CPACE

Written
Practice Questions

CPACE Practice Tests & Exam Review for the

California Preliminary Administrative
Credential Examination
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Table of Contents
Practice Test #1
Answer Key and Explanations for Test #1
Practice Test #2
Answer Key and Explanations for Test #2
Thank You
Practice Test #1
1. How should school leaders and others analyze school data to
inform the school vision?
a. Across grade levels instead of across school years.
b. By subject matter rather than by student cohorts.
c. By formative and summative assessment findings.
d. By teachers within grades instead of across levels.
2. Which of the following is accurate about the uses of data in goal-
related activities?
a. Qualitative data is not useful when setting goals aligned with
school vision and mission.
b. Data connected to vision and mission enable monitoring
progress for goals.
c. Only formative data is relevant to how schools allocate resources
to meet their goals.
d. Formal data collection is not necessary to assess family and
community relations.
3. Of the following, which is an advantage of developing a school
vision collaboratively?
a. Visions developed through collaboration can be implemented
far faster.
b. Visions are clearer and more coherent when developed by
collaboration.
c. Visions take longer times in the process of development, slowing
change.
d. Visions tend to be more appropriate to their local school district
contexts.
4. Which of the following is not true about the qualifications of
teachers in public schools?
a. Teachers must be fully-certified to teach in a public school.
b. Teachers must be highly-qualified to teach in a public school.
c. A teacher who moves states may have to demonstrate subject-
matter competency in the new state to teach.
d. Teachers in high-performing schools have more qualifications
than teachers in other public schools.
5. Which of the following statements is most accurate about how
school leaders align school policies and practices with federal,
state, district, and local school system policies?
a. State standardized assessment instruments are based solely on
standards developed by states.
b. Individual schools directly apply state standards for developing
their standardized assessments.
c. Schools directly reflect system standards, and yet ultimately are
also aligned with federal policy.
d. Local school districts develop standardized assessments
applying the federal standards directly.
6. Which of the following is true regarding how school leaders can
foster equitable and inclusive educational practices?
a. The development of curriculum should solely be based on
developmental appropriateness.
b. School leaders should model respect for diversity and offer
multiple means for celebrating it.
c. Involving culturally diverse community stakeholders in school
decisions is the responsibility of the school district.
d. Only school leaders are accountable to ensure equity for every
student in all school programs.
7. Which of the following is a primary benefit of distributed
leadership?
a. Distributed leadership helps to maintain status quo, especially
in high-performing schools.
b. School leaders who practice distributive leadership are less
stressed because they are able to delegate responsibilities.
c. Practicing distributive leadership builds capacity in others and
develops followers into leaders.
d. Distributive leadership helps to identify weak team members
that need to be replaced.
8. Which of the following statements is not accurate about
requirements for integrating technology comprehensively into
instruction to support school vision?
a. Successful school-wide implementation of educational
technology is dependent on the technology selected, not school
leadership.
b. Regardless of the technology capabilities of school staff, training
and professional development are needed to successfully
implement educational technology school-wide.
c. School structure and organization impact the success of
adopting educational technology.
d. Schools must have the resources and support for implementing
technology school-wide.
9. The National Education Association (NEA) Code of Ethics
principle of Commitment to the Student prohibits which of the
following actions?
a. Encouraging students to learn of various perspectives
independently.
b. Reasonable efforts to safeguard students against harmful
conditions.
c. Disclosing student information which is pertinent to student
progress.
d. Disclosing student information if not legally or professionally
required.
10. Which of the following is a practice of a school leader that
facilitates family involvement in education?
a. Hiring parent facilitators using state Title I and Smart Start
funds.
b. Working extended hours on campus.
c. Collaborating with parents who are already involved in school
activities.
d. Sending an e-newsletter to parents weekly.
11. Compared to majority rule and committees, what is a more
salient characteristic of group consensus as a way of making
collaborative educational decisions?
a. It is more time-efficient than these other methods.
b. It can undermine commitment for minority voters.
c. It is more thorough and hears all members’ voices.
d. It may make member time and effort not worth it.
12. Challenges to school leaders for promoting student mental
health include limited resources. Among such limitations, which is
most related to federal accountability mandates?
a. Ratios of school counselors to students.
b. School counselor responsibility change.
c. Inadequate support staff development.
d. Districts’ mental health staff budgeting.
13. In public school districts, which personnel are not likely to be
directly supervised by the campus principal?
a. Bus drivers.
b. Custodians.
c. Volunteers.
d. Cafeteria workers.
14. To build a positive culture of learning and high expectations,
school leaders can guide teachers to identify instructional activities
that are aligned to the curriculum and have been proven to be
effective. Which of the following is an indicator of effective
implementation of instructional activities?
a. Differentiated instruction.
b. Increased student attendance.
c. Flexible student grouping.
d. Focused discussions and effective interaction between students.
15. Which of the following should be considered first when
adopting curriculum?
a. Alignment to federal and state standards.
b. Teacher approval.
c. Community approval.
d. Board approval.
16. What should school leaders keep in mind when integrating
technology into standards-based curricula?
a. They should assign their teachers to write technology standards.
b. They cannot help students meet standards by using technology.
c. They do not need to require students to master technology
standards.
d. They should focus on learning with technology, not learning
about it.
17. Which of the following principles about formative assessment
should school leaders consider when giving feedback to and
collaborating with teachers?
a. Student motivation and learning are unaffected by assessment
types.
b. Student motivation and learning are affected by assessment
types.
c. Error is inevitable in all assessment, and only summative
assessment is a valid indicator of student learning.
d. Student performance against a standard is more important than
student growth.
18. Which of the following is not accurate regarding school leaders’
engagement of faculty and staff in ongoing self-assessment and
improvement?
a. To encourage self-direction in improving, leaders should model
self-assessment and improvement.
b. To encourage self-direction in improving, leaders should actively
engage workers.
c. To encourage self-direction in improving, leaders should make
learning accessible.
d. To encourage self-direction in improving, leaders should leave
self-improvement up to employees.
19. Among professional development learning opportunities that
school leaders can incorporate into daily teacher activities, which
is/are collaborative?
a. Conducting action research.
b. Reflection during practice.
c. Reading current research.
d. Structured observations.
20. Which instructional materials would most promote student
reflection?
a. Textbook end-of-chapter study questions.
b. Venn diagrams and other graphic organizers.
c. Journals for students to write in regularly.
d. Worksheets for exercising new learning.
21. Which pedagogical shift best supports the integration of
technology into instructional practice?
a. From homogenous student groups to heterogenous student
groups.
b. From learning passively to learning actively.
c. From teacher-directed learning to student-paced learning.
d. From lesson activities to project-based learning.
22. Which of the following practices best represents the least
restrictive environment (LRE) for a student who receives special
education services?
a. The student remains in a classroom with other students who
receive special education services throughout the day, with the
exception of ancillary classes.
b. The student attends classes with students who do not receive
special education services, but reports to a special education
teacher’s classroom during independent practice of each core
class.
c. The student reports to a special education teacher’s classroom
for math and reading only.
d. The student attends classes with students who do not receive
special education services and classroom teachers provide
modifications to the curriculum and/or accommodations to
assist the student.
23. Which of the following is correct about effective classroom
management systems?
a. Tiered positive behavior support models provide both
prevention and intervention.
b. Tiered positive behavior support models are only for preventing
behavior problems.
c. Tiered positive behavior support models are designed to be
behavior interventions.
d. Tiered positive behavior support models provide less time in
academic engagement.
24.Which of the following statements is true about a school climate
in which students feel supported?
a. Students find resources and support are readily available to
them.
b. Students who share multiple classes are more likely to form
relationships with one another.
c. Student roles and responsibilities are clearly defined in policy
handbooks.
d. Student feelings of support are not affected by interactions with
adults.
25. Which of the following is the best example of differentiated
instruction based on product?
a. Teach different content for different students.
b. Allow students to choose between writing an essay or recording
a video for an assignment.
c. Give students different version of assessments.
d. Assign some students to watch a video while others read an
article.
26. Which of the following actions best demonstrates that a
principal makes decisions to improve instruction based on
evidence from student data?
a. Meeting with parents frequently during grading periods.
b. Conducting meetings for Professional Learning Committees
based on grade levels and subject areas.
c. Requiring teachers to host tutorial sessions for students after
the regular school day.
d. Submitting reports to district office personnel after each grading
period.
27. Which of the following is true regarding best practices for
school leaders when giving teachers observational feedback?
a. Leaders should give feedback statements rather than asking
questions.
b. Leaders should disregard strengths to focus on improving
weaknesses.
c. Leaders should emphasize all identified areas for improvement
equally.
d. Leaders should include some specific next steps attainable for
teachers.
28. Which of the following would most impact the success of a new
teacher induction program?
a. Providing optional coaching sessions for new teachers.
b. Assigning mentors to new teachers based on the seniority of the
mentor teacher.
c. Providing opportunities for collaboration and leadership
development.
d. The school leader facilitates all aspects of the induction program.
29. Which of the following should school principals primarily look
for when observing teachers in classrooms for evaluation
purposes?
a. They should focus on what students want to learn rather than
what they want them to learn.
b. They should look for how comfortable the teacher is with the
lesson content and method of delivery.
c. They should look for evidence of learning such as student
responses to checks for understanding and student work
products.
d. They should focus on physical classroom setup.
30. Which of the following have education researchers identified as
important regarding implementation of school-wide data
initiatives??
a. More training opportunities and promotion of the data system
in implementation are most effective.
b. Technology that supports data initiatives offers the answer to
data use in schools.
c. Individual teachers utilize data technology systems more quickly
and productively.
d. The success of a school data initiative is determined by the data
system selected.
31. In terms of assessment, which of the following is a true
statement that school leaders should consider when minimizing
bias and maximizing equity for all students?
a. Accommodations given to students during testing are inherently
unfair.
b. Progress monitoring using student data decreases achievement
gaps.
c. Achievement gaps can be resolved by testing low performing
students frequently and extensively.
d. Assessment validity and reliability nullifies most non-
standardized test results.
32. The Federal Departments of Education and Justice collaborated
to produce a package (2014) offering guidance for legal and fair
disciplinary decisions, policies, and practices. What is most
accurate about the intents of this guidance?
a. It aims to lower overrepresentation of minority students in
expulsion and suspension rates.
b. It is meant to help schools establish positive learning
environments, rather than focus on school safety.
c. It is primarily intended to reduce violent school incidents in
response to rising rates of school violence.
d. It aims to make behavioral interventions federally legal rather
than non-discriminatory.
33. Which of the following accurately represents how school
leaders can promote equitable access to curriculum for all students
and their parents?
a. They can make staff more comfortable in discussing diversity
without promoting equity.
b. They can clarify school staff misconceptions related to deficit
theories about minorities.
c. They can model equity in daily interactions, but should avoid
confronting discrimination.
d. They can create safe environments, though student support
networks are not their job.
34. Which of these is true regarding school leader efforts involving
school improvement plans, policies, and structures to improve
parent engagement, student engagement, and student
achievement?
a. School improvement plans increased parental meeting
attendance but not student school attendance.
b. School improvement plans decreased student behavior
problems while increasing their achievement.
c. Central office policies and structures increased parent
engagement in individual schools, not systems.
d. School improvement plans increased student enrollment and
achievement, not parent involvement.
35. Which of the following statements is most accurate about why
schools must collaborate with their communities in providing
mental health services to remove learning barriers and improve
student outcomes?
a. In many communities and states, schools are often children’s
only mental health service providers.
b. Due to stigma associated with mental health needs, parents
avoid familiar school settings and staff.
c. According to research study findings, students are less likely to
seek counseling services in schools.
d. Mental health services in schools should be separated from
mental health services in communities.
36. In school change processes, which of these is an example of a
first-order change?
a. Forming a different approach to instruction.
b. Forming new interactions and relationships.
c. Forming site-based school advisory councils.
d. Forming a sense of collaborative ownership.
37. In reference to the Supportive School Discipline Initiative
(SSDI), former US Attorney General Eric Holder said a federal
initiative to guide school disciplinary practices would “make
schools safe, supportive and inclusive for all students” and would
“keep America’s young people safe and on the right path.” How did
he say it would do these things?
a. By making discipline less exclusionary.
b. By divorcing discipline from civil rights.
c. By getting data from resource officers.
d. By referring discipline to peace officers.
38. In school-wide positive behavior support (SPBS) programs,
which of the following is a procedure associated with tier 3?
a. Socio-emotional groups.
 b. Daily check-in and check-out.
c. Intervention family support.
d. Individualized interventions.
39. Which of the following strategies for implementing technology
is most closely related to leadership in implementing a school
improvement plan?
a. Utilizing technology as a tool to facilitate collaboration among
staff.
b. Utilizing technology as a tool to administer assessments to
students.
c. Utilizing technology as a tool for communication among
stakeholders.
d. Utilizing technology as a tool to collect, organize, and analyze
data for school improvement and progress monitoring.
40. Experts find that, to build community capacity for contributing
to school improvement, school leaders and staff must transcend
traditional activities. What is true about how they can further
continue community collaboration for school improvement?
a. For productive partnerships, schools should give stakeholders
information only as they request it.
b. School leaders and staff should identify which community
members can participate meaningfully.
c. All collaborations with community members should align
directly with the campus vision and goals.
d. To engage and retain community partners, schools should limit
the achievement data they share.
41. Transformational school leadership has been found in research
as most effective for modeling and encouraging staff development
and self-improvement. Which of the following best represents the
strategies of transformational school leaders?
a. They build school structures to encourage staff decision-making
participation.
b. They take responsibility for everything rather than delegating
duties or tasks.
c. They give teachers ample direction for making decisions instead
of autonomy.
d. They take charge of determining school priorities to unite
dissenting teachers.
42. Alternative high school principals Mohr and Dichter (2001)
codified developmental stages that school staff undergo to become
learning communities. Which stage is associated with the
emergence of a sense of community?
a. The stage involving conflict.
b. The honeymoon stage.
c. The confusion stage.
d. The mature stage.
43. Which of the following strategies most accurately identifies the
school leader’s role in implementing professional development?
a. Staff development is the sole responsibility of the school leader.
b. A school leader should delegate the implementation of
professional development to the administrative team.
c. A school leader should leverage teacher leaders in the
implementation of professional development.
d. School leaders are directly responsible for implementing
professional development but should utilize their administrative
team and teacher leaders where appropriate.
44. What have researchers found regarding the relationship
between student academic self-concepts and student outcomes?
a. Students’ academic self-concepts are correlated with their
succeeding later in life.
b. Students’ academic self-concepts are correlated with their
academic achievement.
c. Students’ academic self-concepts are correlated with
socioeconomic status more than home settings.
d. Students’ academic self-concepts are correlated with enrollment
in smaller schools.
45. When schools and leaders implement the continuous school
improvement process, which should they do first?
a. Establish specific goals for school improvements.
b. Reflect on instructional and leadership practices.
c. Implement strategies for specific improvements.
d. Conduct needs assessments for their schools.
46. Which of the following is most used in self-assessment to
facilitate professional development?
a. Teachers write in journals about their work.
b. Teachers apply advice they receive to work.
c. Teachers analyze videos of their instruction.
d. Teachers benefit from others’ experiences.
47. Which of these is a valid guideline for school leaders to support
staff throughout their professional development (PD)?
a. To be job-embedded and school-based, PD must occur in the
school building.
b. For effective PD, teachers must not learn passively, but be
actively involved.
c. Because teachers are the ones involved in PD, it should be
teacher-centered.
d. PD must be done independently to ensure individual learning
and growth.
48. Of the following, which accurately reflects a principle of adult
learning that applies to professional development (PD) for
teachers?
a. Adults learn best when participation in PD is required.
b. Adults learn best when learning materials are selected and
provided.
c. Adults learn best when they are involved in planning the
instruction.
d. Adults learn best when informed about how they will be
assessed prior to participation.
49. Which of the following most correctly represents criteria
requiring a school to hold a Manifestation Determination Review
for a student who receives special education services?
a. The school seeks a discipline-related placement change for more
than 10 days in a row.
b. The school suspends a student on a one-time basis for more than
10 consecutive days.
c. The school has expelled or otherwise excluded a student for
discipline-related reasons.
d. The school requests the parents to attend this meeting following
a disciplinary incident.
50. With the exception of some, many public-school districts
receive the largest proportion of funding from which of the
following sources?
a. Federal government.
b. Their city government.
c. The state government.
d. Various other sources.
51. To evaluate teacher effectiveness in applying instructional
strategies, school leaders need a working knowledge of student-
centered, research-based teaching methods. What is most true
about these?
a. The Socratic method is a useful, research-based strategy for
delivering instruction.
b. Project-based learning requires technology integration in order
to be implemented effectively.
c. Cooperative learning has been proven to be an effective,
research-based instructional strategy.
d. It is necessary for teachers to utilize technology to deliver
instruction in order to be effective.
52. Which of the following is the best example a school leader
utilizing technology to support effective school organization
management?
a. Using technology to reconcile the budget and coordinate facility
operations.
b. Using technology to text message and email stakeholders about
meetings.
c. Using technology to collect, disaggregate, and analyze different
school data.
d. Using technology to facilitate multiple stakeholder contributions
to projects.
53. According to multiple research studies, what is a characteristic
of school leaders related to evaluating teacher effectiveness?
a. The most effective school leaders are better at identifying the
best candidates for hiring as teachers.
b. The most effective school leaders are better at identifying the
best and worst teachers on their staff.
c. The most effective teachers are attracted to the schools whose
leaders have hired the best teachers.
d. The most effective school leaders are better at identifying better
and average teachers than poorer ones.
54. How can a school and its leaders best control the quality of the
teaching faculty?
a. Focus on retaining effective teachers to prevent having to recruit
new teachers.
b. Focus on attracting, retaining, and developing effective teachers.
c. Focus on hiring and developing effective teachers rather than
recruiting new teachers.
d. Focus on retaining quality teachers rather than firing ineffective
teachers.
55. Which of the following is the best description of a transactional
leader?
a. Willing to purchase new equipment to improve the current
system.
b. Works to change the culture by implementing new policies.
c. Pursues efficiency in the school system through strong
supervision.
d. Seeks staff and community involvement in developing new ideas.
56. According to the federal government, the core components of a
response strategy to information system threats and breaches are
policy, plan, and procedure. Which of the following is a function of
the policy component?
a. Defining staff responsibilities and mechanisms for remediation.
b. Identifying needed management support and school resources.
c. Standardizing response tasks and behaviors and averting errors.
d. Conducting risk assessments on a regular basis as a preparation.
