Parent: In the Current Population Survey, a parent is defined as a biological, adoptive, step-parent, foster parent, or legal guardian. In other words, “parents” have some biological or legal association to the child. A parent is not necessarily the head of the household. A parent’s highest education level is determined by merging information from the parent’s record with information from his or her children’s record. When no parent resides in the household, information from the legal guardian’s record is merged with information from the children’s record.

Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS) program: The federally sponsored PLUS program is a low-interest loan for parents of dependent students. Parents may borrow up to the full cost of the student’s education (less student financial aid).

Parental care only: Includes care on a regular basis by parents only. Excludes children who receive care from relatives, nonrelatives, center-based programs, or self on a regular basis.

Parochial school: A private Catholic school serving students in one or more grades K–12 that is the domain of a local church parish.

Part-time enrollment: The number of students enrolled in postsecondary education courses with a total credit load less than 75 percent of the normal full-time credit load.

Pell grant program: The federal Pell grant program is the largest program of need-based grant aid available to postsecondary students, providing grants to low-income undergraduate students who have not yet received a bachelor’s or first-professional degree. Pell grants serve as the base to which other financial aid awards are added.

Percentile (score): A value on a scale of zero to 100 that indicates the percent of a distribution that is equal to or below it. For example, a score in the 95th percentile is a score equal to or better than 95 percent of all other scores.

Permanent resident: Any non-U.S. citizen who is residing in the United States under legally recognized and lawfully recorded permanent residence as an immigrant.

Personal income: Current income received by persons from all sources minus their personal contributions for social insurance. Classified as “persons” are individuals (including owners of unincorporated firms), nonprofit institutions serving individuals, private trust funds, and private noninsured welfare funds. Personal income includes transfers (payments not resulting from current production) from government and business such as social security benefits and military pensions, but it excludes transfers among persons.

Place value: As used in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998 (ECLS–K), this mathematics skill involves demonstrating an understanding of place value in integers to the hundreds place.

Postsecondary education: The provision of formal instructional programs with a curriculum designed primarily for students who are beyond the compulsory age for high school. This includes programs with an academic, vocational, and continuing professional education purpose and excludes vocational and adult basic education programs. (See also supplemental note 9.)

Poverty: A set of money-income thresholds determined by the Census Bureau that vary by family size and composition. If a family’s total income is less than that family’s threshold, then that family, and every individual in it, is considered to be poor.

Praxis Core Battery Tests: A subgroup of the Praxis II Subject Assessments, the Core Battery consists of three Praxis II tests: the Test of General Knowledge, the Test of Communication Skills, and the Test of Professional Knowledge. General Knowledge tests fundamental understanding of general principles known to the average well-educated person. Communication Skills tests the ability to retain and interpret spoken and written language and the ability to communicate effectively in standard written English. Professional Knowledge tests classroom management, evaluations, instruction, professional foundations, and professional functions. Many states require the candidate to take some or all of the three Core Battery tests for teacher certification.

Praxis II: A series of professional assessments for beginning teachers. The Praxis II National Teacher Exam (NTE) is designed to assess qualifications of prospective teachers. It is used by state education agencies in making licensing decisions. The Praxis II Subject Assessments measure knowledge of the subjects that candidates will teach, as well as general and subject-specific teaching skills and knowledge. A set of Core Battery tests, as well as Specialty area tests in more than 140 subject areas, are included in this group. Many states require some or all of the Praxis II elements for teacher certification.

Prekindergarten: Public preprimary education for children ages 3–4 (ages 3–5 in some states) who have not yet entered kindergarten. It may offer a program of general education or special education and, in some states, may be part of a collaborative effort with Head Start. Private preprimary educational programs are typically referred to as “center-based programs.” (See also Preprimary.)

Preprimary: Elementary education programs for children who are too young for 1st grade, including center-based programs, prekindergarten, and kindergarten.

Preschool: A beginning group or class enrolling children younger than 5 years of age and organized to provide educational experiences under professionally qualified teachers in cooperation with parents during the year or years immediately preceding kindergarten (or prior to entry into elementary school when there is no kindergarten).

Private for-profit institution: A postsecondary institution that is privately owned and operated as a profitmaking enterprise. Includes career colleges and proprietary schools. (See also supplemental note 9.)

Private not-for-profit institution: A postsecondary institution that is controlled by an independent governing board and incorporated under Section 503(c) of the Internal Revenue Code. (See also supplemental note 9.)

Private school or institution: A school or institution that is controlled by an individual or agency other than a state, a subdivision of a state, or the federal government; that is usually not supported primarily by public funds; and that is not operated by publicly elected or appointed officials.

Problem solving: An individual’s capacity to use cognitive processes to confront and resolve real, cross-disciplinary situations where the solution is not immediately obvious, and where the literacy domains or curricular areas that might be applicable are not within a single domain of mathematics, science, or reading.

Property tax: The sum of money collected from a tax levied against the value of property.

Public charter school: A public charter school is a publicly funded school that, in accordance with an enabling statute, has been granted a charter exempting it from selected state or local rules and regulations. A public charter school may be a newly created school or it may previously have been a public or private school. In return for funding and autonomy, the charter school must meet accountability standards. A school’s charter is reviewed (typically every 3 to 5 years) and can be revoked if guidelines on curriculum and management are not followed or the standards are not met. (See also Public school.)

Public institution: A postsecondary educational institution whose programs and activities are operated by publicly elected or appointed school officials and that is supported primarily by public funds. (See also supplemental note 9.)

Public school: An institution that provides educational services for at least one of grades 1–12 (or comparable ungraded levels), has one or more teachers to give instruction, has an assigned administrator, is located in one or more buildings, receives public funds as primary support, and is operated by an education or chartering agency. Public schools include regular, special education, vocational/technical, alternative, and public charter schools. They also include schools in juvenile detention centers, schools located on military bases and operated by the Department of Defense, and Bureau of Indian Affairs-funded schools operated by local public school districts.

Public service: Funds budgeted specifically for public service and expended for activities established primarily to provide noninstructional services beneficial to groups external to the institution. Examples are seminars and projects provided to particular sectors of the community and expenditures for community services and cooperative extension services.

Purchasing power parities: Purchasing power parity (PPP) conversion factors take into account differences in the relative prices of goods and services—particularly nontradables—and therefore provide a better overall measure of the real value of output produced by an economy compared with other economies. PPP gross national income (GNI) is measured in current international dollars, which, in principal, have the same purchasing power as a dollar spent on GNI in the U.S. economy. Because PPPs provide a better measure of the standard of living of residents of an economy, they are the basis for the World Bank’s calculations of poverty rates at $1 and $2 a day. The GNI of developing countries measured in PPP terms generally exceeds their GNI measured using the Atlas method or using market exchange rates.

Purchasing power parity (PPP) indices: Purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates, or indices, are the currency exchange rates that equalize the purchasing power of different currencies, meaning that when a given sum of money is converted into different currencies at the PPP exchange rates, it will buy the same basket of goods and services in all countries. PPP indices are the rates of currency conversion that eliminate the difference in price levels among countries. Thus, when expenditures on gross domestic product (GDP) for different countries are converted into a common currency by means of PPP indices, they are expressed at the same set of international prices, so that comparisons among countries reflect only differences in the volume of goods and services purchased.