Bilingual Education and World Languages
Bilingual Education Program (BE): A research-based educational program comprised of the following
instructional components: 1) Language Arts, which includes Home and English Language Arts; 2)
English as a New Language; and 3) Bilingual content areas.
Emergent Multilingual Learner (EMLL): Students who are identified by the Emergent Multilingual
Learner Profile Process as prekindergarten students whose home or primary language is other than
English. The English language proficiency of prekindergarten students is not assessed, and therefore
EMLLs may or may not be identified as ELLs when the ELL identification process is conducted in kindergarten.
English As a New Language (ENL) Program: A research-based English language development
program comprised of two components: 1) Integrated ENL: Students receive core content area and
English language development instruction including home language supports and appropriate ELL
scaffolds; and 2) Stand-alone ENL: Students receive English language development instruction taught
by a New York State certified English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher in order to
acquire the English language needed for success in core content areas.
English Language Learner: A student who, by foreign birth or ancestry, speaks or understands a
language other than English and who scores below a NYS designated level of proficiency on the
NYSITELL or the NYSESLAT. The federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) refers to ELLs as “English
Learners,” and ELLs are also sometimes referred to as Emergent Bilinguals or Dual Language
Learners.
Former ELL: Once an ELL has reached the Commanding level of English language proficiency, that
student is designated as a Former ELL and is entitled to receive two years of Former ELL services in
the form of a ½ unit of Integrated ENL or other services as approved by the Commissioner.
Multilingual Learner: All students who speak or are learning one or more language(s) other than
English, including: 1) current ELLs, 2) students who were once ELLs but have exited out ELL status,
3) students who were never ELLs but are heritage speakers of a language other than English, and 4)
World Languages students.
Multilingual Literacy SIFE Screener (MLS): A state-wide diagnostic tool that was created to determine
SIFEs’ literacy levels in their home language in order to provide or to design appropriate instruction
for SIFE.
New York State English As a Second Language Achievement Test (NYSESLAT): The New York
State English As a Second Language Achievement Test is an assessment designed to annually assess
the English language proficiency of all ELLs enrolled in grades kindergarten through 12th grade.
New York State English As a Second Language Identification Test for English Language Learners
(NYSITELL): An assessment that is administered once during the ELL identification process (or
during reentry after an absence of two or more years from NYS schools). It is designed to determine if
a student is an ELL at the time of the student’s enrollment in the NYS public school system.
Students with Inconsistent or Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE): ELLs who have attended
schools in the U.S. for less than twelve months and who, upon initial enrollment in schools are two or
more years below grade level in literacy in their home language and/or two or more years below grade
level in math due to inconsistent or interrupted schooling prior to arrival in the U.S. (NYSED is currently
pursuing regulatory flexibility in order that time spent in remote learning during COVID-19 closures do
not count toward the twelve months of enrollment at the time of SIFE identification).
World Languages: Languages other than English, which are broken down into two categories: modern
languages and classical languages. Modern languages include any language that has living, native
speakers, such as Romance Languages (Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, etc.), Germanic
languages (German, etc.), Asian languages (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc.), Indigenous languages
(Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, etc.), American Sign Language, and many more. Modern languages are
contrasted with classical languages, which no longer have living, native speakers such as Latin, ancient
Greek, ancient Hebrew, and others from earlier time periods in human history.
Career and Technical Education
Career and Technical Education (CTE): A kindergarten through adult program area of study that
includes rigorous academic content closely aligned with career and technical subject matter, using the
State learning standards of career development and occupational studies as a framework. It includes
the specific disciplines of agricultural education, business and marketing education, family and consumer
sciences education, health sciences education, technology education, and trade/technical education.
Career and Technical Student Organization: An organization for individuals enrolled in a career and
technical education program that engages in career and technical education activities as an integral
part of the instructional program.
Career Exploration Internship Program (CEIP): A registered work-based learning program that offers
unpaid career exploration experiences in the business setting. The focus is on hands-on career exploration
rather than on skill development. The experience assists students in choosing courses that will help
them to reach their college and career objectives. It also assists students in understanding the linkages
among school, work, and post-secondary education. Students may earn ¼, ½, or 1 unit of elective or
CTE sequence credit.
CDOS Credential: An exit credential that meets the definition under section 100.6(b) of Commissioner’s
Regulations
CDOS 4+1 Graduation Pathway: A Regents Diploma graduation pathway which allows a student
to graduate with a high school diploma if the student meets the graduation course and credit requirements;
passes four required Regents Exams or Department approved alternative assessments (one in
each of the following subjects: English, mathematics, science, and social studies); and meets the requirements
to earn the NYS CDOS Commencement Credential.
