- scaffolding
- Instructional technique, associated with the zone of proximal development, in which a teacher provides individualized support by incrementally improving a learner’s ability to build on prior knowledge. Scaffolding can be used in a variety of content areas and across age and grade levels.
- school choice
- Legal structure allowing families and children to select a school other than the one assigned by their district. Schools of choice may be established by private firms or organized groups of families or educators; these groups receive public funding on a per-pupil basis.
- school improvement plan
- Comprehensive school-based plan outlining goals and objectives for ongoing school improvement. Specific measures are determined on a state-by-state basis.
- school-based management
- See site-based management.
- scientific method
- Research method using experiments and physical evidence to answer questions about the natural world.
- secondary source
- A work that interprets or analyzes an event or topic using primary and other secondary sources.
- Section 504
- Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that guarantees civil rights to individuals with disabilities. Section 504 provides that individuals may not be subjected to discrimination on the basis of disability from any program receiving federal funding. A central tenet of Section 504 is free and appropriate public education for all children.
- service learning
- Intentional combination of community service objectives and learning opportunities that benefits both the recipient and provider of the service. Student service learning projects should be structured to link learning tasks to self-reflection so that they enrich learning, strengthen communities, and teach civic responsibility.
- sex education
- See comprehensive sex education.
- sheltered instruction
- An approach to teach language to English language learners by modifying the core curriculum to meet the language needs of those learners. Academic subjects are taught using English along with supplementary aids such as graphs, models, hands-on materials, and visual aids. Used mostly in classes comprised solely with English language learners.
- site-based management
- Organizational structure that decentralizes authority and increases the autonomy of individual schools. Responsibility and accountability are at the school level, and the decision-making process includes teachers, administrators, parents, and community members.
- social capital
- The norms and networks that people draw on to solve common problems.
- social stories
- Social stories are short stories, written from a child’s perspective, that describe appropriate behavior in particular social situations.
- Socratic method
- Teaching method, developed from Plato's Socratic Dialogues, characterized by a student-centered approach that challenges learners to develop their critical thinking skills and engage in analytic discussion.
- special education
- Programs serving students with mental and physical disabilities. Special education programs provide individualized education plans that detail services children will receive.
- spider map
- A graphic organizer used to describe the attributes and functions of a central idea or theme. Each central theme has four or more branches to organize details, resembling a spider.
- standards
- Expectations of what students should know and be able to perform.
- story map
- Graphic organizer that allows students to detail important elements of a story, including characters, plot, action, and setting.
- storyboard
- A graphic depiction of a story or narrative in which students illustrate major events in a story through sequential pictures. Storyboards can be used as a pre-writing activity or to review a story.
- student teams achievement divisions
- Learning model in which teams are arranged after a teacher-led lesson. Team members tutor one another, but take individual quizzes, and the team evaluation is based on individual scores.
- summative assessment
- Evaluation administered at the conclusion of a unit of instruction to comprehensively assess student learning and the effectiveness of an instructional method or program.
- sustained silent reading
- A period of uninterrupted silent reading in the classroom, typically from fifteen to thirty minutes.
K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education
