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ILTS Learning Behavior Specialist I (290) study materials
ILTS Learning Behavior Specialist I (290) study resources

ILTS Learning Behavior Specialist I (290) practice questions

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Question 1Understanding Students with Disabilities

Which of the following is one of the disability categories specifically named in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)?

  1. Giftedness and high ability
  2. Specific learning disability Correct answer.
  3. Economic or cultural disadvantage
  4. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Explanation

IDEA lists specific learning disability as one of its disability categories. ADHD is not a separate IDEA category; students with ADHD who need special education are usually served under other health impairment. Giftedness is addressed by other funding streams, and economic or cultural disadvantage cannot itself be the basis for eligibility.

Question 2Understanding Students with Disabilities

A student with a documented diagnosis of ADHD has significant difficulty sustaining attention and completing classwork. If the IEP team determines special education is needed, the student would most likely be found eligible under which category?

  1. Emotional disturbance
  2. Other health impairment Correct answer.
  3. Specific learning disability
  4. Intellectual disability

Explanation

Other health impairment covers students with limited strength, vitality, or alertness, including heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, caused by chronic or acute health conditions such as ADHD. The category was specifically written to include attention deficits that adversely affect educational performance.

Question 3Understanding Students with Disabilities

The core feature of a specific learning disability is best described as

  1. a disorder in basic psychological processes that impairs acquiring or using academic skills Correct answer.
  2. a general delay across all cognitive and adaptive domains
  3. academic difficulty caused mainly by limited English proficiency
  4. below-average adaptive behavior in school and community settings

Explanation

IDEA's definition centers on a disorder in one or more basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language, which may manifest in imperfect ability to listen, think, read, write, spell, or do mathematics. The difficulty is specific rather than global, and it is not primarily the result of other disabling conditions or environmental factors.

Question 4Understanding Students with Disabilities

Intellectual disability is defined by significant limitations in intellectual functioning together with limitations in

  1. gross and fine motor coordination
  2. adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical skills Correct answer.
  3. hearing and vision acuity
  4. articulation and voice production

Explanation

Intellectual disability requires limitations in both intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior, and the condition must originate before age 18. Adaptive behavior covers conceptual, social, and practical skills needed for everyday functioning. Motor, sensory, and speech skills may be affected in individual students but are not defining components.

Question 5Understanding Students with Disabilities

Which pattern is most characteristic of autism spectrum disorder?

  1. Progressive loss of motor and language skills beginning in late childhood
  2. Fluctuating hearing loss accompanied by repeated ear infections
  3. A narrow deficit limited to mathematics calculation with intact social skills
  4. Impaired social communication combined with restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior or interest Correct answer.

Explanation

Autism spectrum disorder is defined by persistent differences in social communication and social interaction together with restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities. The presentation varies widely in severity and profile across students. Skills are not typically lost progressively in late childhood, and the pattern is broader than a single academic skill deficit.

Question 6Understanding Students with Disabilities

Which disability category accounts for the largest share of students ages 6 through 21 served under IDEA?

  1. Specific learning disability Correct answer.
  2. Emotional disturbance
  3. Autism
  4. Intellectual disability

Explanation

Specific learning disability has long been the largest single eligibility category for school-age students served under IDEA. Autism has grown rapidly but remains a considerably smaller share of the total. Knowing the relative size of categories helps educators anticipate the service patterns they are most likely to encounter.

Question 7Understanding Students with Disabilities

A student produces the /w/ sound for /r/ and is frequently misunderstood by peers and teachers because of these sound errors, though vocabulary and sentence structure are age-appropriate. This student most likely has

  1. a receptive language disorder
  2. a fluency disorder
  3. a voice disorder
  4. a speech sound (articulation) disorder Correct answer.

Explanation

Speech sound disorders involve difficulty producing sounds correctly, including substitutions such as /w/ for /r/, that reduce intelligibility. Vocabulary and sentence structure are intact here, so language comprehension and formulation are not the primary concern. Fluency and voice disorders involve the flow of speech or vocal quality rather than sound production.

