MTTC key terms

The reading, writing, speaking, and reasoning practices experts use in a specific subject, such as sourcing evidence in history or interpreting data in science. Teachers model these practices so students learn content through its own language.

Knowing why and how ideas connect rather than only memorizing steps or facts. Students with conceptual understanding can explain, transfer, and apply knowledge to new problems.

The skills historians use to interpret the past, including sourcing documents, contextualizing events, corroborating evidence, and recognizing perspective. Instruction asks students to reason with evidence rather than only recall dates.

Learning science by asking questions, designing investigations, gathering and analyzing data, and constructing evidence-based explanations. It mirrors how scientists build knowledge and supports understanding of practices as well as content.

How demanding a text is to read, judged by quantitative measures like sentence length, qualitative features like structure and knowledge demands, and reader-task considerations. Teachers use it to match texts to grade-level expectations.

The specialized knowledge teachers use to make a subject learnable: common misconceptions, useful examples, representations, and sequencing. It combines deep content knowledge with knowledge of how students learn that content.

Temporary support that helps a learner complete a task they cannot yet do alone, such as models, prompts, or partial examples. Support is gradually removed as competence grows.

The range of tasks a learner can accomplish with guidance but not yet independently. Instruction is most effective when aimed at this range, providing support that bridges what is known and what is next.

Planning lessons so content, process, or product can vary in response to students' readiness, interests, and learning profiles. The goal is access to the same rigorous outcomes, not different expectations.

A framework for planning instruction with multiple means of engagement, representation, and action or expression so varied learners can access content from the start, reducing the need for later retrofitting.

Using students' cultural knowledge, experiences, and communication styles as resources for learning while examining biases in curriculum and practice. It connects content to students' lives and holds high expectations for all.

Teacher-led instruction that presents clear objectives, models skills, checks for understanding, and provides guided then independent practice. It is explicit and structured, especially useful for introducing new or complex skills.

Structured small-group work in which students depend on one another to complete a shared task, with individual accountability and defined roles. It builds both academic understanding and collaboration skills.

The pause a teacher allows after asking a question or after a student responds, typically several seconds. Longer wait time tends to increase participation, response length, and reasoning quality.

Michigan's professional standards describing educators' obligations to students, the profession, and the public, including honesty, fairness, and protecting students from harm. Violations can lead to certification discipline.

The legal duty of educators and other specified professionals to report suspected child abuse or neglect to child protective services promptly. Reporting is required even when the suspicion is not confirmed.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a federal law protecting the privacy of students' education records. It gives parents and eligible students rights to inspect records and limits disclosure without consent.

A legally required written plan for a student who qualifies for special education, specifying present levels, annual goals, services, accommodations, and placement. It is developed by a team that includes parents and school staff.

The special education principle that students with disabilities should learn alongside peers without disabilities to the maximum extent appropriate, with removal occurring only when supports in general education are insufficient.

A plan under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act providing accommodations so a student with a disability can access general education programs and activities. It does not require specialized instruction the way an IEP does.

A team of educators who meet regularly to examine student data, share instructional practices, and improve results collaboratively. The focus is on learning, collaboration, and results rather than isolated workshops.

Approaches that build relationships and repair harm through dialogue, circles, and problem-solving rather than punishment alone. In schools they respond to conflict by involving those affected and restoring community.

A planning process that starts with desired learning outcomes, then determines acceptable evidence of learning, and finally designs instruction and activities. It keeps lessons aligned to enduring understandings and standards.

A specific, observable statement of what students should know or be able to do by the end of a lesson, usually including a condition and criteria. Clear objectives guide instruction and assessment.

A broad, open-ended question that frames a unit and invites inquiry, such as how societies balance freedom and order. It connects activities to big ideas and prompts sustained thinking.

The state-adopted expectations for what students should know and be able to do in each content area and grade level. Michigan educators align curriculum, instruction, and assessment to these standards.

An organized plan showing what content is taught and in what order across a course or grade span. It clarifies when topics are introduced, developed, and revisited.

The degree to which standards, objectives, instructional activities, and assessments address the same knowledge and cognitive demand. Strong alignment ensures that what is taught is what is tested and expected.

Ongoing checks of student understanding used during instruction to adjust teaching and provide feedback. Examples include exit tickets, questioning, and quick quizzes; results inform next steps rather than assign final grades.

An assessment at the end of a unit, course, or period that measures what students have learned against standards. It typically yields a grade or score used for reporting and accountability.

A scoring guide that lists criteria and describes levels of quality for a task. Rubrics make expectations transparent and support consistent, focused feedback.

The extent to which an assessment measures what it is intended to measure and supports the inferences and decisions made from scores. A test can be reliable yet still invalid for a particular purpose.

The consistency of assessment results across occasions, raters, or items. Reliable scores are stable and dependable, but reliability alone does not guarantee that a test measures the right thing.

A task in which students demonstrate knowledge and skills by producing something or completing a real-world application, scored with criteria or a rubric. It often demands extended reasoning and transfer.

A change in how a student accesses instruction or assessment, such as extended time or a read-aloud, that does not alter what is being measured. Accommodations remove barriers while keeping expectations the same.

The habit of examining one's own teaching decisions, student evidence, and outcomes to identify what worked and what to change. It turns classroom experience into deliberate professional learning.

A cycle in which a teacher identifies a classroom problem, gathers data, tries an intervention, and analyzes results to improve practice. It is systematic inquiry conducted by practitioners in their own setting.

A written plan describing a teacher's goals for improving practice, the actions and learning needed, and evidence of progress. It is often tied to evaluation and ongoing certification requirements.

Structured support for beginning teachers during their first years, pairing them with experienced mentors and providing feedback, orientation, and professional learning. It aims to improve practice and retain teachers.

A process in which teachers observe one another's classrooms and discuss what they notice, often using a shared focus or protocol. It supports reflection, feedback, and shared instructional practice.