Education Acronyms Unpacked: A Guide To Support Better Parent-Teacher Communication

Acronyms! They are everywhere in education. IDEA, FERPA, MTSS—the list goes on. While acronyms may serve as essential shorthand for busy teachers and administrators, they can unintentionally stymie communication between students, families, and teachers.

Sharing ideas, information, and feedback with a student’s family is the best way to respond to parent concerns and boost student achievement. This blog post can help you explain the history and meanings behind the most common education acronyms.

Special Education Acronyms

Parents of students who receive special education services may become overwhelmed by a wave of hard-to-decode acronyms. Knowing what each of these terms means is essential for families eager to connect with educators and support their student’s learning.

• IDEA: This acronym stands for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Before IDEA became a federal law in 1975 (under a slightly different name), millions of children with disabilities or individual needs were kept out of public schools. Further adjustments to the law were made in 1990, 1997, and 2004 to reflect changing ideas around special education services. The law mandates, among other things, that all students with an “identified disability receive special education and related services to address their individual needs.” Understanding IDEA ensures students and their families receive an appropriate education and understand their legal rights and responsibilities. 

• FAPE: Under IDEA (as well as a previous law called the Rehabilitation Act), every child who qualifies for special education services is guaranteed a “free and appropriate public education,” or FAPE. Like IDEA, FAPE is intended to ensure all students—regardless of ability level or individual need—are being prepared for “future education, employment, and independent living.” 

  • The four components of FAPE are:

    • Free: Services are provided at no additional cost to parents

    • Appropriate: Education is tailored to meet the individual needs of the student

    • Public: Students have the same rights to attend public schools as all children

    • Education: Includes special education and related services

  • FAPE requires educators to individualize instruction for students not making adequate progress. (For example, a student with reading challenges might benefit from and use a multisensory reading program.)

  • Other supports and services, such as extra time to complete work, speech therapy, or help with writing, might be included in the modifications and accommodations to ensure students receive a FAPE. 

• IEP: The IEP, or Individualized Education Program, is the specific road map each family uses to ensure their child gets necessary special education services guaranteed by both IDEA and FAPE. IEPs are created with families and school staff after a child receives a special education evaluation from the state. (Some parents may opt for a second, privately funded evaluation.) IEPs are typically reviewed at least once per year to ensure compliance and progress on behalf of the student. According to the federal government, “The cornerstone of the IDEA is the entitlement of each eligible child with a disability to a free appropriate public education (FAPE) that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet the child’s unique needs and that prepare the child for further education, employment, and independent living.”

  • An IEP must contain:

    • The student’s present levels of academic achievement and functional performance, including how their disability affects involvement and progress in the general education curriculum.

    • A statement of measurable annual goals, including academic and functional goals.

    • A description of how students are progressing toward annual goals, how success will be measured, and when periodic progress reports will be provided.

    • A statement of the special education and related services the school will provide the student. 

    • A statement of the program modifications or supports for school staff that will be provided to help the student attain the annual goals, make progress in the general education curriculum, and participate in extracurricular and other nonacademic activities.

    • An explanation of the extent, if any, to which the child will not participate with nondisabled children in the regular classroom and in extracurricular and nonacademic activities.

• LRE: This acronym stands for Least Restrictive Environment and is a companion to both IDEA and the IEP. LRE means that a student who requires special education services and supports must be placed in a classroom—preferably at their neighborhood school—with nondisabled peers to the greatest extent possible. In other words, students with IEPs should not be segregated from general education classrooms whenever possible. LRE ensures students with disabilities may only be removed from the regular education classroom if the child cannot be satisfactorily educated in the regular educational environment using supplementary aids and services. 

• 504 Plan: While technically not an acronym, the 504 Plan is another term that dates back to 1973’s Rehabilitation Act. The 504 Plan was designed to ensure certain rights for students with disabilities—including the right to a free and appropriate public education. For students who do not qualify for an IEP but still require support and services to succeed, the 504 Plan outlines those specific supports. For example, students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or mental health challenges (such as anxiety) may benefit from a 504 Plan. School staff usually make this determination for students with an accompanying medical diagnosis. A 504 Plan can help meet a student’s specific needs by allowing for more time on tests, modified textbooks, or verbal tests, among other things.