Question 8Understanding Students with Disabilities

Under IDEA's definition, emotional disturbance must

  1. be diagnosed by a physician before the school may act
  2. adversely affect educational performance over a long period of time to a marked degree Correct answer.
  3. be present from birth
  4. occur only in the home environment

Explanation

Emotional disturbance requires that the condition adversely affect educational performance over a long period and to a marked degree. The characteristics must also be present in more than one setting for eligibility, and school teams, not physicians alone, make the eligibility decision.

Question 9Understanding Students with Disabilities

A third grader reads slowly and inaccurately, has trouble decoding unfamiliar words, and shows weak phonemic awareness, yet understands stories well when they are read aloud. This profile is most consistent with

  1. dyscalculia
  2. dysgraphia
  3. dyslexia Correct answer.
  4. a receptive language disorder

Explanation

Dyslexia is a word-level reading disability marked by poor decoding, inaccurate word reading, and weak phonological processing despite generally intact comprehension of spoken language. The contrast between weak decoding and strong listening comprehension is the key diagnostic signal. Math and writing deficits would point to other specific learning disabilities.

Question 10Understanding Students with Disabilities

The term twice-exceptional describes students who

  1. have two co-occurring medical diagnoses on file with the school nurse
  2. receive services in two different special education settings each day
  3. have been retained in two consecutive grade levels
  4. are gifted or have high ability and also have a disability Correct answer.

Explanation

Twice-exceptional students demonstrate high ability or giftedness in one or more domains while also having a disability such as a learning disability, autism, or ADHD. Their strengths often mask their disability and their disability often masks their strengths, so both need to be addressed in programming. The term refers to the profile of abilities and needs, not to placements or diagnoses counts.

Question 11Understanding Students with Disabilities

Overrepresentation of some racial and ethnic groups in special education is most commonly attributed to

  1. higher rates of inherited disability within those groups
  2. random fluctuation in district enrollment patterns
  3. referral practices, assessment bias, and inequities in general education Correct answer.
  4. a federal requirement to balance special education classes by race

Explanation

Disproportionality research points to systemic factors such as referral patterns, culturally biased assessment instruments, inadequate general education support, and differences in access to early intervention. IDEA therefore requires states to monitor disproportionality by race and ethnicity. Genetic explanations and enrollment randomness are not supported as primary causes.

Question 12Understanding Students with Disabilities

In a multi-tiered system of support, the main function of Tier 1 is to

  1. determine formal eligibility for special education services
  2. replace core instruction for students who are struggling
  3. deliver intensive individualized intervention to a few students
  4. provide high-quality core instruction to all students with universal screening and progress monitoring Correct answer.

Explanation

Tier 1 is the universal level: research-based core instruction delivered to every student, paired with screening to identify who may need additional support. Eligibility decisions are never made on the basis of Tier 1 participation alone. Intensive individualized intervention corresponds to the highest tier.

Question 13Understanding Students with Disabilities

Before a team identifies a student as having a specific learning disability, it must first rule out

  1. enrollment in a public rather than a private school
  2. a family history of attention difficulties
  3. the presence of above-average general ability
  4. lack of appropriate instruction in reading or mathematics and limited English proficiency Correct answer.

Explanation

IDEA requires that specific learning disability eligibility not be based on lack of appropriate instruction in reading or math, limited English proficiency, or cultural and economic disadvantage. Teams must document that the student received appropriate instruction delivered by qualified personnel. High ability and school-type enrollment are not exclusionary factors.

Question 14Understanding Students with Disabilities

A student has a mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing loss. Which classroom effect is most likely?

  1. Difficulty hearing high-frequency sounds such as /s/, /f/, and /th/, especially in background noise Correct answer.
  2. A temporary hearing loss that typically resolves within a few days
  3. An inability to understand any speech without a sign language interpreter
  4. Normal hearing for speech but a loss limited to low-pitched tones

Explanation

Sensorineural hearing loss commonly reduces sensitivity to higher frequencies, where many consonant sounds carry information, and the difficulty is magnified by background noise and distance from the speaker. Mild losses are frequently missed because students appear to hear in quiet settings. Total reliance on sign language is not implied by a mild-to-moderate loss.

