9 Tricky Education Terms You Should Understand

Learning standards. Kindergarten readiness. Achievement gap. Personalized learning. Universal preschool. Can you define the terms buzzing around the education world? Jargon can be overwhelming—even for the experts. And language can be further complicated by disagreements on (or misunderstandings of) what terms mean, politics, and different definitions that depend on context.
Whether you’re an educator or education expert, a parent or family member of a student, or a voter hoping to learn more about local schools, a clear understanding of education terms, and the issues surrounding them, can help in many ways.
As education experts ourselves, QIP employees encounter a lot of jargon, much of which has the potential to cause confusion. Here are a few tricky education terms we’ve seen lately, along with descriptions of what they mean—and don’t mean.


Assessment


Learning Standards

Personalized Learning

Proficiency

Quality

Retention

Universal Preschool

Additional Resources
