Bar graph: A graph using parallel bars (vertical or horizontal) that are proportional lengths to represent data.

BIA/OIEP: The Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP) is a service organization that is a part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), an agency within the Department of the Interior. OIEP is devoted to providing quality education opportunities for American Indian people. OIEP's mission is to serve children and their families from birth through life, working in partnership with Indian tribes, families, communities and American Indian education organizations. The OIEP fulfills its mission through its organization located in Washington, D.C. as well as in 25 offices throughout the United States. The 185 elementary and secondary schools funded by the federal government provide an education program to 50,000 students from birth through grade 12. The Office of Indian Education Programs also operates two colleges and funds 25 colleges operated by tribes and tribal organizations.

Cohort analysis: A study of a population with a common characteristic over a period of time, e.g., a birth cohort consists of all those born in a given year.

Continuous improvement process: The ongoing improvement of products, services or processes through incremental and breakthrough improvements. Often represented by the PDSA cycle.

Criterion-referenced tests (also CRTs): An assessment, often standardized, in which every item is directly aligned to an educational standard or objective. The assessment is designed to determine which objectives the student has mastered.

CRTs    see Criterion-referenced tests

Data-driven decision-making: The process of making decisions based on relevant and timely information.

Demographic data: Demographic data refer to information regarding the student and his/her family and community. These data refer to race, gender, and socioeconomic status and other characteristics that affect the manner and rate in which students learn. When making decisions about instructional processes, the context of what is to be learned (outcome data) and who is to be taught (demographic data) should be considered.

Formative evaluation: An evaluation which measures student learning in order to identify how well they are learning or how much of the subject matter they have mastered in order to help them learn more or to help the teacher to improve ongoing instruction is formative. Formative evaluations occur as an activity or program is being implemented. The outcome data provided by formative evaluations suggest whether progress is being made and allow for adjustments and improvements to be made along the way.

Frequency: The number of times a phenomenon occurs within a given interval.

Grade equivalent score: A score on a scale developed to indicate the school grade consistent with an average chronological age, mental age, or test score of other students. Grade equivalent scores are not on a scale of equal intervals and cannot be added, subtracted, or averaged across test levels. A grade equivalent score of 8.6 represents a score that is average for a group in the sixth month of grade eight.

Line graph: A graph that uses line segments to show how data change over a period of time.

Line of best fit: A line drawn through the points of a scatterplot that best estimates the relationship between the two variables.

Longitudinal analysis: Studies in which variables relating to an individual or group of individuals are assessed over a period of time.

Mean: The sum of all the results included in the sample divided by the number of observations

NCE    see Normal curve equivalent

Negative relationship/correlation: A relationship between two data sets of variables in which one set of data decreases as the other set of data increases.

No Child Left Behind    see No Child Left Behind Act

No Child Left Behind Act (also No Child Left Behind): The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was signed into effect in January 2002. The Act aims to help close the achievement gap between disadvantaged and minority students and their peers. It is based on four basic principles: stronger accountability for results, increased flexibility and local control, expanded options for parents, and an emphasis on teaching methods that have been proven to work.

Norm-referenced tests (also NRTs): A standardized assessment in which all students perform under the same conditions. This type of assessment compares a student or group of students with a specified reference, or "norm" group. Usually, the norm group consists of other students of the same grade level and age.

Normal curve equivalent (also NCE): NCE scores are specifically intended for program evaluation. NCEs are represented on a scale of 1 - 99. This scale coincides with a percentile rank scale at 1, 50, and 99. Unlike percentile rank scores, the interval between scores is equal. This means that you can average NCE scores to compare groups of students or schools. Normal curve equivalents are also useful for comparisons between different tests.

NRTs    see Norm-referenced tests

Outcome data: Outcome data indicate the degree to which an individual or group of students has demonstrated particular knowledge and/or skills, and has achieved certain goals (or standards, benchmarks, objectives, or other teaching targets). Outcome data indicate the extent to which instruction has had an impact on achievement. Educators have only indirect control over outcome data.