Question 15Understanding Students with Disabilities

A student has measurable vision that is usable for some tasks but is significantly reduced even with correction, and reads enlarged print comfortably. This student is best described as having

  1. low vision Correct answer.
  2. functional blindness
  3. total blindness
  4. a learning disability in visual processing

Explanation

Low vision means vision is significantly reduced even with correction but remains usable for some tasks, often with magnification, enlarged print, or optical devices. Total and functional blindness describe students who rely primarily on braille or tactile and auditory access. Visual processing difficulties are not a vision loss.

Question 16Understanding Students with Disabilities

Which statement best characterizes traumatic brain injury as an IDEA disability category?

  1. It applies only to injuries that occur at or before birth
  2. It describes a progressive condition that worsens over time
  3. It is an acquired injury to the brain that may cause impairments in cognition, memory, attention, or behavior Correct answer.
  4. It always includes a co-occurring intellectual disability

Explanation

Traumatic brain injury refers to an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force that results in impairments affecting educational performance. Effects may include problems with cognition, memory, attention, judgment, and behavior, and they can change over time. Congenital and degenerative conditions are excluded from this category.

Question 17Understanding Students with Disabilities

A student who meets criteria for autism and also has significantly below-average intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior illustrates

  1. co-occurring, or comorbid, disabilities Correct answer.
  2. a secondary disability that requires only separate IEP goals
  3. an error in one of the two evaluations
  4. a dual enrollment placement in two schools

Explanation

Students frequently meet criteria for more than one disability, and the IEP team must address the combined impact on learning. Co-occurring conditions often produce needs that differ from either condition alone. The presence of two conditions is not evidence of misdiagnosis.

Question 18Understanding Students with Disabilities

Adaptive behavior is most appropriately evaluated by

  1. standardized adaptive measures combined with information from caregivers about everyday functioning Correct answer.
  2. an individually administered intelligence test
  3. reviewing the student's report card grades from the past year
  4. a single observation conducted during one class period

Explanation

Adaptive behavior is measured with standardized instruments such as rating scales and interviews, with input from people who know the student's functioning across home, school, and community settings. A single measure or single observation cannot capture the conceptual, social, and practical domains. Intelligence tests measure cognitive ability rather than everyday functioning.

Question 19Understanding Students with Disabilities

A student with cerebral palsy uses a walker for mobility and has speech that is difficult for unfamiliar listeners to understand. Which combination of supports is most appropriate?

  1. A sign language interpreter and a braille writer
  2. A reduced academic curriculum and exemption from all physical education
  3. Accessible physical arrangements and augmentative and alternative communication supports Correct answer.
  4. A one-to-one aide in all academic subjects and a shortened school day

Explanation

Cerebral palsy is a motor disability, so environmental accessibility and reliable communication are the two highest-priority supports. Augmentative and alternative communication can provide a dependable means of expression when speech intelligibility is limited, and physical access ensures participation in the general education setting.

Question 20Understanding Students with Disabilities

A bilingual student who is still acquiring English is struggling with reading in the third grade. The most appropriate first step is to

  1. examine the student's performance in both languages and the quality of instruction before considering a referral Correct answer.
  2. delay any reading support until the student is fluent in English
  3. refer the student for special education evaluation right away
  4. assume a learning disability because reading is delayed

Explanation

Best practice requires gathering data in the student's home language as well as in English and confirming that the student has received appropriate instruction before a disability referral. Second-language acquisition can produce patterns that resemble a reading disability, so referral without this information risks misidentification. Delaying all support is unnecessary because instruction can be adjusted immediately.

Question 21Understanding Students with Disabilities

The other health impairment category covers students whose limited strength, vitality, or alertness stems from a chronic or acute health problem. Which condition best fits this category?

  1. A congenital limb difference
  2. A specific reading disability
  3. A conductive hearing loss
  4. Sickle cell anemia Correct answer.

Explanation

Other health impairment applies to chronic or acute health conditions such as asthma, epilepsy, diabetes, or sickle cell anemia that produce limited strength, vitality, or alertness and adversely affect educational performance. Reading disability, hearing loss, and limb differences have their own categories and are not served as other health impairment.

Question 22Understanding Students with Disabilities

Which statement best distinguishes a response-to-intervention approach to identifying specific learning disabilities from an ability–achievement discrepancy approach?

