A custodial institution designed to reeducate and rehabilitate individuals deemed deviant or dependent and in need of spiritual, educational and physical care.

The 16th-century ecclesiastical revolution in the Roman Catholic Church that created Protestantism and began the movement in the Western world toward universal public education.

A teacher-training program aimed at making public school teachers more insightful in their approaches to teaching and to problem solving.

American lawyer, jurist, educator and founder of the nation’s first LAW SCHOOL.

A colloquialism usually referring to the practice of some college football coaches of keeping younger players out of varsity competition for a year to extend their eligibility while allowing them to develop more fully physically and thus be less prone to injuries.

In education, any structured or unstructured period of nonacademic activities organized for the relaxation and amusement of students.

A philosophy of education based on social reform and the spread and preservation of democracy as essential elements of formal schooling.

The decade (approximately) following the Civil War, during which normal relations were restored between the Union and the secessionist Southern states.

In education, the public demonstration of a student’s skills in the performing arts, either alone or in concert with one or more other students.

A common READING GAME that combines pictures and other symbols with printed letters and words in a sequence that permits a young reader to decode a complete sentence by sequentially pronouncing the name of each picture, letter or word.

The ability to infer or reach conclusions in an orderly, rational way on the basis of a group of facts and applicable principles or laws.

A perceptual dysfunction whereby the reader sees similarly shaped letters and words in reverse—b, for example, instead of d or p, and saw instead of was.

That level of physical, intellectual, emotional and sociocultural development at which a child is most susceptible to successful acquisition of reading skills.

The speed at which one reads orally and silently, expressed in words per minute. Normal oral and silent reading rates for a 10-year-old child at the beginning of fourth grade are about 130 words per minute.

In education, any roster of books and other reading materials deemed appropriate in terms of content, language and readability for a youngster at a specific age or grade in elementary or secondary school.

A broad-based measure of individual reading achievement, valid only when related to the reader’s age and the level of difficulty (or readability) of the material.

Any of a variety of entertaining activities that require students to read. Some reading games, such as crossword puzzles, picture riddles, rebuses and card games, are commercially prepared; others are prepared by teachers.

A $1 billion-a-year federal initiative under the $10 billion NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT OF 2001 to raise reading proficiency of students in the K-3 elementary years, with particular focus on disadvantaged children.

The ability to infer meaning from a printed passage. There are four levels of reading comprehension that develop sequentially: literal, interpretive, critical and creative.

A variety of elements in a written passage that indirectly suggest the meaning of a word, of a character’s personality or feelings or of story content and plot.

The age-equivalent level of a student’s reading ability as measured by standardized, norm-based examinations. Reading age does not take chronological age into account.

Any of a variety of mechanical devices developed in the 1960s to increase the reading speed of slow readers and students with reading disabilities.

The perception, comprehension and intellectual integration of printed letters or symbols, words and groups of words.

Examinations administered to preschoolers and kindergartners to measure their readiness for the formal elementary school educational process. Readiness tests are usually required for applicants to highly selective, private elementary schools, with far more applicants than available seats.