57. What do psychologists recommend regarding tiered models of
student behavior management in education?
a. Tiered models of behavior management work only with school-
wide behavior support systems.
b. Tiered models of behavior management are most effective when
addressing individual disruptive student behavior.
c. Tiered models of behavior management are most applicable for
classroom or school-wide implementation.
d. Tiered models of behavior management are judged best for
individuals, classrooms, or schools.
58. Which of the following criteria would make a school the best
candidate for implementing an integrated management system as
new technology for managing school operations?
a. The school has not been using any digital management system.
b. The school has been using one management system with no
plans for more.
c. The school has one or more systems and plans on adding more
systems.
d. The school wants separate system policies and documentation.
59. Which of the following is most effective in motivating members
of the educational community when implementing new policies?
a. Delegating authority to staff members.
b. Communicating unexpected barriers to the community as they
arise.
c. Sharing the policies frequently using a variety of communication
channels.
d. Including stakeholders in the development of new policies.
60. Who typically makes student enrollment projections for
determining school budgets?
a. District Offices of Achievement and Accountability alone project
the student enrollments.
b. District Offices of Achievement and Accountability with school
leader revision as needed.
c. The school leader alone projects the student enrollments for his
or her school every year.
d. Final projections are by committees from the district finance and
student support offices.
61. Which of the following describes the school district policy to
allow principals autonomy to spend their campus budget as they
see fit?
a. Local school management.
b. Hybrid financial decision-making.
c. Budgetary autonomy.
d. Decentralization.
62. Which of these is true about the relationship between federal,
state, and local laws, and local policies as is relates to the school
leader’s responsibilities?
a. The school leader must interpret federal and state laws to
determine how these apply at the campus level.
b. The school leader is responsible for influencing policies and laws
at all levels.
c. The school leader must adhere to local policies unless they
directly conflict with state or federal law.
d. The school leader must vote for federal, state, and local laws in
accordance with school district policy.
63. What correctly represents National Education Association
(NEA) guidelines for school acceptable use policies (AUPs)
regarding classroom Internet technology?
a. It should have a policy statement including covered computer
services and student use conditions.
b. It should have a definition section covering important terms
used, but a preamble is not necessary.
c. It should include a section that defines acceptable use, but not
one that defines unacceptable use.
d. It should include a violations or sanctions section, which should
only define violations of the policy.
64. The majority of US state laws designate which school
professionals as mandated reporters of child abuse and neglect?
a. Healthcare and mental health professionals, but not childcare
providers.
b. Teachers, principals, and other school personnel are required to
report.
c. Social workers instead of school social workers are mandated
reporters.
d. Law enforcement officers, but not medical examiners and
coroners.
65. Which of the following best describes school leader
responsibilities related to school safety policies?
a. Leaders must ensure school safety policies comply with federal
laws only.
b. Leaders must notify staff and parents in advance of any changes
affecting safety or health.
c. Leaders are solely responsible for developing and revising safety
policies.
d. Leaders do not have the responsibility of warning parents about
environmental hazards.
66. School emergency response team organization is modeled after
the Incident Command System (ICS) of Homeland Security’s
National Incident Management System (NIMS). Main ICS functions
include Finance. Which of the ICS Management Systems identifies
services and resources to support incident response needs?
a. Logistics.
b. Planning.
c. Command.
d. Operations.
67. Which is a practice that national research studies find school
leaders should avoid when speaking publicly and in other
communication with key stakeholders?
a. Taking advantage of the political environment.
b. Using commonly understood language with most audiences.
c. Communicating in response to sensitive situations.
d. Becoming engaged in large scale open forums.
68. Which of the following is the least effective way that school
leaders can create inclusive school communities?
a. Encourage students of whose parents do not speak English to
translate for them when interacting with school staff.
b. Provide video recordings and resources to parents who miss
workshops and meetings.
c. Validate, honor, and thank family and community for supporting
the school.
d. Hire parent liaisons to help parents access resources and
services offered by the school.
69. What must school leaders consider to mobilize and develop
community school support?
a. Businesses and community-based organizations use the same
language that educators use.
b. Exchanging and matching visions, missions, wants, and needs
with stakeholders is sufficient.
c. Prospective community partners primarily want to know how
collaboration benefits schools.
d. Prospective partner motivations are as varied as the
organizations interested in partnership.
70. Which of the following is true about proactive strategies that
successful school leaders have used to overcome resistance to
change by school staff, families, communities, and school districts?
a. People fear change irrespective of school leader commitment.
b. Administrative support networks enhance change acceptance.
c. Establishing priorities tends to strengthen resistance to change.
d. How school leaders communicate has no impact on resistance.
71. Which of the following sources of data would be most beneficial
for a school leader to analyze prior to developing or revising the
school vision and goals?
a. Teacher turnover data, failure rates, and satisfaction survey
results.
b. Student performance data, student attendance data, and student
promotion rates.
c. Community engagement rates.
d. School accountability ratings for the last three years.
72. A school leader has developed the vision and goals in
collaboration with the campus leadership team and community
stakeholders. Which of the following is the best step that the school
leader should take next?
a. Develop a strategic plan for implementing the vision and goals.
b. Host a community meeting to present the vision and goals to all
stakeholders.
 c. Delegate tasks to leadership team members to implement the
vision and goals.
d. Host a meeting with campus staff to present the vision and goals
and inform them of their duties and responsibilities related to the
vision and goals.
73. A school principal would like to engage a variety of
stakeholders to inform the development of the school mission and
vision. Which of the following strategies would best accomplish this
goal?
a. Host a school assembly to get feedback from the student body.
b. Distribute a survey to students, parents, staff, and community
members.
c. Create a committee of teacher, students, and parents.
d. Meet with local business owners in the community.
74. The school leader has established the school goals for the
school year and is developing a plan for assessing and monitoring
progress. Which of the following strategies would be most effective
for monitoring goal progress?
a. Require leadership team members who have been delegated
tasks to report on what they have accomplished each week.
b. Review student academic performance data in preparation for
quarterly community meetings.
c. Establish time intervals for reviewing indicators of performance,
such as monthly or according to grading periods.
d. Purchase and implement an electronic data management
platform that sends automatic notifications when data does not
meet predetermined thresholds.
75. A new middle school principal is concerned about the academic
performance of seventh grade students in math. Which of the
following actions should the principal take first when developing a
plan to improve students’ math scores?
a. Identify the curriculum, resources, and instructional strategies
currently in use.
 b. Allocate funding for math tutors.
c. Reassign struggling students to stronger teachers.
d. Administer additional math assessments to identify student
weaknesses in math.
76. A math intervention program that was implemented on a high
school campus for the previous school year was funded by a grant
that is expired. The principal must determine whether to fund the
program using the local budget or to eliminate the program. Which
of the following data points would best inform the principal as to
whether the math intervention program should continue to be
funded?
a. Student attendance in the program.
b. Feedback from students regarding the program.
c. Student math performance data from the beginning of the school
year compared to the end of the school year.
d. Student performance on the state mandated assessment for the
previous school year.
77. The Campus Technology Coordinator recommends to the
principal that new desktop computers be purchased for three of
the campus’s computer labs. The Dean of Instruction recommends
that classroom technology should be upgraded first. Which of the
following strategies should the principal implement first to decide
how to prioritize these recommendations in the school’s
technology budget?
a. The principal should physically expect the current equipment to
determine which is in the most need of replacement.
b. The principal should refer to the campus improvement plan to
determine how the recommendations align with the vision and
goals for the school.
c. The principal should seek donations from stakeholders to assist
with improving technology across the campus.
d. The principal should determine which of the recommendations
is most economical.
78. Which of the following professional development activities
would likely have the most impact on current teacher
performance?
a. A self-paced book study program for all teachers.
b. Online courses that teachers select and participate in
individually at their own pace.
c. A four-hour in-person training conducted during the school year.
d. A hybrid online and in-person six-week course that meets
weekly for a cohort of teachers.
79. The math department chair expresses concern that the math
teachers do not have enough collaborative time to plan lessons and
discuss student performance. Which of the following solutions
would best address the department chair’s concern?
a. Make adjustments to the master schedule to allot collaborative
planning time for the math department.
b. Offer extra duty pay for math teachers to stay after school and
plan together.
c. Purchase a technology platform that will allow the teachers to
communicate asynchronously online.
d. Place substitute teachers in the math classrooms monthly to
allow teachers time to plan together.
80. Which of the following practices by school leaders most
effectively improves teacher practice and student learning?
a. Reviewing student performance data and sharing aggregated
results with teachers.
b. Administering self-assessment surveys to teachers.
c. Conducting regular classroom observations and providing
timely feedback.
d. Offering educational resources to teachers related to their
identified areas of weakness.
81. The Dean of Instruction conducted a classroom observation of a
7th grade math teacher and noticed that the math teacher was not
following the curriculum for the math department. When asked,
the math teacher informed the dean that the students were not
ready for the standards identified in the curriculum and that he
chose to review standards from 6th grade instead.
Which of the following would be the best response from the dean to
the math teacher?
a. Commend the math teacher for addressing the gaps in student
learning.
b. Require that the math teacher attend training on the math
curriculum.
c. Model instruction of the standards outlined in the curriculum.
d. Direct the math teacher to teach the standards outlined in the
curriculum.
82. Which of the following actions best demonstrates collaboration
with teachers to maintain an instructional program that delivers
standards-based instruction?
a. Audit instructional materials used in the classroom, including
worksheets and teacher-developed materials.
b. Compare student course grades to performance on standardized
tests.
c. Engage in professional learning communities with teachers to
contribute to planning discussions about the curriculum.
d. Survey teachers to obtain feedback about new curriculum
options.
83. A school leader wants to become more involved in analyzing
student work on campus. Which of the following actions should the
school leader take to accomplish this goal?
a. Audit student work samples and discuss the student
performance demonstrated with the teachers who assigned the
work.
b. Monitor teacher grade books.
c. Host a science fair.
d. Mandate that teachers assess student learning using portfolios.
84. A Dean of Instruction of a middle school wants to increase the
number and variety of resources that teachers have access to.
Which of the following actions should the dean take to accomplish
this goal?
a. Encourage teachers to purchase instructional resources and
provide reimbursement for their expenses.
b. Survey teachers to identify which resources they would like to
have and purchase resources from their suggestions.
c. Provide teachers with asynchronous, on-demand professional
development sessions online.
d. Seek free and discounted resources from vendors in the local
area.
85. Which of the following actions best demonstrates a middle
school leader monitoring instructional practices and student
progress to ensure that all students are prepared for a challenging
curriculum?
a. Offering a summer bridge program for underperforming seventh
grade students entering eighth grade.
b. Reviewing the performance of incoming sixth grade students on
standardized tests.
c. Evaluating the course grades of eighth grade students enrolled
in an Algebra I course for high school credit.
d. Comparing student performance on standardized tests to course
grades to determine alignment of assessment.
86. A high school principal is concerned that ninth grade students
who read below grade level are not performing well on benchmark
tests in Reading and Writing. Which of the following steps should
the principal take to best address this concern?
a. Provide test preparation sessions for these students after school
and on weekends and monitor student attendance to the
sessions.
b. Integrate reading and writing skills into all subject areas and
provide training to all teachers on fundamental reading
strategies.
c. Increase the opportunities that students have to spend in the
school library.
d. Purchase a reading software program that students can use at
home.
87. The school principal reviews classroom observation and
feedback with assistant principals weekly, but often has very few
classroom observations of their own conducted in preparation for
the weekly meeting. What action should the school principal take
to increase the frequency of classroom visits?
a. Make a commitment to visit classrooms every morning before
the day gets too busy.
b. Clear their schedule on a specific day of the week to dedicate to
classroom visits.
c. Plan out the classrooms that should be visited for the week and
add them to the calendar with reminders.
d. Carry classroom observation forms at all times and visit
classrooms when an opportunity presents itself.
88. A middle school principal wants to improve the quality of
teaching and learning on campus on a continuous basis throughout
the school year rather than only reviewing annual performance
data and making changes prior to the start of the school year.
Which of the following strategies would best help the principal to
achieve this goal?
a. Assess students every six weeks using benchmark exams and
use the data to adjust the instructional program.
b. At the start of the school year, administer a comprehensive exam
to determine what information students retained over the
summer.
c. Administer a comprehensive exam to students at the beginning
of the school year, in the middle of the school year, and at the end
of the school year and use the data to make plans for the following
school year.
d. Require that teachers maintain portfolios for all students to
demonstrate learning and growth over the course of the school
year.
89. A high school principal has been invited by a community leader
to participate in a community event in which the principal will have
a brief opportunity to address the community. Of the following,
which information would be most important to share with the
community stakeholders at this event?
a. Provide information on how to sign up to be a volunteer at the
school.
b. Recruit volunteers and mentors for at-risk students.
c. Provide updates on progress toward the school vision and goals.
d. Describe opportunities to collaborate with businesses in the
community.
90. Which of the following best demonstrates that the school leader
ensures that the physical plant is functional and in compliance with
local, state, and federal regulations?
a. The school leader includes the Plant Operator in leadership
meetings to report on the status of the school facility.
b. The school leader requires that teachers and staff submit
monthly reports regarding the condition of their work areas, such
as classrooms and offices.
c. The school leader maintains hard and soft copies of documents
necessary for audits by local agencies.
d. The school leader physically inspects the school facility weekly.
91. For the third subsequent year, a school leader has had 40
percent turnover of teaching staff. This high rate of turnover has
impacted the campus negatively and the school leader wants to
address this concern. In a stakeholder meeting, the leader asks
members to brainstorm suggestions for addressing teacher
retention. Which of the following suggestions should the school
leader implement first?
a. Administer a survey to teachers to get their feedback on what
they like and dislike about working at the campus.
b. Petition the district to raise teacher salaries.
c. Offer bonuses to teachers who produce good student
performance results on standardized assessments.
d. Provide mentors to new teachers on campus.
92. Which of the following does not demonstrate that an education
leader proactively addresses challenges to student emotional
safety?
a. The education leader collaborates with the school counselor to
design a referral system for students experiencing an emotional
or mental crisis.
b. The education leader provides information about free resources
in the community for mental health needs to all parents and
stakeholders at the beginning of the school year.
c. The education leader creates a grief counseling group following
the suicide of a student.
d. The education leader schedules a counselor to visit the school
monthly.
93. An elementary school principal serves at a school in which
many of the parents of students speak little or no English. The
language barrier creates challenges in communication, parent
engagement, and the reinforcement of learning at home. Which of
the following actions would best help the principal to address this
challenge?
a. Hire a translator to communicate with parents.
b. Partner with an adult ESL program in the community and offer
free ESL classes on campus.
c. Translate all school documents to the languages of the parents.
d. Ask students to translate information for their parents.
94. The school principal was informed by school district personnel
that a parent complaint had been filed against the school. A
student’s relative who did not have guardianship of the student
called the school and was informed by the attendance clerk of the
student’s schedule and attendance. Which of the following best
describes the error of the principal?
a. The principal failed to monitor the systems and procedures to
protect the confidentiality of the student.
b. The principal had poor judgment in hiring the attendance clerk.
c. The principal should have taken the phone call themselves.
d. The principal did not make an error in this situation.
95. A high school principal determines that it is no longer
financially viable to sponsor the fine arts program at the school.
Enrollment in fine arts courses has steadily decreased over the
past four school years and the expenses of the program have
exceed the budget. However, the principal knows that many
stakeholders in the community feel strongly about having a fine
arts program. Which of the following represents the best action for
the school principal?
a. Continue to offer the fine arts program.
b. Make an announcement to the students and staff that there will
not be a fine arts program next year.
c. Host a fundraiser for the fine arts program.
d. Host a meeting to explain to stakeholders the reasons for
eliminating the fine arts program.
96. A teacher sponsors an afterschool club for knitting. Members of
the club are all female students, but a male student has requested
to participate. The sponsor told the student he could not
participate because knitting was an activity for girls. The male
student and his parents complained to the principal. Which of the
following actions should the principal take first?
a. Create a knitting club for male students.
b. Force the sponsor to allow the male student to participate.
c. Speak with the teacher about the stereotypes and bias that
impacted their decision.
d. Support the sponsor’s decision because it is their club.
97. A school principal would like to develop a positive partnership
with the school community. Which of the following actions would
best help the principal to achieve this goal?
a. Publish a monthly school newsletter with reminders for
important school events.
b. Host a student award ceremony each semester to highlight
school and student successes.
c. Attend all school athletic events.
d. Send a survey to all community members to get their feedback
on school performance.
98. A nurse practitioner who has a clinic in the community informs
the principal that she is willing to provide free physicals to students
at the school who would like to participate in athletics. How should
the principal respond?
a. Decline the offer because students are responsible for getting
physicals completed on their own.
b. Decline the offer if all students cannot receive a physical, not just
athletes.
c. Accept the offer and create a log to document students who take
advantage of the free physical.
d. Accept the offer only if the nurse practitioner can complete the
physicals on campus after school hours.
99. At a PTA meeting, a concerned community member stated that
there were no programs offered at the high school that prepared
students for jobs in the community and that there was too much
focus on sending students to college. Which of the following best
describes the action that the principal can take to address the
community member’s concern?
a. Inform the community member that preparing students for
college is the school’s primary responsibility.
b. Promise the community member that course offerings will be
revised for the upcoming school year.
c. Ask the community member which jobs in the community the
school should prepare students for.
d. Collect and review employment trend data in the community to
determine if school course offerings need to be revised to meet
community needs.
100. The Dean of Instruction analyzed data from the most recent
benchmark assessment and noticed that when the data was
disaggregated by race and ethnicity, a particular group failed to
meet performance standards. How should the dean address this?
a. Talk to teachers who instruct the demographic group and
students that belong to the demographic group to identify the
challenges they are facing in mastering the content.
b. Contact the parents of the students who were not successful and
inform them that their child needs tutoring.
c. Observe the teachers who instruct the demographic group to
determine their efficacy.
d. Develop a schedule of tutorials and remediation for the students
who did not master the content.
 Constructed Response
1. As the school leader, you have selected a leadership team to
assist with leading the school program. Your leadership team is
composed of a Dean of Instruction, two assistant principals, and a
Dean of Students. Individual team members are capable of
performing their job; however, the leadership team does not work
well with one another. Their inability to coordinate their efforts
and collaborate has led to ineffective leadership on campus and
conflicting initiatives.
