Praxis 5412 cheat sheet

Vision answers where the school is going; mission answers why it exists and how it operates; core values are the enduring beliefs that constrain both.

SMART goal criteria: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound - each goal names a baseline, a target, and a deadline, so progress is verifiable.

Bernhardt's four data categories are demographic, student achievement, school process, and perception; achievement data show what happened, the other three help explain why.

Strategic planning sequence: analyze data → prioritize gaps → write measurable goals → align resources and staff → implement → monitor → revise.

Lewin's force-field analysis weighs driving forces that push toward a change against restraining forces that block it; a leader either strengthens drivers or removes barriers.

Kotter's change sequence: urgency → guiding coalition → vision → communicate → empower action → short-term wins → consolidate gains → anchor in culture; skipping early steps weakens later ones.

PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) is an iterative loop: a change is tested on a small scale, results are studied, then the change is adopted, adapted, or abandoned.

Stakeholder co-authorship of a vision raises commitment; a vision is judged by whether it appears in budgets, hiring decisions, and meeting agendas, not by the quality of its wording.

Clinical supervision cycle: pre-observation conference → observation → data analysis → post-observation conference → follow-up, with a written improvement goal produced at the post-conference.

Formative assessment occurs during learning and is used to adjust instruction; summative assessment occurs after instruction and is used to judge attainment.

Backward design order (Wiggins & McTighe): identify desired results → determine acceptable evidence → plan learning experiences and instruction.

MTSS/RTI tiers: Tier 1 universal instruction for all, Tier 2 targeted small-group support, Tier 3 intensive individualized intervention; tier movement is decided by progress-monitoring data.

PLC guiding questions: what should students learn, how will we know they learned it, how do we respond when they have not, how do we extend those who already have.

Knowles' andragogy: adult learners are self-directed, bring experience as a resource, need problem-centered relevance, and are motivated internally rather than by external rewards.

Webb's Depth of Knowledge: Level 1 recall, Level 2 skill/concept, Level 3 strategic thinking, Level 4 extended thinking; it measures cognitive demand rather than item difficulty.

Hattie's visible learning research: collective teacher efficacy has one of the largest effect sizes, feedback averages near 0.70, and an effect size around 0.40 approximates one year of expected growth.

Title I 'supplement, not supplant' rule: federal funds must add to state and local funding, not replace resources the school would otherwise receive.

Zero-based budgeting justifies every expenditure from zero each cycle; incremental budgeting starts from the prior year's base and adjusts up or down.

IDEA entitlements: FAPE (free appropriate public education), an individualized education program, and placement in the least restrictive environment.

Section 504 covers students with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity and provides accommodations, not specialized instruction or a modified curriculum.

Negligence requires four elements - duty, breach, causation, and injury; a missing element defeats the claim against the school or employee.

Procedural due process requires notice plus an opportunity to be heard before a student is deprived of a protected interest such as attendance through suspension or expulsion.

Distributed leadership (Spillane) treats leadership as practice spread across people, roles, and interactions rather than a set of traits held by the principal alone.

Eisenhower matrix: tasks sorted by urgency and importance into four quadrants; scheduling important-but-not-urgent work (planning, coaching, facility review) prevents later crises.

Epstein's six types of involvement: parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with the community.

Relational trust (Bryk & Schneider) rests on four components: respect, competence, personal regard for others, and integrity; declines in any one erode partnership capacity.

Two-way communication lets families respond and inform the school; one-way notices build awareness but not engagement.

'Funds of knowledge' (Moll) refers to skills and knowledge held by students' families; instruction drawing on them links school learning to home experience.

Asset-based framing describes families by strengths and resources; deficit framing attributes low achievement to family traits and predicts weaker partnerships and lower participation.

Crisis communication protocol: one designated spokesperson, pre-approved message templates, and separate channels for staff, families, and media.

Community schools integrate academics with health, mental health, and social services on or near campus, typically coordinated by a site resource coordinator.

Advocacy promotes a cause broadly; lobbying urges a specific official to support specific legislation and is restricted when federal funds are used.