Standards Glossary
The purpose of this glossary is to help the user better understand the terminology used in the Colorado Academic Standards. It is intended to assist educational practitioners and pre-service educators in understanding the standards. It is not intended as a study guide for students nor does it represent a comprehensive list of all academic terms.
Use the alphabetical list to view glossary terms by first letter.
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
R -
- racism
Discrimination and negative prejudgments with the purpose of maintaining control or power over others on the basis of race.
Content Area: Comprehensive Health and Physical Education
- random sample
A sample in which individuals are selected by some chance process; sometimes used synonymously with simple random sample.
Content Area: Mathematics
- random variable
An assignment of a numerical value to each outcome in a sample space.
Content Area: Mathematics
- range (of data)
The difference between the greatest and least numbers in a set of data. A range is a single value, not a description of the smallest to the greatest values: the range of a data set with 5 as its minimum and 9 as its maximum is 4, not "5-9".
Content Area: Mathematics
- range of a function
The set of output values for the domain (input) values.
Content Area: Mathematics
- rape
Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.
Content Area: Comprehensive Health and Physical Education
- rate
How quickly and accurately a reader reads connected text. Rate is commonly measured as the number of words read correctly per minute (WCPM).
Content Area: Reading, Writing, and Communicating
- rate
A ratio that compares different types of units.
Content Area: Mathematics
- ratio
A comparison of two quantities or rate of change.
Content Area: Mathematics
- rational expression
A quotient of two polynomials with a non-zero denominator.
Content Area: Mathematics
- rational function
A function that can be written as R(x) = P(x) / Q(x) where P(x) and Q(x) are polynomials and Q(x) ? 0.
Content Area: Mathematics
- rational number
Numbers that can be expressed in the form a/b, where a and b are integers and b ? 0; terminating decimals, repeating decimals, and mixed numbers all represent rational numbers and every integer is a rational number: 3/4, 2/1, 11/3, 5, .75.
Content Area: Mathematics
- reaction time
The amount of time it takes for a person to react to a presented stimuli.
Content Area: Comprehensive Health and Physical Education
- reader’s theatre
An orchestrated reading presentation relying primarily on vocal characterization, without the use of visual theatre elements such as costuming, sets, or blocking.
Content Area: Drama and Theatre Arts
- real numbers
All rational and irrational numbers.
Content Area: Mathematics
- realism
A style of art that portrays objects or scenes as they might appear in everyday life.
Content Area: Visual Arts
- realistic
A recognizable subject is portrayed using lifelike colors, textures, and proportion.
Content Area: Visual Arts
- reasoning
The process of forming conclusions, judgments, or inferences from facts or premises.
Content Area: Reading, Writing, and Communicating
- recombining
Refers to reproducing learned work with minor adaptations.
Content Area: World Languages
- rectilinear figure
A polygon all angles of which are right angles.
Content Area: Mathematics
- reflection
A transformation which produces the mirror image of a geometric figure; also known as a flip.
Content Area: Mathematics
- reflective symmetry
If a figure is divided by a line and both divisions are mirrors of each other, the figure has reflective symmetry. The line that divides the figure is the line of symmetry.
Content Area: Mathematics
- refrain
A part of a song that recurs at the end of each of a number of verses.
Content Area: Music
- region
An area defined from its surroundings by common characteristics of physical landscape, economy, or function.
Content Area: Social Studies
- regressive tax
A regressive tax is a tax imposed in such a manner that the tax rate decreases as the amount subject to taxation increases.
Content Area: Social Studies
- regular polygon
A polygon with equal side lengths and equal interior angle measures.
Content Area: Mathematics
- rehearsal
The period of time used to prepare a play for performance for an audience.
Content Area: Drama and Theatre Arts
- relative frequency
A ratio of the number of times a particular outcome occurs to the total number of trials.
Content Area: Mathematics
- reliable
The degree to which health-promoting information, products, resources, or services can be trusted according to research base and freedom from bias.
Content Area: Comprehensive Health and Physical Education
- renewable resource
A resource that can be regenerated or replaced if used carefully: fish or timber.
Content Area: Social Studies
- repeating decimal
The decimal form of a rational number. See also: terminating decimal.
Content Area: Mathematics
- repertoire
A body of existing artistic work.
Content Area: Dance
- repertoire
A comprehensive list of compositions, songs, pieces, or parts of pieces that a person is prepared to perform or recite.
Content Area: Music
- research project
An investigation intended to address query. A short research project addresses a narrowly tailored query in a brief period of time, as in a few class periods or a week of instructional time. A sustained research project addresses a relatively expansive query using several sources over an extended period of time, as in a few weeks of instructional time.
Content Area: Reading, Writing, and Communicating
- research-based evidence
Data derived from sound scientific research methods. It is noted as research-based to differentiate from anecdotal or circumstantial evidence.
Content Area: Science
- resolution
1 Something that is settled or resolved. 2 The outcome of decision making.
Content Area: Drama and Theatre Arts
- resources
The assets (things of value) which an economy (or business) may have available to supply and produce goods and services to meet the ever-changing needs and wants of individuals (in the case of a business) and society: minerals, timber, or time.
