GACE School Psychology (724) key terms

Administration of a test using the same directions, materials, and scoring rules for every examinee so scores can be compared to a norm group. Departures from these procedures weaken score validity.

A score interpreted by comparing it to the performance of a defined reference group. Standard scores, percentiles, and stanines are common forms and are not interchangeable without conversion tables.

A transformed score expressing distance from the mean in standard deviation units. Common school metrics include z-scores, T-scores, and index scores with a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 15.

The percentage of a norm group scoring at or below a given raw score. It is an ordinal, not interval, metric, so equal percentile gaps do not represent equal ability differences.

An estimate of the average amount a person's observed score is expected to vary from their true score across repeated testing. It is used to build confidence intervals around scores.

A range of scores around an observed score that likely contains the examinee's true score at a chosen probability level. Width depends on test reliability and the confidence level selected.

The consistency of scores across occasions, forms, raters, or items. High reliability is necessary but not sufficient for validity and limits how precisely individual scores can be interpreted.

The degree to which evidence and theory support the interpretations and uses of test scores for a specific purpose. It is a property of score interpretations, not of the test itself.

Brief, standardized probes of basic academic skills administered repeatedly to index growth and responsiveness to instruction. Scores are sensitive to short-term change and support goal setting and progress monitoring.

Frequent, repeated measurement of a target skill during intervention to judge whether performance is improving at the intended rate. Data are graphed and compared against a goal line or aim line.

Using systematically collected student data, such as screening, progress, and diagnostic results, to decide whether to continue, adjust, or discontinue instruction or intervention. Decisions are documented and revisited on a schedule.

A multi-tiered framework in which students receive increasingly intensive, evidence-based instruction matched to need, with progress monitored to inform movement among tiers and to support identification decisions.

A schoolwide framework organizing universal, targeted, and intensive supports across academic and behavioral domains. Tier placement is fluid and driven by data rather than by fixed labels.

A tiered, prevention-oriented approach to behavior that teaches and reinforces expected behaviors, uses data to guide decisions, and arranges environmental supports before resorting to consequences.

A systematic process for identifying the environmental events that occasion and maintain a behavior, typically through indirect methods, direct observation, and sometimes experimental analysis. Results guide intervention selection.

A written, individualized plan derived from functional assessment data that specifies prevention strategies, replacement skills to teach, and consequences for problem and desired behavior, with progress monitored over time.

A consequence that increases the future frequency of the behavior it follows. Positive reinforcement adds a stimulus; negative reinforcement removes or reduces an aversive condition. Both strengthen behavior.

Withholding the reinforcer that previously maintained a behavior, which typically produces an initial increase in response rate and variability before the behavior declines. Consistency across caregivers is essential.

A structured, goal-oriented counseling approach targeting the links among thoughts, feelings, and actions. School-based adaptations are typically brief, skills-focused, and delivered individually or in small groups.

Immediate, short-term supports provided after a traumatic event or acute risk to restore safety and functioning. School psychologists often coordinate risk assessment, triage, referral, and follow-up while following district protocols.

A structured inquiry into suicidal ideation, intent, plan, means access, prior attempts, and protective factors, followed by supervision, notification of guardians, safety planning, and referral as indicated by district policy.

Explaining counseling purpose, procedures, expected benefits and risks, confidentiality and its limits, and the right to withdraw, in developmentally appropriate language, and documenting agreement to participate.

Instruction and practice in self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. Universal programming is typically delivered through classroom curricula and reinforced schoolwide.

A collaborative, indirect service in which the school psychologist works with teachers, families, or teams to solve student problems. The consultee retains responsibility for implementing agreed strategies.

A structured consultation cycle of defining the problem in observable terms, analyzing its function, selecting and implementing an intervention, and evaluating outcomes, then recycling as needed.

Collaborative relationships among educators and caregivers built on mutual respect, shared expectations, and two-way communication, intended to support student learning and well-being across home and school settings.

The awareness, knowledge, and skills needed to work effectively across cultural backgrounds, including recognizing one's own biases and adapting assessment and intervention practices to students' and families' contexts.

Selecting, administering, and interpreting measures so that results are not systematically distorted by factors such as language, culture, or experience, and using multiple sources of evidence before drawing conclusions.

Systematic error in measurement or prediction for members of a particular group, such as items favoring one cultural experience or differential predictive validity. It is an empirical question, not inferred from score gaps alone.

Obtaining a parent's or eligible student's agreement to a full initial evaluation after explaining the proposed actions, records to be reviewed, and the right to refuse, with documentation in the required language.

Parental rights under special education law, including notice, access to records, participation in meetings, independent evaluation, and mechanisms to resolve disputes through mediation or due process.

The legal entitlement of eligible students with disabilities to special education and related services designed to meet their individual needs at public expense, consistent with an individualized education program.

A written plan for an eligible student with a disability specifying present levels, measurable annual goals, services, accommodations, and progress reporting, developed by a team that includes parents.

The requirement that students with disabilities be educated with peers without disabilities to the maximum extent appropriate, with removal only when supports and services cannot achieve satisfactory progress.

The ethical and legal duty to protect student records and disclosures from unauthorized release, with defined exceptions such as consent, safety emergencies, and legally mandated reporting.

The legal obligation of school psychologists and other professionals to report suspected child abuse or neglect to designated authorities, typically within a specified timeframe, even when information was shared in confidence.

A developmental period from roughly age seven to eleven marked by conservation, classification, seriation, and reversible thinking about tangible objects, while abstract hypothetical reasoning remains difficult.

The gap between what a learner can do independently and what they can accomplish with guidance from a more capable person. Instruction is most effective when targeted within this range.

Temporary support, such as prompts, models, or partial solutions, that enables a learner to complete a task beyond their independent ability, gradually withdrawn as competence grows.