The US Department of Education maintains a five-page list of educational acronyms. Depending on your state, you may have additional acronyms.

As school public relations professionals, we can’t just presume everyone knows the abbreviations and education acronyms for district departments or federal programs.

At Elevated Education Partners, we know the importance of creating and maintaining an internal style guide. Included in that style guide should be a detailed list of federal, state and district acronyms and if applicable the link to more details. A few hours of work will save headaches and future misunderstandings. The list of education acronyms below is one we’ve curated for Missouri, feel free to use it to start your own. You can also contact us if you’d like assistance in creating a list of education acronyms specifically for your district or program.

1. 504 Short for 504 Plan
2. AACTE American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education 
3. AAHPERD American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (Now SHAPE America)
4. AASA American Association of School Administrators 
5. ABCTE American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence  
6. ACSW Academy of Certified Social Workers
7.  ADA Americans with Disabilities Act A
8. DHD Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
9. ADR Alternative Dispute Resolution
10. AERA American Educational Research Association 
11. AEYC Association for the Education of Young Children of Missouri 
12. AFT American Federation of Teachers 
13. AMLE Association for Middle Level Education 
14. AP Advanced Placement
15. ARC Assessment Resource Center
16. ASAE American Society of Association Executives 
17. ASCD Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development 
18. BIP Behavior Intervention Plan
19. BMP Behavior Management Plan
20. BOD Board of Directors
21. BOE Board of Education
22. BR Building Representative
23. BTA Beginning Teachers Assistance (program) 
24. BTN Beginning Teacher Network
25. CBA Curriculum-Based Assessment
26. CBM Curriculum-Based Measurement
27. CCSS Common Core State Standards 
28. CIPA Children’s Internet Protection Act
29.  CCPC Career Continuous Professional Certificate 
30. CPC Continuous Professional Certificate – follows PCT and PCII Certification (Now part of IPC and CCPC)
31. CRESST National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing  
32. CSD Cooperating School District St. Louis area (Now Education Plus)
33.  CSDGKC Cooperating School Districts of Greater Kansas City
34. CSE Committee on Special Education
35. CSIP Comprehensive School Improvement Plan
36. CWC Class within a class
37. DECA Distributive Education Clubs of America 
38. DHE Department of Higher Education (Missouri)
39. DESE Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (Missouri) 
40. DSS Disability Support Services (Missouri)
41. EBD Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
42. ECS Education Commission of the States 
43. EDGAR Education Department General Administrative Regulations 
44. EI Education International (NEA belongs to this organization)
45. ELA English-Language Arts
46. EL English Learner
47. ELL English Language Learner
48. ERIC Educational Resources Information Center 
49. ESEA Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) No Child Left Behind
50. ESSA Every Student Succeeds Act
51. ESL English as Second Language
52. ESP Education Support Professionals
53. ESY Extended School Year Services
54. ETS Education Testing Service
55. DSS Department of Social Services 
56. FAPE Fair and Appropriate Public Education
57. FERPA Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
58. FFA Future Farmers of America 
59. FMLA Family Medical Leave Act
60. FR Faculty Representative
61. FTA Future Teachers of America 
62. GAM Gifted Association of Missouri 
63. GATE Gifted and Talented Education
64. GED General Education Diploma
65. GR Government Relations
66. GRT Government Relations Team
67. HCR Human and Civil rights (Division of NEA)
68. HIN Health Information Network 
69. IDEA Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
70. IEC International Education Consortium (St. Louis)
71. IEE Independent Educational Evaluation
72. IEP Individual Education Program/Plan
73.  IPC Initial Professional Certificate 
74. IRA International Reading Association 
75. ISLLC Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium 
76. ISTE International Society for Technology in Education 
77. ITP Individual Transition Plan
78. LRE Least Restrictive Environment
79. MACCE Missouri Advisory Council of Certification for Educators 
80. MACTE Missouri Association of Colleges for Teacher Education 
81. MACS Missouri Association for Career Services 
82. MAESP Missouri Association of Elementary School Principals 
83. MAP Missouri Assessment Program
84. MASA Missouri Association of School Administrators 
85. MOACAC Missouri Association for College Admissions Counseling 
86. MARE Missouri Association of Rural Education 
87. MASCD Missouri Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development 
88. MOACTE Missouri Association for Career and Technical Education 
89. MCCTA Missouri Counsel of Career and Technical Administrators  
90. MMSA Missouri Middle School Association 
91. MO RPDC Missouri Regional Professional Development Centers 
92. MOASBO Missouri Association of School Business Officials 
93. MoLEAD Missouri Leadership for Excellence, Achievement and Development 
94. MSBA Missouri School Boards Association 
95. MSDC Missouri Staff Development Council (affiliate of NSDC doing business as Learning Forward – MO)
96. MSIP Missouri School Improvement Program
97. NASBE National Association of State Boards of Education 
98. NAESP National Association for Elementary School Principals 
99. NASSP National Association for Secondary School Principals 
100. NBCT National Board Certified Teacher (National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Certification)
101. NBPTS National Board for Professional Teaching Standards 
102. NCATE National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education 
103. NCES National Center for Education Statistics 
104. NCLB No Child Left behind (ESEA)
105. NCLD National Center for Learning Disabilities 
106. NCTM National Council of Teachers of Mathematics 
107. NCUEA National Council of Urban Education Associations (affiliated with NEA)
108. NEA National Education Association 
109. NICHD National Institute for Child Health and Human Development 
110. NIH National Institutes of Health 
111. NIMH National Institutes of Mental Health 
112. NSDC National Staff Development Council (Now Learning Forward)
113. OCR Office for Civil Rights 
114. OMRDD Office of Mentally Retardation and Developmental Disabilities
115. OSEP Office of Special Education Programs
116. OSERS Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
117. PAC Political Action Committee
118. PAR Political Action Representative
119. PBIS Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports
120. PBTE Performance-Based Teacher Evaluation
121. PCI Professional Certificate Level 1 (No longer used)
122. PCII Professional Certificate Level (No longer used)
123. PEERS Public Education Employee Retirement System of Missouri (Part of PSRS)
124. PDC Professional Development Committee
125. PDK Phi Delta Kappa International 
126. PDP Professional Development Plan
127. PDS Professional Development School(s)
128. PGP Professional Growth Plan PIP Professional Improvement Plan
129. PSRS Public School Retirement System 
130. RPDC Regional Professional Development Center (there are 9 RPDC’s in Missouri)
131. RS Resource Specialist
132. RSP Resource Specialist Program
133. RTI Response to Intervention
134. SBOE State Board of Education (Missouri)
135. SEL Social and Emotional Learning
136. SES Socioeconomic Status
137. SIP School improvement Plan OR Student Incentive Program
138. SIS Student Information System
139. SIT School Improvement Team
140. SLD Specific Learning Disorder
141. SpEd Special Education
142. SST Student Study Team
143. TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
144. TIMSS Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 
145. TQM Total Quality Management
146. USDOE United States Department of Education -