Praxis PLT: Grades 7-12 key terms

The range of tasks a learner can complete with help from a more capable person but cannot yet do alone. Teachers target instruction within this range so support stretches skill without overwhelming the student.

Temporary supports a teacher provides so a student can succeed on a task just beyond current ability. Supports are gradually withdrawn as competence grows, shifting responsibility to the learner.

Awareness and regulation of one's own thinking, including planning how to approach a task, monitoring comprehension while working, and adjusting strategies afterward. It underlies independent, self-directed learning.

A person's belief that they can successfully perform a specific task or handle a particular challenge. Strong efficacy supports persistence after setbacks; repeated failure without support weakens it.

Drive to engage in an activity because it is interesting, enjoyable, or personally meaningful rather than because of outside rewards or pressure. It tends to sustain effort and deeper learning over time.

Drive to act in order to earn a reward or avoid a punishment, such as grades, praise, or privileges. It can prompt short-term compliance but may fade once the reward is removed.

In Piaget's framework, the stage beginning around adolescence in which thinking becomes abstract, hypothetical, and systematic. Learners can reason about possibilities, test ideas mentally, and consider multiple perspectives.

The adolescent process of exploring values, roles, and group memberships in order to develop a coherent sense of self. School experiences, peer groups, and adult models all shape this exploration.

The way a person judges right and wrong and justifies those judgments. Development moves from obedience to consequences, to conformity with social expectations, toward principled internal standards.

A model arranging human needs from basic survival needs upward to belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. The idea suggests unmet lower needs can interfere with a student's readiness to learn.

A theory proposing that intellectual ability appears in several relatively distinct forms, such as linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, and interpersonal. It encourages varied ways for students to demonstrate understanding.

Instruction that draws on students' cultural backgrounds, languages, and experiences as resources for learning while holding high expectations for all. It also examines how school practices may privilege some groups over others.

Two types of language proficiency: conversational fluency, which develops in a couple of years, and academic language proficiency, which takes much longer. Students may sound fluent socially yet struggle with textbook language.

A legally binding plan for a student who qualifies for special education services. It documents present levels of performance, measurable annual goals, services, accommodations, and placement decisions, and is reviewed at least yearly.

The legal requirement that students with disabilities be educated alongside peers without disabilities to the maximum extent appropriate, with removal occurring only when supplementary supports cannot make Inclusion workable.

A written accommodation plan under a federal civil rights law for a student with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity. It provides supports but not specialized instruction.

Planning lessons so content, process, or product can be adjusted to match students' readiness, interests, and learning profiles. The goal is appropriate challenge for every learner within a shared curriculum.

A classification of thinking objectives arranged from remembering and understanding up through applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. Teachers use it to design questions and tasks at intended cognitive levels.

Cognitive work that goes beyond recall, requiring students to analyze, evaluate, synthesize, or create. Such tasks typically involve justification, multiple steps, or transferring knowledge to unfamiliar situations.

Structured small-group work in which members share a common goal, depend on one another, and are each held accountable for contributing. Clear roles and individual accountability distinguish it from unstructured group work.

An approach in which students investigate authentic questions, gather and interpret evidence, and construct explanations, with the teacher framing problems and guiding the process rather than supplying answers first.

A teacher-led approach using clear explanations, modeling, guided practice with feedback, and independent practice. It is efficient for well-defined skills and foundational knowledge that students cannot easily discover alone.

A brief introductory structure, such as an outline, analogy, or question set, presented before new material to connect it with what students already know. It helps learners organize and anticipate incoming information.

The pause a teacher allows after asking a question, and again after a student answers, before speaking. Longer pauses typically produce more participation, longer responses, and more reasoned answers.

A proactive planning framework that builds multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression into lessons from the start. It reduces the need to retrofit accommodations for individual students after instruction begins.

Planning a unit by first identifying desired results, then deciding how learning will be evidenced, then designing activities. Assessment thinking comes before activity selection, keeping instruction aligned to goals.

A specific statement of what students should know or be able to do by the end of a lesson or unit, usually including a measurable performance and conditions. It guides task selection and assessment.

Ongoing checks of understanding used during instruction to adjust teaching and give students direction. Examples include exit tickets, questioning, quick writes, and drafts reviewed before a final submission.

An evaluation of learning at the end of a unit, course, or program, used to judge achievement against standards. Results are typically reported as grades, scores, or proficiency levels.

A scoring guide that lists criteria for a performance and describes levels of quality for each criterion. Shared in advance, it clarifies expectations and makes grading more consistent across students.

The degree to which an assessment measures what it is intended to measure and supports the inferences a teacher draws from scores. A test can be consistent yet still invalid for a given purpose.

The consistency and stability of assessment results across occasions, raters, or equivalent items. Reliable scores are free of excessive random error, but reliability alone does not guarantee the right construct is measured.

An assessment that reports performance against a defined standard or set of skills rather than against other test takers. It answers what a student can do, not how they compare to peers.

A task requiring students to apply knowledge to realistic problems, performances, or products like those found outside school. It emphasizes transfer, complex reasoning, and application rather than isolated recall.

Information given to a learner about the quality of work relative to a goal, naming strengths and specific next steps. It is more useful than a grade alone because it directs revision.

A teacher's habit of systematically examining their own instruction, student evidence, and decisions in order to improve. It often involves journaling, lesson analysis, peer observation, or reviewing assessment data.

A team of educators who meet regularly to examine student work and data, share practice, and plan improvements collaboratively. The focus stays on student learning and collective responsibility rather than announcements.

A cycle in which a teacher identifies a classroom problem, gathers data, tries an intervention, and evaluates results to refine practice. It is local, systematic, and aimed at improving instruction.

A federal law protecting the privacy of students' education records and defining who may access them. It generally requires parental consent for releasing records and allows parents to review and request corrections.

The legal duty of educators to report suspected child abuse or neglect to designated authorities promptly. Teachers do not investigate; they report reasonable suspicion and follow district procedures and timelines.