Chapter 16, Education Key Terms

Schooling Formal, institutionalized aspects of education. Credentialism The insistence upon educational credentials for their own sake.

Cognitive ability Capacity for abstract thinking. Standardized ability tests Tests such at the SAT that attempt to measure intelligence.

Achievement tests Intended to measure what has actually been learned, in addition to ability or potential. Predictive validity of tests Extent to which tests predict later college grades.

Labeling effect Once a student is assigned to a particular track and labeled, the label has a tendency to stick, whether or not it is accurate. Teacher expectancy effect The effect of teacher expectations for student performance has a dramatic influence on how much students learn and on how students define themselves.

Self-fulfilling prophecy Merely applying a label has the affect of justifying the label. Tracking Separating students according to some measure of cognitive ability.