FTCE Professional Education Test cheat sheet

Bloom's revised taxonomy order: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, Create; verbs signal the cognitive level a standard demands.

Backward design (Wiggins & McTighe) sequence: identify desired results, determine acceptable evidence, then plan learning experiences.

Direct instruction fits well-structured content; inquiry and cooperative models fit ill-structured problems and transfer goals.

Wait time of 3-5 seconds after a question increases response length and student-initiated participation.

Higher-order questions (analysis, evaluation, creation) should outnumber recall questions in a balanced lesson.

Task analysis breaks a terminal objective into prerequisite subskills sequenced from simplest to most complex.

Grouping rule: heterogeneous groups support peer modeling; homogeneous flexible groups support targeted skill reteaching.

Pacing rule: chunk content into segments of roughly 10-15 minutes with processing or practice between segments.

Objective components: observable behavior, conditions of performance, and criterion for acceptable mastery.

Withitness refers to a teacher's awareness of and quick response to misbehavior across the whole room.

Kounin's effective management variables: withitness, overlapping, smoothness, momentum, group alerting, accountability.

Positive behavior supports tier structure: universal (Tier 1), targeted small-group (Tier 2), intensive individual (Tier 3).

Behavior-specific praise names the behavior and is delivered immediately; ratio of praise to correction should favor praise.

Proximity control and non-verbal cues are low-disruption interventions to redirect off-task behavior.

Physical arrangement rule: seating and traffic patterns should permit line-of-sight supervision of all students at all times.

Classroom rules are most effective when few (about 4-6), stated positively, and explicitly taught and rehearsed.

Extinction is removal of the reinforcement maintaining a behavior; it often produces a temporary increase before decline.

Piaget's stages in order: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational; formal reasoning emerges in adolescence.

Vygotsky's zone of proximal development is the gap between independent performance and performance with adult or peer support.

Erikson's school-age stage is industry vs. inferiority; the adolescent stage is identity vs. role confusion.

Kohlberg's moral stages progress preconventional (rewards/punishment), conventional (social approval/rules), postconventional (principles).

Maslow's hierarchy orders needs from physiological and safety upward to belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.

Scaffolding is temporary support withdrawn as competence grows; it is aligned with Vygotskian theory.

Intrinsic motivation arises from interest and competence; extrinsic motivation relies on external rewards or consequences.

Accommodations change how a student accesses content; modifications change the content or performance expectation itself.

Validity is the degree to which an assessment measures what it claims to measure; it is the most fundamental quality criterion.

Reliability is consistency of scores across occasions, forms, or raters; reliability is necessary but not sufficient for validity.

Formative assessment is used during instruction to adjust teaching; summative assessment is used after instruction to judge achievement.

Norm-referenced scores compare a student to a norm group; criterion-referenced scores compare performance to a fixed standard.

A percentile rank of 75 means the student scored at or above 75 percent of the norm group, not 75 percent correct.

Standard error of measurement estimates score variability; a confidence band around a score reflects this error.

A rubric with clear descriptors and a limited number of performance levels increases inter-rater reliability.

Item difficulty is the proportion answering correctly; item discrimination compares high and low scorers' performance on the item.

Table of specifications (test blueprint) aligns item counts to objectives and cognitive levels, supporting content validity.

Professional development is most effective when sustained, job-embedded, collaborative, and focused on student data.

FERPA protects the privacy of student education records; parents generally have the right to inspect records.

IDEA guarantees students with disabilities a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act prohibits discrimination based on disability in federally funded programs.

Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs.

The First Amendment limits school censorship of student expression but permits regulation of disruptive or lewd speech.

Tinker v. Des Moines established that students do not shed constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate.

Brown v. Board of Education held that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.

Mandated reporting: educators must report suspected child abuse or neglect to designated authorities per state law.

In loco parentis means the school assumes some parental authority and corresponding duty of care for students.

Lesson closure summarizes learning and checks attainment of the objective within the final minutes of a lesson.

Modeling followed by guided practice, then independent practice, is the gradual release of responsibility structure.

Differentiation can modify content, process, product, or learning environment based on readiness, interest, and profile.

Cooperative learning requires individual accountability and positive interdependence to be effective.

Advance organizers activate prior knowledge and connect new content to existing schemas.

Feedback is most effective when specific, timely, and focused on the task rather than on the learner's ability.

A behavior intervention plan follows a functional behavior assessment identifying antecedents, behavior, and consequences.

Restorative practices focus on repairing harm and restoring relationships rather than solely on punishment.

Transitions are smoother when routines are taught, signaled, and timed; reducing transition time increases instructional time.

Culturally responsive management recognizes how cultural norms shape expectations for eye contact, silence, and discourse.

Bullying prevention requires clear reporting procedures, supervision of unstructured settings, and consistent follow-up.

Classical conditioning pairs a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus; operant conditioning shapes behavior through consequences.

Reinforcement increases behavior; punishment decreases behavior; negative means removal of a stimulus, not an adverse outcome.

Piaget's conservation is the understanding that quantity remains constant despite changes in appearance.

Metacognition is awareness and regulation of one's own thinking, including planning, monitoring, and evaluating.

