GTET 1 cheat sheet

Georgia Code of Ethics: Educators may not knowingly falsify or misrepresent official records, including grades, attendance, and test data.

Mandated reporting: Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 19-7-5) requires educators to report suspected child abuse or neglect to DFCS or law enforcement immediately; failure to report is a misdemeanor.

Educator certification: A standard renewable certificate requires completion of the state-approved ethics assessment (currently the Georgia Ethics Assessment) before certification.

Confidentiality: Student education records are protected by FERPA; sharing grades, IEP details, or discipline records with unauthorized persons violates federal law.

Inappropriate relationships: Georgia ethics rules prohibit romantic or sexual relationships between educators and students, regardless of age of consent.

Assessment integrity: Educators must administer state assessments according to test security protocols; altering answer documents or coaching during testing is a violation.

Professional boundaries: Accepting expensive gifts, using school property for personal gain, or tutoring students for pay without district approval may violate ethics rules.

Duty to intervene: Educators must report colleagues' ethical violations to administration; retaliation against a reporter is prohibited.

Social media: Posting student images or confidential information without parental consent and administrative approval violates privacy and ethics standards.

Backward design (Wiggins & McTighe): Stage 1 = identify desired results (standards, big ideas); Stage 2 = determine acceptable evidence (assessments); Stage 3 = plan learning experiences.

Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE) define grade-level content; curriculum maps sequence standards across the year by quarter or unit.

Learning objective format: condition + behavior + criterion (e.g., 'Given a word problem, students will solve two-step equations with 80% accuracy').

Bloom's revised taxonomy order: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, Create; objectives should target higher-order levels when appropriate.

Scope and sequence: scope = breadth of content; sequence = order of instruction, typically from concrete to abstract and simple to complex.

Differentiated planning: Tier content by readiness, interest, or learning profile while keeping the same essential standard for all students.

Pacing guide: A district document that allocates instructional days per standard and aligns with benchmark assessment windows.

Cross-curricular integration: Connect standards from two content areas (e.g., ELA writing in science lab reports) to deepen transfer.

Formative assessment should be planned in Stage 2 as evidence of learning, not added after instruction.

Gradual release of responsibility: modeled instruction (I do) → guided practice (We do) → collaborative practice (You do together) → independent practice (You do).

Direct instruction: explicit teaching with clear objectives, modeling, guided practice, and immediate corrective feedback; effective for foundational skills.

Cooperative learning: structured group work with positive interdependence, individual accountability, and group processing (Johnson & Johnson).

Inquiry-based learning: students pose questions, investigate, and construct explanations; teacher acts as facilitator.

Wait time: 3–5 seconds after asking a question increases response length and participation; 5–10 seconds after a student response encourages elaboration.

Questioning hierarchy: use a mix of lower-order (recall) and higher-order (analysis, evaluation) questions; cold call increases accountability.

Scaffolding: temporary supports (graphic organizers, sentence frames, models) faded as students gain competence (Vygotsky's ZPD).

Feedback: specific, timely, and goal-referenced feedback (Hattie effect size ~0.70) outperforms praise or grades alone.

Technology integration: SAMR model (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition) guides purposeful tech use.

Formative assessment: ongoing checks during instruction (exit tickets, questioning, quizzes) used to adjust teaching; not graded for accuracy.

Summative assessment: end-of-unit or end-of-course evaluation of mastery (tests, projects, performance tasks).

Reliability = consistency of scores; validity = the assessment measures what it claims to measure.

Norm-referenced tests compare a student to a norm group; criterion-referenced tests compare performance to a standard or learning objective.

Item analysis: difficulty index = proportion correct (p); discrimination index = difference in performance between high and low scorers.

Data teams: collaborative review of common assessment data to identify standards needing reteaching and to plan interventions.

MTSS/RTI: universal screening, Tier 1 core instruction, Tier 2 targeted intervention, Tier 3 intensive intervention; progress monitoring every 2–4 weeks.

Assessment bias: items that advantage or disadvantage a group based on culture, language, or background reduce validity.

Rubrics: analytic rubrics score criteria separately; holistic rubrics give one overall score; both improve scoring consistency.

Classroom management continuum: proactive (rules, routines, physical arrangement) → supportive (positive reinforcement, relationships) → corrective (redirect, consequences).

Rules should be 3–5, positively stated, observable, and posted; routines should be explicitly taught and practiced.

Withitness (Kounin): teacher awareness of and quick response to off-task behavior prevents escalation.

Positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS): Tier 1 universal expectations, Tier 2 targeted groups, Tier 3 individual behavior plans.

Behavior intervention plan (BIP): based on functional behavior assessment (FBA) identifying antecedent, behavior, consequence (ABC).

Proximity control, nonverbal signals, and planned ignoring are low-disruption redirections.

Physical environment: seating arrangements (rows for independent work, clusters for collaboration) affect engagement and behavior.

Restorative practices: focus on repairing harm through dialogue rather than punitive consequences alone.

Transition procedures: signal, countdown, and clear expectations reduce lost instructional time.

IDEA categories: 13 disability categories; eligibility requires adverse educational impact and need for specially designed instruction.

IEP components: present levels of performance, measurable annual goals, special education and related services, least restrictive environment (LRE) statement, accommodations/modifications.

Section 504: provides accommodations for students with a disability that substantially limits a major life activity; does not require specialized instruction.

English learners: WIDA/Georgia ELD standards; use of home language supports and sheltered instruction (SIOP) improves access.

Cultural responsiveness: incorporate students' cultural references, prior knowledge, and communication styles into instruction.

Gifted learners: need acceleration, enrichment, and complexity beyond grade-level standards.

Learning styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) lack strong evidence; differentiate by readiness, interest, and profile instead.

Trauma-informed practices: predictable routines, safety, and choice support students affected by adverse experiences.

UDL principles: multiple means of engagement, representation, and action/expression.

Parent-teacher conferences: prepare data, use plain language, focus on student strengths and specific next steps, and document agreements.

FERPA: parents have the right to inspect records; schools must have written consent to disclose personally identifiable information except under specified exceptions.

Collaboration teams: professional learning communities (PLCs) focus on four questions: what should students learn, how will we know, how will we respond, how will we extend.

Co-teaching models: one teach/one observe, one teach/one assist, station teaching, parallel teaching, alternative teaching, team teaching.

Communication with families: use multiple channels (phone, email, app) and provide translation when needed for limited-English-proficient families.

IEP meetings: required participants include parent, general education teacher, special education teacher, LEA representative, and someone who can interpret evaluation results.

Active listening: paraphrase, ask clarifying questions, and reflect feelings to reduce conflict.

Confidentiality in collaboration: share student information only with staff who have a legitimate educational interest.

Reflective cycle: describe the situation, analyze what worked, identify alternatives, and plan a change (Gibbs or Kolb).

Kolb's experiential learning: concrete experience → reflective observation → abstract conceptualization → active experimentation.

Professional learning: high-quality PD is sustained, job-embedded, collaborative, and focused on content and pedagogy (Learning Forward standards).

Self-assessment tools: video analysis, peer observation, student feedback, and teaching journals.

SMART goals for professional growth: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound.

Georgia teacher evaluation (TKES) includes 10 standards; reflection and professional growth plans connect to evaluation results.

Action research: systematic inquiry by teachers to solve a classroom problem, using data collection and analysis cycles.

Mentoring and induction: new teachers benefit from structured mentoring and coaching in the first years.