• BIP: A Behavior Intervention Plan, or BIP, is designed to address and improve any challenging behaviors students might exhibit that interfere with their learning or their classmates’ learning. BIPs are based on a formal Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) and may be requested by teachers, guidance counselors, or families. They include a clear description of the target behavior to be achieved, measurable goals, intervention strategies, and progress-monitoring procedures. A BIP focuses on teaching students alternate behaviors rather than focusing on punitive measures and is implemented by all school staff working with that student. While often associated with students who have IEPs or 504 plans, BIPs can benefit any student with behavior issues. For students with disabilities, IDEA requires educators to consider positive behavior supports, including BIPs, for students if their disabilities cause challenging behaviors. 

• FBA: An FBA (Functional Behavior Assessment) describes the systematic process used to understand why students exhibit challenging behaviors that interfere with their learning. A multidisciplinary team typically conducts an FBA, a critical step in creating a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP). It involves collecting data through student observations, interviews, and record reviews to identify causes of disruptive behavior and how they affect the student. Under IDEA, educators must conduct an FBA when a student's behavior impedes their learning or that of others, particularly for students with disabilities. By analyzing behavior patterns, an FBA helps students and teachers develop targeted strategies to address these behaviors, improve academic performance, and deepen classroom engagement.

• RTI: Response to Intervention (RTI) refers to the multitiered approach educators use to provide early, systematic, and increasingly intensive support to students who are struggling academically. It focuses on providing high-quality instruction and interventions, typically at three different levels (or tiers). 

  • All students must receive high-quality classroom instruction and screening within Tier 1, and approximately 80% of students are expected to reach targeted goals under Tier 1 instruction. Students identified as struggling in this early stage are then provided with targeted interventions that increase in intensity in Tier 2 and Tier 3. Typically, around 15% receive small-group and supplemental instruction in Tier 2, while the remaining 5% require more intensive and individualized interventions in Tier 3.

  • RTI’s primary purpose is to support students academically, using a combination of approaches for interventions.

• MTSS: Whereas RTI is a model for identifying and addressing the specific academic needs of struggling students, Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) also addresses students’ social and emotional needs, including behavior and attendance. MTSS also addresses school culture, teacher professional development, and family and community engagement. An umbrella term, MTSS covers many different approaches and interventions, including:

  • Curriculum design

  • Positive behavior intervention and supports (PBIS)

  • Teacher learning and collaboration

  • Collaboration between school and family in problem-solving

• MTSS differs from district to district and is not a prepackaged, one-size-fits-all program. Instead, it gives teachers a framework for providing comprehensive, differentiated support systems based on their students’ unique needs.

General Education Acronyms

Some general education parents may be unfamiliar with the acronyms in this section due to evolving federal education mandates and classroom practices.

• ESSA: This federal education policy was enacted under then-President Barack Obama in 2015. ESSA, the Every Student Succeeds Act, was a reworking of the previous federal law, No Child Left Behind, or NCLB. ESSA provides guidelines around testing and accountability for the nation’s public schools but is regarded as much less prescriptive than its predecessor regarding how state leaders ensure all students are meeting college- and career-ready standards. Officials in each state were tasked with designing their own accountability standards and school ranking systems under ESSA, with community input. Families with questions concerning ESSA and its impact should turn to their state’s Department of Education for more information.

• SIP: A SIP is a School Improvement Plan developed by an LEA—a local education agency—as mandated under ESSA. Schools with low graduation rates or test scores are to be given priority for intervention, as outlined in a SIP. According to ESSA, such plans are supposed to be comprehensive (focused on more than simply boosting test scores) and designed with “stakeholder input” (parents, community leaders, and policymakers). Key components of a SIP typically include:

• Goals and objectives

• Research-based interventions and strategies 

• Professional development plans

• Implementation timelines

• Evaluation and assessment procedures

• Technology and other resources needed to meet goals

• Equity considerations

• Many district leaders post their SIPS on their district or school websites.

• PD: This is an abbreviation teachers and administrators often use to refer to professional development. PD comes in different forms and can be mandated by a district official or principal, or may be driven by teachers’ interests and self-identified needs. By understanding what teachers are learning in PD sessions—such as how to move from balanced literacy to Structured Literacy or how to offer more individualized support for students—parents can gain insight into the teaching and learning process, along with the latest research about literacy instruction. 

• FERPA: First authorized in 1974, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) was designed to protect student records. FERPA also offers guidelines for families regarding privacy and access to student data, which is a key consideration in today’s data-centric school environments. It’s important to understand FERPA does not protect every piece of student data. For example, students’ academic records can be shared with another school, school district, or post-secondary institution where the student is planning to enroll. They may also be disclosed in a health or safety emergency. Families may submit a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Student Privacy Policy Office if they believe their student’s privacy rights were violated.