Working memory capacity is limited; chunking and rehearsal reduce cognitive load during new learning.

Language acquisition: BICS are conversational skills acquired in about 1-3 years; CALP are academic language skills taking about 5-7 years.

Authentic assessment requires students to apply knowledge to real-world tasks or performances.

A norm-referenced test typically reports standard scores with a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 15 for many ability measures.

Grade-equivalent scores do not indicate the grade level of curriculum a student is ready for and should be interpreted cautiously.

Formative checks should be low-stakes and frequent; feedback loops drive instructional adjustment.

Portfolio assessment documents growth over time and requires clear criteria to be defensible.

Test bias exists when items systematically disadvantage a group for reasons unrelated to the construct measured.

Educator codes of ethics typically address student welfare, honest representation of credentials, and confidentiality.

Copyright fair use considers purpose, nature, amount, and market effect of the use of copyrighted material.

Due process requires notice and an opportunity to respond before a student is deprived of a protected interest.

Goss v. Lopez established that students facing suspension are entitled to notice and a hearing.

Plyler v. Doe held that states cannot deny free public education to undocumented immigrant children.

Teachers must maintain confidentiality of student information and share it only with those with legitimate educational interest.

Essential questions are open-ended and promote inquiry across a unit rather than a single fact.

Interdisciplinary units integrate objectives from more than one content area around a shared theme.

Technology integration is strongest when it supports higher-order thinking, not just substitution of paper tasks.

Flexible grouping changes group membership based on the objective and current student data.

Checks for understanding should occur every few minutes of direct instruction, not only at the end of a lesson.

A token economy delivers tokens exchangeable for reinforcers; it requires a clear schedule and eventual fading.

Behavior contracts specify expected behavior, rewards, and consequences and are signed by student and teacher.

Active supervision involves moving, scanning, and interacting frequently during unstructured time.

The least restrictive intervention should be attempted before more restrictive behavior consequences.

Classroom climate is influenced by teacher warmth, high expectations, and equitable participation structures.

Maslow's belongingness needs must be reasonably met before higher-level academic engagement is likely.

Self-efficacy, a student's belief in capability for a task, predicts persistence and effort.

Dweck's growth mindset holds that ability is malleable through effort and strategy use.

Piaget's egocentrism in the preoperational stage limits perspective-taking; perspective-taking improves with development.

Transfer occurs when learning in one context is applied in a new context; it is supported by varied practice.

Construct validity concerns whether a test measures the intended underlying construct rather than an unrelated skill.

Inter-rater reliability concerns agreement among scorers; intra-rater reliability concerns consistency of one scorer over time.

A criterion-referenced cut score defines mastery independently of how other students performed.

Assessment accommodations such as extended time must not alter the construct being measured.

Progress monitoring uses brief, repeated measures to track response to intervention over time.

Educators must report suspected abuse per state mandatory reporting statutes; failure to report can carry legal consequences.

A teacher's personal social media contact with students raises boundary and ethical concerns under professional conduct standards.

IEP procedural safeguards include parental rights to participate, disagree, and request due process.

Section 504 plans provide accommodations for students with disabilities who do not require special education services.

Confidentiality exceptions include legitimate educational interest, health and safety emergencies, and legal compulsion.

Educators may not disclose student grades or discipline records to unauthorized third parties under FERPA.

Higher-order thinking objectives use verbs such as analyze, evaluate, and design rather than list or define.

Student engagement increases when tasks are appropriately challenging, not too easy or too difficult.

Feedback aligned to the objective helps students close the gap between current and desired performance.

Lesson objectives should be stated in terms of what students will do, not what the teacher will do.

Formative data should drive immediate instructional adjustments within the lesson when possible.

Positive reinforcement schedules: continuous reinforcement is fastest for acquisition; intermittent schedules resist extinction.

Natural consequences are those that follow behavior without teacher imposition and can be instructive.

Group contingencies can motivate peer support but require safeguards against scapegoating.

A calm, neutral tone during correction reduces power struggles and preserves the instructional focus.

Classroom expectations should be posted, referred to frequently, and retaught after breaks.

Piaget's concrete operational stage, roughly ages 7-11, supports logical thought about concrete objects.

Vygotsky emphasized social interaction and language as central to cognitive development.

Erikson's trust vs. mistrust stage occurs in infancy and shapes later relational patterns.

Working memory, not long-term memory, is the bottleneck in learning new complex material.

Metacognitive strategies include self-questioning, summarizing, and monitoring comprehension.

A rubric's performance levels should be described in observable terms to reduce subjective scoring.

Summative scores should be based on multiple measures to increase reliability.

Assessment should align with the cognitive demand of the standard, not just its content topic.

A test item that all students answer correctly provides little discrimination among students.

Standardized test scores should be interpreted with awareness of measurement error and confidence intervals.

Teachers must not use corporal punishment where prohibited by state law or district policy.

Search of a student's person or belongings requires reasonable suspicion under school law standards.

Educators must protect students from harassment and report bullying consistent with district policy.

Copyright in the classroom generally permits limited use for face-to-face instruction, not wholesale reproduction.

Professional development plans should be tied to school improvement goals and student achievement data.