Action Info: An individual piece of instructional content that is practical in nature and targeted to a specific audience member.
Administrator: Someone who manages a government agency or department. For school safety, administrator refers to someone who manages a school, the principal.
Classroom management: Clear, simple routines and procedures that enable a classroom to be run smoothly and without unwanted disruption from students or teachers.
Commissioned police officer: A higher-ranking police official such as a police lieutenant, captain, major, etc. Commissioned officers possess management and administrative expertise and are typically in charge of a larger segment of a law enforcement operation within a police department.
Community-oriented policing: A term also referred to as Problem-Oriented Policing, problem solving as well as an array of others. The underlying principles include a structured method of analyzing crime problems, outreach to the community and community involvement in problem solving, and various programs, i.e., bicycle patrols. Although the terms are not synonymous many police departments have crime prevention and/or community policing officers assigned specifically to work with the community in this capacity.
Conflict management: A skill-based activity of responding to differences through communication and respect for the individuals involved in presenting diverse points of view, strategies, goals, or values.
Cooperative learning: Small teams of students with different abilities or degrees of knowledge on a subject working together towards completing a learning activity. When structured effectively, cooperative learning promotes interdependence, teambuilding, and individual accountability within the teams.
CPTED: Acronym for Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design and referring to using policies, procedures, and security technology to create an environment safe for its intended usage, such as a school, and those who routinely access it. The principles of CPTED involve forming a team representative of community leaders, police officials, school administrators, and others as deemed necessary to effectively address security needs. Although CPTED principles and techniques can be instituted after the fact, they are best and most cost-effectively utilized prior to constructing a new school in order to "build in" the needed security measures.
Interagency: Two or more persons or groups with different roles within school safety working together with a common goal.
Learning community: A group of people having a common vision who collaborate to promote a positive learning environment. In school safety, all of the stakeholders collaborate to promote a positive, integrated, safe school community where all students learn.
Learning environment: A protected space used for teaching and learning activities. Examples of learning environments are schools or Web-based learning communities.
Law-related counselor: One of the roles of a School Resource Officer (SRO). In this role, an SRO can provide information to students or advice in areas where the SRO has expertise. The SRO can suggest programs for students, and offer information to parents, students, and educators regarding law-related services in the community.
Local law enforcement: Typically the primary law enforcement department within a geographical location. The local law enforcement agencies are generally a city police department, county police department, or sheriff's office.
Media specialist: A teacher or school librarian who specializes in information retrieval from a variety of traditional and media-based sources. A Media Specialist nteracts with students by teaching them how to select, use and understand information that comes in a variety of formats. (http://www.ala.org)
Mentor: A person dedicated to the personal and/or professional development of another individual through advising, teaching, coaching, encouragement, and feedback.
No Child Left Behind: The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) is Congress' reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the principal act affecting education. Under NCLB, states must improve the quality of their schools each year. The basic goal of NCLB is that all children will be proficient in reading and math by 2014, regardless of the level of poverty of the schools. (http:// www.ed.gov/nclb/)
Peer mediation: Provides an alternative to authoritative conflict resolution, allowing student mediators resolve disputes between other students by encouraging constructive communication between all parties and determining appropriate penalties.
Professional development: An ongoing engagement in learning and skill-building to enhance one's effectiveness in their field of activity.
School community: The people and environment around and within a particular school.
School security: The policies, procedures, guidelines, personnel, security systems, and technologies that provide a safe and secure learning environment.
School security officer: A person assuming the role, responsibility, and position associated with providing security within a school system. This may refer to an individual in either a full-time capacity throughout the general school day or someone hired to provide security during specific school activities or events, i.e., a school dance or sporting event.
Support personnel: Persons in a school who support teachers, such as a teacher's aide or volunteer.
SRO: Acronym for a School Resource Officer. This is typically a sworn law enforcement officer assigned, by a law enforcement agency, to a particular school or a number of schools, to provide assistance to school administrators and faculty regarding school security matters. SRO's can assume a variety of roles. For example, they may be active in classroom education, assigned to monitor and respond to incidents related to student behavior or activity within a school that may require police intervention. For more information please contact the National Association School Resource Officers, (NASRO), at the following web site http://www.nasro.org.
Teambuilding: The process of helping team members to work together effectively and efficiently to achieve goals. Teambuilding activities include identifying team goals, establishing a team identity, and evaluating team progress.
Technology specialist: technology coordinator: Teachers and/or additional staff who focus on developing the technical skills of students and teachers as well as further the understanding of the complex role of the integration of technology in education.
Technology integration: Weaving technology in the curriculum of all subjects.
Tutorial: A non-credit, Web-based instructional guide, developed to achieve stated learning outcomes.
Truancy: An act committed by a student when he/she is absent from school without permission.