https://www.listennotes.com/e/ab9cf37e11314fefb498f3d2591ec259

Have you had a chance to check out my interactive expert on my website? There are some great conversations and questions going on there. You can check it out at https://liberationthrougheducation.com/ask-me-anything. Again, check out the questions and conversations happening there at https://liberationthrougheducation.com/ask-me-anything.

Welcome to another episode of of K-12 Education Untangled. My name is Dr. Kim J. Fields, former corporate manager turned education researcher and advocate, and I'm the host of this podcast. I got into this space after dealing with some frustrating interactions with school educators and administrators, as well as experiencing the microaggressions that I faced as an African American mom raising my two kids who were in the public school system. I really wanted to understand how teachers were trained and what the research provided about the challenges of the public education system. Once I gained the information and the insights that I needed, I was then equipped to be able to successfully support my children in their educational progress. This battle-tested experience is what I provide as action steps for for you to take. It's like enjoying a bowl of educational research with a sprinkling of mother wit wisdom on top. If you're looking to find out more about current information and issues in public education that could affect you and your children, and the action steps that you can take to give your children the advantages they need, then you're in the right place. Thanks for tuning in today. I know that staying informed about K-12 public education trends and topics is important to you. So keep listening. Give me 30 minutes and I'll untangle the latest trends, issues, and topics pertaining to this constantly evolving K-12 public education environment. In this episode, I'll be discussing why it's important to understand educational jargon. Ever feel overwhelmed or uncertain when navigating educational conversations or trying to communicate your child's unique learning needs?

You're not alone.

Understanding the language of education can transform your child's educational journey. In this episode, you'll discover how mastering essential educational terms gives you the competence and clarity to individualize your child's learning. You'll also discover practical examples of using educational vocabulary to effectively communicate your child's unique needs, to teachers, tutors, and staff. Finally, you'll get tips on competently setting up a personalized educational approach that genuinely fits your child's strengths, passions, and goals. This episode includes my conversation with Cami Wannas, the host of the Freedom Scholar podcast, in which she interviewed me about the topic of the confusion that surrounds educational terms. At the end of this episode, you'll be better equipped to advocate for your child's education. Let's untangle this.

Hello, everyone, and welcome. I'm so excited. We're talking about the language of education today. Have you ever been in places or you're. You're dealing with schools or you're trying to get services for your kids, and you're like, I don't even know what these terms mean. Well, Kim Fields is here with us today to talk about what those terms are, really some essential ones and why we need to know them. So this is really important because a lot of parents can feel lost. I talk with parents every single day and they're like, oh, I don't know. The teacher was asking us about some kind of program, an I.E. something or other or a five something. It's important to know these things because each comes with a different set of rules per se or services. and, and it also helps us understand the world of Education so that when we see things like this, we can actually interact because you'll see it sometimes even on homeschooling curriculums. You'll see, what does the term, you know, accredited mean? What is all these things? And that's one of the hot topics for education, for homeschooling, for sure, is the accreditation. Some big hoo-ha, and it's actually not, but we'll talk about that later. Kim knows about that. She is super amazing, you guys. She is not only a very, very very experienced teacher at the collegiate level and working with kids. But she also works with parents too, helping them to understand this language of education and how to advocate for their kids. You guys, it's a lot of times, this is not just homeschoolers. A lot of times parents that are in public school have no idea what's going on or the language or all these forms and the documents and the things that have to happen. And it's very confusing. So in order to best advocate for our kids and get them the best for what they need for the individual needs, then we need to know that language. And Kim is so great at really empowering parents in this way. And I love what she says is like, learn it and activate, right?

Yeah.

Learn it and become an activist for your kid. I love that. She's so amazing. So Kim, welcome, welcome. Thank you for joining us today. I'm so excited that you're here. I'm so excited that you reached out and we could connect because, man, we have a lot in common for sure.

We do have a lot. and common. And thank you for inviting me. I'm so excited to be here. I mean, when you and I get together, we just talk education and all the impacts and implications of it. It is great. I love it. So thanks for having me here.

Absolutely. It's teacher talk, man. Don't get around teachers. It goes all in the teacher talk.

That's right. We can go.

Exactly. Exactly. So, Kim, can you share with us a little bit about just your background and why it's so important for you, you know, why are you so passionate about this, getting the language of education out to parents?