• ESL/ELL/EB: Educators and district leaders commonly use the terms “EL” (English Learner) or “ELL”(English Language Learner) when describing students learning English in the United States. While this terminology is widely accepted and understood, it fails to highlight one of the most important characteristics of students learning English in schools: They are becoming increasingly bilingual. In fact, some students who speak a language other than English at home already speak two or three different languages by the time they learn English in school. To honor the benefits of bilingualism—and, in many cases, multilingualism—it is important to choose terminology that does not follow a deficit model. Words matter; with this in mind, it’s becoming more common to refer to bilingual students as Emergent Bilinguals (EB).

• LEA: The acronym LEA stands for Local Educational Agency. A Local Educational Agency is a public board of education or other public authority legally authorized by a state to provide services for its public elementary and secondary schools. LEAs can include school districts, county or city boards of education, or other entities recognized by the state as administrative agencies for public schools. LEAs manage and oversee educational programs and services within their jurisdictions, often working with their state education agencies (SEAs) to implement federal and state education policies.

• SRO: A School Resource Officer (SRO) is a specially trained law enforcement officer assigned to work in schools, performing various roles to build connections with students and keep them safe. While SROs address disruptive student behavior and are responsible for school safety, they often serve as mentors and informal counselors. For example, SROs can support the RTI/MTSS framework by educating students about conflict resolution and engaging with parents about topics such as bullying. 

• SoR: The abbreviation for the science of reading, a body of research that informs an explicit, systematic, cumulative, diagnostic, and responsive approach to teaching literacy, is sometimes referred to as SoR. Educators with SoR training know how to meet each child where they are, guiding them to be proficient readers while creating equity in the classroom. According to a recent Education Week analysis, lawmakers in 40 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws or implemented new policies related to evidence-based reading instruction. Structured Literacy, the application of SoR in the classroom, is an approach to teaching reading distinguished by its systematic, cumulative, and explicit methodology. The International Dyslexia Association® (IDA) developed and trademarked this teaching method.

• SEL: Social and emotional learning (SEL) is “the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions,” according to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). Following the COVID-19 pandemic, school leaders recognized deficits in student mental health and social and emotional well-being and embedded SEL in their MTSS frameworks. Evidence-based SEL practices include positive reinforcement, active listening, and starting classes with brief routines like emotional check-ins or kindness conversations to build classroom community. A Yale School of Medicine article cites a report revealing that “students participating in SEL programs feel better in school and report less anxiety, stress, depression, and suicidal thoughts.” However, lawmakers in some states have banned the teaching of SEL due to concerns about data collection and fear that it politicizes the learning environment. Despite these controversies, researchers, teachers, and families reveal that SEL benefits academic achievement, student well-being, and overall school functioning. The debate continues to evolve as schools, parents, and policymakers grapple with the role of social and emotional learning in education.

• STEM: STEM refers to the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, all of which emphasize critical thinking, problem-solving, and deductive reasoning. A strong background in STEM subjects can provide students with a pathway to technical college and career opportunities. Improving STEM education is a national priority. According to the Institute of Educational Sciences, “Current levels of STEM achievement at the elementary and secondary levels suggest the United States is neither preparing the general population with levels of STEM knowledge necessary for the 21st century workplace, nor producing an adequate pipeline to meet national needs for domestic scientists, mathematicians, and engineers.” Educators at elementary schools typically teach STEM through a variety of hands-on, engaging activities that involve students in real-world problem-solving. 

• STEAM: STEM’s close cousin, STEAM, includes the same disciplines as STEM, but incorporates the arts, allowing students to express creativity and add diverse perspectives to highly technical subjects. According to the Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM, using a STEM approach, students focus on real-world learning through hands-on investigations and projects. Whereas in STEAM, students focus more on the learning process. “We’re asking students to discover a problem through inquiry and then design a solution through creativity. This process leads to an end product which can then be refined based on feedback.” 

Education acronyms continue to change and evolve; understanding and sharing them can help you communicate more effectively with families. Research and conventional wisdom show that students do better when their parents are involved and informed. When all parties share a common language, education acronyms can help build a better understanding of the services and supports available to students. 

Families play a crucial role in advocating for their children's education. By understanding students’ rights and available school resources, they can drive meaningful change and collaborate effectively with teachers to create better opportunities. To help parents and caregivers learn how they can partner with schools to drive change, share this blog post.