Percentage: An amount representing a fraction or ratio, with 100 understood as the denominator. Percentages signify a proportion in relation to the whole.

Percentile: One of 99 scores that effectively divide a ranked distribution into groups, each of which contains 1/100 of the scores.

Percentile ranks: Numbers ranging from 1 to 99 that reflect how a given child, class, school, or district performed in relation to others. A percentile rank of 50 denotes average performance for the grade. An individual's percentile rank indicates the percentage of students in same grade that obtained a score equal to or less than theirs.

Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycle: A four-step process for quality improvement that often represents the continuous improvement process. In the first step (plan), a plan to effect improvement is developed. In the second step (do), the plan is carried out. In the third step (study), the effects of the plan are observed. In the last step (act), the results are studied to determine what was learned and to make decisions about moving forward.

Positive relationship/correlation: A relationship between two data sets of variables in which both sets of data increase together.

Process data: Process data refer to the components and practices that comprise the instructional program in the classroom, at the school, and at the district level. Process data differ from outcome and demographic data, as they are the only data over which teachers and administrators have control.

Process data are where changes must occur to have an impact on outcomes. Although outcome and demographic data may be analyzed over and over, change will not occur until educational processes, such as teacher and/or administrator behavior, are modified.

Qualitative: Qualitative data are not measured. Their values vary in kind but not degree. Qualitative data relate to the characteristics of our students, teachers, and even the instructional processes we have in place, but they do not represent measurements.

Quantitative: Quantitative data can be counted or measured. To quantify educational phenomena, there must be an instrument to measure or a standard used to count learning behavior.

Reliability vs. Validity: Although reliability is a desired quality, it provides no assurance that a measure will give the desired results. Little is gained if measures, or assessments, consistently give the wrong information. We need assurance that the measure is valid, or measures precisely what is intended. Of the two qualities, reliability and validity, validity is the more important.

Reliable: Dependable. An assessment that is reliable provides consistent measurements.

Scaled score: Scores on a single scale with intervals of equal size. The scale can be applied to all groups taking an assessment, making it possible to compare scores from different groups of test-takers. Scaled scores can be added, subtracted, and averaged across test levels. Scaled scores allow for comparisons among test-takers, comparisons of individual scores to group scores, or comparisons of pre- and post-test results.

Scaled scores: Scores on a single scale with intervals of equal size. The scale can be applied to all groups taking an assessment, making it possible to compare scores from different groups of test-takers. Scaled scores can be added, subtracted, and averaged across test levels. Scaled scores allow for comparisons among test-takers, comparisons of individual scores to group scores, or comparisons of pre- and post-test results.

Scatterplot: A graphical technique used to analyze the relationship between two variables. The graph will show a series of data points, or "dots," each representing a case or person with values on two variables. Possible relationships are discovered by evaluating the resulting shape of the plot, made up of the entire sample of cases or persons represented.

SQC    see Statistical quality control

Statistical quality control (also SQC): The use of statistical techniques to control quality. Workers and managers collect data and graph the processes they undergo as they work, then relate variation in the processes to variation in the quality of their products. The term "statistical process control" is often used interchangeably with "statistical quality control."

Summative evaluation: An evaluation which tests students' performance to determine students' final overall assimilation of course material and/or overall instructional method effectiveness is summative. Summative evaluations are performed as an activity or program is completed, such as the academic school year. The outcome data they provide help decision-makers consider the program's overall merit based on what was accomplished, the positive or negative consequences, and the final results.

Total quality management (also TQM): A management approach to long-term success through customer satisfaction. TQM is based on the participation of all members of an organization in improving processes, products, services and the culture in which they work.

TQM    see Total quality management

Valid: Producing the desired results. An assessment that is valid is effective at measuring what was intended.

X-axis: The horizontal axis of a two-dimensional plot, or graph.

Y-axis: The vertical axis of a two-dimensional plot, or graph.