Cooperative Career and Technical Education Work Experience (CO-OP): A registered work-based
learning program that provides an important link between the classroom and the workplace for students
age 16 and older. The CO-OP is essentially a partnership that links school, community, and business/industry
to provide a real-world environment in which students have the opportunity to apply, and thereby
augment, the knowledge and skills obtained in the classroom.
General Education Work Experience Program (GEWEP): A registered work-based learning program
open to any student 16-21 years of age who is enrolled in school. These work experiences can be a
paid or unpaid and must be registered with the NYSED Career and Technical Education Team and be
re-registered every five years.
NYSED-Approved CTE Program: An approved program of study that meets both the requirements
under Perkins V for a program of study as well as Section 100.5(d)(6) of Commissioner’s Regulations.
Approved programs may be utilized to meet the 4+1 CTE graduation pathway.
Perkins Act: The primary Federal source of CTE funding to support CTE instruction and field support.
The act was reauthorized for the fifth time in 2018 as the Strengthening Career and Technical Education
for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V)
School-Based Enterprise: A school-based business enterprise exists within a school to provide services
for students, staff, and/or customers from the community. No additional credit is awarded for participation
in this experience; the credit exists within the related course.
Supervised Clinical Experience: Supervised clinical experience involves students performing health
care services in a work setting after having instruction and practice in a supervised skills laboratory.
The services must be performed under the supervision of an instructor who holds the appropriate NYS
license/certification in the health care discipline for which the students are being prepared.
Training Plan: A document developed by the work-based learning coordinator in conjunction with the
student and other appropriate school personnel that outlines the tasks, goals, and objectives to be
accomplished during a student’s work-based learning experiences.
Work-Based Learning: Sustained interactions with industry or community professionals in real workplace
settings, to the extent practicable, or simulated environments at an educational institution that
foster in-depth, first-hand engagement with the tasks required in a given career field that are aligned to
curriculum and instruction.
Work Experience Career Exploration Program (WECEP): A registered work-based learning program
open to students 14-15 years of age who are considered “at risk”. These work experiences must be
paid and must be registered with the NYSED Office of Career and Technical Education and be re-registered
every two years.
Early Learning (Prekindergarten)
Diagnostic Screening: A preliminary method of distinguishing from the general population those students
who may possibly be gifted, those students who may be suspected of having a disability and/or
those students who possibly are limited English proficient; as defined in 8 NYCRR 117.2(f).
Eligible Agencies: An eligible agency, as defined in 8 NYCRR 151-1.2(b), are providers of child care
and early education, a day care provider, early childhood program or center or community-based organization
including, but not limited to, approved preschool special education program, Head Start, nursery
schools, libraries and museums which meet the minimum standards and requirements.
Statewide Universal Full-Day Prekindergarten: Programs for three- and four-year-old students that
incentivize and fund state-of-the-art innovative prekindergarten programs to encourage program creativity.
Universal Prekindergarten: Programs that provide three- and four-year-old children with universal
opportunity to access Prekindergarten programs as set forth in 8 NYCRR 151-1.
Voluntary Registered of Nonpublic Nursery Schools and Kindergartens: Programs for preschool
children between the ages of three and five years as outlined in 8 NYCRR Part 125.
Health and Safety
Aerosol Generating Procedures: Procedures performed on patients which are more likely to generate
higher concentrations of infectious respiratory aerosols than coughing, sneezing, talking, or breathing.
Cleaning: The removal of germs, dirt, and impurities from surfaces. Cleaning does not kill germs, but
by removing them, it lowers their numbers and the risk of spreading infection.
Cloth Face Covering: Masks made from fabric, preferably tightly woven cotton. Cloth masks should
include multiple layers of fabric.
Disinfection: A process using chemicals to kill germs on surfaces. This process does not necessarily
clean dirty surfaces or remove germs, but by killing germs on a surface after cleaning, it can further
lower the risk of spreading infection.
Fit Testing: A process in which all people who are required to wear negative-pressure respirators are
examined and interviewed to determine which mask best conforms to their facial features; a rigorous
protocol in which the tester challenges the face-to-facepiece seal with a chemical agent.
Hand Hygiene: Hand washing with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer
Metered Dose Inhaler (MDI): A device that sprays a pre-set amount of aerosolized medicine through
the mouth to the airways.
*N95 mask: A type of respirator, an N95 mask offers more protection than a surgical mask does because
it can filter out both large and small particles when the wearer inhales. As the name indicates, the
mask is designed to block 95% of very small particles.
Nebulizer: An air compressor machine when used with a nebulizer cup, tubing, and mouthpiece or face
mask delivers aerosolized medicine to the airways in a fine, steady mist.
