The Odyssey Glossary

         "Defining the charter school adventure, one word at a time."

For more detailed information on any of the terms below,
check other sections of our website or email a committee chair
(see "Contact Us").

A-B  /  C  /  D  /  E-F /  G-H-I  /  J-K-L  /  M-N-O-P  /  Q-R-S  /  T-U-V  /  W-X-Y-Z

Achievement Groups: So your 2^nd grader is ready to learn 1^st grade level math, 3^rd grade level reading and 2^nd grade level spelling? With Achievement groups of 8-12 students each, they can do it! Student progress is tracked and reviewed at Wednesday staff meetings and students can be moved to new groups as necessary throughout the year.

Business Manager: Our full-time Business Manager is responsible for many operational details so that our Director can focus on academic implementation.

Carpool Ticket & Zones: We have several hundred students and none of them are walking or riding their bikes home! For (1) safety and (2) efficiency, the school is divided by city into zones and each family at the school is assigned a carpool "ticket" that identifies which students go with which car.  See further carpool info. 

Charter: An 86-page document researched and written by our Founders and approved (unanimously) by the Utah State Office of Education on December 3, 2004. Once approved, a charter becomes a legal contract between the state and the newly formed school: essentially, we agree to follow the law and do what we said we would do in the charter and they agree to pay us to educate the students we enroll. See a copy of a 15-page OCS Charter Abridgement (the less technical parts).

Classical Education: As described in our charter, classical education is the special emphasis of instruction at OCS. For guidance in this area, we have used "The Well-Trained Mind" by Jesse Wise and Susan Wise Bauer. See other Glossary definitions for Trivium, Grammar Phase, Logic Phase, Rhetoric Phase.

Committee Chair: aka Adjunct (non-voting) Board Members. Officially members of the Board of Trustees, committee chairs are selected by the Board of Trustees and lead their own groups of parent volunteers and work in specific areas of the school's needs. (e.g. Communications, Fundraising, IT, etc.) At OCS, board committees provide the structure for parent volunteers, replacing other schools' Parent-Teacher Organizations.

Communications Envelope: The blue plastic envelope that comes home with one of your students each Tuesday. It is put out by the Communications Committee and has all the news from the school. Don't forget to sign your initials and your week's volunteer hours and send it back to school on Wednesday!

Core Knowledge: Developed by E.D. Hirsch, the Core Knowledge Sequence provides content for the classical education at OCS. One of its advantages is that it keeps students from learning some topics more than once and other topics not at all. For example, for World History, all first graders study Ancient Egypt, the geography of Africa & the Sahara Desert, the importance of the Nile River, pharaohs, pyramids, mummies and Hieroglyphics. For more details, see the books "What your ___ Grader Needs to Know" or the CK website. 

Curriculum: Generally, a curriculum guides either one or both of the following: (1) delivery--how knowledge is communicated between teacher and student or (2) content--what knowledge is taught. At OCS, Classical Education is our special emphasis with Core Knowledge used for content and Direct Instruction for delivery.

Direct Instruction (D.I.): Used as a method of delivery, Direct Instruction uses highly interactive lessons presented to small groups of students, with flexible grouping of students by performance level and frequent assessment of student progress (see Achievement Groups). The use of teacher "scripts" is designed to accelerate learning by making presentations more clear and rule out likely misinterpretations. For example, if 5+4 is (and always will be) 9, then this is what the teacher will teach and this is what the students will learn, without taking time to deeply examine the "whys and hows" of 5+4=9. (According to the trivium, older students are better able to address this type of "why and how" inquiry.)

Direct Instruction (D.I.) Coordinator: Our Direct Instruction Coordinator oversees the organization of our achievement groups. A critical element in a Direct Instruction program, achievement groups put your children in small learning groups in reading, math and spelling on their own level. One reason why more schools don't put kids in personalized learning groups? Because it's a LOT of work!

Director:  aka Principal. Many charters use this different name to reflect that the administrator of an independent public charter school has many responsibilities beyond that of a traditional school principal. 

Docket: That blue plastic folder your child brings home every night. (Don't break or lose your docket--a replacement docket will cost you $6.00!) 

Early-Out Day: On Wednesdays, school ends at 1:15pm, but teachers and staff do NOT get out early! They use this time to discuss how to better serve our students and improve our school. The reason it is on Wednesdays is so that teachers can immediately implement the results of the meeting (without a weekend in between).

Founders: Parents who worked for one to two years before Odyssey opened to research curricula, study applicable state and federal laws, design a governance model, write the charter application, hold public information meetings, and so much more. None of our founders were paid a penny for their time or skills and may have donated anywhere from 100 to over 1,000 hours (no, that is not a typo) to open the doors of OCS to all. In return, founders receive enrollment "preference", which essentially means that their kids get in the school no matter how many are on the waiting list.

Grammar Phase: Referring to age levels in grades 1-4, students in the Grammar Phase soak up knowledge quickly and easily. Instruction in this age group focuses on this strength by presenting lots of new information.

Board of Trustees: This 5-member group of volunteers is responsible for keeping the school working toward its mission and philosophy. GB Officers serve 2-year terms and their seats are then filled by candidates voted in by parents. GB elections are held in May each year.

Instructors: Our instructors work under the direction of our teachers and direct learning in some Achievement Groups. Qualifications for instructors are determined by state law.

Learning Plan: This is the piece of paper sent home by your student's teacher that lists daily learning objectives and any homework for one week at a time. Students should bring their Learning Plan to and from school every day so that parents are informed of their progress.

Liaison: Each family at OCS is assigned a Family Liaison. The Liaison's job is to know the availability and skills of their assigned families so that (1) the family can know how best to serve the school and (2) the school can know how best to serve the family!

Logic Phase: Referring to age levels in grades 5-8, students in the Logic Phase begin to ask "why?" to everything. Instruction in this age group presents the same areas of knowledge first introduced in younger grades while leading students to organize information and understand the way facts fit together into a logical framework.

Lottery: State and Federal law require students of a charter school to be chosen "randomly". After continuing students and those with legal preference are admitted, remaining students are chosen randomly by computerized lottery.

Preference: There are two types of enrollment "preferences": founder and sibling. These preferences are defined by state and federal law. Students who qualify for one of these preferences are admitted to the school before others on the waiting list.

PTA: OCS does NOT have a PTA! Instead, our parents and teachers are organized into board committees that provide all the volunteer needs and expertise that the school requires.

Rhetoric Phase: Referring to age levels in grades 9-12, students in the Rhetoric Phase develop a deeper understanding of the knowledge they have gained and learn to examine and communicate it to others.

Sibling Preference: As allowed by law, siblings of currently enrolled students are offered open positions at the school before others on the waiting list. OCS uses the sibling preference because it keeps families together as much as possible!

Teachers: Teachers in charter schools are, by state law, required to meet the same certification standards as those in other public schools. Period.

Traditional Public School: aka Neighborhood public school or district school. These rather bulky names are preferred by friends of charter schools because they communicate a distinction while allowing for the fact that charter schools are public schools too!

Trivium: A major premise of classical education is that students are best taught in accordance with their developmental age. Trivium, meaning "three roads", refers specifically to the Grammar Phase (grades 1-4), the Logic Phase (grades 5-8), and the Rhetoric Phase (grades 9-12).

Volunteer Hours: Our charter school is based on a model of volunteerism -- that OCS parents want to be involved in their children’s education. Parents are asked to donate 40 hours of volunteer time (20 hours for single-parent families) each year. Hours are reported each week by signing the log in your family's Communications Envelope.

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