Bias: An inclination or preference that interferes with impartial judgment. In the case of statistics, a sampling or testing error caused by systematically favoring some outcomes over others. In this case, eliminating certain students from the attendance set may not reflect the whole picture of school attendance.

CIMP: CIMP is the acronym for the Continuous Improvement Monitoring Process. The CIMP is designed to assess the impact and effectiveness of State and local efforts in providing early intervention services to infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families, and a free appropriate public education to children and youth with disabilities.

Collaboration: To work together, especially in an intellectual effort.

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

Credentials: Qualifications to do certain types of work, which can include but are not limited to: college degrees, certification, licensure, background, training, work experiences, knowledge base, etc.

CSRP: CSRP is the acronym for Consolidated School Reform Plan. The Consolidated School Reform Plan is intended to serve as a document to exhibit a school¡¯s method to achieve school reform.

Data retreat preparation checklist: Checklist used to ensure all steps to prepare for the data retreat have been completed.

Disaggregate: To divide into parts, to separate. In this context, disaggregate is referring to separating attendance data results to allow a better understanding of student attendance. Separate attendance analysis means looking at data for students who are enrolled for the entire academic year as well as looking at data for those who enrolled late and those that have moved into the school from another school. All data would be analyzed, separately or disaggregated.

Facilitators: The person or persons who lead the data retreat. The role of the data retreat facilitator is to ease the data retreat process for participants from the beginning stages of preparation to the closing moments of the retreat.

NCLB: Acronym for No Child Left Behind. The NCLB 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 assessments: 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 score: NCE scores are specifically intended for program evaluation. NCE¡¯s 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.

Percentile rank: 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.

Qualities: An inherent or natural characteristic or trait, a characteristic that isn¡¯t learned but rather is intrinsic to a person.

Rapport: A relationship with another person or group of people, especially one of mutual trust and respect.

School Liaison: A member of the school staff who serves to communicate between the facilitators of a data retreat and the school staff or participants of a data retreat. This person maintains a close relationship and connection to both the facilitators and the participants. This link ensures that someone consistent is working through the preparation steps with the facilitators and that there is accountability for actions that need to take place at the school. Often, the school liaison holds a leadership position within the school, such as principal, academic head, or school reform specialist.

Skills: A talent or ability that is acquired or developed through training or experience.

Stakeholders: Anyone who has a vested interest, something at stake that they can gain or lose in a system. Stakeholders of a school system might include but are not limited to: community members, teachers, teacher assistants, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, janitors, dorm supervisors, students, parents, administrators, government agencies, politicians, business leaders, etc.

Supporting materials: Documents or tools that provide support for the work that is being done, such as information, background data, policy, or advice. In the context of this lesson, supporting materials include: Teacher´s guides to the standardized assessments, a copy of the school´s attendance policy, and a copy of the CSRP/CIMP.

Validity: The ability to produce the desired results. An assessment that has validity, is effective in measuring what it was intended to measure. If the validity of something is in question, then it is questionable if what was intended to be measured is actually being measured.