Praxis School Psych 5403 cheat sheet

Standard scores used for IQ and achievement have a mean of 100 and SD of 15; scaled scores mean 10, SD 3; T-scores mean 50, SD 10; z-scores mean 0, SD 1.

In a normal distribution about 68% of scores fall within plus or minus 1 SD, about 95% within 2 SD, and about 99.7% within 3 SD; a score at the 84th percentile equals +1 SD.

Standard error of measurement: SEM = SD x square root of (1 - reliability). The 95% confidence interval is approximately the obtained score plus or minus 1.96 SEM, so lower reliability widens the band.

Reliability of .90 or higher is the benchmark for tests used in high-stakes individual decisions; .80 is acceptable for screening; below .70 is generally inadequate for individual diagnosis.

Sensitivity = true positives divided by (true positives + false negatives); specificity = true negatives divided by (true negatives + false positives). Lowering the cut score raises sensitivity and lowers specificity.

Curriculum-based measurement uses brief, standardized, timed probes of equal difficulty; the median of two or three passages is scored, and at least 8 to 12 data points are needed before trusting a slope.

Rate of improvement = (most recent score minus baseline score) divided by the number of instructional weeks elapsed.

Dual discrepancy criterion: a student qualifies as a poor responder only if both level of performance and slope of growth are significantly below those of classroom peers.

IDEA requires that evaluation materials and procedures be selected and administered so they are not racially or culturally discriminatory, and that assessment occur in the child's native language or usual mode of communication unless clearly not feasible.

Cummins: basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS) develop in roughly 2 years, while cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) takes about 5 to 7 years; conversational fluency can mask academic English gaps.

A significant disproportionality determination under IDEA requires the district to reserve 15% of IDEA Part B funds for coordinated early intervening services (CEIS).

Language difference is not a disability: English learners should be compared with true peers of similar English exposure and schooling before a disability is suspected.

Use trained interpreters only, never students, siblings, or untrained staff; brief the interpreter on purpose and terminology, speak in the first person, and allow extra time.

Instruments normed only on monolingual English speakers yield nonstandardized results when used with English learners; report such data as descriptive rather than diagnostic.

Acculturation and language proficiency are separate constructs and must be assessed with separate measures.

Cultural reciprocity: elicit the family's explanation of the problem, examine one's own cultural assumptions, find common ground, and negotiate recommendations collaboratively.

No culture-fair test exists; bias is reduced through multiple methods, multiple informants, ecological assessment, and review of item-level differential item functioning.

SWPBIS tier distribution: roughly 80 to 85% of students respond to Tier 1 universal supports, 10 to 15% need Tier 2 targeted supports, and 1 to 5% need Tier 3 intensive individualized supports.

Functional behavioral assessment identifies antecedents, setting events, consequences, and the maintaining function: attention, escape or avoidance, access to tangibles or activities, or automatic/sensory reinforcement.

A replacement behavior must produce the same reinforcer as the problem behavior, faster, with less effort, while the problem behavior is no longer reinforced.

Withholding the maintaining reinforcer produces an extinction burst followed by gradual decline; extinction fails when reinforcement was intermittent or is delivered inconsistently.

Differential reinforcement variants: DRA reinforces a specified alternative behavior, DRO reinforces the absence of the target behavior for an interval, DRL reinforces lower rates, and FCT teaches a communicative alternative.

Continuous reinforcement accelerates acquisition; variable-ratio schedules generate the most persistent behavior and greatest resistance to extinction.

Suicide risk screening asks directly about ideation, plan, intent, and access to means; a prior attempt is the strongest single predictor, and lethal means counseling is a core safety step.

Threat assessment is a fact-based team process that distinguishes transient from substantive threats and emphasizes intervention and support rather than student profiling.

CASEL's five social-emotional competencies are self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.

The five components of reading instruction are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension; phonological awareness is the strongest early predictor of reading outcomes.

Oral reading fluency goals are set from national seasonal benchmarks, then adjusted using a weekly rate-of-improvement formula; Tier 2 elementary goals commonly target roughly 1.0 to 1.5 words correct per minute of growth per week.

Data-based individualization sequence: deliver a validated intervention with fidelity, progress monitor weekly, collect diagnostic data when response is insufficient, adapt the intervention, and continue monitoring.

Explicit instruction follows model (I do), guided practice (we do), and independent practice (you do), with high rates of student response and frequent checks for understanding.

Mathematics interventions frequently use the concrete-to-representational-to-abstract sequence, worked examples, and fluency routines such as cover-copy-compare.

Self-regulated strategy development teaches writing strategies together with goal setting, self-monitoring, self-instruction, and self-reinforcement.

Cognitive load theory predicts the worked-example effect for novices, the expertise reversal effect as skill grows, and the need to eliminate split attention by integrating text and diagrams.

Retrieval practice, spaced practice, and interleaving produce stronger long-term retention than rereading or massed practice.

Conjoint behavioral consultation proceeds through four stages: needs identification, problem analysis, plan implementation, and plan evaluation, each anchored in data collected across home and school.

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

A home-school note or daily report card targets 3 to 5 observable behaviors, provides daily teacher ratings, links to a home reward, and fades to a weekly schedule as behavior improves.

Cultural reciprocity follows four steps: understand the family's explanation of the problem, acknowledge the professional's own cultural values, identify common ground, and collaborate on recommendations.

Frequent barriers to involvement include work schedules, transportation, childcare, limited English proficiency, distrust following prior negative school experiences, and differing cultural views of disability.

Effective communication avoids jargon, uses trained interpreters, confirms understanding with teach-back, and provides written summaries in the family's preferred language.

Family engagement produces larger effects when it is structured, explicitly linked to learning, and built on two-way communication rather than one-way notices.

Wrap-around planning coordinates school, agency, and natural supports around one family plan and is typically reserved for students with complex, multi-agency needs.

IDEA timelines: initial evaluation within 60 days of parental consent (or the state-established timeline), reevaluation at least every three years unless the parent and district agree otherwise, and IEP review at least annually.

A removal of more than 10 consecutive school days, or a pattern of removals totaling more than 10 days that constitutes a change of placement, requires continued services and a manifestation determination review within 10 school days of the change-of-placement decision.

A school may place a student with a disability in a 45-school-day interim alternative educational setting for weapons, illegal drugs, or serious bodily injury, regardless of the manifestation determination.

FERPA gives parents the right to inspect and review education records within 45 days of a request, generally requires written consent before disclosure, and allows parents to request amendment of records they believe are inaccurate.

Section 504 covers a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity and requires a free appropriate public education with accommodations, but not specially designed instruction or an IEP.

Valid informed consent requires capacity, full disclosure of purpose, procedures, risks, and alternatives, and voluntariness; consent for special education may be revoked in writing without retroactive effect.

Child find obligates districts to identify, locate, and evaluate all children with disabilities in the jurisdiction, including private school, homeless, and highly mobile students.

NASP's four ethical principles are respecting the dignity and rights of all persons, professional competence and responsibility, honesty and integrity in relationships, and responsibility to schools, families, communities, the profession, and society.

Test-use standards require selecting instruments with adequate reliability and validity for the examinee population, administering them as the manual specifies, and interpreting results alongside multiple data sources.