Major: Primary field of study in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree, implying that the individual has substantial knowledge of the academic discipline or subject area.

Mandatory transfers: Those transfers that must be made to fulfill a binding legal obligation of the institution. Includes mandatory debt-service provisions relating to academic and administrative buildings, including amounts set aside for debt retirement and interest and required provisions for renewal and replacements to the extent they are not financed from other sources. Also includes the institutional matching portion for Perkins Loans when the source of funds is current revenue.

Master’s degree: A degree awarded for successful completion of a program generally requiring 1 or 2 years of full-time college-level study beyond the bachelor’s degree. One type of master’s degree, including the Master of Arts degree, or M.A., and the Master of Science degree, or M.S., is awarded in the liberal arts and sciences for advanced scholarship in a subject field or discipline and demonstrated ability to perform scholarly research. A second type of master’s degree is awarded for the completion of a professionally oriented program—for example, an M.Ed. in education, an M.B.A. in business administration, an M.F.A. in fine arts, an M.M. in music, an M.S.W. in social work, and an M.P.A. in public administration. A third type of master’s degree is awarded in professional fields for study beyond the first-professional degree—for example, the Master of Laws (LL.M.) and Master of Science (M.S.) in various medical specializations.

Mathematics: A body of related courses concerned with knowledge of measurement, properties, and relations quantities, which can include theoretical or applied studies of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, statistics, and calculus.

Mathematics literacy: An individual’s capacity to identify and understand the role that mathematics plays in the world, to make well-founded judgments, and to use and engage with mathematics in ways that meet the needs of that individual’s life as a constructive, concerned, and reflective citizen.

Median: The median is a measure of central tendency on a scale indicating where a population is centered. The median of the population is the point on the scale that divides the population in half. Half of the population will have values that are equal to or larger than the median, and half will have values that are smaller than the median.

Merit-based aid: Grants and scholarships awarded solely on the basis of academic, athletic, or other merit. That is, financial need is not considered.

Metropolitan population: The population residing in Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). (See also Metropolitan Statistical Area [MSA].)

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA): A geographic entity designated by the federal Office of Management and Budget for use by federal statistical agencies. A Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is a metropolitan area (MA) that is not closely associated with another MA. An MSA consists of one or more counties, except in New England, where MSAs are defined in terms of county subdivisions (primarily cities and towns). (See also supplemental note 1.)

Middle grade teachers: Teachers who teach students in the middle grades, generally 5–8, including those teaching some combination of grades K–9 and having a main assignment field other than elementary education or special education and not teaching any grades higher than 9.

Middle school: A separately organized and administered school between the elementary and senior high schools. When called a “junior high school,” a middle school usually includes grades 7, 8, and 9 (in a 6-3-3 plan) or grades 7 and 8 (in a 6-2-4 plan). In some districts, however, a middle school spans grades 5 to 8 or grades 6 to 8.

Migrant Education Program summer-term projects: Projects that use Migrant Education Program (MEP) funds to provide instructional and/or support services to migrant students during the summer.

Minimum competency examination: Minimum competency examinations assess baseline knowledge.

Minority: Any individual or racial/ethnic group that is not categorized as White, not Hispanic or Latino.

Modal grade: The modal grade is the year of school in which the largest proportion of students of a given age are enrolled. Enrolled persons are classified according to their relative progress in school; that is, whether the grade or year in which they were enrolled was below, at, or above the modal (or typical) grade for persons of their age at the time of the survey.

Multiple choice: Multiple-choice questions ask students to identify one or more correct answers from a list of possible responses.

Multiple disabilities: Concomitant impairments (such as mental retardation-blindness, mental retardation-orthopedic impairment, etc.), the combination of which causes such severe educational problems that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. The term does not include deaf-blindness.