Walter L. Newberry Math & Science Academy
Today's scholars, tomorrow's leaders
As our world becomes increasingly more filled with acronyms, it’s helpful to know some of the Newberry & Chicago Public Schools abbreviations:
| The following is a list of parent/school groups: | |
| LSC | Local School Council (a governing body of the school consisting of the Principal, parent, community and teacher representatives) |
| FoN | Friends of Newberry (Newberry’s 501c fundraising group) |
| PTO | Parent-Teacher Organization (a volunteer task force of parents organizing activities that promote school spirit) |
| BAC | Bilingual Advisory Council (parent group focused on meeting academic needs of students whose home language is other than English) |
| Title 1 PAC | Title 1 Parent Advisory Council (an advisory group of parents who vote on the usage of federal Title 1 funding targeting Parental Involvement) |
| The following is a list of education-related assessment abbreviations & terms: | |
| F&P | Fountas & Pinnell reading assessment (a one-on-one assessment of a students comprehension and fluency) |
| NWEA-MAP | Northwest Evaluation Association is the trademark company who developed the Measure of Academic Progress (online adaptive assessment) |
| mCLASS | A personalized mathematics assessment issued 2-3 times per year to Kindergarten & 1st graders |
| PARCC | Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College & Careers (online assessment aligned to Common Core standards & administered to grades 3-8)
The PARCC assessment serves as an “educational GPS system,” designed to measure students’ current performance in English language arts/literacy and mathematics. It will point the way to what students need to learn in order to be ready for the next grade level, high school graduation, and for college or a career. |
| CIWP | Continuous Improvements Work Plan (a 2-year school improvement plan guiding our work towards student academic & social-emotional success) |
| CCSS | Common Core State Standards |
| NGSS | Next Generation Science Standards |
| IEP | Individual Education Plan (a blueprint or plan for a child’s special education experience at school) |
| 504 Plan | A plan for how a child will have access to learning at school |
| IMPACT | Instructional Management Program & Academic Communications Tool: IMPACT is a ‘one-stop’ for all forms of data entry within CPS such as enrollment, grades, disciplinary infractions, and curriculum/instruction assessment records |
| REACH Performance Task | Written or hands-on assessments administered at the beginning and end of a school year that measure acquisition of standards and skills in content areas. |
| SEL | Social Emotional Learning is the process through which our students learn and apply knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to manage emotions and develop empathy. At Newberry, we use the Second Step curriculum to explicitly teach these dispositions. |
| SQRP | The CPS School Quality Rating Policy is the District’s policy for measuring annual school performance. |
| EL / ELL | English Learner / English Language Learner |
| Percentile | Describes a ranking amongst a sample pool. Example: 70th Growth percentile means that that school’s growthis as good or better than 70% of schools nationally. |
| Growth & Attainment | Growth: Measured by calculating a student’s difference in scores between two points in time (pre-test and post-test). It helps determine how much a student improved in a period of time. For example, this is done comparing Spring-to-Spring NWEA tests.
Attainment: A student’s achievement score measured and compared to other scores from one point in time. It does not take into account any previous scores. |
| The following is a list of teacher-led teams and/or departments you may see or hear about periodically | |
| ILT | Instructional Leadership Team (a group of teachers charged with |
| PPLC | Professional Personnel Leadership Committee (a CTU committee who works with the Principal on curriculum issues) |
| PPC | Professional Problems Committee (an in-school CTU committee who work on solving workplace-related concerns) |
| ODLSS | Office of Diverse Learner Supports & Services |
| OAE | Office of Access & Enrollment – the CPS office who handles the waitlist for magnets and other selective enrollment schools |
| BOE | Board of Education: The Chicago Board of Education is responsible for the governance, organizational and financial oversight of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) |
| PD | Professional Development (used in reference to a wide variety of specialized training, formal education, or advanced professional learning intended to help administrators, teachers, and other educators improve their professional knowledge, competence, skill, and effectiveness) |
| BLT | Bilingual Lead Teacher |
| MTSS | Multi-Tiered Systems of Support is a framework for delivering differentiated instruction & targeted support for all students’ academic, behavioral and health/wellness needs. This includes instruction and intervention for students requiring specific supports both inside and outside the classroom. |
