Acronym Guide
Acronym Guide for New Teachers in Career and Technical Education (CTE)
A
ACTE: Association for Career and Technical Education (our field’s national association)
ADA: Americans with Disabilities Act
ADD/ADHD: Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
AP: Advanced Placement
AYP: Adequate Yearly Progress
B
BCTE: Bureau of Career and Technical Education
C
CBTE: Competency Based Teacher Education
CCS: Common Core Standards
CEW: Career Education and Work standards
CIP: Classification of Instructional Program (codes)
CTC: Career and Technical Center, formerly Area Vocational Technical School
CTSO: Career and Technical Student Organization
D
DECA: Distributive Education Clubs of America
E
ELL: English Language Learner (this term is now preferred over ESL, English as a Second Language)
EQ: Emotional Quotient (refers to emotional intelligence)
ETS: Educational Testing Service
F
FAPE: Free Appropriate Public Education
FBLA: Future Business Leaders of America
FERPA: Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
FFA: Future Farmers
FRP: Field Resource Person
G
GED: General Equivalency Diploma
GPA: Grade Point Average
H
HOSA: Health Occupations Students of America
HPO: High Priority Occupation
I
IDEA: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
IEP: Individual Education Plan, a legally binding document that addresses the special education needs of a student
IU: Intermediate Unit
IUP: Indiana University of Pennsylvania, our sister school for western PA (Temple University serves the east)
J
JOC: Joint Operating Committee
L
LAC: Local Advisory Committee
LAN: Local Area Network
LEA: Local Education Agency
LEP: Limited English Proficiency
LRE: Least Restrictive Environment
LRP: Local Resource Person
N
NCLB: No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (federal legislation, will be replaced by Every Child Achieves Act)
NIMS: National Institute of Metalworking Skills
NOCTI: National Occupational Competency Testing Institute
NTHS: National Technical Honors Society
O
OAC: Occupational Advisory Committee
OCA: Occupational Competency Assessment
OSHA: Occupational Safety and Health Administration
OVAE: Office of Vocational and Adult Education
P
PACTA: Pennsylvania Association of Career and Technical Administrators
PACTEC: Pennsylvania Career and Technical Education Conference (June of every year)
PDF: Portable Document Format
PBA: Project-Based Assessment
PBL: Project-Based Learning (may also refer to problem-based learning)
PDE: Pennsylvania Department of Education
PDT: Professional Development Team, a team of professional development instructors who work for Penn State’s PPDC (see below)
PIMS: Pennsylvania Information Management System
POS: Program of Study
PPDC: Professional Personnel Development Center (directed by Cynthia Pellock at Penn State)
PPID: Professional Personal Identification number
PSSA: Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (will be replaced by the Keystone Exam)
S
SAS: Standards Aligned System
SNT: Special Needs Team
SOAR: Student Orientation, Advising, and Registration
SSID: Statewide Student Identifier
STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (if STEAM, A is for Arts)
T
TIMS: Teacher Information Management System
TSA: Technology Student Association
V
Voc 1: Vocational Instructional I certification
Voc 2: Vocational Instructional II certification
W
WIA: Workforce Investment Act
WIB: Workforce Investment Board
WBE: Work-Based Education
WBL: Work-Based Learning
WFED: Workforce Education and Development
Last updated May 15, 2015.