Well, a little bit about my background is that, you know, I was in technology for over 25 years in corporate America. Then I had kids in the public school system. Daughter went through pretty smoothly, you know, not too many bumps along the way. And then my son entered. and the experiences that I had with him led me back to graduate school to get a doctorate in education to find out what is going on with these teachers. Oh, and I found out because I took a class and several classes with them. So I said, there's a whole new world here that's being taught that I had no exposure to as a parent. with a child and two children actually in the public education system. So once I learned what it was they were learning and the terms they were using, I said, oh, now I can speak their language. It's like going to a financial planner or someone with money. You've got to speak the language for them to understand. That's why I'm big on parents knowing what these terms are that they hear thrown around. You'll sit in a meeting, with a staff member, a teacher, a principal, and they are rattling off three letter words that you are sitting like deer in the headlights, right? So understanding what those terms are is very important because then you understand what they're saying about you, your family, your culture, your child, his or her academic progress, all of that. is contained within that language that I call jargon.

Hey, it's Dr. Kim Fields and I want to hear from you. Has a recent interaction at your child's school left you feeling frustrated, exasperated, or even angry? Send me an email. @Kim@liberationthrougheducation.com describing your situation, whether it was about an academic struggle, a disciplinary challenge, peer pressure, bullying, or some other situation. Once reviewed, I'll highlight your situation and provide my feedback on air in an upcoming episode. I can't wait to hear from you again. That email is Kim@liberationthrougheducation.com.

It is jargon, isn't it? And boy, just like any real government agency, they love their acronyms. So they got to have acronyms about everything.

Everything.

If you were having our teacher talk and we're throwing around these things, but you have to know what those are in order to really advocate for your child. So I love that we are doing that. And for homeschoolers specifically, what do you think the advantage is for homeschoolers to know these terms?

Well, again, they interact with the public school system. They'll get documents or emails or standards that have these terms in them. Homeschoolers need to know it as well. And additionally, some homeschoolers will leave the home school environment to go into public schools.

Right.

And when they do that, the parents need to be aware of what those terms are if their children are placed in different programs. So homeschoolers need it. Parents, kids at a certain age need to know what these terms mean. So it Impacts and applies to everyone.

I completely agree. And just knowing that when you're pulling a kid out of school, I always say you want to make sure that you request their records, right?

Well, yes.

In California are called a CUM file, a C-U-M file, C-U-M file. C-U-M file. Cumulative file, right? You don't have to know those terms in order to request them, but it does help. It does help so that you know exactly and they know, okay, you're asking for this specific thing and you know what you're talking about, so they feel good about that.

Yes, yes, yes. In fact, in one meeting that I had with my son when I was rattling the terms as they were, they were surprised, number one. And I got their attention, number two, like, okay, we can't keep shooting these words over this person's head. She actually understands what we're saying. So there are advantages to knowing what the terms are.

Absolutely, absolutely. And so, just like any other thing. Everything has its own language. So, you know, like Kim was saying, you know, when you're in a legal meeting or something, you're gonna hear Financial legal terms or whatever. When I was starting my podcast and I was researching about that, all the technical, all the technical terms, I literally am Googling them. Like, what is an mbps?

Yes.

Yes. Elementary. That tech guy looked at me, he's like, you don't know what that means. I was like, seriously, I have to look it up. It makes it so much easier when you understand that. And so when you're reading on, one thing I found when I'm reading on a lot of the homeschooling curriculum websites, and curriculum websites, they say a lot of things like scope and sequence. We gotta know what scope and sequence is. Those kinds of terms, it makes a difference for us to understand a scope and sequence is basically an outline Yes. Skills. Just basically when it's going to happen where, right?

Yes. Yes.

So that's a great example. I love that you brought in the legal thing because it is, it's just another language and we have to learn the things, right? It's just empowering us. So what can we do with this knowledge? I mean, I know we talk about like, yeah, now we can understand it, we can say these things back to the school, but how as parents does it help us to really advocate for our kids?

Well, I think knowing the terms, you also acknowledge your rights.

I love that.

So it opens the door for you to not really demand, but to request Services, specialized programs or AIDS, whatever is required, because the terms in my mind, open the door for parent rights.

I completely 100% agree. That is so true because if you don't know, you know, I hear parents talking in Facebook groups about, hey, is there any indication anywhere where they lay out like what they need to learn when? Yeah, those are called standards. Right. But if you don't know that, then they're like, I don't even know what the word is called, you know? And then knowing what you have available to you with an IEP, versus a 504 versus whatever, right? Those things are important to make sure that you have those services available for your child.

Correct. Otherwise you wouldn't even know that you had rights to them.