Write an approximately 150-300-word address to your leadership
team. Include the following:
· Identify the effects of the leadership team’s behavior on the
campus.
· Explain how a campus leadership team should function.
· Identify at least one step you will take as school leader to address
this issue.
2. You are the principal of a large high school that enrolls students
from three large middle schools in the school district. Over the last
two years, data has shown that students from one of the middle
schools are disproportionately identified as receiving special
education services when compared to the students matriculating
from the other two middle schools. This has led to a significant
increase in the number of students receiving special education
services on your campus. Currently there is a shortage of special
education teachers and classroom teachers have limited
knowledge of differentiating instruction. Write an approximately
150-300-word address to classroom teachers, special educators,
and school leaders about your intention to explore solutions for
better meeting special student needs. Include the following:
· Describe one major issue you need to consider in identifying,
planning, and implementing solutions for meeting special student
needs.
· Explain what impacts the issue you described will have on your
school’s capacity for achieving the goal of improving learning and
performance for students with special needs.
· Specify one kind of information or data that would especially
inform your process of exploring, finding, and applying effective
solutions for classroom teachers, special educators, and others to
meet special student needs.
· Explain why and how the information or data you specified
would inform this process.
3. As school principal, you have been informed by your district
office that, in the next school year, community growth will result in
a significant increase in student enrollment at your school. At the
same time, funding allocations for many programs such as
technology, fine arts, and athletics have been reduced. In planning
the school budget for the coming fiscal year, you want the input and
collaboration of school staff. You convene a meeting of members
representing the faculty, staff, office, food service, transportation,
and other departments. Write an approximately 150-300-word
document to prepare all meeting attendees for discussion,
brainstorming, and planning. Include the following:
· Give a description of one issue you find central to addressing the
fulfillment of the most important school programs and services in
view of the exigencies of increased enrollment and decreased
finances.
· Identify at least one step the school could take to save on
expenses while still offering students needed programs and
services.
· Explain how this step would help to resolve the coming
challenge.
Answer Key and Explanations for Test
#1
1. C: School leaders and others should analyze school data based upon
formative classroom assessments and standardized state summative
assessments. The data analyzed should include data across grade
levels, across school years, by subjects, by student cohorts, by student
special populations, and by individual teachers, when possible. Analysis
of data should be holistic in order to identify school strengths, needs
for improvement, and trends to properly inform the school vision and
mission.
2. B: Schools and school leaders use data they have collected for setting
goals aligned with their school vision and mission. Data-based
decision-making is a best practice for school leaders. Data should be
collected for all decision making and data can be collected in the forms
of quantitative data, such as standardized assessment results,
attendance rates, etc., or qualitative data such as survey feedback.
School goals must be aligned with the school vision and mission so that
progress toward established goals is connected to achieving the school
vision and mission.
3. D: When school visions are developed through collaboration among
employees, they tend to be more appropriate to the contexts of their
local school districts, which is an advantage. Collaboratively developed
school visions typically are not implemented as quickly as those
personally developed by school leaders, which also tend to be clearer
and more coherent than those developed collaboratively.
Collaboratively developed school visions do take longer to develop,
slowing change, which is a disadvantage, not an advantage.
4. A: In some states, teachers do not have to be fully certified to teach
in a public school. Teachers who are new to the profession and may be
enrolled in an alternative teacher certification program may be allowed
to teach in a public school on a probationary status. However, all
teachers must demonstrate subject-matter competency prior to being
deemed highly qualified and able to teach in a public school. States may
vary in their requirements for teacher certification; therefore, a teacher
who is highly qualified in one state may have to meet additional
qualifications if they move to another state.
5. C: All levels, from individual schools to state education departments,
must ultimately align with federal policy to make major educational
goals match the national vision. However, within this hierarchy, specific
expressions of policy, e.g., standardized test instruments, reflect the
next higher level. Thus, state standardized tests reflect federal
standards, not just state standards; individual schools directly apply
standards from their school systems, not state standards, which in turn
reflect the standards of their school districts, which in turn directly
apply state standards, not federal standards.
6. B: To foster equity and inclusion in education, school leaders should
assure all their teachers develop curriculum and differentiated
instruction that are both developmentally appropriate and culturally
diverse; model respect for diversity in their own behaviors, and offer
their schools and communities multiple ways for celebrating diversity;
involve suitable culturally diverse community stakeholders in school
decisions, which is their job; and hold all members of their school
communities accountable for valuing diversity, equity, and inclusion,
not just themselves.
7. C: Distributive leadership is a leadership style that shares leadership
roles and responsibilities with others in a deliberate and systematic
way. Providing team members with leadership opportunities builds
capacity and helps to cultivate team members into leaders. Practicing
distributive leadership also helps to foster change and improvement
because the ideas and talent of team members are leveraged and
utilized.
8. A: Research studies find that, for implementing school-wide
technology adoption, required factors are sufficient resources and
support, professional development, school structure, school
organization, and leadership. Effective professional development must
be intentionally and carefully planned, designed with goals in mind,
provided continually to keep up with constant changes in the teaching
profession, and integrated system-wide or school-wide as part of the
school culture through teacher collaboration and sharing of knowledge.
9. D: The National Education Association (NEA) Code of Ethics
principle of Commitment to the Student prohibits unreasonably
preventing students from independently pursuing learning and
unreasonably denying student access to various perspectives, not
encouraging these. It requires, not prohibits, reasonable efforts to
safeguard students against harm to health, safety, or learning. It
prohibits suppressing, not disclosing, any information pertinent to
student progress. However, it does prohibit disclosing student
information when not legally or professionally required.
10. A: State funding under Title I and Smart Start legislation is often
available as a way for school leaders to hire school parent facilitators,
whose jobs are to involve families in their children’s educations. School
leaders should not always expect for parents to visit the school. Instead,
school leaders should also be visible in the community to facilitate
family involvement. School leaders can develop community
relationships by beginning with parents who are already involved, but
make an effort to involve parents who have not been previously
involved. Fostering parental involvement requires two-way
communication, not just one-way communication such as robocalls or
newsletters.
11. C: Group consensus is an ideal approach for collaborative decisions
in that all participants’ voices are heard, and every member must
provide input and agree with the group decision. However, it is more
time-consuming, not more time-efficient, than majority rule or
committee decision-making. Majority rule is the method wherein
minority voters’ commitment can be undermined. Committee
decision-making is the method whereby committee members may feel
their time and effort were wasted if members of the larger group
frequently override committee decisions.
12. B: Among resource limitations, inadequate school counselor-to-
student ratios are attributable to funding and budget cuts, not
accountability mandates. Inadequate in-service development for new
support staff is attributable to various factors, including cultural
influences stigmatizing mental health issues, lowering their priority in
schools; leadership and organizational deficits; and funding deficits,
ineffective resource allocation, etc.—not accountability mandates.
Inadequate school district mental health budgeting is not federally
mandated for accountability. Federal accountability requirements have
changed school counselor responsibilities from addressing student
mental health to addressing student academic achievement, reducing
professional support services.
13. A: Traditionally, bus drivers are considered school support staff,
typically under the district Transportation Department. They serve
multiple school locations and are usually supervised by an employee in
the Transportation Department. Custodians and cafeteria workers are
often dedicated to one campus and may be supervised by the campus
principal. Volunteers are unpaid and not officially school district
employees, but are supervised by the campus principal to ensure
compliance with policies and procedures. However, school districts
may have differing organizational polices and supervision of campus
personnel.
14. D: Focused discussions and effective interaction between students
are indicators that the instructional activities are effective. Student
discourse, whether teacher-facilitated or independent, is an indicator
or learning and mastery of content. Increased student attendance is a
positive student outcome but is not necessarily the direct result of a
particular instructional activity. Differentiated instruction and flexible
student grouping are instructional strategies, not outcomes.
15. A: Prior to adopting curriculum, the alignment of the curriculum to
learning standards must be verified. Curriculum that is not aligned will
not be effective in instruction students and ensuring their performance
on state-mandated assessments. After the alignment has been verified,
the curriculum may be vetted by various stakeholders and approved for
use by the school board.
16. D: School leaders should not assign teachers to write technology
standards. Integrating technology does help students meet curriculum
standards. School leaders and faculty should require students to master
any existing technology standards as cross-curricular and procedural
knowledge and skills. Experts advise school leaders and teachers to
focus not on learning about technology, but on learning with
technology.
17. B: To provide teachers with effective feedback and collaboration,
school leaders must know that student motivation and learning are
influenced by different types of assessments; that despite “objective”
tests, machine scoring, etc., ultimately assessment is based in the
judgment, assumptions, and values of professional educators who
design, score, interpret, and grade assessments; that not only is error
inevitable in all assessment, but moreover it is typically
underestimated; and that reliability in assessment involves scores and
results, not tests or instruments.
18. D: Leaders can encourage self-direction in improving among
faculty and staff by modeling this behavior. Leaders who are
transparent about their own areas of improvement will encourage and
set an example for employees. Additionally, the school leader should
actively engage employees in self-assessment as well as make
resources available for doing so. However, a leader should not leave
self-improvement up to employees as it will likely not be done.
Employees need support, resources, and encouragement to engage in
self-directed improvement.
19. D: Structured observations, which may be conducted by peers,
leaders, or others, are collaborative as they involve the teachers being
observed, those observing them, and the feedback and other
interaction they share based on and following observations.
Conducting action research, reflection during teaching practice, and
reading current research in their field are professional development
activities that teachers can engage in individually.
20. C: Study questions at the ends of textbook chapters typically help
students recall or identify, locate, interpret, and apply information they
just read more than reflect. Graphic organizers help students visualize
and organize verbal, numerical, and abstract information. Worksheets
help students practice what they have just learned. Writing regularly in
journals promotes and gives students a method for reflection.
21. C: Prior to the integration of technology into instructional practice,
it was difficult for teachers to individualize instruction for students as
it relates to content and pace. Technology applications allow teachers
to facilitate instruction that meets the students’ individual needs and
allows students to work at their own pace toward mastery.
Heterogenous student grouping can be a beneficial strategy but is not
directly related to technology use in the classroom. Similarly, passive
and active learning can occur with or without technology integration.
Project-based learning can be facilitated with technology, but it is not a
requirement.
22. D: The least restrictive environment for a student who receives
special education services is the same environment as their peers who
do not receive these services. Any time a student is removed from the
main program of education, their environment is restricted. A students
LRE is determined by their Individualized Education Plan and may
differ based on their learning needs. However, a student’s IEP and
academic performance must be reviewed regularly to ensure that the
student is in the least restrictive environment possible.
23. A: Tiered positive behavior support models have been found highly
effective as school-wide classroom management systems because they
incorporate not only prevention of behavior problems before they
occur, but also interventions for existing or developing behavior
problems. Also, by reducing the incidence of problem behaviors, these
models provide more time for students to be engaged academically.
24. A: A supportive school climate occurs when students have
resources readily available to them that can help them feel supported
and to overcome challenges that they may face. The resources available
should be based on student needs, such as counseling, mentorship,
social activities, and others. A supportive school climate should foster
peer relationships among peers intentionally rather than allowing
them to happen by chance because students share common schedules.
While policy handbooks for students are useful, they do not directly
contribute to a supportive school environment. On the other hand,
student interactions with adults on campus can directly impact
students’ feelings of being supported.
25. B: Instruction can be differentiated based on content, process, or
product. Differentiating instruction based on product means that the
teacher provides multiple ways for a student to demonstrate mastery.
Allowing students to write an essay gives students an opportunity to
demonstrate mastery in written form or in spoken form. Providing
students with different versions of assessments is still assessing
students using a test and does not constitute differentiated instruction.
26. B: Professional Learning Committees (PLC) are designed to
facilitate collaboration among teachers based on grade levels, subject
area, or other commonalities. In PLCs, educators use quantitative and
qualitative data to make decisions about students and are guided by
the following questions: What do we want students to learn? What do
we do if they do not learn it? What do we do if they learn it?
Communicating with parents and submitting reports often include
sharing of data, but do not necessarily indicate that the data is used to
make decisions. Requiring teachers to host tutorial sessions for
students is a beneficial intervention, but may not be a directive based
on data.
27. D: School system guidelines recommend that, in giving teachers
observational feedback, school leaders should focus feedback
discussions by developing open-ended questions that target specific
areas for each teacher, explicitly name two or three teacher strengths
they observed, identify one area for improvement that will make the
most impact on student learning and teacher development, and
develop a few specific and attainable next steps for each teacher to
take. Effective observational feedback should include strengths and
weaknesses and recommendations for next steps should be clear and
attainable.
28. C: A successful new teacher induction program will provide
opportunities for new teachers to collaborate with one another and
with more experienced teachers. Additionally, a successful program will
incorporate leadership development opportunities for new teachers to
explore and refine their leadership skills. New teachers should receive
strategic professional coaching and be assigned a mentor based on
experience and effectiveness of the mentoring staff member. While the
school leader is responsible for ensuring that an effective induction
program in place, there are other instructional staff and campus
leaders who can add value to the induction program by facilitating
various aspects of the program.
29. C: School principals should look for evidence of learning when
conducting a classroom observation. Students should be given
opportunities to respond and demonstrate learning throughout the
lesson so that the teacher and the observer can determine whether
students are learning the content. These opportunities may occur as
questioning strategies, discussion, or through guided and independent
practice. It is important for teachers to be comfortable with the
instructional content and method of delivery, but this is not a primary
focus of a classroom observation as a novice teacher can be nervous
yet still effective. Additionally, the physical classroom setup should be
conducive to learning but is not the primary focus of a classroom
observation.
30. A: Research studies have found the most effective implementations
of school data use initiatives were most proactive, offering regular and
expert system data use training of school leaders, leadership skills
advice and coaching, and vigorous promotion. These got significantly
better results even comparing districts using similar data systems,
showing implementation was more important than the data system.
Researchers observed that, although technology is necessary to
support data initiatives, it alone is not the answer to school data use.
Studies also found teams use data technology systems more quickly
and productively than individual teachers.
31. B: Testing accommodations for some students based on their
individual needs are not unfair, but actually make assessments fairer
and also more valid. School leaders can help decrease achievement
gaps among student cultural groups and backgrounds by using student
data to monitor progress regularly. However, extensive testing of
students, especially to the impediment of instruction, can be
detrimental to students who are already low performing. Data collected
from assessments, even non-standardized formative assessments, can
be used to monitor student progress and inform instructional
decisions.
32. A: The US Departments of Education’s and Justice’s school
discipline guidance package intends to lower significant overall annual
student expulsion and suspension rates, including disproportionate
overrepresentation of students with disabilities and from other
minorities. The package also aims to help schools establish positive
learning environments and enhance school safety; to aid schools
having difficulty establishing safe, positive learning environments,
even though violent school incidents overall are less than before; and to
ensure school behavioral interventions are both federally legal and
non-discriminatory.
33. B: School leaders can promote equitable access to curriculum for
all students and parents by making staff more comfortable discussing
diversity issues, social justice, and values, which will promote equity;
clarifying staff misconceptions related to deficit theories about
minorities and diverse groups; modeling equity beliefs and behaviors
in daily interactions; confronting discrimination and stereotyping in
actions and language; creating safe school environments where all
students feel welcomed and valued; and establishing support networks
for students harassed over cultural, sexual, and/or gender identity.
34. B: School improvement plans have been found to increase parental
meeting and student school attendance; student enrollment and
achievement; parental involvement in policies, procedures, advocacy,
organizing, and events; and to decrease student behavior problems
while increasing student achievement. School system leaders have also
established central office policies and structures that increased
parental engagement, not only in individual schools but also system-
wide.
35. A: In many American communities and states, schools provide the
chief—and often the only—mental health (MH) services that children
receive. Parents are more comfortable with such services when they
are provided in familiar school settings by familiar staff, rather than
avoiding them. Research studies find students are more likely to seek
counseling services in schools than to look elsewhere. Another reason
for school-community collaboration is the necessity of coordinating
school and community MH services, not separating them.
36. C: In school change processes, first-order changes represent
specific strategies for implementing deeper changes in educational
ideas and philosophies. Thus, forming a different instructional
approach is a second-order change, as are forming new interactions
and relationships and forming a sense of collaborative ownership
among educational stakeholders. For implementing that sense of
shared ownership, forming site-based school advisory councils is an
example of a corresponding first-order change.
37. A: The Supportive School Discipline Initiative (SSDI) included
guidance for positive school discipline practices to keep students in
school by providing alternatives to exclusionary methods like
suspension and expulsion. This guidance was produced jointly by the
US Departments of Education and Justice to ensure enforcement of
federal civil rights protections against discrimination. It provides
school resources with helpful information rather than getting it from
them. The SSDI’s purpose was to keep student discipline from
escalating to the police or prison systems, not to continue this trend.
38. D: In SPBS programs, tier 3 is for the small proportion of students
not responding to tier 1 or tier 2 interventions. It involves intensive,
individualized interventions tailored to each student. Small socio-
emotional group instruction in social and emotional skills, daily
student check-in and check-out procedures, and enlisting family
support for small-group intervention and instruction are all techniques
associated with tier 2.
39. D: A primary aspect of implementing a school improvement plan is
to use data to assess goal progress and completion. Integrating
technology tools to accomplish this can improve the ease at which
school improvement progress can be measured and improve the
timeliness and accuracy of response to progress checks. Utilizing
technology in other areas such as to facilitate collaboration, administer
assessments, and communicate with stakeholders are valuable;
however, utilizing technology to collect, organize, and analyze data for
school improvement and progress monitoring is most closely related to
the implementation of the school improvement plan.
40. C: To partner productively with community members for the
shared goal of improving student learning and achievement, schools
should take the initiative in offering them information (including
school and student data) rather than furnish it only upon request,
clearly explain to stakeholders how all community members can
participate meaningfully, align all collaborative activities directly with
the school’s vision and goals, and share pertinent, accurate, clear
achievement data transparently rather than limiting what they
disclose.
41. A: According to research findings, transformational school leaders
model and promote staff development and self-improvement by
building school structures that encourage staff members to participate
in decision-making, delegating responsibilities judiciously as needed,
and supporting staff when they operate autonomously.
Transformational school leaders encourage teacher autonomy in
decision-making, strive to attain full staff consensus rather than
overriding staff in determining school priorities, and communicate
these priorities to staff and students to develop a strong sense of
purpose overall.
