Clear communication might be the core skill of a teacher. How can we educate if we aren’t communicating? But so many folks in education toss around terms that no one has ever defined. They fall back on jargon and acronyms without checking to make sure everyone knows what those words mean.
Lose The Jargon
Jargon is the opposite of clear communication. Jargon is unclear because it’s never actually defined. Even insiders who use jargon don’t really know what it means.
I love this anecdote about jargon:
[The consultant] asked a team of 15 executives what “optimization” means. He received seven different definitions. The most troubling part was that the company was a price optimization software company.
😂
What Does ___ Even Mean?
We have a similar jargon problem in education. Ask 15 colleagues to define a trendy education word. Perhaps:
- differentiation
- rigor
- growth mindset
- 21st-century learning
- engagement
- PBL (we don’t even agree on what this stands for!)
Will you get 15 different (and sometimes opposite) definitions?
Sorry, What Does RTI Mean?
The next time someone mentions “RTI” (as an example of edu-jargon) act as if you’ve never heard the term. Ask what it means. I bet you $1 that, rather than a definition, they’ll say that it means “Response to Intervention.” (Update: this exact thing happened to me at a conference! I joked that no one knows what RTI actually means, and a person, with great vigor, yelled, “Response To Intervention!” I chuckled.)
But that’s not a definition! It’s just the acronym expanded out. Push on! “Sorry, pretend I’m new here. What does ‘Response to Intervention’ mean?”
So Many Words, So Little Meaning
Now, “RTI” became trendy just as I quit my teaching job, so I honestly don’t know what it means. I looked it up.
Here’s a definition from the “RTI Action Network” (which sounds like a 1980s cable channel):
RTI is a multi-tier approach to the early identification and support of students with learning and behavior needs.
Not a great start! Don’t schools already identify and support students-in-need? How is this different from a basic function of a school?
They continue:
The RTI process begins with high-quality instruction and universal screening of all children in the general education classroom. Struggling learners are provided with interventions at increasing levels of intensity to accelerate their rate of learning. These services may be provided by a variety of personnel, including general education teachers, special educators, and specialists. Progress is closely monitored to assess both the learning rate and level of performance of individual students. Educational decisions about the intensity and duration of interventions are based on individual student response to instruction. RTI is designed for use when making decisions in both general education and special education, creating a well-integrated system of instruction and intervention guided by child outcome data.
Folks, that’s 133 words and I’m less clear about RTI than I was before I read it.
Here’s the State of Washington’s attempt at a definition:
Response to Intervention (RTI) is a school-based, multi-level prevention system to maximize student achievement and reduce behavior problems. With RTI, schools identify students at risk for poor learning outcomes, monitor student progress, provide evidence-based interventions and adjust the intensity and nature of those interventions depending on a student’s responsiveness.
They actually wrote “school-based, multi-level prevention system” as if that phrase has any meaning. Is it possible that NO ONE knows what RTI actually means? 😝
What Does “Gifted” Mean?
And I’m not picking on RTI here. Replace it with whatever edu-jargon you’d like.
Heck, I’ve been in gifted education for 15+ years and couldn’t clearly define “gifted” for most of it. But I don’t feel too bad because even the National Association for Gifted Children can’t explain the term:
Children are gifted when their ability is significantly above the norm for their age. Giftedness may manifest in one or more domains such as; intellectual, creative, artistic, leadership, or in a specific academic field such as language arts, mathematics or science.
When I pop that into Grammarly, it warns me: “This text may be difficult for college graduates to read.” Yikes.
S.W.T.A. (Stop With The Acronyms)
I often get email like this (only slightly exaggerated!):
I’m working in the SIG program after finishing my PBL Certification and my students need to complete their weekly PETS but I don’t know how to implement Tier 3. Can you help?
These days, I have the confidence to just ask, “Sorry, what does SIG, PBL, PETS, and Tier 3 mean?” But imagine how intimidated parents must feel when they hear those acronyms coming at them. How many of them will risk looking stupid to clarify all of that jargon? Instead, they’ll just nod along, pretending they understand.
Even worse, I used to say this stuff to my students!!! I would put “UA Time” on the schedule every day. At the end of the year, one kid asked, “So, what is UA?” My response? Yep. I just expanded the acronym. “It means Universal Access.” 🤦♂️ But I couldn’t explain why we used that term. It was just a phrase the principal wanted to see. Every teacher probably had a different idea of what it meant. Heck, I’ll bet our principal would have struggled to explain “UA”!
If The Emperor Is Naked, You Must Point It Out!
It’s an Emperor’s New Clothes situation. No one wants to point out the obvious. No one wants to stand up and say, “I know we use this word in every meeting, but I need someone to explain what it means!”
But the kid in The Emperor’s New Clothes is the hero! When we read the story, we laugh at the crowd pretending to see clothes that aren’t there. Don’t be part of the crowd pretending to know what RTI, rigor, or differentiation means. Be the child! Push back and ask for clear definitions.
I think you’ll find that this is more difficult than it seems. And, often, the person who’s the most excited about the jargon can’t explain it at all.