  1. It documents whether the student responds to increasingly intensive research-based instruction before formal identification Correct answer.
  2. It eliminates the need to collect any progress monitoring data
  3. It relies on a single intelligence quotient to establish the presence of a disability
  4. It requires a physician to confirm the presence of a processing disorder

Explanation

Response to intervention identifies students by measuring how well they respond to validated instruction delivered with increasing intensity, while the discrepancy approach compares achievement scores to an ability score. RTI emphasizes prevention and ongoing progress data rather than a single test score. Neither approach relies on physician confirmation.

Question 23Understanding Students with Disabilities

A student has a documented diagnosis of schizophrenia. For the student to be found eligible as having an emotional disturbance, the IEP team must establish that

  1. the diagnosis was made before the student turned six
  2. the student is also identified as gifted and talented
  3. the condition adversely affects educational performance to a marked degree over a long period of time Correct answer.
  4. the student's measured intelligence falls in the average range

Explanation

A clinical diagnosis alone does not establish IDEA eligibility; the team must show that the condition has a marked, long-standing adverse effect on educational performance and is present in more than one setting. Eligibility is an educational determination rather than a medical one. Age at diagnosis and intelligence level are not eligibility criteria.

Question 24Understanding Students with Disabilities

Under IDEA, a student with concomitant hearing and vision impairments whose combined effect causes severe communication and educational needs is classified as

  1. deaf-blind Correct answer.
  2. having a serious emotional disturbance
  3. having an other health impairment
  4. having multiple disabilities

Explanation

Deaf-blindness is a distinct IDEA category for students with simultaneous hearing and vision impairments, the combination of which causes severe communication, developmental, and educational needs. It is treated separately from the multiple disabilities category precisely because the combined sensory loss requires specialized intervention. The category applies even when some residual hearing or vision remains.

Question 25Understanding Students with Disabilities

Which statement about the learning profiles of students with disabilities is most accurate?

  1. Students sharing a disability label typically have nearly identical learning needs
  2. Eligibility is typically determined once and rarely needs to be revisited
  3. A disability label by itself determines which services and accommodations a student receives
  4. The same disability can produce very different learning profiles depending on age, severity, and the supports provided Correct answer.

Explanation

Disability categories describe common patterns, but individual profiles vary widely with age, severity, co-occurring conditions, and the quality of instruction and support. This is why IEP teams individualize goals and services rather than applying a standard package by label. Eligibility and needs are also reconsidered at least annually.

Question 26Understanding Students with Disabilities

Under IDEA, how many separate disability categories are listed under which a student may be found eligible for special education?

  1. Ten
  2. Thirteen Correct answer.
  3. Eighteen
  4. Seven

Explanation

IDEA recognizes thirteen disability categories, including autism, deaf-blindness, specific learning disability, and traumatic brain injury. Developmental delay is a separate optional category that states may use for young children rather than one of the thirteen.

Question 27Understanding Students with Disabilities

Under IDEA, a state may choose to use the developmental delay category for children of which age range?

  1. from age 6 through age 12
  2. from birth through age 2
  3. from age 3 through age 9 Correct answer.
  4. from age 3 through age 5 only

Explanation

IDEA permits states to use the developmental delay category for children aged 3 through 9, with use for children aged 6 through 9 left to state discretion. The category exists so young children can receive services without being labeled with a specific disability too early.

Question 28Understanding Students with Disabilities

A student with a specific learning disability in mathematics most typically shows persistent difficulty with which of the following?

  1. number sense and calculation fluency Correct answer.
  2. understanding figurative language in conversation
  3. pronouncing multisyllabic words accurately
  4. forming letters legibly during handwriting

Explanation

A specific learning disability in mathematics affects number sense, computation, fact retrieval, and mathematical reasoning. Handwriting difficulty suggests a writing disability, word pronunciation suggests a reading disability, and figurative language suggests a language disability.

Question 29Understanding Students with Disabilities

A student frequently repeats sounds and syllables, prolongs sounds, and shows physical tension when speaking in class. This pattern is best described as which of the following?

  1. a receptive language disorder
  2. a voice disorder
  3. a fluency disorder Correct answer.
  4. an articulation disorder

Explanation

A fluency disorder involves an interruption in the flow of speaking, such as repetitions, prolongations, and blocks, and it may include associated tension. Articulation concerns individual sound production, voice concerns pitch or quality, and receptive language concerns comprehension.