42. B: Alternative high school principals (Mohr and Dichter, 2001)
identified staff developmental stages of honeymoon, conflict,
confusion, messy, scary, and mature, in that order, in becoming learning
communities. The honeymoon stage is identified as when a sense of
community first emerges. The conflict stage is summarized as “the
honeymoon is over.” The confusion stage is characterized by staff
uncertainty over the leader’s role. The messy stage involves increased
lack of clarity. The scary stage finds staff wondering where
accountability and authority are. The mature stage equates to the birth
of a learning community.
43. D: The ultimate responsibility of developing and implementing
professional development for teachers and staff belongs to the school
leader. However, a school leader should leverage the knowledge and
expertise of the administrative team and teacher leaders in this
process. The school leader may provide the overall vision and goals and
delegate some of the responsibilities relating to professional
development to others while holding all parties accountable for
meeting goals and aligning to the vision.
44. A: Researchers have found that students’ academic self-concepts
are not correlated with their academic achievement, but are correlated
with later life successes like employment and earnings. Although
socioeconomic status (SES) is related to academic self-concept (as well
as achievement and retention), it does not correlate as strongly with
SES as with students’ home educational settings. Although smaller
school size is found to benefit student participation as well as principal
leadership and teacher distributed leadership, larger school size
correlates positively with student academic self-concept.
45. D: In a cycle of continuous school improvement driven by data that
they collect and analyze, schools and leaders should first conduct a
needs assessment for their school to identify where to focus
improvement efforts. Once they have identified needs, they should set
specific improvement goals. Then they should reflect on their teaching
and leading practices for further informing improvement. This enables
implementing improvement strategies. Another necessary step is to
assess progress during and following implementation.
46. C: Analyzing videos of one’s instructional practices is used in self-
assessment and can also support reflection. Rather than relying on the
observation feedback of a third party, the teacher can self-assess their
proficiency in instructional delivery. Writing in a journal is used in
reflection, not for self-assessment.
47. B: Although professional development (PD) must be job-embedded
and school-based, it can occur even outside of the school building if
teachers view it as part of their daily work duties and it emerges from
and contributes to daily classroom practice. Teachers must be actively
involved in the learning process for effective PD. PD should be student-
centered, not teacher-centered because what teachers learn is to
support student learning, not for teachers’ own sake. Collaborative
teacher problem-solving is both valuable and a PD guideline and
addresses the issue of teacher isolation and as well as fosters
professional and community respect.
48. C: Adults learn in more productive ways when they know they have
the right of choice whether to voluntarily learn or not, when they have
choices among learning materials, when they are involved in planning
the instruction they will be accessing, and when they are able to give
instructors input about how their learning will be assessed.
49. A: A school must Manifestation Determination Review within 10
school days according to the following criteria: if the school is seeking
to change student placement for more than 10 consecutive days for
disciplinary reasons; if the school suspends a student for disciplinary
reasons for more than 10 cumulative, not consecutive days, and for
every subsequent suspension, not on a one-time basis; the school is
considering expelling or otherwise excluding a student for disciplinary
reasons rather than already having done so; or the parent(s), not the
school, request(s) this meeting after a disciplinary incident.
50. C: Allowing for individual variations, many public-school districts
receive the largest proportion of funding from their state government.
According to the American Association of School Administrators
(AASA), the federal government provides less than 20 percent of the
amount that the state government does, with city or other local and
intermediate governments combined contributing only slightly less
than the state government. Only a very small proportion of funding
comes from other sources.
51. C: Cooperative learning, the process of facilitating student
collaboration develops social skills, teamwork, individual and collective
responsibility, and group interdependence. The Socratic method is
useful for facilitating student engagement, assessing student learning,
and fostering critical thinking but is not useful for delivering
instruction. Project-based learning is useful for active, hands-on
learning experiences and does not require technology to be
implemented effectively. Technology is a useful tool for delivering
instruction, but is not required; technology is also effective when
students utilize technology to engage in the learning process, making
technology more student-centered.
52. A: Budget planning and operations coordination are two aspects of
using technology to support effective school organization
management. Notifying stakeholders of meetings is an aspect of using
technology to facilitate effective and timely communication. Collecting,
disaggregating, and analyzing different school data is an aspect of using
technology to manage information. Facilitating multiple stakeholder
contributions to projects is an aspect of using technology to enhance
collaboration.
53. B: Multiple research studies find that the most effective school
leaders are better at identifying the teachers best and worst at
increasing student performance among their existing faculty. However,
researchers cannot determine whether the fact that effective school
leaders also hire the best experienced teachers is more attributable to
better leader ability in choosing teachers or to excellent teachers’
attraction to schools with the best existing faculty quality. Researchers
do observe that school leaders cannot differentiate quality among
average teachers as well as they can differentiate better from poorer
teachers due to lesser contrast.
54. B: A school leader can best control the quality of the teaching
faculty by developing strategies that address strategic hiring,
development, and retention of effective teachers. Hiring effective
teachers is important therefore due diligence must be made to screen
candidates and ensure that they have the appropriate skills needed for
the classroom and are compatible with school culture. The school
leader must provide the appropriate training and development for
teachers so that all can grow professionally. Lastly, the school leader
must be intentional about retaining effective teachers to reduce the
need for hiring.
55. C: A transactional leader is defined as a leader who is most
concerned about performing under the existing policies, rules, and
laws. These leaders emphasize compliance and progress toward
current goals, often emphasizing strong organizational rigidity and
using punishment and reward-based systems of motivation.
Transactional leaders are typically able to keep motivation in short
term endeavors, but struggle to be adaptable for systemic change. This
type of leader is defined in contrast to transformational leaders, who
tend to look for possible changes that can be made to improve an
existing system. Too much of either leadership style can lead to
negative results, so it is recommended to pursue a balance between
improving existing systems and striving to perform well within
existing systems.
56. A: According to the US Department of Education’s Privacy Technical
Assistance Center (PTAC) and the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST), a school data breach response policy defines staff
roles and responsibilities; metrics and standards; and reporting,
remediation, and feedback mechanisms. Identifying necessary
management support and school resources is a function of the data
breach response plan. Standardizing response tasks and behaviors and
preventing errors from being introduced are functions of procedures
developed based on the plan. Regular risk assessments are a function
not of these components but a recommended broader information
management strategy.
57. D: The American Psychological Association (APA) recommends a
tiered model of behavior management above all others for schools—
i.e., a system of positive behavior supports that includes both
prevention and intervention with primary, secondary, and tertiary
levels—not only for school-wide systems or only for disruptive
behaviors of individual students, but for both of these as well as for
classroom behavior management.
58. C: An integrated management system unites all digital management
systems into one total structure, facilitating shared objectives and
working as a unit to achieve them. According to experts, a school not
using any digital management system is not the best candidate without
experience or systems to integrate. A school using one system and not
planning more does not need integration. The ideal school uses one or
more systems and plans adding more. Systems within an integrated
management system share policies, documentation, processes, and
procedures; a school wanting these separated does not want
integration.
59. D: New policies should be well communicated in vision and in
methodology, but if the policy comes directly from the leadership
without having shared motivation the community as a whole will not
have buy in and the implementation is likely to face resistance.
Delegating authority to staff is a great way of involving stakeholders
within the school building but does not include members of the school
community who are not employed at the school. Communicating
frequently is effective for sharing the vision but does not necessarily
motivate community members to participate in implementing new
ideas, policies, and procedures.
60. B: In most public-school districts, typically the District Office of
Achievement and Accountability makes preliminary enrollment
projections to inform school budgets, but not alone because of the
difficulty of projecting. Instead, they submit their projections to school
leaders, who revise them as needed. School leaders do not project their
schools’ enrollment alone. Final enrollment projections are made by
district committees representing not only the Finance and Student
Support offices, but also district Achievement and Accountability and
Operations offices.
61. D: The term decentralization refers to the transfer of power and
authority from the school districts to principals to make decisions
related to budgets and staffing. In centralized school districts, the
central office determines campus spending and the principal has little
to no control over how funds are used. In decentralized school districts,
principals have greater control over how to use the funds allotted to
their school campus.
62. C: It is not the school leader’s responsibility to interpret federal and
state law for application at the school level because this is the
responsibility of the school district as articulated in local policy;
however, the school leader is responsible for knowing federal and state
law. School policies and local laws are developed in accordance with
federal and state laws; however, if there is a discrepancy between local
policies and federal or state law, the school leader must adhere to
federal and state law. Policies are interpretation of law and must be
revised and updated regularly to align with state and federal laws.
School leaders are their own agents in regard to voting in elections
relating to policy.
63. A: According to the National Education Association (NEA), a school
acceptable use policy (AUP) should include a preamble explaining need
for an AUP; its goals and development; a school conduct code inclusion
of online activity; a definition section of important terms; a policy
statement of computer services covered and conditions required for
student use (e.g., taking a computer responsibility class); an acceptable
uses section and unacceptable uses section; and a violations and
sanctions section, which should tell students how to report policy
violations or question policy application (which may conform to the
school disciplinary code), not just define violations.
64. B: As of 2013, New Jersey and Wyoming required all persons to
report child abuse and neglect; all other US states identified specific
professionals as mandated reporters. These professions include
healthcare and mental health professionals and childcare providers;
teachers, principals, and other school personnel; social workers,
including school social workers; law enforcement officers; and medical
examiners or coroners.
65. B: School leaders are responsible for ensuring that school safety
policies comply with federal, state, and local safety regulations for
school physical plants and for communicating all school safety policies
to employees, students, and families. They are also responsible for
notifying staff and parents in advance of physical plant projects and any
other changes that could affect student and staff safety and health.
Their responsibilities include developing and revising safety policies
with a school health and safety team and other school staff, students,
and families, as well as warning parents of painting, pesticides, and
other environmental hazards.
66. A: The logistics function of the ICS identifies services and resources
for supporting incident response needs. The planning function collects
and evaluates information, identifies incident response issues,
develops action plans, and recommends future actions. The command
function manages incidents overall and is directly responsible for
public safety, information, and community response agency liaisons.
The operations function develops objectives, organizes resources, and
directs actions and resources for incident responses.
67. D: According to the National Center for Education Statistics
(NCES), school leaders should not ignore the political environment
because political support and connections can greatly benefit obtaining
funding and legislation. They should avoid overly technical language
with most stakeholder audiences who will not understand it industry
jargon. Leaders should communicate with stakeholders in sensitive
situations. However, leaders should avoid engaging in large-scale open
forums which can obstruct progress by being unfocused, unstructured,
and may admit too many voices.
68. A: School leaders should not ask students to serve as translators for
their parents who do not speak English. Students may be unreliable
translators and also should not carry the responsibility of translating,
especially in matters that the student may not need to be involved in.
For parents who have missed school parent workshops, school leaders
can record video of workshops for parents to watch later. They can
create inclusive, welcoming, affirming climates by validating, honoring,
and thanking family and community members for supporting the
school as well as encouraging and maintaining their meaningful
involvement. They can assign parent liaisons, which enable parents to
access resources and services that the school offers to families.
69. D: To mobilize and develop community school support, school
leaders should consider that businesses and community-based
organizations use different language than educators, and should learn
and speak their languages accordingly. School leaders must not only
exchange their visions, missions, wants, and needs with those of
prospective community partners and identify where these match, they
must moreover identify where they overlap, i.e., shared commonalities
despite differences. School leaders must show prospective partners
how collaboration benefits them. Potential partners have motivations
as varied as the community organizations interested in collaborating
with schools.
70. B: Empirical research into effective practices improving schools
and student achievement finds that school leaders overcame resistance
to change through proactive strategies, including owning and
demonstrating continuing commitment, establishing supportive
administrative networks, establishing priorities for change, and
communicating with others more intentionally.
71. B: All of the data mentioned would be useful for the school leader to
analyze; however, data related to student performance, student
attendance data, and student promotion rates are the most
comprehensive and informative for the development or revision of the
school vision and goals. This data can assist in developing goals that
are aligned with federal and state accountability requirements.
Analyzing data related to teaching staff and the community are
important for understanding and improving campus culture and
supporting the instructional goals, but are not the most beneficial
when compared to student data. Similarly, school accountability ratings
can be helpful to analyze but do not provide sufficient information
related to current practice and to the areas of deficit that need to be
addressed in the school goals.
72. A: The next step after developing the school vision and goals is to
develop a plan for implementing them. The plan should be developed
prior to presenting the vision and goals to staff and other stakeholders
so that, when they are presented, these stakeholders can be informed
of their roles and responsibilities related to implementation of the
vision and goals. It is important for a school leader to delegate tasks to
other leaders on campus in relation to the vision and goals, but the plan
must be developed first in order for the leader to know which tasks to
delegate.
73. D: In order to obtain diverse perspectives from the internal and
external community, the school leader should include as many types of
stakeholders as possible in the process. Students and staff make up the
internal community. Parents and other community members make up
the external community. It is effective practice to engage stakeholders
in a variety of ways; however, in this scenario, a survey distributed to
students, parents, staff, and community members would solicit the
most diversity of perspectives.
74. C: When monitoring goal progress, it is important to examine data,
not just identify whether tasks were completed. School leaders should
establish regular intervals for reviewing the data related to the goals
that have been set. For example, academic performance data may be
reviewed according to grading periods whereas attendance data may
be reviewed monthly. Electronic data management systems can be
helpful; however, automatic notifications for not meeting thresholds
may not be received in a timely manner nor indicate whether goal
progress is being met or exceeded unless the school leader
intentionally reviews the data at regular intervals.
75. A: The first step that a principal should take is to collect
information about the resources and strategies currently in place. This
well help the principal identify what aspects of the instructional
program to keep, adjust, or eliminate. Budgeting and other
instructional decisions should not be made until it is determined what
the cause of the deficiencies in math are. Additional testing is not
necessary because the principal has sufficient data to determine that
there is a deficit in math.
76. C: Student growth is the best data point to inform the principal as
to whether the math intervention program was effective and should
continue to be funded. Student growth can be calculated by comparing
student performance in math at the beginning of the school year to
their performance at the end of the school year. Although standardized
test performance is an important data point, using this data alone will
not indicate the efficacy of the program, especially for students who
may have grown significantly, but not enough to meet standardized test
performance requirements.
77. B: The principal should consider the campus vision and goals when
determining how to allocate resources, including technology resources.
The first step that a principal should take when considering spending
school funds is determining how the purchase will support the
achievement of the vision and goals. When considering upgrading or
replacing technology, it is appropriate for the principal to evaluate the
current condition of the technology or seek ways to save money;
however, the first step that should be taken is to determine if the
spending is in alignment with the school goals and vision.
78. D: Professional development sessions that take place over time, in
contrast to single-session trainings are more likely to have an impact
on teacher performance. Additionally, when a cohort of teachers
participates in a training, there is opportunity for collaboration and
collective accountability. There are benefits of providing individualized
professional development opportunities for teachers; however, when
these self-paced trainings are not time bound or accompanied by
accountability measures, they are less likely to have a direct impact on
current teacher performance.
79. A: A school leader must create structures in the school
programming that promote collaboration for teachers. Allot time in the
master schedule for co-planning ensures that teachers will have
dedicated, structured time to plan together, such as participating in
professional learning communities. Offering to pay teachers to stay
after school may not be effective since teachers can opt out or because
this could interfere with other school activities such as tutorials or
extracurricular activities. Providing asynchronous collaboration online
does not best meet the need of co-planning. Removing qualified
teachers for planning can negatively impact student performance and
should be used sparingly, if at all.
80. C: Providing ongoing feedback to teachers has the most significant
impact on teacher performance. School leaders are responsible or
evaluating teachers, providing feedback on evaluations, and assisting
teachers with improving areas of weakness through coaching,
mentoring, professional development and other strategies.
81. D: School leaders must maintain rigorous standards-based
instruction across the campus. If students are not able to meet the
standards, additional supports and interventions must be offered to
students to address educational gaps. The math teacher cannot choose
to lower the expectations or standards for students without
permission and documentation according to local and state policies.
The teacher does not demonstrate a need for training related to
implementation of the curriculum, but the teacher must be directed to
abide by the curriculum as written.
82. C: Collaboration requires that the school leader engage directly
with teachers to maintain an instructional program that delivers
standards-based instruction. PLCs are excellent opportunities to listen
and provide input during the planning stage for delivering instruction.
Auditing classroom materials and analyzing the accuracy of grading are
good tools for evaluating the delivery of standards-based instruction
but are not collaborative. Administering a survey about new curriculum
is not collaborative and does not help to support implementation of
current materials.
83. A: The school leader should make time to collect and analyze
student work samples. The audit can be random or the school leader
can focus on particular groups of students based on data; however, the
school leader should discuss the work samples with the teachers who
assigned them. Monitoring grades does not provide the school leader
with information about the assignments that were graded. Hosting a
science fair and using portfolios for assessment can be beneficial but
do not directly indicate that the school leader is involved in these
activities.
84. B: The dean should ask teachers what resources they would like
and purchase as many of their suggestions as possible for all teachers.
This would increase the number of resources available to teachers and
offer them a variety of resources to choose from. Requiring teachers to
purchase materials on their own is a disincentive if teachers cannot
afford the upfront cost. Professional development is not a resource, it is
training. Seeking free or discounted materials does not guarantee that
the number and variety of resources will increase on campus if there
are limited to no resources available in the local area.
85. D: Students must have rigorous instruction in the classroom to be
prepared for challenging curriculum in the future. Students who
perform well in class but perform poorly on standardized assessments
are evidence of misalignment of course work to standardized
assessments or inadequate levels of rigor in the classroom. Evaluating
the grades of one grade level of students in a specific class is not
evidence of ensuring all students are prepared for a challenging
curriculum. Reviewing one assessment that was administered prior to
enrollment in the school does not demonstrate ongoing monitoring.
86. B: Reading and writing skills are best taught and reinforced within
the context of subject matter content. Creating a cross-curricular focus
on reading and writing skills would best address the gap in
performance among students who are not reading on grade level.
Increasing opportunities for students to read is beneficial, but is less
effective in closing opportunity gaps, especially when opportunities to
engage in reading are voluntary such as after school or at home.
Targeted test preparation has limited efficacy if attendance is voluntary
and student performance is not monitored.
87. C: The best action that the principal can take to increase the
frequency of classroom observations is to plan the observations into
the schedule each week. This will force all other appointments and
meetings to be scheduled around the classroom observations.