Content Area: Social Studies
- resources
An aspect of the physical environment that people value and use to meet a need for fuel, food, industrial product, or something else of value.
Content Area: Social Studies
- respect
Esteem; the condition of being honored.
Content Area: Social Studies
- respect
Showing consideration or appreciation for self, other, event, or thing.
Content Area: Comprehensive Health and Physical Education
- responsibilities
Duties, obligations, or social pressure that binds an individual to a course of action such as the responsibility to pay taxes and vote.
Content Area: Social Studies
- responsibility
To act assertively, reliably, dependably, honestly and ethically on behalf of self and others.
Content Area: Comprehensive Health and Physical Education
- responsible decision-making
Making decisions based on consideration of ethical standards, safety concerns, appropriate social norms, respect for others, and likely consequences of various actions; applying decision-making skills to academic and social situations; contributing to the well-being of one’s school and community. See also: effective decision-making.
Content Area: Comprehensive Health and Physical Education
- revise
1 To change a piece of writing to improve its style, organization, or content. 2 To rework the big ideas and/or the overall structure in order to clarify ideas.
Content Area: Reading, Writing, and Communicating
- revising
A reconsideration and reworking of the content of a text relative to task, purpose, and audience for a writing or presentation; compared to editing, a larger-scale activity often associated with the overall content and structure of a text. See also: editing, rewriting.
Content Area: Reading, Writing, and Communicating
- revising
A reconsideration and reworking of the content of a text relative to task, purpose, and audience for a writing or presentation; compared to editing, a larger-scale activity often associated with the overall content and structure of a text. See also: editing, rewriting.
Content Area: World Languages
- rewriting
Largely or wholly replacing a previous, unsatisfactory effort with a new effort on the same or a similar topic or theme, better aligned to task, purpose, and audience for a writing and or presentations; compared to revising, a larger-scale activity more akin to replacement than refinement. See also: editing, revising.
Content Area: Reading, Writing, and Communicating
- rhetoric
Skill in using language effectively and persuasively.
Content Area: Reading, Writing, and Communicating
- rhythm
Pace at which an actor speaks or a theatrical work employs.
Content Area: Drama and Theatre Arts
- rhythm
The regular occurrence of accented beats that shape the character of music or dance.
Content Area: Dance
- rhythm
Intentional, regular repetition of lines of shapes to achieve a specific repetitious effect or pattern. See also: pattern.
Content Area: Visual Arts
- rhythmic accuracy
The ability to transfer the rhythm from an auditory stimuli into a kinesthetic movement while maintaining the tempo and energy of the rhythm.
Content Area: Dance
- rhythmic skills
Skills that develop an understanding of and a feeling for the elements of rhythm. Activities that allow students to express themselves rhythmically: creative movement, jump roping, juggling, and dance.
Content Area: Comprehensive Health and Physical Education
- rights
Construed as legal, social, or moral freedoms to act or refrain from acting, or entitlements to be acted upon or not acted upon.
Content Area: Social Studies
- rigid motion
A transformation of points in space consisting of a sequence of one or more translations, reflections, and/or rotations. Rigid motions preserve distances and angle measures.
Content Area: Mathematics
- risk
Social, economic or biological status, behaviors or environments which are associated with or cause increased susceptibility to a specific disease, ill health, or injury.
Content Area: Comprehensive Health and Physical Education
- risk
A measure of the likelihood of loss or the uncertainty of an investment's rate of return.
Content Area: Social Studies
- risk avoidance
Technique of risk management that involves taking steps to remove a hazard, engaging in an alternative activity, or ending a specific exposure.
Content Area: Comprehensive Health and Physical Education
- risk reduction
Actions that can successfully decrease the probability that individuals, groups, or communities will experience disease, debilitating health conditions, or environmental hazards.
Content Area: Comprehensive Health and Physical Education
- ritardando
Tempo: gradually slower, retarding, to hold back, holding back.
Content Area: Music
- role
The characteristic and expected social behavior of an individual in a given position. Role portrayal is likely to be more predictable and one-dimensional than character portrayal.
Content Area: Drama and Theatre Arts
- rondo
A choreographic form of three or more themes with an alternating return to the main theme: ABACADA.
Content Area: Dance
- root words
The form of a word after all affixes are removed.
Content Area: World Languages
- rotation
A transformation which turns a figure about a point a given number of degrees; also called a turn.
Content Area: Mathematics
- round
A musical composition in which two or more voices sing exactly the same melody (and may continue repeating it indefinitely), but with each voice beginning at different times.
Content Area: Music
- rounding
Finding an approximate number that has fewer non-zero digits to make further estimation easier.
Content Area: Mathematics
- rubric
A systematic scoring guideline to evaluate behaviors, documents or performance through the use of detailed performance standards.
Content Area: Visual Arts
- rule of law
Principle that every member of society, even a ruler, must follow the law.
Content Area: Social Studies
- rules
A principle or condition that customarily governs behavior.
Content Area: Social Studies
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