Glossary

Hint: You can search for words by pressing CTRL-F (CMD-F on a Mac) and typing in the word of your choice or click on the letter groups above for quick navigation.

A-C

Academic Skills - Skills that provide the basic foundation necessary to benefit from further training and education and for future employment. This category encompasses communication, comprehension, quantitative thinking, critical thinking, and science and technology skills.

Accreditation - Certification by an official review board that specific requirements have been met, such as institutional accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Adult High School Program - Provides courses of study leading to completion of credits and passing of state-mandated assessments (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), or the High School Competency Test, (HSCT) necessary to qualify for a high school diploma.

American College Testing Assessment (ACT) - An achievement test from the American College Testing Program used for placement testing in some community colleges and for admissions screening in some baccalaureate institutions.

Apprentice - A person at least 16 years of age who is engaged in learning a recognized skilled trade through actual work experience under the supervision of journeymen craftsmen; whose training should be combined with properly coordinated studies of related technical and supplementary subjects; and who has entered into a written agreement, hereinafter called an apprenticeship agreement, with a registered apprenticeship sponsor who may be either an employer, an association of employers, or a local joint apprenticeship committee.

Apprenticeship Training - Structured vocational skill training in a given job through a combination of on-the-job training and classroom instruction.

Apprenticeship Training Programs - A program registered with the Department of Education or the state apprenticeship agency in accordance with the National Apprenticeship Act of 8/16/37, that is conducted or sponsored by an employer, group of employers, and a union. It contains all terms and conditions for qualifications, recruitment, selection, employment, and training of apprentices.

Articulation - The bringing together of the various parts (levels) of the educational system to facilitate the smooth transition of students through the system.

Articulation Agreement - The State Board of Education rule that establishes provisions that facilitate the smooth transition of students through the various levels of the educational system.

At-Risk Students - Any identifiable student who is at risk of not meeting the goals of an educational program, completing a high school education, or becoming a productive worker.

Career Decision-Making - A process in which a student learns about him/herself, the world of work, and the relationship between the two. Career planning includes a career awareness for K-6, career exploration at the middle level, and career preparation beginning in the 9th grade and carried through grade 14.

College Credit - The type of credit assigned to courses or course-equivalent learning that is part of an organized and specified college degree and/or program.

College Reach-Out Program (CROP) - A program to strengthen the educational motivation and preparation of low income or educationally disadvantaged students who otherwise would be unlikely to seek admission to a community college or university.

Competency - A learned skill performed in a knowledge and/or attitudinal area which can be accurately repeated or measured; an activity (cluster of skills and knowledge) that a person performs in an occupation that is both observable and measurable and that forms the basis for competency-based criteria.

Competency-Based Education - An educational approach based on a predetermined set of knowledge, skills, and abilities that the student is expected to accomplish.

Competency-Based Vocational Education - Instruction for employment that is based on current job tasks which are made known to each student before instruction and that, after appropriate instruction is provided, are to be performed by the student under pre-specified conditions and according to pre-specified standards.

Completer - A student who finishes a planned sequence of courses or competencies designed to meet an academic or vocational occupational objective and has met all of the requirements of the institution for program completion.

Back to top

D-G

Disabled Student - A student with a physical or mental impairment: hearing, visual, speech, or specific learning disability (psychological or neurological).

Dual Enrollment - Enrollment in two institutions at the same time, such as a college and a high school; whereby, a student can earn both high school and college credit simultaneously.

Early Admission - Enrollment full-time in a college before graduating from high school.

Employability Skills - Skills relating to choosing a career, getting and keeping a job, making job and career changes, and career advancement.

First-Time-in-College - A student attending a college for the first time with no credit toward a degree or formal award from any other institution who is enrolled in a course in an instructional area that leads to a degree or certificate.

General Education - Basic liberal education in communications, mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities.

General Education Development (GED) Test Instruction - Noncredit courses that prepare students for success in the five GED subject area tests that lead to the award of the State of Florida High School Diploma.

Gordon Rule - The State Board of Education rule that Senator Gordon recommended that establishes mathematics and writing requirements for the associate in arts and the baccalaureate degrees.

Back to top

I-L

Information Technology (IT) - Information technology touches every aspect of Florida's Community College System - from the way it is used in the day-to-day operation of a campus to the courses students choose to take. IT has two major components:

The use of information technology to provide information, counseling and coursework to students

The commitment by community colleges to train workers for jobs in new technology fields

Institutional Accreditation - Accreditation of the institution as a whole. All community colleges are accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

Integrated Curriculum - The act or process of blending or forming a whole. In Tech Prep, applied academic and technical curricula are integrated into a single curriculum.

