Test your basic knowledge |

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. 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






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






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






4. 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.






5. 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






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






7. 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






8. 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






9. 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






10. Intended results of schooling: What students are supposed to know and be able to do.






11. 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






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. 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






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






15. With a membership of nearly 6.5 million - National PTA (also known as Parent Teacher Association) is a nonprofit organization of parents - teachers - students - and others that encourages parental and public involvement in the schools - advocates for






16. 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






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






19. 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.






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






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






22. 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






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






24. 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


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






26. 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.






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






28. 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.






29. 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 -






30. 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






31. 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






32. A standard for judging a performance..






33. 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






34. 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..






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






36. 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






37. 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.






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






39. 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.






40. 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






41. 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.






42. 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).






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






44. 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).






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






46. 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






47. Intelligence quotient






48. 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






49. 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






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