DSST Foundations of Education study guide
DSST Foundations of Education · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The DSST Foundations of Education exam is a credit-by-examination option for students who need to demonstrate college-level knowledge equivalent to an introductory education course. It is aimed at self-directed learners, including military service members and adult students, who want to earn three baccalaureate semester hours without sitting in a classroom. The exam is classified as a Social Sciences test at level 3 Baccalaureate, and it is accepted by many colleges and universities that recognize DSST scores. The content is organized around three broad areas: contemporary issues in education; past and current influences on education, including philosophies, democratic ideals, and social and economic forces; and the interrelationships between contemporary issues and those influences. The DSST Foundations of Education study guide has 3 sections and about 1,451 words.
01Contemporary Issues in Education
This domain tests whether you can name a current education debate, explain its mechanism, and attach the correct legal authority or evidence to it. Items cluster around accountability, school choice, equity and funding, technology, and the teaching profession.
479 words, about 2 min02Past and Current Influences on Education: Philosophies, Democratic Ideals, Social and Economic Forces
This domain asks you to connect named thinkers and schools of philosophy to classroom practice, and to connect broad social and economic forces to the institutions they produced. Items often give a classroom scenario and ask which philosophy it reflects, or give a historical event and ask its policy consequence.
490 words, about 2 min03Interrelationships Between Contemporary Issues and Past or Current Influences
This domain tests causal reasoning across time: given a present controversy, you must trace it to an originating policy, precedent, or ideology, and explain the mechanism that keeps it alive - a funding stream, a court doctrine, an institutional structure, or a belief system. Stems often ask "which historical development best explains this current practice?" 1.
482 words, about 2 min