Glossary S - Z

Scope and Sequence:
A “roadmap” or “blueprint” for teachers that provides an overall picture of an instructional program and includes the range of teaching content and the order or sequence in which it is taught.

Screening:
Provides the teacher with a beginning assessment of a student’s preparation for grade level reading instruction. They are a “first alert” that a student may need extra help to make adequate progress in reading during the year.

Segmenting:
Separating the individual phonemes (or sounds) of a word into discrete units.

Semantic Maps:
A strategy for graphically representing concepts and portraying their schematic relations.

Sight Words:
Words that are recognized immediately. Sometimes sight words are thought to be irregular, or high frequency words (e.g., the Dolch and Fry lists). However, any word that is recognized automatically is a sight word. These words may be phonetically regular or irregular.

Standard Score:
A term used to depict the many derived scores that convert raw scores to a standard scale for clarity of the interpretation of test results.

Stanine:
A standard score that has a range of 1 to 9 with a mean of 5. Each stanine is one-half of a standard deviation wide, except 1 and 9 at the ends of the distribution.

Student-Friendly:
When everyday language is used to simplify and explain information to students.

Syllable:
A segment of a word that contains one vowel sound. The vowel may or may not be preceded and/or followed by a consonant.

Syntax:
Rules that specify the arrangement of words and the relationships between words in phrases and sentences.

Systematic Instruction:
A carefully planned sequence for instruction, similar to a builder’s blueprint for a house. A blueprint is carefully thought out and designed before building materials are gathered and construction begins. The plan for systematic instruction is carefully thought out, strategic, and designed before activities and lessons are planned. Instruction is clearly linked within, as well as across the five components (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension). For systematic instruction, lessons build on previously taught information, from simple to complex.

Target:
An interim goal that occurs at every assessment period.

Targeted Instruction:
Instruction that is aimed at a particular skill or set of skills.

Temporal Ordering:
Terms such as before, after, when, and while convey information on the order of events, length of events, and events that are occurring at the same time. These terms give the reader a context of time and allow for fuller comprehension of the text.

Text Genre:
Different styles of text that reflect a variety of purposes which children encounter when reading (e.g., narrative, expository, persuasive, informative).

Text Structure:
The various patterns of ideas that are embedded in the organization of text (e.g., cause-effect, comparison-contrast, story grammar).

Validity:
The extent to which a test measures what it was intended to measure.

Construct validity: When a test produces results that conform well to real-world applications.
Content validity: When a test reflects the curriculum that is taught.

Vocabulary:
Refers to all of the words of our language. One must know words to communicate effectively. Vocabulary is important to reading comprehension because readers cannot understand what they are reading without knowing what most of the words mean. Vocabulary development refers to stored information about the meanings and pronunciation of words necessary for communication. Four types of vocabulary include listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

S - Z