Classroom visits should not be left to chance or they will likely not be
conducted due to the many tasks that a principal may have to address
throughout the day. Additionally, the principal should aim to visit
classrooms on different days of the week and times of the day to obtain
a well-rounded perspective of teaching and learning on campus.
88. A: The best strategy the principal can use to establish a continuous
improvement cycle is to assess students at regular intervals and adjust
instruction based on the data. Benchmark exams are typically shorter
assessments over selected objectives rather than large comprehensive
assessments. Data from these assessments reflect the mastery of
objectives that are recently taught and are aligned to the pacing of the
curriculum scope and sequence. Testing in less frequent intervals can
also be helpful if the data is used to adjust instruction immediately
rather than informing plans for the subsequent school year.
89. C: It is critical for the school leader to communicate progress
toward the school vision and goals to the school community and other
stakeholders within the community. The vision and goals outline the
direction and focus of the school and all other activities must align to
the vision and goals. Activities such as volunteering, mentoring, and
collaborating should be in alignment with the school vision and goals;
therefore, it is most important for stakeholders to be informed of the
school vision and goals and how the school is making progress in these
areas.
90. D: The school leader must personally verify the condition of the
plant facility to ensure that the facility is in good condition and
compliant with safety regulations. Communicating with the plant
operator regularly, requesting that staff inform the leader of physical
working conditions, and maintaining official documents are important,
but do not substitute for the leader’s responsibility to verify what is
reported or documented.
91. A: Each of the suggestions are viable options for the school leader
to implement; however, the school leader needs to know why teachers
leave or plan to leave in order to best address the problem. Seeking
feedback from the teaching staff can help the school leader to focus
resources on the most direct causes of teacher attrition. Once the
causes are identified, the school leader can determine if the other
suggestions are applicable.
92. C: Creating a grief counseling group in response to the death of a
student is a positive action, but is reactive, not proactive. An education
leader cannot predict every occurrence that may impact student
mental and emotional health, but the education leader can create
processes and structures that can support students ongoing emotional
safety. These can include designing referral systems for mental health
care, providing information about available resources to students and
their parents, and using school resources to provide mental health
support.
93. B: The action that would best address the challenges in
communication, parental engagement, and at home learning is to help
the parents learn English by offering ESL classes on campus. Hosting
the classes on campus encourages parents to engage with the school
community and reinforces that the school values the presence and
engagement of the parents. Having a translator on campus and
translating documents for parents are important actions to take but are
not long-term solutions to the challenge. Students should not be asked
to translate school information for their parents.
94. A: It is the responsibility of the school principal to establish
processes and procedures that protect students and the confidentiality
of their information and monitors the use of those procedures. This
breach of student confidentiality could have posed a safety risk of the
student; the attendance clerk violated policy and law by providing the
student’s information over the telephone without verify who they were
speaking to. Even though the attendance clerk failed to adhere to policy,
it is ultimately the principal’s responsibility to ensure that all staff are
trained on policies affecting student rights and confidentiality and
adhere to those policies.
95. D: An effective school leader is transparent when making decisions.
This transparency includes sharing data and/or rationale for making
decisions. The school leader has already determined that the fine arts
program should be discontinued so the best action for the principal to
take next is to explain the rationale for that decision to the school
community.
96. C: Excluding a student from engaging in a campus-based activity
based on gender is unethical and prohibited. First the principal should
speak to the teacher about their bias as this bias may affect other
aspects of the teacher’s role beyond the after-school club. Afterwards,
the principal can require that the sponsor allow the male student to
participate; however, the principal must first address the beliefs held
by the teacher.
97. B: Recognizing and celebrating educational success is an effective
strategy to develop positive family and community partnerships. A
school leader should make an effort to organize events on campus and
in the community to develop positive partnerships. Live events
facilitate two-way communication, unlike newsletters which are one-
way modes of communication. Attending athletic events and soliciting
feedback from the community are additional ways to build a
relationship with the community, but the most effective strategy for
building a positive partnership is to host an event that spotlights
positive things related to the school and students.
98. C: It is beneficial to students and the community to build mutually
beneficial relationships with various organizations in the community,
including medical clinics. The school leader is responsible for ensuring
there is documentation of these relationships, such as a memorandum
of understanding, logs, or other forms of recordkeeping to document
the nature of these relationships and to whom services are provided.
The school leader should ensure that there is equitable access to these
resources as determined by law, school policy, and the nature of the
services provided.
99. D: While school leaders promote a college-bound culture, they also
know that students should be prepared for the career of their choice,
which may require specialized training or preparation other than
traditional college. In this scenario, the school leader should analyze
employment data for the community that the school serves and
determine if trends in the data justify adding or changing school
programming to meet the needs of the community.
100. A: Cultural diversity can affect academic achievement of students
for a variety of reasons, including language barriers, cultural bias in
curriculum, cultural bias in instructional practices and much more. If a
particular demographic of students is not succeeding, the school leader
must identify what the barriers to achievement are by talking with
teachers, students, parents, and even community members. The school
leader must then address those barriers by engaging diverse team
members to meet the needs of all students on campus.
Practice Test #2
1. When utilizing school data to inform school vision, mission, and
goals, which of the following data should school leaders analyze?
a. Historical data from standardized tests
b. Data from formative assessments
c. Course grades, promotion, and retention rates
d. Data from formative and summative assessments and
community survey results
2. In many public-school districts, students with certain linguistic
and/or cultural backgrounds are disproportionately enrolled in
special education programs. How can a school leader best address
this type of overrepresentation?
a. Examine current school procedures for assigning grade levels to
students
b. Examine instructional strategies targeting students referred to
special education
c. Examine instruments used to evaluate student need for special
education
d. Examine the curriculum and related expectations of student
achievement
3. A staff member who used to perform their job consistently
begins completing tasks after due dates and has started being
absent without a reasonable excuse. Which of the following
describes a school leader’s best course of action to address this
staff member?
a. The school leader should give some of the staff member’s
responsibilities to someone else who is more reliable.
b. The school leader should recommend that the staff member seek
mental health and counseling services.
c. The staff member should be terminated.
d. The staff member should be transferred to another department.
4. According to research related to the factors that contribute to the
success of higher-performing public schools, which of the following
is true?
a. The school leader is the single defining success factor
b. School success is based on a complex set of interrelated factors
c. Schools cannot be successful without additional funding
d. Factors related to curriculum and instruction are the most
important determinants of success
5. Which of the following best describes the relationship between
the school principal and the school board?
a. The school principal recommends the hiring and termination of
teachers to the school board.
b. The school principal reports campus data to the school board at
board meetings.
c. The school board hires and supervises the superintendent, who
in turns hires and supervises the school principal.
d. The school board implements state and local policies that the
principal must abide by.
6. Which of the following is an appropriate example of an action
that school leaders can take to change negative school cultures and
employee attitudes that interfere with realizing school visions?
a. Observe indicators of school culture among students and staff
b. Design professional development sessions for teachers that
address school culture
c. Frequently recount successful accomplishments of goals related
to school vision
d. Hold annual ceremonies for celebrating successes
7. On which of the following should educators mainly base their
education practices?
a. Traditions in educational practice
b. Educators’ personal experiences
c. Action research
d. Peer-reviewed research and best practices
8. Which of the following is an example of a school leader
performing a role of learning organization leader when
implementing a school-wide adoption of technology?
a. Leading by example, attending professional development, using
technology with teachers, and keeping current with the research
b. Establishing conditions for change by setting high learning
expectations and facilitating collaboration
c. Making school change a priority, supporting teacher endeavors,
and encouraging teacher effort
d. Leading initiatives, offering teachers learning opportunities, and
resolving implementation problems
9. Which of the following accurately reflects evaluative criteria that
school leaders should consider first when deciding to utilize
community resources to support student learning?
a. Congruence with the school’s vision and mission.
b. Immediate impact on student achievement.
c. Results from prior implementation.
d. The relationship of the person or organization to the school.
10. Which of the following is the best example of how school
leaders can support teachers in developing their expertise and
leadership skills?
a. School leaders should increase teachers’ workloads to give them
opportunity to demonstrate responsibility.
b. School leaders should develop all teachers in the same way to
avoid building resentment among staff.
c. School leaders must create safe environments for teachers’ risk-
taking and creative ideas.
d. School leaders should limit how much authority to share with
teachers to prevent diminishing their own authority.
11. According to some school consensus-building models, which of
these is most typical?
a. One hundred percent of faculty must agree to implement what is
proposed 100 percent of the time.
b. Dissenting members can opt out of the implementation.
c. If consensus seems impossible, having 80 percent of members
agree is not enough.
d. Those dissenting must agree not to obstruct and to support
implementation.
12. School leaders must know of a wide range of mental health
professionals available to students. To which of the following are
students most often referred for help that schools cannot provide?
a. Career counselors
b. Family counselors
c. Group counselors
d. School counselors
13. Among the following personnel who may work in a public
school, which of the following would likely be campus-based
personnel?
a. A bus driver
b. A counselor
c. A food service worker
d. A school psychologist
14. Which of the following is true about mental health and student
learning and achievement?
a. Educational problems are not related to mental health issues.
b. External stressors can create obstacles to learning and
achievement.
c. Only psychological disorders diagnosed by a health professional
can be addressed in schools.
d. Only students who qualify for special education services can
receive support for mental health issues.
15. Which of the following does not pertain to the development of a
shared school vision?
a. Ensuring that the vision is applicable to the whole community
b. Hosting community meetings to communicate the school vision
c. Surveying community members to receive insight
d. Collecting data to support an ideal outcome
16. What is the most accurate definition of a learning objective?
a. What educators hope to accomplish during their instruction
b. What educators are supposed instruct the students
c. What students expect teachers to instruct them
d. What educators expect students to be able to do via instruction
17. Of the following, which is true about multiple assessments of
student learning?
a. Different assessment types access different skills and learning
styles.
b. Students must be re-tested often or they forget what they
learned.
c. Summative assessments following instruction are typically
sufficient.
d. Summative assessments enable adjusting instruction as it
continues.
18. Which of the following best describes what school leaders
should consider when identifying professional development for
staff ?
a. Individual staff members’ goals are most important.
b. School goals and vision always take precedence.
c. Individual staff member and school goals are of equal
importance.
d. Professional development is primarily for accountability
purposes and goals.
19. Which of the following is true about school leaders as role
models for teachers in professional development (PD)?
a. School leaders should facilitate PD activities.
b. School leaders should participate in PD with teachers.
c. School leaders should monitor teacher implementation of
learning from PD sessions.
d. School leaders should determine the PD offered to teachers.
20. An elementary school leader has set a goal of establishing a
school climate wherein all educators believe every child can learn
and succeed, and are committed to enabling every child to do so.
Which classroom practice should the leader encourage teachers to
use toward this goal?
a. Differentiating instruction
b. Assigning student teams to compete in contests
c. Differentiating assessment standards by student
d. Regularly researching individual student interests
21. Advanced technology integration in schools includes
empowering students to engage in the learning process using
technology. Which of the following best exemplifies students
creating content using digital media?
a. Students access wiki pages to review lesson materials
b. Students record themselves reading aloud for reading
assessment
c. Students design elaborate digital storybooks to prepare for a
state writing exam
d. Students create PowerPoint presentations about insects using
photos from the internet
22. Which statement is accurate about why classroom management
systems are effective?
a. By making learning environments orderly, they enable student
academic success.
b. They control student behavior rather than helping emotional-
social development.
c. They work by increasing prosocial behavior rather than
academic engagement.
d. They work by providing individualized intensive interventions
for all students.
23. Surveyed school principals have reported that which of the
following has been adversely affected since standards-based
accountability systems were implemented?
a. Teacher morale
b. Curriculum and instruction
c. Student assessment practices
d. Expectations and achievement
24. Which of the following is true regarding how teacher evaluation
standards should be designed?
a. Teacher evaluations should reference clear instructional
standards to prioritize student learning.
b. Teacher evaluations should be conducted by school leaders with
a single standardized measure.
c. Teacher evaluations should be based on occasional observation
and avoid critical commentaries.
d. Teacher evaluations should play a minor part in important
decisions about teacher employment.
25. Which of the following is true regarding information and data
that teachers should consider when planning for differentiated
instruction?
a. Special population identification and past academic
performance are the only data that teachers should consider
when planning for differentiated instruction.
b. Formative assessment is not useful when planning for
differentiated instruction.
c. Student interests should be a major determining factor when
planning for differentiated instruction.
d. Student performance data, interests, and learning styles should
all be considered when planning for differentiated instruction.
26. Which kind of data best helps teachers to identify strengths and
needs in their teaching practices, support capacity-building, and
identify specific remedial student groups?
a. Formative data
b. Summative data
c. Student profiles
d. Enrollment data
27. To inform professional development methods, which of the
following is the best format for adult learners, based on the
principles of adult learning?
a. Formal
b. Directive
c. Hands-on
d. Theoretical
28. Which of the following is true about the efficacy of new teacher
induction programs on schools?
a. They make new teachers more comfortable, not more effective.
b. They increase the rates at which the new teachers are retained.
c. They enhance teacher instructional skills, not teacher
leadership.
d. They help education inequities more than student achievement.
29. Which of the following should NOT be considered when a school
principal observes teachers in their classrooms?
a. The quality and rigor of assignments given to students.
b. The implementation of strategies learned in professional
development sessions.
c. Classroom environment and culture.
d. The teacher’s tenure or contract status.
30. Which of the following best describes how the school leader
should evaluate the technology data systems they use?
a. Does the data system provide the data necessary to support the
work of collaborative data teams?
b. Is the technology data system affordable?
c. Is the technology data system user friendly?
d. Do other schools use this technology data system?
31. Which of the following is most accurate about effective and
appropriate school and co-curricular activities to prepare high
school students for college and careers?
a. Career and technical education can only be obtained in magnet
or technical schools.
b. School partnerships with higher education institutions best
prepare students for jobs.
c. Community-based and project-based learning prepare students
for higher education.
d. High school curricula should be pertinent to student lives,
communities, and cultures.
32. The federal Supportive School Discipline Initiative (SSDI)
issued a (2014) positive school discipline guidance package. Why
did the US Department of Justice (DOJ) collaborate with the US
Department of Education (ED) in producing this resource?
a. To make school discipline consistent with justice and
correctional systems.
b. To address inevitable student justice involvement by disciplinary
exclusion.
c. To ensure that Civil Rights Act titles prohibiting discrimination
are enforced.
d. To establish disciplinary practices to keep juvenile offenders out
of school.
33. Which of the following most accurately reflects how school
leaders can identify and decrease educational and institutional
bias and discriminatory practices?
a. Establishing anti-discrimination rules and identify a campus
leader to enforce them.
b. Establish an anti-discrimination policy and form a committee to
find opportunities to learn about and promote other cultures.
c. Hire a culturally diverse leadership team and have them speak to
staff and students about their cultures.
 d. Include opportunities in the curriculum for students to learn
about other cultures.
34. Which of the following would be the most effective way to
engage parents in student behavior management systems?
a. Distribute the behavioral code of conduct to parents at the
beginning of the school year.
b. Find parent volunteers to help enforce the behavioral code of
conduct.
c. Ask for feedback from parents on the draft of the behavioral code
of conduct before it is finalized.
d. Develop a behavioral code of conduct in partnership with
teachers, parents, and students.
35. What does research into school mental health show about
collaboration with the community?
a. Clinical psychiatric care and other services are not practicable or
suitable in schools.
b. A cohesive continuum of intervention must primarily address
severe mental health problems.
c. School staff must work with families and service providers
rather than policymakers.
d. An integrated intervention continuum must mainly address
universal student need.
36. A school leader is managing a significant structural change on
campus. Which of the following strategies would be most effective
in managing change?
a. Develop goals related to the new changes.
b. Obtain buy in from stakeholders by allowing them to have input.
c. Provide professional development opportunities that will equip
teachers to be successful with the new changes.
d. Replace staff who are not on board with the changes.
37. In school-wide positive behavior support programs, which level
typically involves school-wide practices that support positive
behaviors for all students?
a. Tier 1
b. Tier 2
c. Tier 3
d. Tier 4
38. What is most accurate regarding social and emotional learning
(SEL) programs that schools often offer in conjunction with school-
wide positive behavior support (SPBS) programs?
a. Programming is implemented at individual grade levels.
b. Programming requires quarterly monitoring.
c. Programming includes practicing opportunities.
d. Programming is limited to the school environment.
39. Which of the following statements correctly reflects
considerations for school leaders in supporting school
improvement through effective resource management?
a. The school vision and goals are most dependent upon physical
resources.
b. Material resources are priority as they are needed for a safe,
comfortable teaching and learning environment.
c. Managing fiscal resources is necessary for managing other
resources, with some exceptions.
d. Managing human resources is necessary for smaller class sizes
and optimal student learning and achievement.
40. When using student outcome data to monitor school
improvement progress, which of these would indicate a need to
update the school improvement plan?
a. Data show improvement goals taking longer to be met than
planned.
b. Data show that the school is on target to meet expected goals.
c. Data is able to be monitored more frequently due to acquisition
of improved technology applications.
d. Data show that the school lags behind other schools with similar
student populations.
41. According to research findings, transformational school leaders
are most effective in promoting organizational learning. Which of
the following best reflects how they do this?
a. By demonstrating their high expectations for students.
b. By demonstrating their high expectations for teachers.
c. By modeling ongoing learning and providing opportunities for
staff to learn from peers.
d. By researching effective instructional practices and training staff
to implement them.
42. Which of the following accurately describes cognitive and
affective processes involved in school organizational learning and
staff development?
a. Conversation and affirmation are cognitive, reflection and
invitation are affective.
b. Reflection and conversation are cognitive, affirmation and
invitation are affective.
c. Reflection and affirmation are cognitive, conversation and
invitation are affective.
d. Affirmation and invitation are cognitive, reflection and
conversation are affective.
43. Which of the following best describes the relationship between
school leadership and student outcomes?
a. School leadership is directly related to student outcomes.
b. School leadership is indirectly related to student outcomes.
c. School leadership is not related to student outcomes.
d. There is not enough research to determine the nature of the
relationship.
44. What is most true about effective new teacher induction
programs?
a. They should focus on supporting new teachers but not leaders.
b. They should give only new teachers professional development.
c. They should use self-assessments and reflection for teachers to
measure performance.
d. They should improve student achievement via teacher efficacy.