Yeah, and a lot of places with charter schools, and I know in California we have charter schools, Florida, it's like umbrella schools. There's a lot of different terms for it, but those publicly funded schools, the four homeschoolers have services.

Yes.

But they use all the language of education.

That's correct. That's correct.

So what are some of those things that we need to know?

Well, we've already been talking about IEP, Individualized Education Program. And it's just a plan that's developed to ensure that your child with disability or special needs under the law gets that instruction and related services that they need. That's all it's saying. Here's a plan. We recognize your child has special needs, and here's a program that we've put in place to make sure that we address those special needs through programs or other aids or supports that are available, period. IEP, Individualized Education Program.

And the other one that goes in relation to that, at least in California, I know that a lot of other states have the same. But it's the 504, right?

504. Okay. 504 is a little different than the IEP. It's for children who have a disability, but it may not even be a recognized disability. Sometimes it's just a site issue where the child needs to sit up front in the class versus where a teacher assigned them to sit. So the 504 services is the disability, the child receives accommodations just like the explanation that I just gave that will ensure that they are academically academically successful in the class and that their needs are met. So IEP is more along the lines of learning disabilities or specialized disabilities along that 504 can be physical disabilities, like I say, sight, hearing, and making sure that they have access to accommodations for their disabilities. That's what the 504 plan is and it's available to all parents.

I think it's important to note too that being aware of the rules around those are super important because there is a difference in services there and like an IEPs at like a higher level in terms of services. Also noting that when we're talking about IEPs and 504s, they don't get services with an IEP necessarily unless they're two grade levels below. That's important to know.

Yes. And a lot of parents are unaware of the 504 as it applies to children across all age and grade levels, right? Because some think that 504 doesn't apply to them. Well, you know, it's just a hearing. They're okay. No, you're entitled to 504 services for that. It doesn't mean that they need an individualized education plan. but they just need accommodation for physical disabilities usually.

Yeah, it's usually some sort of accommodation. So it's not necessarily like a pull out service necessarily, but it would be something where you would get some like front seating or you could look at somebody's notes, a friend next to you or with something like that. But those things transfer to college as well, right? So how does that work?

Well, in college you can make a request through the services there for students to acknowledge and let them know that they qualify for 504 services and accommodations have to be met for them in each classroom that they go to.

And it's quite a bit, right? I mean, it's kind of amazing.

It is excellent. It gives access to children who may not have thought they could go to college. It gives them access to go because, okay, the school is making accommodations for me to attend class. And yeah, hard of seeing, for example. But once the office is notified that these services are required for you, then it opens doors.

It opens extra time on tests. Like you can go to an extra testing center. You can go to like all these other things. It's so amazing. There are a lot of accommodations there.

A lot of accommodations.

The most money actually goes to special education.

It does. It does.

Which is also a good and bad thing.

It's good, yes, it's a good thing. And of course, yes, can it be abused? Absolutely. But we're talking about those that actually need it and need to get access to it.

Right, yeah. What are other terms do you think we need to know?

Well, you know one that seems to go around a lot, and it may be familiar to your audience, and that's ESL and ELL. The English as a Second Language and English Language Learners, you'll hear that. A lot.

My husband actually teaches the ELD kids, the ELL kids. It's been called ELD ESL.

ELL, ELL, ELL. Yes, they do that too. But it's just English as a second language is actually just bringing acclamation to students whose language is not English primarily.

Yeah, so that is a different class and then they actually help them learn English.

Yes.

It's also really good for kids to get acclimated to like a different culture. At least that's what my husband does thankfully. Yeah.

And it's good. You remember when it used to be called dual language?

Yeah. Or bilingual.

Yeah, they're speaking Spanish, but we've got to translate that into English so that they understand what we're saying. So, yeah, so ESL, ELL, EL, ELD, all the same. English as a second language. One that your audience may not be aware of is a response to intervention, RTI. And that's just a strategy actually when you hear that for students who are struggling with the skill or some lesson or something and it's a way to provide early assistance to children who are falling behind in school. So this response to intervention is a way to address students who may be falling through the cracks. So RTI.

Would that include the remedial? I mean, we don't call it remedial, but what do they call it now? I totally blanking on it.

Oh, my goodness. Actually, some of the research still says remedial, but I know the term you're talking about and it escapes my mind too. It'll come to us. It'll come to us. So, yeah, it does include them. Right. And it's a strategy, again, a term to be familiar with. and getting it to the parent rights, something that you can request. Okay. My child's grades seem to be slipping all the time. No one seems to be doing anything about it. They're saying they're on grade level, but I know my child is falling behind. I'm requesting to have an intervention so that we can address what they're falling behind in and to improve their skills. Yeah.

