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






2. 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.






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






4. 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






5. 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






6. 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






7. 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






8. 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






9. 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


10. 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






11. 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






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. 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






14. 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






15. 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






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






17. 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






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






19. 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.






20. 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






21. Intelligence quotient






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






23. 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 -






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






26. 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 -






27. 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.






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






29. 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






30. Schooling that helps students understand and relate to cultural - ethnic - and other diversity - including religion - language - gender - age - and socioeconomic - mental - and physical differences.






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






32. 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






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






34. Differences in the way students learn more readily.






35. 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






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






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. 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






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






40. 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






41. 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).






42. 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.'






43. 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.






44. 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.






45. 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






46. 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:






47. 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






48. 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.






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






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