K-12 Education: Untangled — Trends, Issues, and Parental Actions for Public Schools
Raising kids can be tough! I know because I’ve been a single mom who raised two kids on my own. And when they get in the K-12 public education system, learning the ins and outs of that system can get you all tangled up, especially when you’re a parent of color. You need to know about the current trends and issues as well as resources necessary to navigate within the system. That’s what the K-12 Education: Untangled podcast is all about — providing you with tools, information and practical actions to help you and your children succeed within the complexities of K-12 public education.
K-12 Education: Untangled — Trends, Issues, and Parental Actions for Public Schools
Episode 143: Decoding Educational Jargon — Understanding Education's Secret Language
Feeling lost in the alphabet soup of educational terminology? You're not alone. In this illuminating episode, I break down the secret language of education that often leaves parents feeling confused and powerless during school meetings.
The power dynamic shifts dramatically when you understand what educators are really saying about your child. I share my personal journey from corporate manager to education researcher after frustrating experiences with her own children's education. Now she's on a mission to help parents decode educational jargon and use it to advocate effectively.
Through an enlightening conversation with Kami Wanous of the Freedom Scholar podcast, I demystify crucial terms like IEPs, 504 plans, RTI, and Common Core. I reveal the truth about accreditation (it's not what most homeschool parents think!) and explain why understanding grade-level designations matters for securing appropriate support services.
Most importantly, this episode transforms how you'll approach educational conversations. Learn how mastering educational vocabulary gives you the confidence to request services, specialized programs, or accommodations your child deserves. Discover how properly using educational terms in meetings instantly commands respect from teachers and administrators.
Whether your children attend public school or you're homeschooling, this episode provides practical knowledge that transforms you from confused observer to empowered advocate. Download my free resource (https://liberationthrougheducation.com) with 24 essential educational terms and start speaking the language that gets results for your child's education.
Check out my 24/7 interactive expert on my website! There are some great questions being asked and insightful conversations happening there… Go to https://liberation through education.com/ask-me-anything
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Welcome to another episode 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 education and progress. This battle-tested experience is what I provide as action steps for you to take. It's like enjoying a bowl of educational research with a sprinkling of mother 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.
Speaker 1: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 confidence and clarity to individualize your child's learning 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 confidently setting up a personalized educational approach that genuinely fits your child's strengths, passions and goals. This episode includes my conversation with Cami Wanus, 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.
Speaker 2: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 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 Right. 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 IE something or other or a five something. And it's important to know these things because each comes with a different set of rules per se or like services, 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 is the term, you know.
Speaker 2: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.
Speaker 2:You guys, 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, 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.
Speaker 1:We do have a lot in 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.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It's teacher talk. Man, don't get around teachers, it goes all in the teacher talk.
Speaker 1:That's right, we can go.
Speaker 2: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?
Speaker 1: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, hmm, 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.
Speaker 1: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 here, 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.
Speaker 2:It is jargon, isn't it? And boy, just like any real government agency, they love their acronyms.
Speaker 1:So there are acronyms about everything. Everything.
Speaker 2:So 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 Specifically, what?
Speaker 1: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 homeschool environment to go into public schools.
Speaker 1: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, needed, parents, kids at a certain age need to know what these terms mean. So it impacts and applies to everyone.
Speaker 2: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, in California are called a CUM file, a C-U-M cumulative file right. You don't have to know those terms in order to request them, but it does help.
Speaker 1:It does.
Speaker 2: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 too.
Speaker 1: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 saying she actually understands what we're saying. So there are advantages to knowing what the terms are.
Speaker 2: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 going to hear financial legal terms or whatever. When I was starting my podcast and I was researching about that all the technical audio editing terms I literally am Googling them, like what is an MBPS?
Speaker 1:Yes, that's such elementary.
Speaker 2:That tech guy looked at me. He's like you don't know what that means. I was like seriously, I haven't looked it up. It's true it makes it so much easier when you understand that.
Speaker 1:And so when you're reading on.
Speaker 2: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've got to 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 of skills, just basically when it's going to happen, where right, 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.
Speaker 1:It's just empowering us. So what can we?
Speaker 2:do with this knowledge. I mean, I know we talk about like, yeah, now that 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?
Speaker 1:Well, I think, knowing the terms, you also acknowledge your rights.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 1: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.
Speaker 2: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 needEP versus a 504 versus whatever right? Those things are important to make sure that you have those services available for your child.
Speaker 1:Correct, otherwise you wouldn't even know that you had rights to them.
Speaker 2: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.
Speaker 1:That's correct. That's correct.
Speaker 2:So what are some of those things that we need to know?