Inter-Institutional Agreement - A signed agreement between the superintendent of each cooperating high school and the president of the community college outlining the overall terms of coordination between institutions.

Internship - Refers to post-secondary work-based learning in which a partnership is established between the schools, the employer or business, and the student for the purpose of providing practical education to the student through productive work opportunities. A signed agreement between all parties, outlining a student's cooperative learning plan, is a necessary component of an internship.

Job Preparatory Instruction - Instruction through which students attain the job-specific, academic, and employability competencies necessary to enter specific occupations.

Job Preparatory Program - Job preparatory instruction about the minimum competencies necessary for effective entry into an occupation, including diversified cooperative education and job entry programs that coordinate directed study and on-the-job training.

Job Readiness - Refers to the point at which an individual is prepared for employment based upon possession of necessary work skills, social competence, job seeking and interview skills, etc. Conceptually, job readiness fits with a traditional "first you train - then you place" approach to employment.

Literacy - Preparation required to successfully enter the workforce and/or postsecondary education, function in a global economy, and make well-reasoned, thoughtful and healthy lifelong decisions.

Back to top

M-P

Matriculation Fee - The instructional fee paid by both resident and nonresident students per credit or credit equivalent.

Native Student - A student who started as a freshman and remained in the same institution, as opposed to a transfer student.

Occupational Completion Point - A group of competencies/skills that are needed in order to obtain proficiency in a specific occupation as identified by an OES code (Occupational Employment Statistics), DOT code (Dictionary of Occupational Titles), or industry title.

On-the-Job (OJT) Training - An instructional methodology designed to provide students and other trainees with realistic on-the-job training experiences to acquire and apply knowledge, skills, and attitudes in an occupational field; a planned experience in a work situation through which the individuals, under supervision, learn to perform the job tasks.

Open Entry/Open Exit Courses or Programs - A program or course which enables the student to enter and/or exit at a point in time other than the term start and end dates specified on the academic calendar.

Perkins Act - The federal vocational education funding act.

Placement and Follow-Up - The system for tracking vocational program completers to determine their placement (employment) and job performance in order to evaluate the job preparatory programs from which they graduated.

Postsecondary Adult Vocational Program (PSAV) - (Certificate Career Education) Job preparatory programs, excluding Continuing Workforce Education, through which a student receives a vocational certificate upon completion of instruction.

Practicum - Instruction provided as part of a planned job preparatory program whereby the student is placed on the job for selected occupational experiences under the direct supervision of the teacher or job representative.

Back to top

R-V

Registration Fees - All instructional and other fees collected during the registration process.

Resident for Tuition Purposes - A student, who is a Florida resident and has maintained that residency for at least one year, thereby avoiding the payment of tuition fees as a non-resident.

Rule - A state agency statement of general applicability that implements, interprets, or prescribes law or describes the organization, procedure, or practice requirements of a state agency, such as a State Board of Education rule.

Specific Job Training - Training and education for skills required by the employer that provides the individual student with the ability to obtain employment and to adapt to the changing demands of the work place.

Tech Prep Program - Provides an articulated educational program of academics and applied and technical courses on the secondary and post-secondary level, which leads to an associate degree and beyond, and prepares students to work.

Transfer Student - A student who attended one or more colleges as a regular student in addition to the one in which currently enrolled, as opposed to a native student.

Tuition Fee - The instructional fee paid by nonresident students per credit or credit equivalent in addition to the matriculation fee.

Upper-Division - Baccalaureate junior and senior level.

Vocational Certificate - The award for satisfactory completion of a job preparatory program of non college-level courses.

Vocational Curriculum - A carefully selected group of courses or a sequence of subjects the content of which will provide the necessary skill and knowledge for success in a specific occupation.

Back to top

W-Y

Workforce Investment Act - Federal legislation governing workforce employment and training programs.

Workforce Development - Workforce development programs have several components

The awarding of AS, AAS and certificates that allow direct entry to the work place.

Providing opportunities for lifelong learning to adults looking to learn new skills, either as a condition of employment or to enable them to move up the career ladder.

Continuing education courses required by a number of professions, including teaching, nursing, real estate, and childcare.

Remedial courses, excluding college prep., for students who may not have obtained the skills they need in high school, who are re-entering school after an extended absence, or who may not have completed high school.

Workforce Literacy Program - A program to support economic development through instruction in communication and computation skills to improve the literacy of the workforce.

Youth -For the purpose of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), those individuals 14 to 21 years of age, with "Older Youth" consisting of those 19 - 21, and "Younger Youth" covering 14 - 18.

Back to top