45. Of the following, which correctly reflects characteristics of
school professional development that will best meet student needs
and achieve school goals?
a. It should be provided exclusively to professional teachers and
faculty.
b. It should be separated from the job to enable greater
perspective.
c. It should be differentiated to address individual areas of
challenge.
d. It should be provided periodically but regularly by being
scheduled.
46. Research shows that school leaders’ time spent on which of
these does not predict better student achievement?
a. Making evaluations.
b. Class walkthroughs.
c. Coaching teachers.
d. Program development.
47. Which of the following represents a principle informing school
leader support and professional development (PD) of teachers
throughout their careers?
a. PD must be continuing and supported by repetition and follow-
up to change teaching over time.
b. PD for teachers should be focused on practice and not on
theoretical bases.
c. PD is best administered as a stand-alone process within
individual schools.
d. When school leaders furnish PD, they should be sure to include
the newest, most popular topics.
48. Which of the following describes a role of parents and other
community members as it relates to educator professional
development (PD)?
a. Holding educators accountable for results.
b. Understanding which student learning needs present difficulties
for educators.
c. Demanding and supporting quality PD that improves teaching,
leadership, and achievement.
d. Allotting time and facilitating PD that will help educators address
student learning problems.
49. In a manifestation determination meeting, if a school
Individualized Education Program (IEP) committee determines a
student’s behavior was a manifestation of his or her disability,
what correctly identifies an area the IEP committee will address
through a suitable plan?
a. Modifying implementation of the IEP other than how it is
written.
b. Adding accommodations, services, etc. without changing the IEP.
c. Offering additional services as needed without more
evaluations.
d. Making a functional behavior assessment to inform intervention.
50. When school leaders and school district personnel plan school
budgets according to budget allocations issued by their school
district, which of the following is correct?
a. It is most difficult to project employee salaries for the next
school year.
b. Employee benefits are more difficult to predict than employee
salaries.
c. Transportation expenses are included in budgets as these are
essential.
d. School districts cannot reserve funds for unplanned emergency
repairs.
51. According to experts, applying systems thinking to school
organizations results in which of these characteristics?
a. Policies and practices of school systems are improved
continuously.
b. Curricula become diversified within the school system.
c. School systems become independent of other community
systems.
d. Priorities are identified for the success of targeted student
groups.
52. A principal has led the school in applying databases, word
processing programs, spreadsheet programs, and other application
software to solve problems, manage information, and create
sophisticated products. This is most related to which purpose of
technology use in schools?
a. Using technology as a productivity tool.
b. Using technology as information access.
c. Using technology as a cognitive stimulus.
d. Using technology as instruction content.
53. According to experts, which of the following is the most
important factor in how school leaders evaluate their teachers?
a. Being motivated to evaluate teachers.
b. Making time for regular observations.
c. Making time for longer observations.
d. Making evaluations discrete events.
54. Which of the following best describes how school leaders of
more effective schools assign students to new (i.e., novice or
beginning) teachers, compared to their more experienced
colleagues?
a. In more effective schools, new teachers are assigned students
with lower achievement.
b. In more effective schools, new teachers are assigned students
with higher achievement.
c. In more effective schools, new teachers are assigned randomly
relative to achievement.
d. In more effective schools, new teachers are assigned students
with similar achievement.
55. Which of the following statements does not support
standardized classroom practices and procedures?
a. Improving the cost-efficiency of school programs by reducing
differentiation.
b. Increasing the conformity to curricula within departments.
c. Promoting safety throughout the school.
d. Ensuring that students can expect the same teaching style from
each teacher.
56. A school’s crisis response plan includes a “command and
control” framework identifying personnel responsible for directing
crisis response. What must school leaders assure most to make this
aspect of the plan as effective as possible?
a. Select members from longest-term employees with most school
operations’ familiarity.
b. During a crisis, distribute leadership of command and control
among several members.
c. Clearly define responsibilities for each identified member in
advance for various crises.
d. During a crisis, have each command and control member report
to at least two others.
57. Which of the following is an accurate statement about tiered
behavior management systems used with classrooms and/or
individual students?
a. Classroom behavior management systems should start at the
beginning of the school year.
b. Individual programs for disruptive student behavior must start
at the beginning of the school year.
c. Classroom behavior management systems are applied for a
school year, not across grades.
d. Once students know expectations early on, classroom
management systems can be faded.
58. What does the National Association of Secondary School
Principals (NASSP) recommend regarding effectively using
community support outside the school to promote student mental
health (MH)?
a. Providing community service personnel in schools’
comprehensive staff development is excluded.
b. Providing school staff training in promoting positive school-
wide environments is found ineffective.
c. Providing school staff training in how to use mechanisms to
refer students to community services is effective.
d. Providing training in early identification of MH disorders and
risks excludes community staff in schools.
59. According to the National School Boards Association (NSBA),
which of the following reflects an unintended consequence of the
Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (2010)?
a. School districts are not committed to giving students healthy
nutrition.
b. Many school districts cannot afford the higher costs of new
standards.
c. This legislation provides all funding for compliance with its
regulations.
d. Students are going hungry because the regulations limit food
amounts.
60. A female member of a school’s staff sends a letter to the
principal. Her complaint is that her supervisor, who is male, calls
her and other female employees by names such as “dear”, “honey,”
and so on. The writer of the letter perceives this as disrespectful. In
following up, the principal discovers the content of the complaint is
confirmed as fact but also that the majority of the rest of the female
staff do not perceive the male supervisor as disrespectful in his
forms of address. Which action regarding the complaint would be
most appropriate?
a. Telling the letter writer that other females on the school staff do
not agree with her about the names.
b. Telling the supervisor that some staff are offended, and that
referring to female employees in this manner is unprofessional.
c. Calling a meeting of female school staff and their supervisor to
review laws on workplace sexual harassment.
d. Calling a meeting with the supervisor to reprimand him asking
him to make a public apology to staff.
61. How can school leaders problem-solve and plan for best
allocating monetary and material resources to realize school goals
for students in economically challenging times?
a. By postponing improvements to the school until some future
date.
b. By making cuts in funds allocated to student services and
programs.
c. By ending programs identified as not helping student
performance.
d. By eliminating professional development opportunities.
62. Which of the following categories represents the highest
percentage of budgetary expenditures for public schools?
a. Student support services.
b. Operations.
c. Instruction and instruction related.
d. Administration.
63. Which choice accurately reflects the school leader’s role
regarding laws protecting student rights to privacy and
confidentiality of their educational records?
a. School leaders are responsible for knowing these rights but not
enforcing them.
b. School leaders are responsible to enforce these but need not
know exceptions.
c. School leaders are responsible for third-party disclosure but not
written consent.
d. School leaders are responsible for policy on non-student and
parent records access.
64. Regarding acceptable use policies (AUPs) for student Internet
access in public schools, which statement is most applicable?
a. The most important factor is the fundamental right of
Americans to information access.
b. School district AUPs always require student agreement and
parental permission forms.
c. A workable school AUP should achieve a balance between
freedom and responsibility.
d. Schools should not consult outside organizations about digital
freedom of information.
65. To submit a budget to the school district office, a school leader
must specify what resources the school will need to administer
toward its instructional program for English language learner
(ELL) students in the coming fiscal year. What should the leader’s
initial step be?
a. Identifying the percentage of district funds allocated in the last
fiscal year for the ELL program
b. Identifying federal and state program requirements and basing
resource calculations on these.
c. Projecting resource amounts required for maintaining other
school programs’ current funding.
d. Evaluating the effectiveness of the school ELL instructional
program for students participating.
66. For managing school food services, the FDA refers to seven
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles.
Which of the following lists these principles in the correct
sequence?
a. Identifying CCPs, determining critical limits to control hazards,
hazard analysis, planning corrective actions, establishing CCP
monitoring procedures, record-keeping system, verification
procedures.
b. Hazard analysis, identifying CCPs, determining critical limits to
control hazards, establishing CCP monitoring procedures,
 planning corrective actions, verification procedures, record-
keeping system.
c. Verification procedures, determining critical limits to control
hazards, identifying CCPs, establishing CCP monitoring
procedures, hazard analysis, record-keeping system, verification
procedures, planning corrective actions.
d. Determining critical limits to control hazards, identifying CCPs,
establishing CCP monitoring procedures, verification procedures,
record-keeping system, planning corrective actions, hazard
analysis.
67. When leaders advocate for their schools in writing, which kind
of writing skills do they need to recount true success stories about
school initiatives and programs?
a. Persuasive writing skills.
b. Descriptive writing skills.
c. Narrative writing skills.
d. Expository writing skills.
68. School leaders and teachers are frequently frustrated about
lack of family and community school involvement, particularly in
diverse populations. Which is the most likely source of difficulty?
a. Educator attitudes are often unrealistic.
b. Educator methods are ineffective.
c. Educator efforts are often very intense.
d. Educator engagement is lacking.
69. Which of the following informs how school leaders can
incorporate diverse family and community aspirations and
expectations into their educational decision-making and planning?
a. Family aspirations for children vary markedly by culture.
b. Ethnicity strongly influences family academic aspiration.
c. Income affects family expectations more than race does.
d. Studies find high family aspirations across demographics.
70. What is a result of school leaders’ community outreach for
partnerships with schools?
a. Community partners are more informed about schools, but do
not feel ownership.
b. Community partners who personally help students learn do not
expect any thanks because of mutual benefits.
c. Community access to school facilities only benefits the
community, not the school.
d. Community members understand schools better by accessing
their facilities and events.
71. Which of the following criteria would best help a school leader
to determine if the school vision and goals are appropriate?
a. The vision and goals address the areas of deficit determined by
analysis of multiple sources of data.
b. The vision and goals are approved by community stakeholders.
c. The vision and goals reflect a balance of the school’s strengths
and weaknesses.
d. The vision and goals mirror those established by schools with
similar performance history and student demographics.
72. A new principal hosts a meeting with community stakeholders
to share ideas about the new vision and goals for the school. One of
the community members insists that the school focus on improving
the school’s fine arts program. Which of the following should the
new principal consider before including the fine arts program in
the vision and goals for the school?
a. How many students are currently participating in the fine arts
program?
b. Does the school have the appropriate staff to implement a
successful fine arts program?
c. Does focusing on the fine arts program align with district, state,
and federal policies and accountability standards?
d. Does the school have the financial resources to support an
expanded fine arts program?
73. Which of the following strategies would most likely encourage
stakeholders to support and implement the school vision and
goals?
a. Announcing the school vision and goals at a community
meeting.
b. Publishing the school vision and goals on the school website.
c. Including internal and external community members in the
development of the vision and goals.
d. Selecting representatives from the staff and from the community
to be advocates for the school’s vision and goals.
74. At the midway point of the school year, the school leader is
surprised to find that the school is not on track for achieve the
school goals for the year. What could the school leader have done to
prevent being surprised by this information?
a. Established a plan for assessing and monitoring progress at
regular intervals.
b. Delegated responsibilities to the leadership team.
c. Communicated the goals more effectively to stakeholders.
d. Created a committee to engage with the leader in the
development of the goals.
75. The sixth-grade math department meets as a professional
learning community and determines that overall students in sixth
grade are not performing well on the same three math objectives.
However, these same students are performing satisfactorily on
other math objectives. Which of the following is the most likely
reason that the sixth-grade students are not mastering the
identified math objectives?
a. The math teachers are ineffective in teaching the identified math
objectives.
b. The curriculum is not properly aligned to address the identified
math objectives.
c. The students need additional tutoring to master the identified
math objectives.
 d. The assessment used to measure student performance was
biased.
76. An elementary school conducted a pilot of a reading program
over the summer and the principal must decide whether to
purchase the program for implementation during the regular
school year. Which of the following data points would best inform
the principal’s decision?
a. Feedback from the teachers who implemented the program
during the summer.
b. Feedback from the students who participated in the program
during the summer.
c. Student scores on assessments included in the reading program.
d. Percentage of growth in reading performance from the beginning
of the program until the conclusion of the program.
77. The PTO president expressed concern to the school principal
about the recent announcement to purchase new science
curriculum for ninth and tenth grade students. He expressed that
there was a greater need for college preparation materials for
students. Which of the following responses from the principal is
best?
a. Purchasing science curriculum was the economic choice
because it will benefit a greater number of students for a smaller
cost.
b. College preparation materials will be considered for purchase for
the upcoming school year.
c. Student performance data demonstrates that students are
already performing at a satisfactory level on college entrance
exams.
d. One of the school goals for the year is to improve student
performance in science and the curriculum purchase supports
that goal.
78. Which of the following strategies best addresses the
achievement gap?
a. Disaggregating student data by subpopulations to identify
disparities in performance.
b. Providing targeted interventions to students who perform
unsatisfactorily.
c. Tracking student performance and making projections about
future performance based on past performance.
d. Exempting struggling students from meeting certain standards.
79. A new school principal administered a survey to school staff to
assess the perceived culture of the school. The data from the
survey showed that most of the staff felt that all ideas for the school
came from the top and were forced down. The school principal
wants to shift the culture and encourage staff to be innovative.
Which of the following strategies would best help the principal to
meet this goal?
a. Create action committees made up of teachers and staff and give
the committees time and resources to generate solutions to
campus needs.
b. Place a suggestion box in the teachers’ lounge and encourage
teachers to submit their ideas for consideration.
c. Inform the staff that there are positions on the Shared Decision-
Making Committee for teachers and that they would feel more
represented if they engaged in the process.
d. Host a town hall meeting and allow participants to share their
ideas publicly.
80. Which of the following strategies is least likely to improve
teacher practice?
a. Conducting regular classroom observations and providing
written feedback to teachers.
b. Pairing novice teachers with an experienced teacher for peer
coaching.
c. Providing teachers with aggregated student performance data
each grading cycle.
 d. Facilitating professional learning communities for teacher
collaboration by grade level and by content area.
81. An assistant principal analyzes student performance data for
the grading period and notices that a class of students consistently
performs well in Reading and has not demonstrated growth. What
might this data suggest?
a. The data is evidence of academic dishonesty.
b. The students may need more rigorous instruction.
c. The teacher is ineffective.
d. Classroom instruction and assessment are unaligned.
82. Which of the following actions best exemplifies a focus on
school-wide rigorous curriculum and standards-based instruction?
a. Increase the number of advanced placement and dual credit
courses offered on the master schedule.
b. Increase the number of students taking college entrance exams.
c. Evaluate campus-based assessments for alignment to the
standards and curriculum and revise where appropriate.
d. Offer after-school tutorials for students who are falling behind.
83. A school leader requests that teachers identify exemplary
student work in PLCs and post the student work in their
classrooms. The school leader regularly visits classrooms to view
and evaluate the work that is posted. Which of the following best
explains why the school leader made this request?
a. The school leader desires to be involved in analyzing student
work.
b. The school leader is encouraging teacher collaboration.
c. The school leader is enforcing adherence to the standards-based
curriculum.
d. The school leader believes that all students should be recognized
for their performance.
84. A school leader would like to increase the use of differentiated
instruction as an instructional strategy on campus. Which of the
following actions would be most effective in achieving this goal?
a. Publicly recognize teachers who use differentiated instruction in
the classroom.
b. Purchase books about differentiated instruction and distribute
them to all of the teachers.
c. Model differentiated instruction during professional
development sessions and monitor classroom implementation.
d. Hire an instructional coach that can train teachers how to use
differentiated instruction in the classroom and evaluate their
efficacy.
85. Which of the following activities would not be evidence that all
students are being prepared for and have access to a challenging
curriculum?
a. Students who were enrolled in pre-advanced placement courses
in middle school are automatically enrolled in advanced
placement courses in high school.
b. The school leader regular monitors student performance data on
tests and in classes to determine alignment of campus-based
assessment to standardized assessment.
c. All students are administered college entrance exams on the
school campus at no cost to the student.
d. Students who have a history of meeting satisfactory
performance standards on standardized tests are offered
enrichment courses to help them reach mastery performance
levels.
86. The leadership team of an elementary school has implemented
a new math software program for all students in grades three
through five. After three months of using the program, the students
participated in a district benchmark exam and they showed little to
no growth in math performance overall. What step should the
leadership team take next?
a. Abandon the program because it is not effective.
b. Develop a plan for monitoring the math program at shorter
intervals to determine its efficacy.
c. Reduce the number of students using the math program.
d. Increase the amount of time that students use the program.
87. The math department is excited that for the third consecutive
time, most of the seventh-grade students have earned perfect
scores on their six-week report cards. The Dean of Instruction is
concerned by this news and requests to examine student work
samples and class grades. Which of the following is a likely reason
that the dean is concerned?
a. The data may indicate that the students are not receiving
rigorous curriculum and instruction.
b. The math department’s performance may have misinterpreted
the student data.
c. The few students who did not receive perfect grades may be
falling behind.
d. The students are likely committing acts of academic dishonesty.
88. The school principal had a meeting unexpectedly be cancelled
and decided to use the free time to engage in activities on campus
related to curriculum and instruction. Which of the following
activities should the principal choose to engage in?
a. Assist with lunch duty.
b. Identify students to tutor in a small group.
c. Visit professional learning committees to engage in discussion
regarding student progress.
d. Analyze student performance data from the most recent
benchmark assessment.
89. A newly appointed principal has been advised that the
teachers on campus are disgruntled and resistant to change. Which
of the following is the best action for the principal to take first to
address this issue?
a. Send out a survey to all teachers to assess campus culture.
b. Meet with a focus group of teacher leaders and allow them to
voice their concerns.
c. Hold an all-staff meeting and communicate the vision for the
school.
d. Send an email to all teachers informing them of new policies and
procedures.
90. Which of the following is the best example of a school leader
providing a safe environment for teacher to express their beliefs
and ideas?
a. Scheduling monthly one-on-one meetings with individual
teachers.
b. Placing a suggestion box in the teachers’ lounge.
c. Administering an electronic survey to campus staff to obtain
feedback.
d. Providing collaborative meeting time for teachers and meeting
with them regularly to discuss their ideas.
91. A middle school principal decides to select and train several
lead teachers in the math department to conduct action research
on campus. This decision is an example of which of the following
strategies?
a. Providing teachers with the opportunity to take appropriate
risks for improving teaching and learning.
b. Encouraging collaboration between teachers to support
professional growth.
c. Using data-driven decision making to improve student
performance.
d. Giving teachers voice in school decisions.