Peak Flow Meter: An asthma management device used to measure a person’s ability to push air out of
the lungs.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Wearable equipment that is designed to protect from exposure
to or contact with infectious agents. PPE that is appropriate for various types of patient interactions
and effectively covers personal clothing and skin likely to be soiled with blood, saliva, or other potentially
infectious materials (OPIM) should be available. These include gloves, face masks, protective eye
wear, face shields, and protective clothing (e.g., reusable or disposable gown, jacket, laboratory coat).
Respiratory Hygiene: Cough etiquette infection prevention measures designed to limit the transmission
of respiratory pathogens spread by droplet or airborne routes. Apply to anyone with signs of illness
including cough, congestion, runny nose, or increased production of respiratory secretions.
Spacer: A device that attaches to the mouthpiece of a quick-relief inhaler to create space between the
mouth and the MDI. The space created helps the medicine break into smaller droplets allowing the
asthma medication to move easier and deeper into the lungs of the student when he/she breathes in
the quick-relief or controller medicine formulated in an MDI.
Standard Precautions: A group of infection prevention practices that apply to all patients and residents,
regardless of suspected or confirmed infection status, in any setting in which healthcare is delivered
and include: hand hygiene; use of gloves, gown, mask, eye protection, or face shield, depending
on the anticipated exposure; respiratory hygiene/cough etiquette, safe injection practices, and use of
masks. Standard Precautions combine the major features of Universal Precautions and Body Substance
Isolation and are based on the principle that all blood, body fluids, secretions, excretions except
sweat, non-intact skin, and mucous membranes may contain transmissible infectious agents.
Surgical Mask: Also called a medical mask, a surgical mask is a loose-fitting disposable mask that
protects the wearer’s nose and mouth from contact with droplets, splashes and sprays that may contain
germs. A surgical mask also filters out large particles in the air.
Transmission Precautions: When Standard Precautions alone cannot prevent transmission, they
are supplemented with Transmission-Based Precautions. This second tier of infection prevention is
used when patients have diseases that can spread through contact, droplet or airborne routes (e.g.,
skin contact, sneezing, coughing) and are always used in addition to Standard Precautions.
Valved Holding Chamber: A type of spacer that has a one-way valve at the mouthpiece. A VHC also
traps and holds the medicine giving more time for the student to take a slow, deep breath reducing the
amount that settles in the mouth and throat.
*Some N95 masks, and even some cloth masks, have one-way valves that make them easier to
breathe through. But because the valve releases unfiltered air when the wearer breathes out, this type
of mask doesn’t prevent the wearer from spreading the virus.
Social Emotional Learning
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): Potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood (0-17
years).18
Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS): An evidence-based approach to comprehensive program
delivery that addresses academic and behavioral challenges including proactive activities for all students
(universal interventions), targeted activities for students identified at-risk (secondary interventions)
and intensive activities for students identified at high risk (tertiary interventions).
Pupil Personnel Services (PPS): Staff which includes school counselors, school social workers,
school psychologists, mental health counselors and school nurses.
Restorative Practices: Processes and approaches designed to build community and meaningful
relationships, develop shared values, help students better understand their behavior, how it impacts
themselves and others, and ultimately to use that self- and social awareness to repair damage caused
to relationships as a result of inappropriate behavior.
Social Emotional Learning (SEL): The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning
(CASEL) defines SEL as, “the process through which children and adults understand and manage
emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain
positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.”19
18 Centers for Disease Control, (2020) Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences
19 Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. (2020) What is SEL?
Restorative Practices: Processes and approaches designed to build community and meaningful relationships,
develop shared values, help students better understand their behavior, how it impacts themselves
and others, and ultimately to use that self- and social awareness to repair damage caused to
relationships as a result of inappropriate behavior.
Trauma-Responsive Practices: Practices that help shift negative reactions to inappropriate student
behavior to thoughtful responses that consider the root causes of behavior and help to support individual
student needs to address those causes.
Special Education
Annual Review: An evaluation, conducted at least annually by the committee on preschool special
education (CPSE)/committee on special education (CSE), of the status of each student with a disability
and each student thought to have a disability who resides within the school district for the purpose of
recommending the continuation, modification or termination of the provision of special education programs
and services for the student to the board of education.
Assistive Technology Devices: Any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired
commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the
functional capabilities of a student with a disability. Such term does not include a medical device that is
surgically implanted or the replacement of a surgically implanted device.
Assistive Technology Service: Any service that directly assists a student with a disability in the selection,
acquisition, or use of an assistive technology device.
Child Find: A process which requires all school districts to identify, locate and evaluate all students with
disabilities, including students with disabilities who are homeless or wards of the State, regardless of
the severity of their disability and who are in need of special education and related services.
