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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. 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






2. 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 failing schools.






3. 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






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






5. 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






6. Differences in the way students learn more readily.






7. 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






8. 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.






9. A test given to evaluate and document what students have learned. The term is used to distinguish such tests from formative tests - which are used primarily to diagnose what students have learned in order to plan further instruction






10. 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






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






12. 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






13. 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






14. 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 -






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






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






17. 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






18. 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






19. 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






20. 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.






21. 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.






22. 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).






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






24. 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






25. 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






26. 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






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






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






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






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






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. 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






33. 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.






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






35. 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..






36. A revision of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act - the IDEA is a federal law passed in 1991 and amended in 1997 that guarantees a free appropriate public education for eligible children and youth with disabilities. According to the law -






37. 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






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






39. 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






40. 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






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






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






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






44. 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).






45. 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.






46. 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






47. 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.






48. 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:






49. 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






50. 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.'