Question 30Understanding Students with Disabilities

A student has a documented health condition that does not meet the criteria for any IDEA disability category but needs accommodations to access the curriculum. Which legal basis most directly supports providing those services?

  1. the ADA only, since schools are public accommodations
  2. Section 504, which covers substantial limits on a major life activity Correct answer.
  3. no federal law, because the student's grades have not yet declined
  4. IDEA, because a health condition always qualifies as other health impairment

Explanation

Section 504 protects students with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity and requires schools to provide a free appropriate public education through accommodations and services. Unlike IDEA, Section 504 does not require the student to fit one of the thirteen disability categories.

Question 31Understanding Students with Disabilities

Which learning profile is most typical of a student with Down syndrome?

  1. intact phonological awareness combined with weak social interaction
  2. above-average verbal reasoning paired with weak visual-motor integration
  3. stronger visual and hands-on learning than auditory-verbal processing Correct answer.
  4. even development across domains with no consistent pattern of strengths

Explanation

Students with Down syndrome generally show relative strengths in visual processing and social relating, with greater difficulty in auditory processing, expressive speech, and working memory. Instruction therefore often pairs visual supports and hands-on materials with oral language.

Question 32Understanding Students with Disabilities

A middle school student with ADHD finishes few assignments because he loses materials, forgets due dates, and cannot break long projects into manageable steps. These behaviors most directly reflect difficulty with which of the following?

  1. visual-motor integration
  2. executive functioning Correct answer.
  3. auditory discrimination
  4. phonological processing

Explanation

Executive functions include organization, planning, time management, working memory, and self-monitoring, which are the processes underlying the described behaviors. Students with ADHD often show this profile even when their content knowledge is adequate.

Question 33Understanding Students with Disabilities

Which characteristic is most typical of the learning profile of a student with an intellectual disability?

  1. difficulty generalizing skills across settings Correct answer.
  2. uneven performance with superior reasoning in most areas
  3. reading at grade level with an isolated mathematics difficulty
  4. learning new skills quickly but forgetting them later

Explanation

Intellectual disability involves significantly below-average intellectual functioning together with deficits in adaptive behavior, so students often need explicit support to apply a skill in a new setting. Transfer and generalization are commonly named as areas requiring planned instruction.

Question 34Understanding Students with Disabilities

IDEA's least restrictive environment requirement means that which of the following must occur?

  1. students may be removed from general education whenever staff find it convenient
  2. every student with a disability must spend the full day in general education
  3. placement is determined mainly by the student's disability category
  4. education with nondisabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate Correct answer.

Explanation

The least restrictive environment principle requires that students with disabilities be educated alongside nondisabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate, with removal only when education in general classes with supplementary aids and services cannot be satisfactorily achieved. Placement is individualized rather than driven by a disability label.

Question 35Understanding Students with Disabilities

A student with autism spectrum disorder has strong vocabulary but rarely initiates conversation, does not notice when a listener is confused, and interprets statements literally. These features primarily reflect which of the following?

  1. low motivation to form friendships with peers
  2. deficits in social communication Correct answer.
  3. a hearing loss that distorts speech perception
  4. a receptive language delay only

Explanation

Autism spectrum disorder is defined by persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction together with restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior. Difficulty reading listener cues, initiating interaction, and interpreting nonliteral language are core social-communication features rather than a matter of willingness.

Question 36Understanding Students with Disabilities

A second grader follows directions poorly and gives vague or off-topic answers, although speech sounds are clear and grammar is age-appropriate. The most likely area of disability is which of the following?

  1. voice quality, resonance, and pitch
  2. fluency of spoken production
  3. articulation of speech sounds in conversation
  4. language comprehension and expression Correct answer.

Explanation

Speech disorders concern sound production, fluency, and voice, whereas language disorders concern understanding and using the shared symbol system. Clear speech with poor comprehension and disorganized expression points to a language impairment rather than a speech impairment.

Question 37Understanding Students with Disabilities

A student with a significant cognitive disability is most likely to do which of the following?

