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GLOSSARY OF TERMS - REPORT CARDS DATA

A postsecondary institution that offers programs of at least 2 but less than 4 years duration. This includes occupational and vocational schools with programs of at least 1800 hours and academic institutions with programs of less than 4 years. This does not include bachelor's degree-granting institutions where the baccalaureate program can be completed in 3 years.

A postsecondary institution that offers programs of at least 4 years duration or one that offers programs at or above the baccalaureate level. This includes schools that offer post baccalaureate certificates only or those that offer graduate programs only. This also includes free-standing medical, law or other first-professional schools.

A program of preparation for the High School Equivalency Examination for students 16 to 19 years old as described in Section 100.7(h) of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education. The number of enrolled students used as the denominator for determining the percentage of students who entered an AHSEPP is the number of students in grades 9-12 and ungraded secondary-level students age 14 or older.

Student with one or more parent or guardian who is a member of the Armed Forces and on Active Duty. The Armed Forces are the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, or full-time National Guard. Active duty means full-time duty in the active military service of the United States. Such term includes full-time training duty, annual training duty, and attendance, while in the active military service, at a school designated as a service school by law or by the Secretary of the military department concerned.

Annual Attendance Rate is determined by dividing the school's (or district's) total actual attendance by the total possible attendance for a school year. A school's (or district's) actual attendance is the sum of the number of students in attendance on each day the school (or district's schools) was open during the school year. Possible attendance is the sum of the number of enrolled students who should have been in attendance on each day the school (or schools) was open during the school year. The state's Annual Attendance Rate is a weighted average of all district-level attendance rates. Attendance data are lagged a year because data for the reporting year are reported in October following the close of that reporting year.

City University of New York

Completers are students with a local diploma with or without Regents endorsement or with an Individualized Education Diploma (IEP).

Core Classes are primarily K-6 common branch, English, mathematics, science, social studies, art, music, and foreign languages.

Dropouts are students in grades 7-12 and ungraded secondary students whose last regular enrollment record indicated they dropped out of school.

Economically disadvantaged students are those who participate in, or whose family participates in, economic assistance programs, such as the free or reduced-price lunch programs, Social Security Insurance (SSI), Food Stamps, Foster Care, Refugee Assistance (cash or medical assistance), Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP), Safety Net Assistance (SNA), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), or Family Assistance: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). If one student in a family is identified as low income, all students from that household (economic unit) may be identified as low income.

English Language Learners (ELLs) are those who, by reason of foreign birth or ancestry, speak or understand a language other than English and speak or understand little or no English, and require support in order to become proficient in English and are identified pursuant to Section 154.3 of Commissioner's Regulations.

A student enrolled in any of the following degree programs: Chiropractic (D.C. or D.C.M.), Dentistry (D.D.S. or D.M.D.), Law (L.L.B., J.D.), Medicine (M.D.), Optometry (O.D.), Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.), Pharmacy (Pharm.D.), Podiatry (D.P.M., D.P., or Pod.D.), Theology (M.Div., M.H.L., B.D., or Ordination), Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.), Audiology, (Au.D.), Nursing Practice (D.N.P.), and Physical Therapy (D.P.T.)

An entering freshman who has never attended any college (or other postsecondary institution), aside from college credits earned in high school. Includes students enrolled in the fall term who attended college for the first time in the prior summer term. Also includes students who entered with advanced standing (college credits earned before graduation from high school).

Student who is in 24-hour substitute care for children placed away from their parents and for whom the agency under title IV-E of the Social Security Act has placement and care responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, placements in foster family homes, foster homes of relatives, group homes, emergency shelters, residential facilities, child care institutions, and pre-adoptive homes. A child is in foster care in accordance with this definition regardless of whether or not the foster care facility is licensed and payments are made by the State, tribal, or local agency for the care of the child, whether adoption subsidy payments are being made prior to the finalization of an adoption, or whether there is federal matching of any payments that are made.

Eligible for Free Lunch and Eligible for Reduced-Price Lunch percentages are determined by dividing the number of approved lunch applicants by the Basic Educational Data System (BEDS) enrollment in full-day Kindergarten through Grade 12.

Undergraduate: A student enrolled for 12 or more semester credits, 12 or more quarter credits, or 24 or more contact hours a week each term. Graduate: A student enrolled for 9 or more semester credits, 9 or more quarter credits, or a student involved in thesis or dissertation preparation that is considered full-time by the institution. First-Professional: As defined by the institution.

Full-Time Equivalent is calculated as follows:

  • Undergraduates: Full-Time + ⅓ Part-Time
  • Graduates and First Professionals: Full-Time + ⅖ Part-Time

Gender of the student being reported, as identified by the student. In the case of very young students not yet able to advocate for themselves, gender may be identified by the parent or guardian. A student's gender category can change from year to year if they change how they identify. Beginning in SY 2021-22, nonbinary students can be reported with gender "X."

