The Greenwood Dictionary of Education

444 Pages·2008·13.12 MB·english

by  John William Collins

The Greenwood
Dictionary of Education
Edited by John W. Collins III
and Nancy Patricia O'Brien
Foreword by Catherine Snow
GREENWOOD PRESS
Westport, Connecticut • London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Greenwood dictionary of education / edited by John W. Collins III and Nancy Patricia O'Brien ;
foreword by Catherine Snow,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-89774-860-3 (alk. paper)
1. Education—Dictionaries. I. Collins, John William, 1948- II. O'Brien, Nancy P.
LB15.G68 2003
370'.3—dc21 2003051766
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 2003 by John W. Collins III and Nancy Patricia O'Brien
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2003051766
ISBN: 0-89774-860-3
First published in 2003
Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www. green wood. com
Printed in the United States of America
@r
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 32
Contents
Foreword by Catherine Snow vii
Preface ix
How to Use This Book xiii
The Greenwood Dictionary of Edlucation 1
Bibliography 391
Contributing Editors 417
Contributors 421
About the Editors 431
v
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Foreword
As someone who studies language acquisi term educator encompasses many different
tion, I am well aware of the complexities of specific jobs, ranging from classroom prac
attaching meaning to words. Written and titioners to researchers, from principals to
spoken language is in a constant state of ev policy makers, from curriculum developers
olution. New words enter our lexicon on an to university professors. It encompasses, fur
increasingly frequent basis and existing thermore, people with initial training in a
words take on new meaning in light of con wide variety of fields, including, in addition
temporary usage and context. Meanings of to education, at least anthropology, econom
words are culturally influenced, subject to ics, history, linguistics, political science, psy
disciplinary rules and interpretations, af chology, sociology, and statistics. If these
fected by the tone and manner in which they various educators do not share a common
are spoken, and dependent on a number of lexicon, their options for working together
other variables affecting the written and spo effectively to address educational problems
ken word. Consider the permanent impact will be constrained. Informed debate on the
on the meaning of the word operative as a important issues affecting education assumes
result of its negation by President Richard a common understanding of the words and
Nixon's spokesperson, Ron Ziegler. In terms inherent in the field.
short, it is a great challenge for linguists and To complicate things, the language of ed
lexicographers to keep up with contempo ucation transcends traditional linguistic
rary and discipline-specific language usage. boundaries and is used in everyday conver
It is, nevertheless, extremely important to sation by people from all walks of life, by
monitor and document the evolution of lan journalists in their daily work, and by any
guage and to provide reflections of contem one engaging in debate around pressing po
porary thought on the use of words, litical issues. The value of a resource defining
particularly in discipline-specific contexts. the terms needed for those conversations, re
Every field of endeavor develops a lexicon ports, and debates should be obvious.
that practitioners of the discipline are ex The editors of The Greenwood Dictionary
pected to acquire, use, and, under certain of Education have undertaken a monumen-
circumstances, add to. The field of education tal task in attempting to capture the contem
is no different from any other, in this regard porary meanings of words and terms relating
at least, even though education is among the to this broad field. The methodology that
most multidisciplinary of enterprises. The they have employed has enabled them to col-
vii
Foreword
lect definitions from subject experts repre formed a valuable service to the education
senting a wide variety of topical areas. It is, community in producing a work of great
perhaps, the only way a work like this could utility and wide appeal. The manner in
be produced in this age of specialization. which it was developed makes it easy to up
The resulting merge of submissions has date. New and emerging fields of study re
produced a comprehensive volume, contex- lating to education can be included in future
tualized within specific subject areas. Fur editions, as can new interpretations of words
thermore, the contributing editors have, in a and concepts. Recruiting such a large num
sense, defined their field of expertise through ber of contributors has, furthermore, fo
the selection of the words that they chose to cused the attention of many educators on the
include in the dictionary. The contributors language of education; the impact on the
(scholars, administrators, teachers, practi success of our future communications,
tioners, graduate students, and others) set among ourselves and with those outside our
limits on what they wished to include and field, can only be positive.
chose entries that they viewed as important
to the understanding of their field. Catherine Snow
The editors of this Dictionary have per Harvard Graduate School of Education
viii
Preface
Not since Good's Dictionary of Education, the process, we nevertheless decided on a
last published in 1973, has there been a plan of action. Recognizing the need for
comprehensive dictionary of education. expert involvement in this project, we iden
While selected dictionaries have covered ed tified several specializations within the field
ucation during the interim, they have fo of education and decided to select contrib
cused on specifics such as educational uting editors to take responsibility for these
technology or British educational terms, or areas. Persistence resulted in a cadre of ex
have been general dictionaries rather than perts from around the country. A list of
comprehensive. The Greenwood Dictionary these authorities may be found at the end of
of Education fills a serious gap by providing this work. We believe that the quality of this
the first comprehensive dictionary of educa Dictionary reflects the expertise of the con
tion in over a quarter of a century. tributing editors and the care and commit
Users of this Dictionary will find it an aid ment they gave to this project.
in the contemporary understanding and use Each of these contributing editors had the
of more than 2,600 terms as they apply to option of gathering a group of colleagues to
educational research, practice, and theory. It develop definitions for terms in their respec
