EDUCATIONALESE: MY NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION

I have made a New Year’s resolution not to use “educationalese” (a very distant cousin of Ebonics). Educationalese is the language of educators, in which most of the content words are replaced with acronyms. An example in point:

Though your child is ADHD, the DRA and MCAS scores indicate that his IEP as written is appropriate and the SIP supports the intervention strategies.

A parent or guardian nods in agreement and hangs up the telephone thinking they just had a conversation with a nuclear physicist, “What was that about?” Unfortunately, the conversation is often left there, without questions about things that were not really understood.

What is a DRA? Okay, in context it sounds like some sort of test, but what does it tell someone who does not speak educationalese? Perhaps the big challenge on the other end of the phone is to decide whether to admit you have no idea what the school is talking about or to pretend that you do. There is enough finger pointing for all to share.

It is unclear why educators—whose role is to teach clarity, comprehension, and understanding—would have fallen into “the letter thing,” but we did. The point is that educators are distancing ourselves from parents and guardians, and those we are trying to educate, by using language without common understanding. Educators should be more conscious of what we are saying and provide clarity by using clear language without jargon, and checking or double-checking to see if we are understood.

On the other hand, the parent or guardian must ask questions to be sure they understand. This is one of those circumstances where there is no foolish question. The only foolish act would be not to ask questions to understand what is being said about your child.

If my New Year’s resolution is not to use acronyms, then yours should be to not pretend you have knowledge of the three or four letter “things” for which you have not a clue.

What is the benefit to children if the adults speak different languages and don’t even acknowledge it? None! Very often,“educationalese” doesn’t even work among educators. And there is certainly plenty of evidence that it doesn’t work between home and school.

Thus, my resolution is to change my own communication with colleagues, students, and families. This time next year you won’t hear me saying anything like:

If your child’s NCE on the SAT 10 does not align with MCAS, and the information in SASI does not show the SES that allows them to participate in SS, how can you expect them to meet AYP?

But if I slip, I know you will ask questions. n