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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. 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






2. A standard for judging a performance..






3. 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






4. The effect of teacher expectations on student performance. The term refers to a Greek myth that was the forerunner of the musical My Fair Lady - in which a teacher transforms an uneducated person into a proper lady. Extensive research has documented






5. 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






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






7. 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.






8. 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






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






10. 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






11. 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






12. 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






13. 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






14. 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






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. 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.






17. A student whose first language is other than English and who is in a special program for learning English (which may be bilingual education or English as a second language).






18. 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.






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






20. 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:






21. 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 -






22. 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






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






24. The practice of educating all children in the same classroom - including children with physical - mental - and developmental disabilities. Inclusion classes often require a special assistant to the classroom teacher. In a fully inclusive school or cl






25. 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






26. Tests designed to measure how thoroughly a student has learned a particular body of knowledge without regard to how well other students have learned it..






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






28. 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






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. The idea that one gender or the other is short-changed by school practices and expectations. The term may refer to the difficulties boys tend to have in conforming to classroom routines and learning to read and write - or it may refer to lower averag






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






32. 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






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






34. 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






35. 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.






36. 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






37. Measuring the learning and performance of students or teachers. Different types of assessment instruments include achievement tests - minimum competency tests - developmental screening tests - aptitude tests - observation instruments - performance ta






38. The practice of dividing students for instruction according to their perceived abilities. Students are placed on a particular track (college-bound - general - vocational - and remedial) and given a curriculum that varies according to their perceived






39. Students who have a higher than average probability of dropping out or failing school. Broad categories usually include inner-city - low-income - and homeless children; those not fluent in English; and special-needs students with emotional disabiliti






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






41. 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






42. 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.






43. The practice of placing students with disabilities into regular classrooms.






44. Standardized tests designed to measure how a student's performance compares with that of other students.






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






46. 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.






47. 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






48. 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.






49. 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


50. A certificate issued to parents that can be used as full or partial payment of tuition for any nonpublic school.