Committee on Preschool Education (CPSE)/Committee on Special Education (CSE): A multidisciplinary
team established in accordance with the provisions of Education Law that determines a student’s
special education needs and services. The CPSE is responsible for children with disabilities ages
3-5. The CSE is responsible for children with disabilities ages 5-21.
Compensatory Services: Services provided to students with disabilities to remedy the school district’s
failure to provide a student with a disability with “appropriate services” during the time the student was
entitled to FAPE and was denied appropriate services.
Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE): Special education programs and related services that are
provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without charge to the parent,
and are provided in conformity with an individualized education program.
Individualized Education Program (IEP): A written statement for a student with a disability that is
developed, reviewed and revised by a CSE, Subcommittee on Special Education or CPSE to meet the
unique educational needs of a student with a disability.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): The IDEA is a federal law that provides students
with disabilities the right to receive a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment
from age 3 through the end of the school year in which the student turns 21 years or graduates
with a high school diploma.
Initial Evaluation: Any procedures, tests or assessments used selectively with an individual student,
including a physical examination, an individual psychological evaluation, except where a school psychologist
has determined that a psychological evaluation is unnecessary to evaluate a student of school
age, a social history and other appropriate assessments or evaluations as may be necessary to determine
whether a student has a disability and the extent of his/her special education needs, but does not
include basic tests administered to, or procedures used with, all students in a school grade or class.
Least Restrictive Environment (LRE): Placement of students with disabilities in special classes, separate
schools or other removal from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or
severity of the disability is such that, even with the use of supplementary aids and services, education
cannot be satisfactorily achieved.
Reevaluation: The evaluation procedures that are conducted at least once every three years, except
where the school district and the parent agree in writing that such reevaluation is unnecessary to review
the student’s need for special education programs and services and to revise the IEP, as appropriate. A
reevaluation may also occur when conditions warrant or when requested by a parent or teacher.
Special class: A class consisting of students with disabilities who have been grouped together because
of similar individual needs for the purpose of being provided specially designed instruction.
Supplementary Aids and Services and/or Program Modifications: Aids, services and other supports
that are provided in general education classes or other education-related settings to enable students
with disabilities to be educated with nondisabled students to the maximum extent appropriate in the
least restrictive environment.
Telepractice: Although not specifically defined in Part 200 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of
Education, the NYSED Office of the Professions defines telepractice as the provision of professional
service over geographical distances by means of modern telecommunications technology. This methodology
engages audio and/or video technology to connect providers with students, parents or other
caregivers in ways that support the student’s learning and development.
Teaching and Learning
Academic Intervention Services: Additional instruction which supplements the instruction provided
in the general curriculum and assists students in meeting the State learning standards; services may
include guidance, counseling, attendance, and study skills which are needed to support improved
academic performance.
Device: A computing device, such as a laptop, desktop, Chromebook, iPad, or full-size tablet.
Phones and mini-tablets are not sufficient devices for learning purposes.
Equivalent: At least 180 minutes of instructional time for instruction delivered in a traditional face to
face model, or a comparable amount of time for instructional experiences, taken as a whole when the
student is engaged in standards-based learning under the guidance and direction of an appropriately
certified teacher, for instruction delivered in an online or blended model.
Hybrid (blended) model: A combination of in person and remote learning.
In-person instruction: Instruction that takes place with students in attendance at the school building.
Remote learning: Instruction that takes place outside of the school building while the students are
not in attendance at the school.
Unit of Credit: The mastery of the learning outcomes set forth in a New York State-developed or
locally developed syllabus for a given high school subject, after a student has had the opportunity to
complete a unit of study in the given subject matter area.
Unit of Study: means at least 180 minutes of instruction per week throughout the school year, or the
equivalent. Equivalent shall mean at least 180 minutes of instructional time for instruction delivered
in a traditional face to face model or through alternative instructional experiences, including but not
limited to through digital technology or blended learning, that represents standards-based learning
under the guidance and direction of an appropriately certified teacher. Instructional experiences shall
include, but not be limited to: meaningful and frequent interaction with an appropriately certified teacher;
academic and other supports designed to meet the needs of the individual student and instructional
content that reflects consistent academic expectations as in-person instruction. Any alternative
instructional experience must include meaningful feedback on student assignments and methods of
tracking student engagement.
All the Time access: is a reference to the National Educational Technology Plan, which states the
expectation that technology-enabled learning should be available for all students, everywhere, all the
time (NETP 2017).
Sufficient access: to the internet means that the student or teacher does not regularly experience issues
(slowdowns, buffering, disconnections, unreliable connection, etc.) while participating in required
or assigned instruction and learning activities.