Speaker 1: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. That's all it's saying. Here's a plan. We recognize your child has special needs and here's a program that we 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.
Speaker 2: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.
Speaker 1: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 successful in the class and that their needs are met 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.
Speaker 2: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.
Speaker 1: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.
Speaker 2: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 something like that, but those things transfer to college as well, right? So how does?
Speaker 1: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.
Speaker 2:And it's quite a bit right. I mean, it's kind of amazing, it is excellent.
Speaker 1:It gives access to children who may not have thought they could go to college. It gives them access to go because, ok, 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. Yeah, extra time on tests like you can go to an extra testing center.
Speaker 2:You can go to like all these other things. It's so amazing there are a lot of accommodations there and you guys the most money actually goes to special education. It. Which is also a good and bad thing.
Speaker 1: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 get access to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, yeah. What other terms do you think we need to know?
Speaker 1: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.
Speaker 2:My husband actually teaches the ELD kids, the ELL kids, it's been called ELD.
Speaker 1:ESL. Ell. Yes, they do that too, but it's just English as a second language is actually just bringing acclimation to students whose language is not English primarily.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so they're in 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.
Speaker 1:And it's good you remember when it used to be called dual language.
Speaker 2:Or bilingual.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're speaking Spanish, but we've got to translate that into English so that they understand what we're saying.
Speaker 1: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 a skill or some lesson or something, and it's a way to provide early assistance, yes, 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.
Speaker 2:Would that include the remedial? I mean, we don't call it remedial, but what do they call it? Now I'm totally blanking on it.
Speaker 1: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.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1: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.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one of the things that I think is 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?
Speaker 1: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, it's based on averages. What it is.
Speaker 2: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.
Speaker 1: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 Many times. If 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.
Speaker 2: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 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 they reinvent a program yes, that is the same exact thing, we've always done it's always been it's the correct, different three name yes, new, and it's renamed.
Speaker 2:Yes, new and improved. Yes, like no Child Left Behind. And then there was Obama's version.
Speaker 1:Nickelodeon, they had ESEA. We had Every Student Succeed. We've had a lot.
Speaker 2:Which really for all of us educators, we call it Every Child Left Behind.
Speaker 1:Every Child Left Behind, correct yeah.
Speaker 2:Not really that effective, but it isn't.
Speaker 1:But, like I said, they get on the grandstand and 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 Nickleby.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, we're in that right now 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?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it applies so much across the board, right? So at my level of teaching, accreditation was a big deal in college. 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. But 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.
Speaker 2: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.
Speaker 1:WASC applies at college.
Speaker 2: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, all this paperwork together and put reports and everything, and then nobody thought about it again ever yes, that's correct.
Speaker 1:Now that cycle applies in college as well, because you go through all of this activity for the wasc or for the cal 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, you've gotten that stamp of approval Some of them don't. I know.
Speaker 2:Some of them don't. So, guess what? There are public schools, and even some private, I would imagine, that don't actually pass 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.
Speaker 2:It doesn't matter, because the only thing that matters is that you're you're using your state 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 sports, 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.
Speaker 1: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.
Speaker 2: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, just go do yes.
Speaker 1:Yes, we want them to be legit.
Speaker 2:Of course, yeah, of course we want them to learn some things, but we don't have to use an accredited curriculum for that.
Speaker 1:No, you don't, and a part of the accountability with the homeschool is that you can align the curriculum with the school state standards of school district standards, and those tests are readily available to homeschool parents and that whole community to know how on track are your students even when they're homeschooled yeah, and you don't even need that.
Speaker 2:That really, and especially in a lot of states, 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 standard. 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, educational should. Right, I can kill love of learning. Right, quick, right quick.
Speaker 1:Yes, it can yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, I'm so excited about this conversation. Kim is there, we're almost. How are we almost out of time already?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know what happened.
Speaker 2:How do we get to know these terms if we don't know them? Other terms that we haven't talked about today.
Speaker 1: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 Terms 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.
Speaker 2: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.
Speaker 1:I know what I'm talking about. I know what I'm talking about. Let's go bring it on.
Speaker 2:See how Kim and I we're like this.
Speaker 1:We're like that.
Speaker 2: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 Kim.
Speaker 1:This is what she does, so it's super amazing.
Speaker 2: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 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 Always always that's correct.
Speaker 2: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 there's a whole nother language for college and 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.
Speaker 1:I can't believe our time is already up, but oh man good. It's been great. Yes, I 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.
Speaker 2: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.
Speaker 1:By the way, you can get a copy of the 24 most common terms used by educators and staff for free at my website, liberationthrougheducationcom. 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, k12educationuntangledbuzzsproutcom. 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.