One of the things that I think is that a lot of parents don't really Know, because it's really complicated and quite frankly, it's ridiculous. But the terminology around testing, especially in the outcomes. So like we were talking about grade level versus below grade level versus above grade level sort of thing. Those are kind of the determiners that they use a lot for, for ranking.

Yes.

But what is that, I mean, what does that really mean?

Yeah, well, you know, that gets complicated when we start talking about assessments below level and at grade level and two grades above level and all of that. But it basically means that on a standard scale, so to speak, there are values that children should meet, should score at for their grade. Yeah. And it's based on averages, what it is.

And that whoever designs the test, because I've been on those committees where we're designing standardized tests and it's very, very arbitrary.

Yes. Yes, yes. So when you talk about averages, we're talking about someone above, someone at, someone below. Then you average that out. And that was another term that I was getting ready to go into, common core. How many times have you heard common core? It's common core. This is part of the common core. Yes, it is. What does that mean? Okay. Common core is just a set of high quality standards in math. and English language arts that says that students who graduate from high school should meet these standards so that they're ready to move on to college or career after graduation. Now, these standards have been in place for at least 100 years. They just get renamed. Every president stands on their grandstand about improving standards, making more accountability with standards, but basically it's just a way to ensure that students meet grade level requirements in math and English as part of their graduation requirements. Yeah.

And that's something to know, too. I feel like this is important for us to say. So my mom is a retired educator. My husband is almost like he's almost been in over 27, 28 years now. And so I taught as well. And about, we've noticed about every 10, right? Every 10 years or so.

Yes.

We reinvent a program.

Yes.

That is the same exact thing we've always done.

It's always been. It's the correct different. It's a rename.

Yes.

New and improved. Yes.

Like no child left behind. And then there was Obama's version.

Nickelby. They had ECL. We had every student succeed.

We've had a lot, which really, for all of us educators, we call it every child left behind.

Every child left behind. Correct. yeah.

Not really that effective, but it isn't.

But like I said, they get on the grandstand, say, hey, we're doing something about education. And by golly, we've got it down now. We're having older standards now. We're harder, you know, and we got into a lot of school closures, though, under Nickelby.

Yeah. Especially in California, too, with the loss of population and things like that. And there's a lot of school closures happening, which I feel like It just brings us to accreditation. Can you talk about accreditation real quick and just because I feel like that's the most misused word in education.

Yeah.

And it applies so much across the board, right? So at my level of teaching accreditation was a big deal in college, right? Right. You had to meet the standards of whatever the accrediting body is and go through that whole audit process to make sure that you were meeting those standards and continuing to do so. Now, in the K-12 arena, the standards are the same type of body, except that they apply to K-12 education. The accrediting bodies on that, yeah, they come up with their list and, yeah, they keep after it. Here's my question when I see accreditation for K-12.

What's the application?

We're comparing schools to schools, right? It's not like at the college level where, you know, you're an A1 research university versus a liberal arts college. Those are two different things. Aren't K-12 schools, K-12 schools? And this is just my thinking out loud here on your podcast, but what was the reasoning behind accreditation for K 12. Yeah. I don't see a differentiation between schools.

No, there isn't. And I don't know if you've been through this at the college level, but at the K 12 level, literally our accreditation body was called WASC, and I don't even remember what it stands for.

WASC applies at college.

Oh, does it? Okay, so the WASC year was the worst year ever because it meant so many more meetings and all we did was fill out these papers. We had to put all these. agreements and standards and everything down. And it was somewhat, a teacher was taken out of the classroom to do this as her whole job.

Oh, yeah.

Because you had to put all this paperwork together and put reports and everything. And then nobody thought about it again, ever.

Yes, that's correct. Now, that cycle applies in college as well, because you go through all of this activity for the WASC or for the California standard, something for accreditation. And once that whole process is over, okay, well, we're done. Let's wipe the sweat from our brows and let's move on. Like, what have we accomplished? I'm still unsure. But somehow when you pass that audit, you're okay. You're accredited.

Some of them don't.

I know.

Some of them don't. So guess what? There are public schools and even some private, I would imagine, that don't. actually passed accreditation. And so when we look at curriculums for homeschool curriculum, I want something accredited. I want something that counts. Just take it off the board. Doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter.

Because the only thing that matters is that you're, you're using your state requirements.

Requirements for curriculum. Yes.