Instructional level for the student as determined by the school district. Pre-Kindergarten counts include half- and full-day students. Students classified by districts as "pre-first" are included in first grade counts. All general education students must be assigned to a grade. Students with disabilities may be determined by the Committee on Special Education (CSE) to be either graded or ungraded. Ungraded Elementary includes ungraded students who are age equivalent to students in Kindergarten through 6th grade. Ungraded Secondary includes ungraded students who are age equivalent to students in 7th through 12th grade.

A student who holds a bachelor's, first-professional degree, or equivalent, and is taking courses at the post baccalaureate level. These students may or may not be enrolled in graduate programs (not to include students in first-professional programs).

Graduates include students who received a local diploma or a local diploma with Regents endorsement (Regents diploma). All students who received a Regents diploma (with or without Advanced Designation or CTE Endorsement) are included in the number of students with Regents diploma.

High school completers are Graduates plus students who received an Individualized Education Diploma (IEP).

To be Highly Qualified, a teacher must have at least a Bachelor's degree, be certified to teach in the subject area or otherwise in accordance with State standards, and show subject matter competency.

In public schools, a teacher who taught one class outside of the certification area(s) is counted as Highly Qualified provided that 1) the teacher had been determined by the school or district through the HOUSSE process or other state-accepted methods to have demonstrated acceptable subject knowledge and teaching skills and 2) the class in question was not the sole assignment reported. Credit for incidental teaching does not extend beyond a single assignment. Independent of Highly Qualified Teacher status, any assignment for which a teacher did not hold a valid certificate still registers as teaching out of certification.

In charter schools, a teacher is counted as Highly Qualified if the teacher has at least a Bachelor's degree, is certified to teach, and shows subject matter competency. Enabling legislation allows charter school teachers to be employed if they hold any valid teaching certificate. Legislation also permits up to 30 percent, with a maximum of five, whichever is less, plus an additional five teachers of mathematics, science, computer science, technology, or career and technical education, and an additional five teachers of a charter school to be without certification and be considered Highly Qualified if they meet all remaining criteria.

High-poverty and low-poverty schools used for highly qualified teacher categorization are those schools in the upper and lower quartiles, respectively, for percentage of students eligible for a free or reduced-price lunch.

Statewide "Total Number of Teachers" includes a small number of teachers counted more than once if they were reported in multiple districts.

Student who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, including a student who is sharing the housing of other persons due to a loss of housing, economic hardship, or similar reason; living in motels, hotels, trailer parks or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; abandoned in hospitals; or a migratory child, as defined in subsection 2 of section 1309 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended, who qualifies as homeless under any of the above provisions; or has a primary nighttime location that is a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations including, but not limited to, shelters operated or approved by the State or local department of social services, and residential programs for runaway and homeless youth established pursuant to article 19H of the executive law or a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings, including a car, park, public space, abandoned building, substandard housing, bus, train stations, or similar setting. Homeless students do not include children in foster care placements or who are receiving educational services pursuant to subdivision four, five, six, six-a, or seven of Education Law §3202 or pursuant to article 81, 85, 87, or 88 of Education Law.

Is a private-not-for-profit institution.

Student who is, or whose parent, guardian, or spouse is, a migratory agricultural worker, including a migratory dairy worker or a migratory fisher, and who, in the preceding 36 months, in order to obtain, or accompany such parent, guardian, or spouse, in order to obtain, temporary or seasonal employment in agricultural or fishing work has moved from one school district to another.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), developed in 1969, is a nationally representative assessment of the performance of United States' students in mathematics, reading, science, writing, the arts, civics, economics, geography, and U.S. history. The NAEP assessment is administered to a sampling of schools across New York State. Teachers, principals, parents, policymakers, and researchers use NAEP results to assess progress and develop ways to improve education in the United States. As part of a federal requirement, NYSED is publishing these statewide results on NAEP. There are no consequences for schools, teachers, or students based on NAEP results. For more information about NAEP, see the National Center for Education Statistics web site at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/.

The New York State Alternate Assessments are administered in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics to ungraded students with severe cognitive disabilities whose ages are equivalent to graded students in grades 3 through 8 and secondary level. They are administered in science to students with disabilities age equivalent to graded students in grades 4, 8, and secondary level. And they are administered in social studies at the secondary level only. Students identified by their district's Committee on Special Education as eligible to take the New York State Alternate Assessment (NYSAA) may use this assessment to fulfill the participation and performance criteria for elementary/middle- and secondary-level English language arts and mathematic and elementary/middle-level science for accountability.

The New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Tests are administered in grades K through 12 to limited English proficient students.

The New York State Testing Program (NYSTP) assessments are administered annually in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics in grades 3 through 8.

Non-completers is the sum of dropouts and students who entered an Alternative High School Equivalency Preparation Program (AHSEPP). The number of enrolled students used as the denominator for determining the percentage of noncompleters is the number of students in grades 9-12 and ungraded secondary-level students age 14 or older.

Undergraduate: A student enrolled for either less than 12 semester or quarter credits, or less than 24 contact hours a week each term. Graduate: A student enrolled for less than 9 semester or quarter credits. First-Professional: As defined by the institution.

