IRA Guide to Style and Usage: Acronyms

IRA Style Guide

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Acronyms and initialisms

What's the difference?
Both acronyms and initialisms are groups of letters that stand for a group of words. The distinction has to do with the way they are pronounced: True acronyms are pronounced as words (ERIC, JAAL, and UNESCO are good examples). Properly speaking, groups of letters that are pronounced separately (e.g., IRA, DNA, FBI) are initialisms. In common usage the distinction is ignored, and all such letter groups are referred to as acronyms. References to acronyms in this guide hold true for initialisms, as well.

acronyms, general rules
1. In most cases, spell out the word in full the first time it appears in an author’s work, and follow the full spelling with the acronym in parentheses. (If the acronym is better known than the full form, use the acronym first and follow with the full spelling in parentheses.) Thereafter, use the acronym only.

2. As a general rule, do not use an acronym unless it will be used again in the written piece (in the case of a short work, used at least one more time; in the case of a longer work, used several times). The advantage of using the acronym is lost if the reader has to spend a lot of time hunting down its meaning.

3. More obscure acronyms and abbreviations are listed in M.R. Bonk, ed., Acronyms, Initialisms, & Abbreviations Dictionary. (1997). Detroit, MI: Gale Research. Acronyms and abbreviations from many fields may also be found on The World Wide Web Acronym and Abbreviation Server.

4. Because of its politically charged connotations overseas, avoid using the acronym IRA to refer to the International Reading Association on items that will reach an international audience. Spell out the full name, refer to “the Association,” or rephrase as necessary.

common acronyms and initialisms
ACT	American College Test	NAS	National Academy of Sciences
ADD	attention-deficit disorder	NBPTS	National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
ADHD	attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder	NCAL	National Center on Adult Literacy
AFT	American Federation of Teachers	NCATE	National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education
ALA	American Library Association	NCES	National Center for Education Statistics
ALSC	Association for Library Service to Children (a division of ALA)	NCLB	No Child Left Behind
		NCLD	National Center for Learning Disabilities
a.m.	ante meridiem (morning) (lowercase or small caps, with periods)	NCTE	National Council of Teachers of English
		NEA	National Education Association
AMS	Association Management System	NGO	nongovernmental organization
		NICHD	National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
AO	Association Office	NIE	National Institute of Education (of U.S. Dept. of Education)
APA	American Psychological Association	NIEW	Newspapers in Education Week
ARA*	Alabama Reading Association*	NIFL	National Institute for Literacy
		NIH	National Institutes of Health
ASCD	Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development	NRC	National Research Council (an arm of the National Academy of Sciences)
ASL	American Sign Language	NRC	National Reading Conference
BOCES	Board of Cooperative Educational Service	NRRC	National Reading Research Center
CBC	Children’s Book Council	NYU	New York University
CCIRA	Colorado Council of the International Reading Association	OCIRA	Ohio Council of the International Reading Association
		ODBC	Open Database Connectivity
CCSSO	Council of Chief State School Officers	OCLC	Online Computer Library Center (information / cataloging system)
CD-ROM	Compact Disk – Read-Only Memory	OECD	Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
CIERA	Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement	OERI	Office of Educational Research and Improvement (of U.S. Dept. of Education)
CIS	Commonwealth of Independent States	OISE	Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
CISD	Consolidated Independent School District	ORA	Oklahoma Reading Association or Oregon Reading Association
CMS	Chicago Manual of Style	OSI	Open Society Institute (Soros organization)
CRA	California Reading Association, Connecticut Reading Association	PASS	Program of Assisted Studies and Support (program in New York state public schools)
DEAR	Drop Everything And Read	PDF	portable document format
DL-TA	(also DLTA) = Directed Listening–Thinking Activity	PhD	(Upper–lower–upper case. No periods)
DOE	Department of Education, Department of Energy	p.m.	post meridiem (afternoon, evening, night) (lowercase or small caps, with periods)
DR-TA	Directed Reading–Thinking Activity	PORPE	Predict, Organize, Rehearse, Practice, Evaluate
DSRA	Diamond State Reading Association (Delaware)	PISA	Programme for International Student Assessment (study sponsored by OECD)
ELL	English-language learner or English-language learning	PTA	Parent Teacher Association
ERIC	Educational Resources Information Center (at NIE, OERI, Washington, DC)	PTO	Parent Teacher Organization
ERR	Evocation–Realization of Meaning–Reflection (comprehension strategy associated with OSI)	PTSA RAM	Parent Teacher Student Association random-access memory
ESEA ESL	Elementary and Secondary Education Act English as a Second Language	REAL	Raising Early Achievement in Literacy (program of University of Sheffield, England)
ESOL	English for Speakers of Other Languages	RFP	request for proposals
EST	eastern standard time	RIF	Reading Is Fundamental, Inc.
FAQ	frequently asked questions	ROL	Reading Online
FRA	Florida Reading Association	ROM	read-only memory
FTP	File Transfer Protocol	RPM	revolutions per minute
HIV	Human immunodeficiencey virus	RRQ	Reading Research Quarterly
GRE	Graduate Record Examination	RS	Running Start, a program associated with RIF
H.R. 1234	House Resolution 1234 (a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives)	RSVP	Retired and Senior Volunteer Program
H. Rept. 1234	House Report 1234	RT RTF	The Reading Teacher rich text format
HTML HTTP	Hypertext Markup Language Hypertext Transfer Protocol	RTI RTY	Response to Intervention Reading Today
HUD	(Department of) Housing and Urban Development	RWCT	Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking
IBBY	International Board on Books for Young People	S. 1234	Senate bill #1234
ICT	information and communication technology	SAT	formerly, Scholastic Aptitude Test; more recently, Scholastic Assessment Test
IDEA	Individuals With Disabilities Education Act	SCIRA	South Carolina State Council of IRA, or Swedish Council of IRA
IERI	Interagency Education Research Initiative	SD	standard deviation
ILC IQ	International Leadership Conference Intelligence quotient	SEAs	state education agencies (compare LEAs, local education agencies)

