporations, computers concentrate more on efficiency, speed, power, and information than on sustained inquiry and genuine…

Many would-be reformers have become so entranced with educational standards that they fail to recognize accompanying problems, such as optimal generality and subordination levels. There is really no difference between instructional objectives and content standards. Other perils of content standards include inadequate descriptive vigor,…

This article summarizes procedures used in translating technical jargon in the field of behavior therapy to plain English. It lists phrases translated from applied behavior analysis to public education, presents acronyms useful in remembering sequences of steps, and describes two tests to help in decision making in behavior analysis applications.…

Modern school executives have a bewildering number of management philosophies to choose from and a seemingly limitless supply of buzzwords and fads. In this poem, St. Peter (Heaven's chief executive) has trouble forming committees of subluminaries to help him decide which managerial types should enter the pearly gates. (MLH)

Using Texas's experience with standards and high-stakes testing, this critical sociocultural view of accountability illuminates hidden or neglected aspects of accountability-its meanings, consequences, and the processes by which it is institutionalized. Authority is moving to the state level; teachers, parents, and students have too little…

During a (hypothetical) phone interview with a university researcher, an elementary principal reminisced about a lifetime of reading groups with unmemorable names, medium-paced math problems, patchworked social studies/science lessons, and totally "average" IQ and batting scores. The researcher hung up at the mention of bell-curved assembly lines…

According to this paper, the biggest hazard of a private language (or professional jargon) may not be that it obscures efforts to communicate with those outside the business, but rather that it successfully communicates ideas never intended. The paper explores one bit of "educationese"--"safe space" or "safe place"--and reflects on what language…

Although "climate" has become a part of teachers' everyday language, it is a devious metaphor. An interactive model of school culture (with both covert and overt dimensions) is a more useful concept that could help teachers develop a deeper understanding of school context while reducing their manipulation by researchers. (30 references) (MLH)

In the late 20th century, Australia's diverse population and international commitments require its constituents to use plain English. Unfortunately, its language is eroding as fast as its soil. On the one hand, much academic jargon excludes even well-educated readers; on the other, many teachers do not believe in teaching grammar or standard…