Study Key Terms
504 plan: A plan that specifies the accommodations and modifications necessary for a student with a disability to attend school with her or his peers; named for Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities, ensuring that children with disabilities have equal access to public education; students with 504 plans do not meet the eligibility requirements for special education under IDEA (IRIS Center at Vanderbilt University Glossary).
Accessibility: the design of apps, devices, materials, and environments that support and enable access to content and educational activities for all learners (AEM Center).
Accommodations: an adaptation or change to educational environments and practices designed to help students overcome the challenges presented by their disabilities and to allow them to access the same instructional opportunities as students without disabilities. An accommodation does not change the expectations for learning or reduce the requirements of the task (IRIS Center at Vanderbilt University Glossary).
Assistive technology: any item, piece of equipment, software program, or product system that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of persons with disabilities. Assistive technology helps people who have difficulty speaking, typing, writing, remembering, pointing, seeing, hearing, learning, walking, and many other things (Assistive Technology Industry Association).
Center on Inclusive Technology and Education Systems (CITES): The CITES project, funded by the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, aims to assist school districts to create and sustain inclusive technology ecosystems that foster intentional collaboration between educational technology (EdTech), assistive technology (AT), and information technology (InfoTech) to benefit students with disabilities and all students.
CITES framework: a step-by-step process for identifying and removing any barriers to student or staff success caused by learning disabilities by planning for and implementing inclusive technology practices. The CITES framework consists of practices for education leaders and classroom educators related to leadership, infrastructure, teaching, learning, and assessment.
Classroom assessments: also known as "formative", "ongoing" or "authentic" assessment, consists of informal practices conducted by teachers and learners themselves to both monitor and improve the quality of learning processes (UNESCO's International Institute for Educational Planning Glossary).
Classroom educators: any individual working to support the learning process. This includes para-professionals, direct service providers, special educators, and general educators. These professionals work together to empower learners (CITES: Educators).
Families: important adults in a K-12 student’s personal community who care for and support the student’s learning outside of the school setting. This may include parents, siblings, grandparents, or other paraprofessionals who care for the student outside of school (CITES Glossary).
Family engagement: a shared responsibility in which schools and other community agencies and organizations are committed to reaching out to engage families in meaningful ways and in which families are committed to actively supporting their children's learning and development (National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement (NAFSCE)).
Inclusive technology ecosystem: the leadership, design, development, maintenance, and improvement of technologies used to support the teaching, learning, and assessment of all students (CITES framework).
Individualized Education Program (IEP) A written plan, required by IDEA and used to delineate an individual student's current level of development and his or her learning goals, as well as to specify any accommodations, modifications, and related services that a student might need to attend school and maximize his or her learning (IRIS Center at Vanderbilt University Glossary).
Intersectionality theory: a concept created by Kimberlé Crenshaw describing how people can face disadvantages because of different aspects of their identity, affect and influence each other, like their race, social class, gender identity, sexual orientation, and religion. This can lead to a combination of different forms of oppression and discrimination (Center for Intersectional Justice: What is intersectionality?).
Large-scale assessments: system-level assessments that provide a snapshot of learning achievement for a given group of learners in a given year and in a limited number of domains. They are often categorized as national or cross-national (regional/international) assessments (UNESCO's International Institute for Educational Planning Glossary).
Learning Management System (LMS): a digital ecosystem consisting of content, learners, and educators. LMS refers to a wide range of platforms that can be somewhere between minimalist to comprehensive in its functionality. LMSs are used to support online learning, blended learning, and face-to-face learning environments (CITES Glossary).
Research: a methodical way of finding or proving facts, exploring new problems or topics, or explaining events and how things are connected (American Psychological Association (APA) Dictionary).
Research method: a procedure for the formulation and evaluation of hypotheses that is intended to reveal relationships between variables and provide an understanding of the phenomenon under investigation (American Psychological Association (APA) Dictionary).
Research results: a statement that explains what is shown by analysis of the data collected; includes tables and graphs when appropriate (Glossary of Key Terms in Educational Research).
Personalized learning: an educational approach that aims to customize learning for each student’s strengths, needs, skills, and interests (Understood.org: Personalized Learning).
Technology infrastructure: hardware, software, and connectivity that are chosen and used across the district to ensure that technology is usable by the broadest range of learners (CITES: Infrastructure in Inclusive Technology Systems)
Universal Design for Learning (UDL): a framework of learning and teaching based on neuroanatomy and functional neuroimaging research techniques. UDL resists a one-size-fits-all approach to education and posits instead that teachers, educators, and instructional materials should effectively respond to individual differences inherent within a learning environment. Across learning goals, methods, materials, and assessments, UDL encourages offering—
Multiple means of representation to give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge,
Multiple means of expression to provide learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know, and
Multiple means of engagement to tap into learners' interests, challenge them appropriately, and motivate them to learn. (CAST's About UDL) .