ILN	International Literacy Network	SIG	Special Interest Group
IRC	Illinois Reading Council	SQ3R	a study technique (survey-question-read-recite-review)
ISP	Internet service provider	SSR	Sustained Silent Reading
ISD	Independent School District	SSRW	Sing, Spell, Read & Write (K–3 program)
IT ITBS	information technology Iowa Test of Basic Skills	STM SUNY	short-term memory State University of New York
JAAL	the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy	TC	Thinking Classroom
JR	The Journal of Reading	TC/P	Thinking Classroom/Peremena
KRA	Kansas Reading Association	TCP/IP	Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
KSRA	Keystone State (Pennsylvania) Reading Association	TESOL	Teachers of English as a Second Language
		UKRA	United Kingdom Reading Association
K-W-L	(What I know, what I want to learn; what I have learned) strategy for increasing comprehension of expository text; must be credited to Donna Ogle.	UNESCO	United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
LAN	local area network	UNICEF	United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund
LEA	Language Experience Approach	UPU	Universal Postal Union
LEAs	local education agencies (compare SEAs, state education agencies)	URL	Uniform Resource Locator
LyV	Lectura y Vida	USD	Unified School District
LEP	Limited English Proficiency	USPS	United States Postal Service
LSAT	Law School Admission Test	USSR	uninterrupted sustained silent reading
LVA	Literacy Volunteers of America, Inc.	WISC	Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children
MBD	minimal brain dysfunction	WISC-R	(revised) Use a hyphen, rather than an en-dash.)
MUD	multi-user domain	WJ-R	Woodcock–Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery–Revised
NAA	Newspaper Association of America	WNWD	Webster’s New World Dictionary
NAEP	National Assessment of Educational Progress	XML	Extensible Markup Language
NAESP	National Association of Elementary School Principals	YALS	Young Adult Literacy Survey (1985)
NALS NAEYC	National Adult Literacy Survey (1992) National Association for the Education of Young Children	YALSA	Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association (ALA)
		ZPD	Zone of Proximal Development (term associated with L. Vygotsky)
	*also, Arizona Reading Association; Arkansas Reading Association; Austrian Reading Association. (Use the acronym only when the context makes clear which organization is meant.)

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