  1. take an alternate assessment on alternate achievement standards Correct answer.
  2. be excused from all state and district assessments
  3. take the general assessment with no accommodations or supports
  4. need only preferential seating to access grade-level content

Explanation

Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities may be assessed with an alternate assessment aligned to alternate achievement standards, as determined by the IEP team. Federal law does not permit exempting these students from all assessments.

Question 38Understanding Students with Disabilities

A student has average verbal ability and rote memory but marked difficulty with spatial tasks, handwriting, mathematics computation, and reading social cues. This profile is most consistent with which of the following?

  1. an intellectual disability
  2. a receptive-expressive language disorder
  3. a nonverbal learning disability Correct answer.
  4. an emotional disturbance

Explanation

A nonverbal learning disability is characterized by stronger verbal and rote skills paired with deficits in visual-spatial processing, motor coordination, mathematics, and social perception. The intact verbal ability distinguishes it from intellectual disability and from language disorders.

Question 39Understanding Students with Disabilities

Two students read two years below grade level. Student A has an IQ of 72 and weak adaptive skills; Student B has an IQ of 108, average adaptive skills, and a history of weak phonological processing. Which conclusion is best supported?

  1. Both students should be identified as having an intellectual disability
  2. Neither student is eligible, because a student whose IQ is below 75 cannot be identified as having a specific learning disability
  3. Student A fits intellectual disability; Student B fits specific learning disability Correct answer.
  4. Both students should be identified as having a specific learning disability

Explanation

Intellectual disability requires both significantly subaverage intellectual functioning and deficits in adaptive behavior, which matches Student A. A specific learning disability involves an academic deficit in the context of otherwise adequate intellectual and adaptive functioning, which matches Student B's isolated phonological weakness.

Question 40Understanding Students with Disabilities

A student has a diagnosed anxiety disorder and misses about fifteen school days a year while earning honor-roll grades and participating in extracurricular activities. In deciding eligibility for emotional disturbance, the team should focus on which question?

  1. a chronic condition automatically qualifies the student as emotionally disturbed
  2. grades are the only indicator of educational performance the team may consider
  3. whether the condition adversely affects educational performance over a long period Correct answer.
  4. a physician's diagnosis of an anxiety disorder alone establishes eligibility

Explanation

Emotional disturbance requires a condition that has persisted over a long period and adversely affects educational performance. A clinical diagnosis alone does not establish eligibility, and educational performance includes social, behavioral, and work-related functioning as well as grades.

Question 41Assessing Students with Disabilities and Developing Individualized Programs

A norm-referenced test reports standard scores with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. A student obtains a standard score of 100. This score indicates that:

  1. The student's score equals the average raw score of the class.
  2. The student answered every item on the test correctly.
  3. The student performed at the average of the normative sample. Correct answer.
  4. The student scored one standard deviation above the mean.

Explanation

Standard scores are transformations of raw scores that place the student's performance on a distribution with a known mean and standard deviation. A score of 100 on this scale falls at the 50th percentile, the center of the normal curve, so it represents average performance relative to the norm group rather than a perfect or raw score.

Question 42Assessing Students with Disabilities and Developing Individualized Programs

A student earns a percentile rank of 45 on a norm-referenced reading test. This score indicates that the student:

  1. Earned a raw score of exactly 45 points on the test
  2. Performed at or above 45 percent of the norm group Correct answer.
  3. Is performing approximately 45 months below grade level
  4. Correctly answered 45 percent of the items on the test

Explanation

Percentile rank expresses the percentage of the norm group whose score the student equaled or exceeded, so a rank of 45 means roughly 45 percent of the norm sample scored at or below that point. It is an ordinal standing in a distribution, not a percentage of items correct or a raw score.

Question 43Assessing Students with Disabilities and Developing Individualized Programs

A test manual reports a test-retest reliability coefficient of .91. This statistic primarily indicates that the test:

  1. Yields consistent scores across repeated administrations Correct answer.
  2. Measures the same construct as other published tests
  3. Is free from cultural bias in its item content
  4. Predicts future academic achievement with high accuracy

Explanation

Test-retest reliability is a stability coefficient: it reflects how closely scores from two administrations agree when the underlying ability has not changed. Coefficients near .90 indicate strong consistency of scores over short intervals.