Descriptors of performance levels for the Grades 3-8 New York State Testing Program Assessments in English language arts (ELA) and Mathematics are available at http://www.p12.nysed.gov/irs/ela-math/ in the "Scale Score to Performance Level Conversion Charts" section.

Descriptors of performance levels for Grades 4 and 8 Science Tests are available in the Rating Guides at http://www.p12.nysed.gov/assessment/science/science-ei.html.

Percent of students with Regents or local diplomas who reported their post-graduation plans to be attending college, entering the military, entering into employment, entering adult services, or other known or unknown.

An educational institution controlled by a private individual(s) or by a nongovernmental agency, usually supported primarily by other than public funds, and operated by other than publicly elected or appointed officials. These institutions may be either for-profit or not-for-profit.

Is a private-for-profit institution.

An educational institution whose programs and activities are operated by publicly elected or appointed school officials and which is supported primarily by public funds.

Race or races with which the student primarily identifies as indicated by the student or the parent/guardian.

  • American Indian or Alaska Native: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition.
  • Asian or Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam; or a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.
  • Black or African American: A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.
  • Hispanic or Latino: A person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
  • White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East.
  • Multiracial: Non-Hispanic students who are reported with more than one race.

Recently arrived LEP students are limited English proficient (LEP) students (including those from Puerto Rico) who on April 1 of the reporting year will have been attending school in the United States for less than one year. These students may use the New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test (NYSESLAT) in lieu of the 3-8 New York State Testing Program (NYSTP) in English language arts (ELA) to meet the participation requirement for making Adequate Yearly Progress in elementary/middle-level ELA for institutional accountability purposes.

Annual Regents Competency Test (RCT) results include those from August, January, and June of the reporting year. If a student takes the same RCT multiple times during the reporting year, only the highest score is included in the annual results.

Annual Regents examination results include those from August, January, and June of the reporting year. If a student takes the same Regents examination multiple times during the reporting year, only the highest score is included in the annual results.

State University of New York

Principals and assistant principals include full- and part-time. Other professional staff include administrators, guidance counselors, school nurses, psychologists, and other professionals who devote more than half of their time to non-teaching duties. Paraprofessionals include full- and part-time supplementary school personnel.

Students with disabilities are those who have been identified as such by the Committee on Special Education and are receiving services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Students with disabilities include those having an intellectual disability; hearing impairment, including deafness; speech or language impairment; visual impairment, including blindness; emotional disability; orthopedic impairment; autism; traumatic brain injury; developmental delay; other health impairment; specific learning disability; deaf-blindness; or multiple disabilities and who, by reason thereof, receive special education and related services under the IDEA according to an Individualized Education Program (IEP), Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), or a services plan.

Student Suspension rate is determined by dividing the number of students who were suspended from school (not including in-school suspensions) for one full day or longer anytime during the school year by the Basic Educational Data System (BEDS) day enrollments for that school year. A student is counted only once, regardless of whether the student was suspended one or more times during the school year. Suspension data are lagged a year because data for the reporting year are reported in October following the close of that reporting year.

  • No Valid Teaching Certificate: The Percent with No Valid Teaching Certificate is the percent of teachers without a valid teaching certificate.
  • Teaching Out of Certification: The Percent Teaching Out of Certification is the percent of teachers teaching out of certification on more than an incidental basis (more than one assignment). In charter schools, a teacher is allowed to be employed if the teacher has at least a Bachelor's degree, is certified to teach, and shows subject matter competency. Enabling legislation allows charter school teachers to be employed if they hold any valid teaching certificate. Legislation also permits up to 30 percent, with a maximum of five, whichever is less, plus an additional five teachers of mathematics, science, computer science, technology, or career and technical education, and an additional five teachers of a charter school to be employed without certification.
  • Three Year of Experience: The Percent with Fewer Than Three Years of Experience is the percent of teachers with fewer than three years of teaching experience.
  • Master's Degree Plus 30 Hours or Doctorate: The Percent with Master's Degree Plus 30 Hours or Doctorate is the percent of teachers with a Master's Degree and 30 hours of credits towards a doctorate or a Doctorate.
  • Number of Classes: The Total Number of Classes is the number of classes/assignments reported by teachers. This includes all teaching/instructional assignments reported to the Department.
  • Teachers without Appropriate Certification: The Percent Taught by Teachers without Appropriate Certification is the percent of all teachers teaching one or more assignments outside of certification.

Teacher Turnover Rate for a specified school year is the count of teachers in the prior school year who did not return to a teaching position in the district in the current school year expressed as a percentage. This includes all teaching/instructional assignments reported to the Department.

A secondary-level total cohort consists of all students who first enter grade 9 anywhere or, in the case of ungraded students with disabilities, reach their seventeenth birthday in a particular school year (July 1 - June 30). The "year" used to identify the cohort is the year in which the July 1 - December 31 dates fall. For more detailed information on cohort definitions, see the SIRS Manual.

A student enrolled in, or taking courses creditable toward, a 4- or 5-year bachelor's degree program, an associate's degree program, or a vocational or technical program below the baccalaureate. High School students taking degree-credit work are included in the counts of all enrolled undergraduates.


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