FELE key terms

A written plan required of Florida schools that names goals for student achievement, the strategies and resources needed to reach them, and how progress will be measured and reported to stakeholders.

Federal education law passed in 2015 that replaced No Child Left Behind, requiring annual testing and public reporting on student subgroups while giving states flexibility to design their own accountability systems and school supports.

A Florida school-based group of parents, teachers, students, and community members that helps write and evaluate the school improvement plan and advises the principal on school-level decisions.

Florida's six expected practices for educators, covering instructional design, a positive learning environment, subject knowledge, assessment, continuous improvement, and ethics; they anchor teacher preparation and evaluation in the state.

Florida's rules describing educators' ethical duties to students, the public, and the profession, including required conduct and the grounds on which the state may discipline a certificate holder.

Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records and gives parents, and eligible students, the right to inspect records, request corrections, and control most disclosures to others.

Federal law that guarantees students with disabilities a free appropriate public education, procedural safeguards, an individualized education program, and services delivered in the least restrictive setting that works.

The legal requirement that students with disabilities be educated alongside peers without disabilities to the maximum extent appropriate, with separate placement used only when supports and services cannot make success possible.

A federal funding program that sends extra money to schools with high concentrations of students from low-income families so those schools can raise achievement and close performance gaps.

The unit Florida uses to count students for state funding; one FTE equals a student enrolled for a full school year of standard instruction, and counts are taken during scheduled survey periods.

A governance approach that gives the school team, including the principal, teachers, staff, and parents, real authority over budgets, curriculum, and staffing instead of leaving those choices to the district office.

A Florida framework that uses data to match academic and behavioral supports to student need across three tiers, moving students to more intensive help when progress data show the current support is not working.

Frequent, brief measurement of a student's skill growth over time, used to judge whether an intervention is working and to decide whether to continue, adjust, or intensify it.

Ongoing checks during instruction, such as questioning, exit tickets, and short quizzes, that reveal what students understand so the teacher can adjust teaching before the graded assessment.

The persistent difference in academic results between groups of students, often defined by race, income, disability status, or language, that signals unequal access to quality instruction and support.

Planning lessons so that content, process, and product are adjusted to students' readiness, interests, and learning profiles while every student still works toward the same grade-level standards.

Instruction that treats students' cultural backgrounds and lived experiences as assets, using them to make content relevant and to keep expectations and classroom practices fair for all learners.

A job-embedded support role in which a trained educator works one-on-one with teachers through observation, modeling, co-planning, and feedback to improve classroom practice and student outcomes.

Ensuring that the written curriculum, the classroom instruction, and the assessments all match the adopted standards in both content and level of thinking demanded of students.

A schoolwide system that teaches and reinforces expected behaviors, uses discipline data to find where problems cluster, and provides tiered supports for students who need more than universal practices.

Florida's measure of how much a student improved from one year to the next, crediting growth for all students rather than counting only those who reach the proficiency cut score.

A team of educators who meet regularly to examine student evidence and their own practice, ask hard questions about results, and test changes together rather than working in isolation.

Spreading leadership work across teachers and staff, such as team leads and committee chairs, so decisions and improvement efforts do not depend on the principal alone.

A structured set of first-years supports for new teachers, typically including orientation, mentoring, coaching, and feedback, designed to improve early practice and keep good teachers in the school.

The study of how adults learn, holding that adult learners need relevance to real work, autonomy, tasks built on their experience, and immediate application rather than abstract theory alone.

Deliberately examining one's own decisions and their results, often through journals, feedback, or student data, to identify what to keep doing and what to change.

Purposefully identifying and developing staff who could move into key leadership roles, so improvement work and school stability continue when vacancies occur.

Florida's required yearly plan in which an educator sets learning goals tied to student and school needs, names the activities to reach them, and documents evidence of progress.

Developing the skills, knowledge, and systems people need so a school can keep improving on its own after the current leader or initiative has moved on.

Giving full attention to a speaker, paraphrasing to check understanding, and asking clarifying questions, rather than planning a reply while the other person is still talking.

Involving families, staff, students, and community partners in genuine ways in school decisions and communication, instead of only informing them after choices have been made.

A group process that seeks a decision everyone can support and live with, even when it is not each participant's first choice, by airing concerns and shaping a shared option.

A structured way to handle disagreement, clarifying each side's interests, listening fully, finding common ground, and agreeing on next steps before trust or climate is damaged.

Planned, fast, and accurate messaging to staff, families, and media during an emergency, using one designated spokesperson and regular updates so rumor does not fill the gap.

Channels that let families and staff respond and be heard, such as surveys, listening sessions, and follow-up calls, rather than only one-way notices sent from the school.

Thinking carefully about who will read or hear a message, including their role, concerns, and prior knowledge, then shaping tone, amount of detail, and format to fit that audience.

An early sentence in a written response that names the problem, decision, or recommendation being addressed and makes clear what the writer wants the reader to understand or do.

Specific facts, data, or examples drawn from the scenario that are used to justify a recommendation, selected because they connect directly to the problem being addressed.