Question 44Assessing Students with Disabilities and Developing Individualized Programs

A special education teacher reviews a new mathematics test and finds that none of its items address the fractions and decimals units taught in the district curriculum. The teacher's concern is primarily about:

  1. Inter-rater agreement
  2. Content validity Correct answer.
  3. The standard error of measurement
  4. Test-retest reliability

Explanation

Content validity concerns whether test items adequately represent the domain the test is intended to measure, which here is the taught curriculum. A mismatch between item content and the units actually taught is a content-validity problem.

Question 45Assessing Students with Disabilities and Developing Individualized Programs

Which statement best describes a curriculum-based measurement such as oral reading fluency?

  1. An individually administered intelligence test used for eligibility
  2. Brief, repeatable probes that track progress over time Correct answer.
  3. A permanent product portfolio scored with a holistic rubric
  4. A standardized achievement battery normed on a national sample

Explanation

Curriculum-based measurement uses short, equivalent probes drawn from the curriculum, administered repeatedly (for example, weekly) so the slope of improvement can be graphed and evaluated. It is designed as a progress-monitoring tool rather than a norm-referenced or diagnostic instrument.

Question 46Assessing Students with Disabilities and Developing Individualized Programs

When using progress-monitoring data to judge a student's response to intervention, the teacher should primarily compare the student's:

  1. Standard score on the district's year-end achievement test to the class average
  2. Performance on the state alternate assessment to the state mean
  3. Rate of progress to the goal line and baseline Correct answer.
  4. Classroom grades to the grades earned by the student's siblings

Explanation

In a response-to-intervention framework, the student's graphed rate of improvement is compared with the goal line set from baseline data and with typical peer growth, and decisions follow from the size of the gap and the slope. A single end-of-year score cannot reveal whether a student is responding to instruction.

Question 47Assessing Students with Disabilities and Developing Individualized Programs

A functional behavioral assessment is conducted primarily to:

  1. Compare the student's behavior rating with national norms
  2. Determine whether the student meets the criteria for a specific disability category
  3. Document that the student's behavior violates the district code of conduct
  4. Identify the antecedents and consequences that maintain a behavior Correct answer.

Explanation

A functional behavioral assessment is a hypothesis-testing process that identifies the function of a behavior by examining antecedents, the behavior itself, and the consequences that maintain it. The results are used to build a behavior intervention plan that addresses that function.

Question 48Assessing Students with Disabilities and Developing Individualized Programs

Assessment data show that a student's off-task behavior is maintained by teacher attention. The most appropriate component of the student's behavior intervention plan is to:

  1. Teach and reinforce an appropriate way to request attention Correct answer.
  2. Remove the student from the classroom during unstructured time
  3. Increase the difficulty of the student's independent seatwork
  4. Conduct additional norm-referenced cognitive testing

Explanation

When attention maintains a behavior, an effective plan teaches and reinforces a functionally equivalent replacement skill while ensuring the problem behavior no longer produces the desired attention. Removing the student or changing task difficulty does not address the function the behavior serves.

Question 49Assessing Students with Disabilities and Developing Individualized Programs

The present levels of academic achievement and functional performance statement in an IEP should:

  1. Summarize the student's disciplinary history and attendance record
  2. Specify the exact number of minutes of each related service
  3. List the annual goals the student achieved during the previous school year
  4. Describe current skills and how the disability affects general curriculum progress Correct answer.

Explanation

The present levels statement describes the student's current academic achievement and functional performance, typically with baseline data, and explains how the disability affects involvement and progress in the general education curriculum. Annual goals, services, and accommodations are then derived from this statement.

Question 50Assessing Students with Disabilities and Developing Individualized Programs

A measurable annual goal in an IEP must include which of the following elements?

  1. A description of the disability category and the eligibility date
  2. Target behavior, conditions, criterion for acceptable performance Correct answer.
  3. The names of the general education teachers who will implement it
  4. A list of the assessments administered during the initial evaluation

Explanation

A measurable annual goal states the target behavior or skill, the conditions under which it will be demonstrated, and the criterion for acceptable performance, such as accuracy, rate, or level. These components make progress observable and verifiable through data collection.