Dalat Terms & Acronyms
Index
A simple glossary of terms used on this site and in our publications.
ACSC
Asia Christian Schools Conference. Dalat is a founding member of this sports association, along with six other Christian schools in Asia.
ACSI
Association Christian Schools International. Dalat’s academic and boarding programs are fully accredited by ACSI.
ACT
American College Test. The ACT is a standardized achievement examination for college admissions in the United States produced by ACT Inc. It was first administered in fall 1959 by Everett Franklin Lindquist as a competitor to the College Board’s Scholastic Aptitude Test, now the SAT.
AP
The Advanced Placement Program is a program that offers college level courses at high schools across the United States, Canada, and other nations. Many high schools in the United States offer AP courses, though the College Board allows any student to take the examination without participating in the course.
C&MA
Christian & Missionary Alliance. The organization that founded Dalat in 1929 and ran the school until 2000.
CASTLE
Center for the Arts, Sciences, Technology, and Learning Education. A building at the center of Dalat’s campus, constructed in 2016.
CLEP
College Level Examination Program. A plan that enables students to earn college credit for introductory-level courses by achieving satisfactory scores on subject-specific tests. CLEP offers 33 examinations in subjects including English literature, Spanish language, American government, macroeconomics, biology, calculus, financial accounting and more.
DJHS
Dalat Junior Honor Society. Recognizes students in 7th and 8th grade for scholarship, service, leadership, and displaying the school’s educational goals. See also NHS.
DLRC
Distance Learning Resource Center. The DLRC at Dalat supports families using home education.
Eagle's Eye
This annually published literary magazine is produced by 12th grade students at Dalat, and displays exemplary work written by high school students. Prior to spring of 2016, the Eagle’s Eye was the name of the school newspaper.
Eagles
Dalat’s school mascot and athletic moniker is the Eagle. School teams and athletes are often called “Dalat Eagles.”
EARCOS
Dalat is a member of the East Asia Regional Council of Schools (EARCOS) which holds periodic conferences and training for teachers and administrators.
ES
Dalat abbreviates the three grade divisions of our school as: ES: Elementary School, MS: Middle School, and HS: High School.
EAL/ESOL/EFL
EAL (English as an Additional Language, formerly ESL), ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages), and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) all refer to the use or study of English by speakers with a different native language. Dalat offers some services for English language learners (see more details on our Dalat EAL Page).
Flagships
Dalat has four Flagships, along with Student Outcome Statements (SOS), that help students, parents, and staff understand the learning outcomes we expect to see from our students. The Flagships are Scholarship, Citizenship, Discipleship, and Relationship.
GPA
In education, a grade (or mark) is a teacher’s standardized evaluation of a student’s work. In some countries, evaluations can be expressed quantifiably, and calculated into a numeric grade-point average (GPA). A cumulative grade point average (CGPA) is the mean GPA from all semesters, whereas GPA may only refer to a single semester. The concept of grading students’ work quantitatively was developed by a tutor named William Farish, and first implemented by the University of Cambridge in 1792.
GRE
Graduate Record Examination. The GRE is a standardized test that is an admissions requirement for many graduate schools principally in the United States, but also in other English speaking countries.
Harbor
The Harbor, which was completed in 2018, houses high school classrooms, teacher offices, administrative and finance offices, and a performance hall.
HS
Dalat abbreviates the three schools on campus as: ES: Elementary School, MS: Middle School, and HS: High School.
IEP
Individualized Education Plan. An IEP is a written education plan designed to meet a child’s learning needs and is used by the Special Services department.
Intramural
Intramural sports or intramurals are recreational sports organized within a school. The term derives from the words intra muros meaning inside the walls, indicating that matches are conducted between members of the same school (as opposed to varsity teams that compete with other schools). Intramural sports are found from the elementary school level through college level.
JSB
Junior-Senior Banquet. The JSB formal event is a long-standing Dalat tradition near the end of the school year that honors students who are graduating.
KICs
Kids Interest Clubs. The elementary school offers after-school KICs to students from Grade 1 to 4.
Lighthouse
Dalat seaside boarding facilities completed in 2017 made up of three dorms (Jaffrey, Ziemer, and Jackson), dorm staff apartments, and two guest suites.
MEW
Missions Emphasis Week. Takes place in the second semester and coordinated by the spiritual life director. Special speakers are invited and a variety of activities are planned around the theme that focus the entire community on their personal spiritual lives and on others around them.
MS
Dalat abbreviates the three schools on campus as: ES: Elementary School, MS: Middle School, and HS: High School.
MSSPP
Majlis Sukan Sekolah Pulau Pinang which is essentially Penang’s Zone & State football and athletics playoffs. It runs for about 15 weeks.
NFL
No Fly List is used in the high school for students who are restricted from extracurricular activities when a piece of academic work has not been completed. The purpose is for students to have the time to complete the assignment.
NHS
National Honor Society. Dalat has an internationally recognized branch of the National Honor Society (NHS). The society exists to create enthusiasm for scholarship, to stimulate a desire to render service, to promote leadership, and to develop character in the students of secondary schools.
PSAC
Penang Schools Athletic Conference. Dalat participates in matches within the PSAC.
PSAT
Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test. The Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test is a multiple-choice standardized test administered by the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) in the United States.
PTO
Parent-Teacher Association, aka PTA, Parent-Teacher-Student Association, aka PTSA and the Parent-Teacher Organization, aka PTO are the names of a voluntary organization bringing together parents, teachers, and sometimes students within a particular school or school district, usually for fund-raising, building parent involvement and community at school and other activities relating to the welfare of the school. PTAs are known to operate in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, and also in some other Commonwealth countries.
RAZ
Raz-Kids is an online guided reading curriculum used at the elementary school level at Dalat.
Reflector
The Reflector is Dalat’s annual yearbook, which documents the school year with photography and articles that cover the wide variety of activities in which students participate across all three school divisions.
SAT (Middle School)
Student Advisory Teams. These meet in small groups of students with a staff mentor the first 15 minutes of every school day to read school announcements and participate in a discussion or activity. Students are greeted personally at the start of each day and are given time to get into a school mindset to be ready for the day.
SAT
Scholastic Aptitude Test. The College Board states that the SAT measures critical thinking skills that are needed for academic success in college. They state that the SAT assesses how well the test takers analyze and solve problems skills they learned in school that they will need in college. The SAT is typically taken by high school juniors and seniors.
SEW
Spiritual Emphasis Week. Takes place in the first semester and is coordinated by the spiritual life director. Special speakers are invited and a variety of activities are planned around the theme that focus the entire community on their personal spiritual lives and on others around them.
Skort
A skort is a garment worn by girls that resembles short trousers, but is made to look like a skirt from the front. Skorts provides more freedom of movement to do physical activities.
SOS
Student Outcome Statements. The SOS are clearly defined expectations for teaching and learning that define who we are as a school and what we want to accomplish with our students. See also Flagships.
StuCo
Student Council. A group of elected student representatives that organize services and special events for the student body.
TCK
A third culture kid is a child who has spent more than six months outside their home country in another culture. Children are changed by their experiences and third culture kids have unique needs and expectations.
TOEFL
Test of English as a Foreign Language. Measures your ability to use and understand the English language as it’s read, written, heard and spoken in the university classroom. As the most accepted English-language test in the world, more than 8,000 universities, agencies, and other institutions in more than 130 countries accept the TOEFL test as part of their admissions criteria.
WASC
Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Dalat’s academic program is fully accredited by WASC and provides the accountability and legitimacy for our school among educators worldwide.
X Block
Extracurricular block at the end of the school day for academic support and non-academic pursuits for middle and high school students.
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