I would give one little tiny caveat is that if your kid is planning on going straight to a four year and planning on playing college College sports, yes. That is the only, the NCAA has some fairly strict rules. However, they also take credits that are not accredited. And so they take those credits, you just have to fill out a form and kind of give them, you know, some details about what that course was. But really, you don't need it. You don't need it.

You don't, just like you said, as long as the curriculum in the home school is meeting the state standards for curriculum, and the requirements that are necessary for them as they progress grade level to grade level, then you're good. Yeah.

And most states don't even have a grade level determiner. There are a few, but most of them don't. So some say they have to progress a grade level, but that's only a couple of them that I've seen. Most of them just say, just go ahead and do whatever you want.

Yes.

But yes, we want them to be legit. Of course.

Yeah, of course.

Learn some things. But we don't have an accredited curriculum for that.

No, you don't. And a part of the accountability with the home school is that you can align the curriculum with the school state standards of school district standards. And those tests are readily available to home school parents and that whole community to know how on track are your students, even when they're home schooled. yeah.

And you don't even need that. That really. And especially in a lot of states, you don't really need to follow that lineage of the state. So if you're looking for something is like, what the heck do we learn anyways? You can look at those, but don't take it as like, oh, my gosh, my kid.

You know, that's not a strict adherence.

Educational should. Right.

The education should.

That can kill love of learning right quick.

Right quick. Yes, it can.

Yes, I can. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited about this conversation. Kim, is there, we're almost, how are we almost out of time already? I know.

What happened? What happened?

How do we get to know these terms if we don't know them? Other terms that we haven't talked about today.

Yeah, there are a number of other terms. Now, I do have a handout, a little list that your audience can get access to called the 24 Common educational term slash jargon that parents need to know. And that's available. You can just hit me up with a DM on Instagram at Liberation underscore through underscore education. Send me a message with the word list and I'll shoot that list out to you.

Absolutely. And we'll also make it available in the show notes and things like that, too, for you guys. So I'm super excited about this. because this is something that's empowering. You can go into those meetings.

You.

I know what I'm talking about.

I know what I'm talking about. Let's go. Bring it on.

See how Kim and I, we're like this. We're like that.

We're on track.

We're on track. I love it. Oh, amazing. Okay, so, you guys, I want you to get in touch with Kim and get this lead magnet, too. Like I said, I will put the link for it also in all the places where we have this podcast on YouTube and Facebook group and in our actual podcast, Homeschool Success, so. make sure that you get that. And then if you have questions, contact him. This is what she does. So it's amazing. And, hey, man, we need people like you in the world because we need to make sure that parents are empowered to take care of their, their kids. We all know the biggest thing that schools and anybody really will respond to is when you are a little bit loud. Respect.

That's correct. Correct.

Always, always. So, okay, you guys, I know that this has been super helpful for you, super helpful for everyone out there who's transitioning out of school, still in school, or are starting to homeschool and just looking for where to go and what language we need to speak. So, yes, there's a whole nother language for college and all that stuff.

Oh, yeah. We'll talk about that more.

But I know Kim's a good resource for that, too. So thank you, Kim, so much for sharing with us today. I can't believe our time is already up, but.

No.

Man, good stuff.

It's been great. Yes. Learned a lot and hopefully I shared some things that your audience will definitely cater to and say, yeah, I need that because I'm tired of folks speaking over my head and I have no idea what they're saying.

Well, I feel like this is a conversation that's been a long time coming. I feel like this is a message that really needs to get out. So I am super happy to help you guys with that and to allow you access to the amazing Kim Fields. So thank you very much, you guys. I will see you guys again next week with some more awesome info.

Bye-bye.

By the way, you can get a copy of the 24 most common terms used by educators and staff for free at my website, liberationthrougheducation.com Download the list today. What's been your experience with trying to understand the educational terms that have been thrown at you during parent conferences or meetings with school staff. Let me know your thoughts by leaving me a text comment on my podcast website: k12educationuntangled.buzzsprout.com if you enjoyed this episode, why not listen to another episode from my library? It could take as little as 10 minutes of your day. And remember, new episodes come out every Tuesday. Thanks for listening today. Be sure to come back for more K-12 educational discussions with even more exciting topics to untangle. Until next time, aim to learn something new every day. Love my show? Consider being a regular subscriber. You can subscribe for as little as $3 per month. Just go to https://tinyurl.com/buy /podcast support. There's no contractual obligation. You can cancel at any time. If you choose to subscribe, I'll give you a special shout out thanking you in an upcoming episode. Remember, that's https://tinyurl.com/subscribe podcast support to subscribe.