92. XYZ school district requires a minimum number of professional
development hours to be completed by teachers employed in the
district annually. A high school principal notices that each year,
teachers have difficulty meeting this expectation and look for last
minute professional development opportunities at the end of the
school year. What action might the principal take to address this
issue?
a. Personally deliver professional development sessions to staff
monthly.
b. Allocate more money in the budget to professional development.
c. Monitor professional development activities more frequently
throughout the school year.
d. Provide incentives to teachers who complete all of their
professional development activities at the beginning of the school
year.
93. Which of the following is a primary benefit of professional
learning communities?
a. To provide opportunities for teachers to share ideas.
b. To provide constructive feedback on student performance.
c. To identify areas in the curriculum that need revision.
d. To ensure that the standards-based curriculum is delivered.
94. The Dean of Instruction of a 9th grade high school academy
would like to monitor student progress for the grading period.
Which of the following sources of data would best inform the dean
of student progress?
a. Student portfolios of work samples from previous and current
marking periods.
b. Benchmark scores from the previous and current marking
periods.
c. Anecdotal teacher notes.
d. Report card grades for the marking period.
95. The school principal institutes a professional learning
community made up of social studies and reading teachers from
grades 6th through 8th. This professional learning community is an
example of which of the following?
a. Horizontal alignment of curriculum and instruction.
b. Vertical alignment of curriculum and instruction.
c. Horizontal and vertical alignment of curriculum and instruction.
d. Cross-cultural integration of curriculum and instruction.
96. A principal notices that even though teachers actively
participate in professional development throughout the school
year, there seems to be little evidence of changes in instructional
practices on campus. Which of the following questions best
addresses the concern of the principal?
a. What is the process for giving feedback on the efficacy of
professional development offered to teachers?
b. Are professional development sessions aligned to the
curriculum, instruction, and programs of this campus?
c. How much does professional development impact the school
budget?
d. How can I make time in my schedule to attend professional
development sessions with the teachers?
97. Which of the following sources and types of data would be best
to use to provide feedback to teachers so that they can improve
student learning?
a. Classroom observations, student class grades, and summative
assessment data.
b. Formative assessment data, attendance data, and behavior data.
c. Classroom observations, survey data, and diagnostic testing
data.
d. Formative assessment data, diagnostic testing data, and
projected performance data.
98. Staff morale at ABC Elementary school is very low and is
impacting staff and student performance. Which of the following
steps should the principal take first to repair staff morale?
a. Host an all-staff pep rally to encourage everyone.
b. Create a committee to advise the principal on how to repair staff
morale.
c. Buy gifts for the staff.
d. Administer a survey to identify the causes of low morale.
99. Other than classroom observations, which of the following
would best provide an additional source of data for teacher
evaluation?
a. Student performance data.
b. Student surveys.
c. Parent surveys.
d. Teacher self-assessments.
100. A school leader is faced with an impending budget cut for the
upcoming school year. When deciding how to reallocate funds,
which of the following strategies should the school leader
implement?
a. Identify the most expensive budget items and reduce their
allocations.
b. Identify the least expensive budget items and eliminate them.
c. Prioritize budget items that most closely align to the school
goals.
d. Apply for grants to replace the lost funds.
 Constructed Response
1. As a school leader who avidly pursues your own professional
development (PD), you have read research statistics showing the
high rate of attrition among new teachers, many of whom resign
before even completing their probationary periods. This trend is
apparent in your school as well. Although your school sponsors in-
service trainings, and new teachers are assigned mentors when
available while lead teachers double as mentors in other instances,
you feel PD is not systematic enough, does not motivate teachers or
guide new teachers enough, and is not really data-driven. You want
to make it more effective to retain new teachers and improve
faculty expertise in the interest of better student learning
outcomes.
Write an approximately 150-300-word document to obtain new
teacher feedback about their induction needs; experienced teacher
feedback about their ongoing PD needs; and experienced teacher and
teacher leader input for organizing more effective mentoring, coaching,
and training. Include the following:
· Clarify for all recipients how their individual and collective
perspectives can contribute to improving student outcomes by
improving teaching quality.
· Describe one issue essential for consideration in designing,
planning, and implementing new PD programs and strategies.
· Identify one kind of data or information that would best inform
the design, planning, and implementation of new PD initiatives.
· Explain how the data or information you identified would be of
use in improving the professional development activities at your
school.
2. A group of students who identify with the LGBTQ community has
approached you, their high school principal, to voice concerns that
their interests are not addressed in the school curriculum. They
want more content and activities relevant to their sexual and
gender identities and the challenges they face interacting with
society. Moreover, they believe adding such content could promote
understanding among the student body, which in turn would
mitigate bullying and harassment. Your school has progressively
innovated to include student representatives on several
committees, including a curriculum committee, anti-bullying
committee, and student support committee.
Write an approximately 150-300-word proposal to all relevant
committees, school leadership teams, administrators, faculty, and
others as appropriate for incorporating content relevant to students
who identify with the LGBTQ community and issues into the
curriculum. Include the following:
· Depict one major issue for consideration in identifying,
designing, and planning this addition to the curriculum.
· Explain what kinds of impacts the issue you depicted could have
on how well the school will be able to implement this curricular
addition.
· Specify one kind of information or data that you and
collaborating staff and students could most use to help identify,
design, and plan applicable curriculum content.
· Explain how the kind of information or data you specified would
help with the curriculum design and planning.
3. You are a principal of a middle school where school psychologists
have trained faculty and staff in administering individual
programs of tiered positive behavior interventions and supports,
small-group instruction, and intensive individualized interventions
for a small percentage of students displaying problem behaviors.
These have been very successful, not only according to staff
reports, but also as proven by student data. Now you want to
initiate a school-wide tiered positive behavior support program of
prevention and intervention. Based on the individual successes,
you have ample staff support and no resistance to the concept of a
school-wide positive behavior support system. However, many staff
members are concerned how the implementation process will
affect daily management of school operations during the
transitional period.
· Write an approximately 150-300-word proposal to school
administrators, faculty, school psychologists, social workers, and
other staff about the rationale for and benefits of implementing a
school-wide behavior support system. Include the following:
Describe one issue you find most central to consider for
implementing the tiered prevention and intervention support
model on a school-wide basis.
· Identify at least one step that the school could take to facilitate
the implementation of a school-wide behavior support system.
· Explain how the step you identified would make implementation
of the behavior management system throughout the school more
practicable and successful.
Answer Key and Explanations for Test
#2
1. D: School leaders should use both quantitative and qualitative data
to inform the school vision, mission, and goals. Assessment data and
grades are important data points, but of the options provided,
combining data from assessments and from stakeholder feedback
would provide the most comprehensive data for a school leader.
Formative assessment may include course grades, benchmark exams,
and other data points. Summative assessments may include
standardized tests or campus-based exams for credit or matriculation.
2. C: Diverse students are frequently overrepresented in special
education due to inadequate educator knowledge and/or preparation
for distinguishing such differences vs. true disabilities affecting
learning and performance. School leaders address this inequity best by
analyzing assessment instruments used to evaluate students for
special education—which often require accommodations,
modifications, or replacement with alternative assessments for diverse
learners—rather than grade-level placement procedures because these
students need instruction enabling them to perform at grade level,
special education teaching strategies, or special curriculum and
expectations, all of which are after the fact.
3. B: Change in temperament or evasion of work, such as through
frequent unexplained absences, are very strong indicators of a staff
member who is stressed or feeling overwhelmed, or is experiencing
personal challenges. A change in work quality for a short term could be
circumstantial, but over long periods of time, a decline in work quality
could be an indicator of other factors such as mental health and stress.
The school leader should recommend that the staff member take
advantage of mental health and counseling resources that are available
while respecting the staff member’s privacy.
4. B: Researchers found that, among public schools, those with higher
performance than others each seemed to have a unique combination of
factors contributing to their success. These factors include having a
clear and shared focus, having high expectations and standards for
students, and high levels of family and community involvement. An
effective school leader is a significant factor in high performing schools
but is not the only determinant of success. Similarly, alignment of
curriculum and instruction and frequent monitoring of teaching and
learning are critical success factors but cannot be deemed the most
important. Finally, school need resources for success, but many public
schools have demonstrated success with meager funding.
5. C: The school board hires and supervises the superintendent, who in
turns hires and supervises the school principal. In the hierarchy of
public education leadership, the school board makes policy decisions
based on state and local legislature and the superintendent implements
these policies. School principals apply these policies to the daily
operations of the school. There may be instances in which a principal
participates in a school board meeting, such as by reporting data or
speaking, but these activities are not part of the regular
responsibilities of a principal in relation to the school board.
6. C: School leaders should frequently highlight successes related to
accomplishing the school vision to show stakeholders that the vision is
viable and successful. Ceremonies for celebrating successes and other
ways of highlighting successes are beneficial but must be conducted
frequently in order to change a negative school culture. Providing
professional development for teachers related to culture can be
beneficial but would not address issues with culture for all employees
on campus. Additionally, it is important for leaders to make
observations about school culture, but observations without action will
not positively impact school culture.
7. D: Educators should base their education practices on research-
based practices with proven results. These practices are outlined in
peer-reviewed research and texts based on this type of research.
Additionally, the Department of Education reports on the efficacy of
educational programs, products, practices, and policies through the
What Works Clearinghouse. Educators should prioritize educational
practices that have been proven to be effective before implementing
practices based on personal experience or experimentation that is
often a component of action research.
8. B: Establishing conditions for change by setting high learning
expectations and facilitating collaboration describes activities in the
role of learning organization leader. A learning leader prioritizes the
process of learning, using technology adoption as a vehicle or tool for
meeting learning expectations. A focus on learning is further
highlighted when the learning leader promotes collaboration among
teachers and staff, such as in professional learning communities.
9. A: Before engaging any community resource, school leaders must
consider whether it is compatible with the school’s vision and mission.
Some resources may have impact in the long-term rather than
immediately and should not be discarded because effects will not be
seen immediately. Additionally, as communities develop, new resources
may be made available. Not all available resources will have a history of
prior implementation but may prove beneficial for student learning.
Similarly, as the school builds new partnerships, community resources
may become available through new and emerging community
relationships.
10. C: To encourage teacher leadership, school leaders must create safe
environments wherein teachers can take risks and think creatively.
School leaders should share authority with teachers to assist them in
developing leadership skills and demonstrate responsibility. Increasing
a teacher’s workload with work that is not directly related to increased
responsibilities or to skill refinement is not an example of developing a
teacher. Additionally, leaders must differentiate support for teachers
based on the current performance, skill, and attitudes.
11. D: According to some school consensus-building models, although
the ideal is for 100 percent of faculty members to agree to implement a
recommendation, this is not always realistic and is not required 100
percent of the time. If consensus seems impossible, many schools have
a rule stating that 80 percent of members agreeing is sufficient;
dissenting members must promise not only to refrain from obstructing
implementation, but furthermore to support it.
12. C: Family counseling, substance abuse counseling, social skills
counseling, support groups, and many other forms of therapy and
support are typically delivered in group formats for cost-efficiency and
time-efficiency in contrast to individual counseling. Additionally, group
counseling promotes social skills and healthy interaction. Career
counselors can help students choose career paths and preparation.
Career counseling is often performed in schools by guidance
counselors and others, making referrals infrequent. Students having
family issues, or personal problems whose treatment involves family,
are referred to family counselors.
13. B: Campus-based personnel are dedicated to the campus and work
under the direct supervision of the campus principal. District
personnel are supervised by other district personnel but provide
services to campuses. In many public schools, transportation workers,
food service workers, and psychologists are district personnel who
provide services to more than one campus. However, in general, most
school counselors are dedicated to one campus and are supervised by
the school principal.
14. B: External stressors can create short-term or long-term obstacles
for student learning and achievement and can lead to or be evidence of
mental health issues. Not all student mental health issues or crises
carry an official diagnosis; however, educators can provide support and
resources for the symptoms that students display. Furthermore,
students with diagnosed mental health issues may be provided support
and resources through a 504-education plan in addition to or in lieu of
an individualized education plan. Additionally, educators can offer
resources and support to students with mental health issues who do
not receive services under either program.
15. B: Hosting a community meeting to communicate the school vision
pertains to the implementation stages of vision and goals, not the
development and planning stage. In order to create a shared vision, the
school leader should make the vision relevant to the community, solicit
community input, and based the vision and goals on data. After the
vision has been developed with the community in mind, the vision can
be shared with others.
16. D: Learning objectives are not what educators hope to accomplish,
want to teach students, or what students expect teachers to impart to
them. Instead, they are what educators expect their students to be able
to do after they have instructed them in a content subject lesson, unit,
or course. Experts observe that a common teacher error is to
misinterpret learning objectives as things they plan to do during
instruction instead of what they will expect students to do following
instruction.
17. A: Individual students have different learning styles, skills,
strengths, and weaknesses, so it is important to administer multiple
and varied assessments to assemble as comprehensive a picture as
possible of each student’s existing knowledge, new learning, and
instructional needs. Multiple assessments are not used to keep
students from forgetting. Summative assessments following
instruction are not sufficient as they do not continuously assess
student learning and progress, and they do not enable teachers to
adjust ongoing instruction to be more effective as formative
assessments made during instruction do.
18. C: Staff growth though professional development is important.
When identifying professional development for staff members, school
leaders should consider school goals as well as individual goals of staff
members. This will ensure that staff members are equipped to
contribute to achieving school goals but also grow in areas that they
have established personal goals.
19. B: Research finds that school leader participation in PD is what
determines teacher and school-wide participation in PD. School leaders
set an example for teachers by actively engaging in the PD that teachers
are expected to engage in. School leaders should have a vision for PD
offerings but can empower teachers to choose PD offerings that meet
their needs. School leaders can facilitate PD activities but should also
allow teacher leaders to facilitate PD as well. School leaders should
monitor implementation of PD but this activity is not directly related to
being a role model for teachers.
20. A: Implementing differentiated instruction helps teachers to meet
students where they are based on performance, learning style, and
other student characteristics. Instruction can be differentiated based
on lesson delivery, student activities, and student assessment.
However, standards are often standardized and must remain the same
for students as all students are expected to learn and succeed. Teachers
can provide individualized resources and support to help students to
meet those needs.
21. C: Students designing digital storybooks is the best example of
creating content using digital media. It is beneficial for students to
access information using technology, such as visiting wiki pages.
Students can also curate content that already exists, such as gathering
photos from the web. However, creating content using digital media
empowers students to use technology at the highest level of Bloom’s
taxonomy.
22. A: Classroom management systems, e.g., tiered school-wide
positive behavior support systems, make learning environments
orderly, enabling students to learn more easily and succeed
academically. Rather than only controlling student behavior, they foster
and sustain appropriate classroom behavior while also promoting
student emotional and social development. They are effective for
increasing both prosocial behavior and academic engagement in
students. By providing universal supports in the first-tier school-wide,
they succeed for 80-85 percent of students, while individualized
intensive interventions are reserved for the remaining 15-20 percent in
the third tier.
23. A: According to some education experts (cf. WestEd.org), school
principals and districts surveyed across the United States have
reported generally positive impressions of standards-based
accountability systems, saying these have improved curriculum and
instruction, student assessment practices (c), and student
expectations and achievement. However, many districts (over 40
percent) also reported that teacher morale had been adversely affected
by accountability pressures.
24. A: According to the New Teacher Project (2011), design standards
for effective teacher evaluation systems include evaluating teachers a
minimum of yearly, using multiple levels (four or five) for rating
teachers, basing evaluations on clear instructional excellence
standards prioritizing student learning, using multiple performance
measures emphasizing teacher impact on student academic progress,
making frequent observations and giving critical and/or constructive
feedback, and making evaluation outcomes significant by using them as
a major factor in important teacher employment decisions.
25. D: When planning for differentiated instruction, teachers should
utilize as much data as possible that can be useful in determining how
students can best learn. Identification in special populations such as
special education, English as second language, gifted and talented, and
others are helpful when planning differentiated instruction but are not
the only factors to be considered. Student interests, learning styles,
formative and summative data, and other relevant data should all be
considered when planning differentiated instruction.
26. A: Formative data helps teachers to assess their effectiveness
during instruction (rather than after) and accordingly make
adjustments to improve student outcomes. Summative data can assist
teachers in identifying areas of improvement in their teaching practice
but is often too late to identify specific remedial student groups.
Student profiles from permanent records (e.g., demographics,
assessment histories, family information, etc.) give less detailed
information provide less information to inform instruction. Enrollment
data helps educators identify budgetary needs and student
demographic distributions, but do not inform instruction, staff
development, remedial student groups, or information plans.
27. C: According to principles of adult learning, adults learn best in
more informal formats rather than how children learn by following a
formal curriculum. They prefer guidance and choices rather than
directive instruction. Both children and adults learn by doing, but
active, hands-on participation is even more important for adult
learning. Adults want to learn practical information they need and can
use immediately in their work rather than theoretical concepts.
28. B: Effective induction programs offered by the New Teacher Center
and others have impacts on schools of making new teachers more
effective, increasing teacher retention rates, strengthening teacher
leadership, addressing education inequities, and increasing student
learning and achievement.
29. D: School principals should remain objective when observing
teachers, regardless of their tenure or contract status. An evaluation
rubric for teacher assessment should be used fairly and objectively for
all teachers. A principal should observe what assignments the teacher
gives the students, whether they are actively implementing new
strategies, and the overall classroom environment and culture.
30. A: A school leader should evaluate technology data systems used in
the school by how well they provide relevant data for decision making.
Affordability and whether other schools are using the data system are
important questions to ask when considering purchasing a data system
but are less relevant when evaluating the system after use. User
friendliness is not as important in evaluation if training and support
are readily available to staff who will use the data system.
31. D: To help students prepare for their futures, high schools should
design curricula relevant to students’ lives, communities, and cultural
milieus. This includes the career and technical education they will need
for today’s world, which public high schools must offer. School
partnerships with colleges and universities best prepare students for
higher education, while community-based and project-based learning
best prepare students for employment.
32. C: The US Department of Justice (DOJ) collaborated with the US
Department of Education (ED) in producing a positive school discipline
guidance package as part of the SSDI to prevent or reduce student
movement from schools to justice and correctional systems, not match
school discipline to practices in those systems; replace disciplinary
exclusion with better alternatives, rather than regard student justice
involvement as inevitable and wait to address that; ensure Titles IV and
VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibiting discrimination are enforced, which
is the DOJ’s job; and establish fair disciplinary practices to keep all
students in school, not exclude any.
33. B: Establishing an anti-discrimination policy helps all staff and
students to understand the regulations relating to bias and
discrimination on campus. Describing what constitutes bias and
discrimination makes it easier to identify violations on campus.