will be of value not only to the general pub tive areas. Each contributing editor who
lic concerned with education issues, but also chose to do so was subsequently responsible
to professionals in the K-12 setting, parents, for identifying and recruiting contributors to
students at all levels, and educators, re write definitions within specific guidelines.
searchers, and scholars in higher education. The contributing editors were also respon
Staff in public, academic, and school librar sible for defining the boundaries of their top
ies will find the Dictionary immensely help ical areas; selecting words for inclusion;
ful in interpreting the terminology used in collecting, reviewing and editing the submis
education. sions from their contributors; and submit
As we first considered the process for de ting the results to the editors-in-chief. The
veloping a new dictionary of education, the individual contributors, drawn from a vast
1999 book The Professor and the Madman: array of education professionals, were re
A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making sponsible in turn for identifying potential
of the Oxford English Dictionary was terms for inclusion, writing the definitions,
brought to our attention. Uncertain into and submitting the results to the contribut
which category we would fall by the end of ing editors.
IX
Preface
The terms for inclusion in the Dictionary noted as we worked with our contributing
were collected over a three-year period. The editors was the number and variety of re
editors-in-chief, John Collins, librarian of sources they consulted as they defined the lit
the Harvard Graduate School of Education, erature of their respective areas in education.
and Nancy O'Brien, librarian of the Educa This extensive and helpful list of sources ap
tion and Social Science Library, University of pears at the end of this volume. Not only
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, worked with were books, journal articles, technical re
an advisory board of distinguished scholars ports, encyclopedias, and dictionaries con
and practitioners. The advisory board was sulted, but the publication dates of these
consulted on matters relating to the identi items span nearly a century. In addition,
fication of topical areas for inclusion in the many references are made to World Wide
Dictionary and in the identification of ap Web sites that provided background infor
propriate individuals to serve as contributing mation as definitions were developed. We
editors. believe this consultation of a variety of
The editors-in-chief were extensively in sources reflects the increasing availability of
volved in a continual review of the education information to anyone seeking education in
literature to seek terms for inclusion. In ad formation. The source list is included in the
dition, they also provided each contributing Dictionary because we believe it represents
editor with a starter list of words for consid a valuable collection of important and influ
eration, sample definitions, and guidelines ential works.
for inclusion and submission. They also co As editors of this work, we have reviewed
ordinated the work of the Dictionary, man every term and definition several times. Our
aged deadlines, and compiled and edited the editing has traveled with us as we engaged
thousands of submissions. In consultation in professional conferences or trips with our
with the advisory board, the editors-in-chief families. We have hauled segments of the
also identified gaps and omissions in the sub manuscript across country and across con
mitted terms. tinents. Cyberspace has had a continuous
While there was no specific time period flow of terms as we collaborated with our
defined for inclusion, the focus of this work contributing editors and with one another.
is on contemporary usage of terms rather We accept the final responsibility for any er
than on the historical. As deemed appropri rors that may appear in this work. Credit for
ate, terms from earlier centuries were in the immense amount of work is shared
cluded, but in general users are urged to among the contributing editors, contribu
consult one of the older dictionaries when tors, and the invaluable assistance of a num
seeking a definition of an educational meth ber of other people. Brooke Scelza, Amy
odology or technology no longer in use. We Stevens, Jessica Penchos, and Jeff Wright, all
have included terms relevant to education Harvard graduate students, provided re
but not terms that focus on extremely spe markable support to this project. Dana B.
cific aspects of information technologies Moore performed miracles in keeping con
used in education. We expect that readers trol of the ever-increasing manuscript. Janise
can find those terms in specialized diction Phillips provided superb assistance in track
aries that deal with computers, electronic re ing down incomplete references and Web
sources, and other related areas when sites from the contributing editors. Anne
needed. The focus of the Dictionary is on Thompson, senior development editor at
education as it is practiced in the United Greenwood Press, shepherded us through
States. However, given the current global na the process and we are grateful for her pa
ture of society, the terms are relevant to tience, guidance, and expert advice. Finally,
many aspects of education practiced in other we want to recognize the extraordinary ef
countries. fort of Ann Staniski Flentje in the prepara
One of the interesting developments we tion of the final manuscript. She assembled
x
Preface
major portions of this book and brought her braries. We hope that the Dictionary will be
considerable expertise and support to the the first source consulted for education ter
project from the beginning. Without the con minology for years to come.
tributions of these people, this work would
still be in progress. John W. Collins III
During the development of the Dictionary Nancy Patricia O'Brien
we weathered family events including wed
dings and births, serious illness, and other
distractions. This work is dedicated to all of
the family and friends who supported our REFERENCES
efforts and provided encouragement when
Good, C. V. Dictionary of Education. 3d ed.
needed. This much-awaited volume will of
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1973.
fer an excellent source of terminology in the
Winchester, S. The Professor and the Madman:
critically important field of education. It will
A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making
also offer the editors a resource that will be of the Oxford English Dictionary. New
of use in our daily practice in education li York: HarperPerennial, 1999.
xi