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DSST Educational Terms Vocab

Subjects : dsst, teaching
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. The idea of E. D. Hirsch - professor of English at the University of Virginia - that there is a certain body of knowledge (core knowledge) that people must know to be well-educated - well-rounded American citizens.






2. The goal of equity is to achieve a high-quality education for all students - regardless of gender - race - ethnicity - socioeconomic status - disabilities - or special needs. Studies show widespread inequities in financial support - classroom expecta






3. An approach to curriculum and teaching that involves students in solution of real-life problems rather than conventional study of terms and information.






4. Assigning students to classes based on their past achievement or presumed ability to learn (also known as homogenous grouping)






5. U.S. legislation passed in 1965 that provided large amounts of federal aid to states and local districts as part of the larger War on Poverty. ESEA must be reauthorized periodically by the Congress. The most well-known provision of ESEA is Title I -






6. Preparing students for a test by concentrating on the particular things the test contains rather than on the broader body of knowledge the test is intended to measure. An extreme example would be drilling students on the 20 words the teacher knows wi






7. A technique for teaching language arts that emphasizes the reading and writing of whole texts (sometimes beginning with picture books) before analyzing words and individual letter sounds.






8. Specific descriptions of performance of a given task at several different levels of quality. Teachers use rubrics to evaluate student performance on performance tasks. The way a teacher provides support to make sure students succeed at complex tasks






9. The GED exam is a high school equivalency test that was first developed in 1942. Each year - approximately 800 -000 adults receive a GED diploma






10. A collection of student work chosen to exemplify and document a student's learning progress over time.






11. The idea that families should have more than one alternative when enrolling their children in school.






12. Analyzing existing sources of information (class and school attendance - grades - test scores) and other data (portfolios - surveys - interviews) to make decisions about the school. The process involves organizing and interpreting the data and creati






13. Students with certain special needs - as specified by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) - have a legal right to a special plan written by a multidisciplinary team. After a series of tests and observations determine the child's ne






14. In current usage - the term usually refers to specific criteria for what students are expected to learn and be able to do. These standards usually take two forms in the curriculum:






15. Use of assessment strategies - such as performance assessment - constructed response items - and portfolios - to replace or supplement assessment by machine-scored multiple-choice tests.






16. Although this term has many possible meanings - it usually refers to a written plan outlining what students will be taught (a course of study).






17. Alternative public schools - most of which focus on a particular area of study - such as performing arts or science and technology but also offer regular school subjects.






18. Tests used to determine which individual students get rewards - honors - or sanctions. Low-stakes tests are used primarily to improve student learning. Tests with high stakes attached include college entrance examinations and tests students must pass






19. The responsibility of an agency to its sponsors and clientele for accomplishing its mission with prudent use of resources. In education - accountability is currently thought to require measurable proof that teachers - schools - districts - and states






20. Persistent differences in achievement among different types of students as indicated by scores on standardized tests - teacher grades - and other data. The gaps most frequently referred to are those between whites and minority groups - especially Afr






21. Schools that differ in one or more ways from conventional public schools. Alternative schools may reflect a particular teaching philosophy - such as individualization - or a specific focus - such as science and technology. Alternative schools may als






22. The habits and values taught in schools that are not specified in the official written curriculum. May refer to what critics see as an overemphasis on obedience - dependence - and conformity.






23. The way a teacher organizes and administers routines to make classroom life as productive and satisfying as possible. What some people might describe narrowly as 'discipline.'






24. Established in 1965 - Head Start is intended to foster healthy development of low-income children to help them succeed in school. Head Start and Early Head Start are federally sponsored - comprehensive child development programs that serve children f






25. A form of instruction that seeks to 'maximize each student's growth by meeting each student where she is and helping the student to progress.






26. An informal term for assigning students to the same teacher for more than one school year.






27. A theory of intelligence developed in the 1980s by Howard Gardner - professor of education at Harvard University. Gardner defines intelligence broadly as 'the capacity to solve problems or fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural sett






28. A self-governing educational facility that operates under contract between the school's organizers and the sponsors (often local school boards but sometimes other agencies - such as state boards of education). The organizers are often teachers - pare






29. A way of organizing instruction that tries to ensure that students have mastered each increment of a subject before going on to the next. A system that recognizes teachers or principals who are thought to be especially capable by paying them higher






30. Learning materials designed to help students understand abstract ideas by handling physical objects. An abacus is a mathematics manipulative.






31. A classification of educational objectives developed in the 1950s by a group of researchers headed by Benjamin Bloom of the University of Chicago. Commonly refers to the objectives for the cognitive domain - which range from knowledge and comprehensi






32. Students who - because of physical - developmental - behavioral - or emotional disabilities - require special instructional help to reach their potential. This may include specially trained teachers - innovative technology or instructional materials






33. The 2002 version of ESEA requires that states administer ______ in math and reading for all students in grades 3 through 8; schools failing to produce sufficient improvements in student test scores will be subject to sanctions. Advocates of these tes






34. In testing - an estimate of how closely the results of a test would match if the test were given repeatedly to the same student under the same conditions (and there was no practice effect).






35. Differences in the way students learn more readily.






36. The case heard by the United States Supreme Court in 1954 in which racial segregation in public schools was held to be unconstitutional.






37. Schooling at the high school level that allows students to spend a part of the school day attending traditional classes and the rest of the day learning a trade - such as auto repair or cosmetology. Vocational classes may be held in the same school b






38. A theory of education that places importance on the complete experience of learning and the ways in which the separate parts of the learning experience are interrelated.






39. Activities - exercises - or problems that require students to show what they can do.






40. Use of an approach based on behavioral science to change a person's way of doing things






41. Schools - almost always located in urban or low-income rural areas - in which an unacceptably low proportion of students meet established standards - as indicated by test scores. Also called low-performing schools.






42. Educational programs for students who - because they have a disability of some kind - require special instructional help to reach their potential. This may include specially trained teachers - innovative technology or instructional materials - access






43. Tests created by a school district or state that students must pass before graduating






44. NAEP (pronounced 'nape') - is also known as The Nation's Report Card. It is a federally funded program (currently contracted to Educational Testing Service in Princeton - N.J.) that provides information about the achievement of students nationally an






45. Intelligence quotient






46. A phrase used in the Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA) to describe the type of setting schools should provide for students with disabilities.






47. The effort to ensure that what teachers teach is in accord with what the curriculum says will be taught and what is assessed on official tests.






48. Refers to Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 - which is intended to improve education in high-poverty communities by targeting extra resources to schools and school districts with the highest concentrations of povert






49. Students who are reasonably fluent in another language but who have not yet achieved comparable mastery in reading - writing - listening - or speaking English. LEP students are often assigned to bilingual education or English-as-a-second-language (ES






50. Researcher Lauren Resnick has defined higher-order thinking as the kind of thinking needed when the path to finding a solution is not specified - and that yields multiple solutions rather than one. Higher-order thinking requires mental effort because