Additionally, establishing a committee that is focused on cultural
awareness and inclusion can help to decrease educational and
institutional bias and discriminatory practices. Establishing and
enforcing rules as limited efficacy if there is limited understanding of
the rationale behind the rules. Having a culturally diverse staff is
beneficially, but persons of underrepresented cultures should not be
required to teach others about their cultures if they do not choose to. It
is beneficial to include opportunities for students to learn about other
cultures in the classroom, however this strategy does help to identify
bias and discriminatory practices on campus.
34. D: Behavioral codes of conduct govern student, faculty, staff, and
visitor behavior in schools. State regulations typically require schools
to give teachers copies upon adoption, send all parents summaries
before school years start, and give students copies when school years
begin. However, to gain stakeholder buy in and to assure collective
understanding and agreement, conduct codes can be developed jointly
by parents, teachers, and students.
35. A: Research shows that, among others, one reason schools should
collaborate with their communities to provide mental health services
is that schools are not suitable settings for clinical psychiatric care and
similar services. When collaborating with communities, school staff
must work not only with families and community service providers, but
also with policymakers to coordinate and connect needed support
processes. A cohesive and integrated mental health intervention
continuum must address both severe student problems and universal
student needs.
36. B: Change is often opposed when stakeholders feel that the change
is done without their consent and is outside of their control. As a result,
obtaining stakeholder buy in can help make changes more effective.
Goals should align to the changes but this strategy by itself will not help
to manage the change. Additional training will be ineffective if
stakeholders are opposed to the change. School leaders should listen to
those who are opposed to the change and attempt to address their
concerns rather than removing them from campus.
37. A: School-wide positive behavior support programs typically have
three tiers. In tier 1, all students receive universal instructional and
behavioral supports and interventions, which are effective for the
majority. In tier 2, a minority of students needing more behavior
support receive small-group instruction in academic subjects and
emotional and social skills. In tier 3, an even smaller minority not
responding to tier 2 interventions receives intensive, individualized
interventions.
38. C: According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and
Emotional Learning (CASEL), effective SEL programs incorporate
sequenced and systematic programming across all grade levels,
monitor the programming continuously, offer opportunities for
students to practice the skills they learn, and coordinate school
environments with community environments.
39. D: Because research studies repeatedly prove student benefits of
smaller class sizes, school leaders must hire and retain adequate
human resources in terms of quantity and quality. For a safe,
comfortable teaching and learning environment, school leaders must
provide adequate physical resources like space, furniture, lighting,
temperature control, etc. They must manage fiscal resources well to
manage all other resources, not just some.
40. A: Data showing school improvement goals that are behind
schedule indicate a need to update the school improvement plan—
either by adjusting completion time criteria if school leaders and staff
determine they were unrealistic in either case, or by adjusting
instruction to be more effective if they determine current methods are
delaying progress.
41. C: Researchers have identified a number of transformational school
leader practices promoting organizational staff learning, including
demonstrating their high expectations not only for students to learn
and achieve, but equally for teachers to be innovative and effective;
modeling ongoing learning in their own practices and affording staff
opportunities to learn from one another. These leaders also encourage
staff to research, learn, and reflect independently.
42. B: According to researchers (Mitchell and Sackney, 1998), both
reflection (i.e., considering their own practices) and conversation (i.e.,
discussing their and colleagues’ practices) enable teachers to have
awareness of their own and others’ practices, evaluate them, and
discover possible alternatives. These are cognitive processes.
Affirmation of one another as professionals, and invitation into school
decision-making both validate all staff members’ contributions,
acknowledge individual professional competencies, and thereby
establish positive working relationships. These are affective processes.
43. B: Research finds the relationship between school leadership and
student outcomes is indirect rather than direct. Rather than motivating
student achievement directly, effective school leadership promotes a
school climate conducive to learning. Substantial research has
demonstrated that there is a relationship between school leadership
and student outcomes, although the relationship is indirect.
44. D: Effective new teacher induction programs should focus on
supporting not only the new teachers, but also the school leaders who
guide them. This requires offering professional development not only
to new teachers, but equally to their mentors, school leaders, and other
site leaders. Effective induction programs use research-based and
standards-based assessment instruments to assess and inform new
teacher performance. The ultimate goal of teacher induction programs
that make teachers more effective is to improve student achievement.
45. C: For school professional development to meet student needs and
achieve school goals best, it should be provided to all staff, not only to
teachers, specialists, and other faculty or professionals. It should also
be embedded in the job rather than separated, differentiated to address
the individual challenge areas of teachers and other staff members, and
provided on an ongoing basis instead of a periodic one.
46. B: Research from Stanford University (Grissom, Loeb, and Master,
2013) into effective school leader use of instructional time finds that
improvements in student achievement are predicted by time spent on
evaluation of teachers and/or curriculum, coaching teachers, and
developing the school education program. It is not predicted in
informal classroom walkthroughs, particularly in high schools. The
investigators speculate this may be because school leaders frequently
do not incorporate walkthroughs into broader strategies for school
improvement.
47. A: To realize instructional change over time, professional
development (PD) must be provided on an ongoing basis and
reinforced through repetition and classroom follow-up activities.
Teachers need theoretical understanding not only of the theory
underling instructional practices, but also of how they can apply theory
to practice. PD is best administered as a component of a
comprehensive, systematic, district-supported educational reform
process. When school leaders furnish PD, they should be careful to
avoid topics lacking research support, unrelated to student learning,
and popular new fads.
48. C: Parents and other community members must demand and
support quality professional development (PD) that improves teaching,
school leadership, and student achievement. School boards must hold
educators accountable for results and provide policies clarifying that
the purpose of PD is to enhance educator efficacy and thus student
learning. Educators who organize and facilitate PD must understand
which student learning needs they and their fellow educators have
difficulty addressing. School system administrators must allot time and
otherwise facilitate PD that will help educators address student
learning problems.
49. D: If the Individualized Education Program (IEP) committee
determines a student’s behavior was a manifestation of their disability,
the school cannot expel the student or apply the same disciplinary
procedures indicated for students without disabilities. The IEP
committee’s plan will address any or all of these areas: ensuring the IEP
is consistently implemented as it is written; changing the IEP to include
accommodations, services, etc. as needed; further evaluations to
identify additional services that may be needed; and/or functional
behavior assessment to inform interventions.
50. B: School leaders and district personnel can usually project
employee salaries for the next school year fairly easily, but it is more
difficult to predict healthcare or other employee benefits. Although
transportation expenses are essential, they are not included in school
budgets. Not only are regular school buses and drivers expensive,
individual transportation plans included in special education students’
Individualized Education Program (IEPs) are even more so, and
furnishing homeless and/or other students with transportation is yet
another expense. In addition, school district planners must reserve
some amount of the budget for unexpected emergency school facility
repairs, etc.
51. A: According to the American Association of School Administrators
(AASA) Center for System Leadership, applying systems thinking to
school reform results in, among other things, continuous improvement
of school system policies and practices, curriculum aligned system-
wide, school system interconnection with other community systems,
and priorities identified (and resources allocated accordingly) for
universal student success.
52. A: Experts have identified four purposes of school technology use:
as a productivity tool for applying application software to solve
problems, manage information, and create sophisticated products; as
information access and communications enhancement via the Internet
and associated information technologies; as a cognitive stimulus by
giving students real-life experiences and authentic simulations to
extend learning and stimulate cognitive development; and as
instructional content by employing ever more advanced digital content
for teaching, drilling, and practicing.
53. B: Experts believe that every school leader is motivated to conduct
good teacher evaluations. However, they find one of the most
important factors is whether school leaders make time to observe
teachers regularly and frequently, even if only briefly each time. They
emphasize that school leaders must evaluate teachers in a continuous
process rather than a series of isolated events.
54. D: Researchers have found that, in more effective schools, novice
teachers are assigned students with similar average achievement as
students assigned to more experienced teachers; in other words, more
effective schools and leaders assign classes more equitably to novice
teachers than less effective schools do. More effective schools and
leaders do not assign lower-achieving or higher-achieving students to
novice teachers, nor do they assign them randomly relative to student
achievement.
55. D: Reducing the teachers’ teaching styles is not a priority as long as
the teacher is effective at achieving standards in the curriculum.
Reducing variability in classrooms throughout the school tends to
promote efficiency in purchasing, and in producing testing materials,
since each department can use the same materials. This also could
allow for benchmarking from class to class, which helps with pacing the
curriculum throughout the year. Other procedures and policies, such as
bathroom policies or electronic device policies can promote safety by
making sure each student is accounted for.
56. C: School leaders must assure most that the specific
responsibilities of each member of the command and control group are
clearly defined, including for a variety of different crisis situations, in
advance. Tenure is not an equitable way of selecting members.
Distributing leadership could cause confusion during a crisis, and a
complex reporting system could defeat the whole purpose of such a
team.
57. A: To be effective, research finds tiered behavior management
systems applied at the classroom level should be established early in
the school year; however, individual programs for disruptive student
behaviors may begin at any time as needed. Classroom behavior
management systems should be applied across the grades to give
students consistent, ongoing input and reinforcement of procedures,
rules, and expectations; and throughout the school year without fading
to reinforce and support positive behavior.
58. C: Among many others, NASSP recommendations for promoting
student mental health (MH) include providing comprehensive staff
development\not only to school employees, but also to community
service personnel working in the school; training school and
community staff working in the school in promoting school-wide
positive environments, which is found effective; training school staff in
using referral mechanisms to help students access community MH
services; and training both school and community staff working in
schools in early identification of MH disorders and risks for these.
59. B: The NSBA acknowledges that school districts ARE committed to
giving students healthy nutrition. However, it also points out that many
school districts, already underfunded, cannot afford the additional
expense of meeting the law’s stricter nutrition standards as written—
particularly because many of its regulations are not funded. Students
are going hungry not because the regulations limit food amounts, but
because they dislike the food, do not eat it, and so it goes wasted.
60. B: The majority of female staffs’ perception of the supervisor’s
nicknames as inoffensive could indicate he does not consciously intend
disrespect by using them and also suggests a positive relationship
between staff and principal. Therefore, reprimanding the supervisor
and asking for a public apology is not most appropriate. However, her
complaint must be acknowledged and not discredited simply for lack of
agreement. As the supervisor’s address may not constitute sexual
harassment and most staff members do not perceive it as such, a
meeting to review laws is also not the best action. The principal should
make the supervisor aware of how his habit is perceived by some and
that he needs to cease referring to female employees in this manner.
School leaders must also defer to policies and procedures outlined by
their school board and district regarding sexual harassment, including
policies on documentation and reporting.
61. C: To realize their school goals for students despite economic
constraints, instead of the common but counterproductive school
reactions of postponing improvements or cutting services and
programs students need, school leaders can identify programs that are
expensive but do not improve student performance while considering
different alternatives for achieving the same results, like providing
professional development less expensively by implementing study
groups instead of paying for guest speakers and workshops.
62. C: Most school expenditures are related to classroom instruction.
These expenditures include teacher salaries, libraries, professional
development for teachers, curriculum development, and instructional
technology. Operations is the next highest percentage of budgetary
expenditures, followed by administration and student support services.
Student support services involves expenses such as social work,
guidance, health expenses, and psychological services.
63. D: School leaders are responsible for knowing and enforcing
student and parent rights to privacy and confidentiality of educational
records under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). They must
know and understand exceptions to these laws, which can require them
to disclose student records to law enforcement and others. School
leaders are responsible for both disclosing information to third parties
and obtaining the written parental consent required for such
disclosures. They are also responsible for creating policy governing
access to student records by parties other than parents and eligible
students.
64. C: Although the fundamental American right to information access
is important, it is not the only or most important factor in school
acceptable use policies (AUPs). Some school districts require student
agreement and parental permission forms for minor (under 18)
students for independent electronic information use, but this is not
always the case. Student intellectual freedom depends on their
responsibility for accepting limits in that freedom. Experts do advise
schools to contact electronic freedom of information organizations to
inform themselves fully.
65. B: The school leader should initially ensure that district resources
allocated for the school ELL program are sufficient to meet federal and
state program requirements. Basing calculations on the previous fiscal
year will not account for changes in the coming year. Basing ELL
program resources on the remainder left after allocating the rest to
maintain current funding for other programs will not necessarily or
likely ensure sufficient funds to meet legal mandates for the ELL
program. Evaluating program effectiveness is a later step during and
following program administration.
66. B: Hazard analysis: analyzing food service operation, determining
likely food safety hazards and control measures. Identifying CCPs:
identifying those few control measures absolutely essential to food
safety. Determining critical limits: cooking temperatures, times, and
other observable and measurable safety-defining boundaries.
Establishing CCP monitoring procedures: tracking CCP control as food
flows through operations. Planning corrective actions: planning what to
do when a critical limit at a CCP is not met and communicating to and
training employees in preventive decisions. Verification procedures:
ensuring a scientifically sound system for effective hazard control.
Record-keeping system: documenting the HACCP system and plan.
67. C: Narrative writing tells a story. School leaders need narrative
writing skills to relate school success stories. They need persuasive
writing skills to convince others to agree with the positions they take,
opinions they express, and actions they propose. They might use
descriptive writing skills to paint vivid pictures for readers of school
activities and situations. They need expository writing skills for
informing their readers of facts, statistics, plans, procedures, and other
objective information.
68. A: Lack of family and community involvement is typically not a
result of parents and others being uninterested in students’ learning,
working with educators, or influencing students’ futures. It is more
likely the result of unrealistic educator attitudes in expecting parents
and others to seek involvement independently, and some educator
methods are ineffective, like posting fliers at school when parents
rarely visit, sending them home with students who forget to give them
to parents, etc. Experts find educator efforts must be more intensive
and organized to involve families and communities.
69. D: Studies find that, regardless of culture, ethnicity, income, or race,
diverse families overall tend to have very similar high aspirations and
expectations for their children, care about their success similarly, and
(within their means) share similar active involvement in their
children’s educations.
70. D: Schools and communities benefit mutually from school leader
outreach. For example, community partners become better informed
about school functions and needs and develop a sense of ownership in
the school. They appreciate and remember the invitations,
acknowledgements, and thanks of school leaders. School leaders show
they recognize their school belongs to the community by offering
community access to school facilities for various events, benefiting not
only the community but also the school when community members
gain better understandings of the school and its positive effects on
student lives.
71. A: Vision and goals are deemed appropriate when they are based
on multiple sources of data that reflect current practice. It is important
for school leaders to solicit buy in from community members, but this
is not an indicator of the appropriateness of the goals. Additionally, the
school vision and goals can leverage school strengths, but areas of
deficit or weakness are often addressed the goals. Although schools
may have similar demographics and performance history, the school
vision and goals should be based upon a thorough analysis of the data
unique to the campus. Consequently, the vision and goals of schools
may differ even though the performance history and demographics of
the school may appear to be similar.
72. C: When developing a vision and goals for the school, the school
leader must ensure that the vision and goals align with the local, state,
and federal policies. Local, state, and federal policies include
curriculum and assessment standards that must be adhered to. The
school leader must determine whether the focus on a fine arts program
would assist the school in meeting these standards. If not, it would not
be appropriate to include the fine arts program in the school vision and
goals. The number of students currently participating in the program is
not relevant to the determination. Additionally, the assessment of
human and fiscal resources occurs after the vision and goals have been
developed.
73. C: Buy in from internal and external community members would be
the most likely strategy for engaging stakeholders in the
implementation of the school vision and goals. Buy in is achieved when
stakeholders are included in the process of developing the school
vision and goals. When stakeholders are part of the process, they are
more likely to feel ownership of the product which motivates them to
engage in implementation. Communicating the school vision and goals
to the community is important, but it may not lead to engagement in
implementation if stakeholders do not feel that they were including in
the process of developing the vision and goals.
74. A: A school leader must develop a plan for assessing and
monitoring progress toward established goals. When monitoring is
done consistently, the school leader will be aware of whether the school
is meeting, exceeding, or falling short of established goals in a timely
manner. Regularly monitoring of progress toward goals will allow the
school leader opportunity to make corrections in the strategies and
actions that are implemented, if needed.
75. B: Given that students were consistently performing well in math
with the exception of three specific math objectives indicates that
there is an issue with the curriculum being used to teach those
objectives. Factors such as teacher quality or biased assessments
would negatively impact student performance in all objectives, not just
a select few and performance would vary from student to student. The
most likely reason for students consistently underperforming in the
same area despite being taught by different teachers is a misalignment
of curriculum to the assessment of the objectives.
76. D: Student growth is the best data point to inform the principal as
to whether the reading program was effective. An effective program
would result in individual and collective student growth as measured
by a pre- and post-assessment. Feedback from students and teachers is
valuable and can be considered in the budgeting decision; however, a
principal would not want to purchase a program if it does not produce
results, even if the students and teachers viewed the program
positively.
77. D: The most appropriate response that the principal can offer the
PTO president is that the science curriculum purchase directly
supports a school goal. All school resources such as curriculum should
be aligned to the school vision and goals. Satisfactory student
performance is not an appropriate response given that the school
leader may have identified college preparation as an area of
improvement, even if students were already meeting expectations in
this area. Additionally, the cost of the curriculum is irrelevant if the
curriculum is not aligned to the campus vision and goals.
78. B: Of the strategies listed, the strategy that best addresses the
achievement gap is providing targeted interventions to students who
perform unsatisfactorily. Disaggregating data helps to identify the
achievement gap, but does not address it. Tracking and projecting
student performance also has the potential to identify the achievement
gap, but does not address it. Rather than lowering standards, holding
high expectations and standards helps to reduce the achievement gap.
79. A: Teachers and staff have more buy in when changes are made if
they are part of the process. Creating a committee that does not include
school leadership demonstrates the leader’s willingness to give
authority to the staff to promote change and a willingness to accept
changes that are not generated by leadership. Suggestion boxes and
town hall meetings allow staff to share ideas, but these ideas still must
be vetted by the school leader as a gate keeper and may not fully
address the school’s current culture. Teacher engagement in the Shared
Decision-Making Committee is vital for school success, but will not
likely address a campus-wide perception of top-down leadership.
80. C: Providing teachers with aggregated student data, even in regular
intervals, will not likely improve teacher practice. School leaders must
disaggregate data to help teachers identify the data that is reflective of
their students and their instructional practice. Disaggregated data
should also be analyzed in a collaborative process to help identify
needs and generate solutions to address those needs.
81. B: The data suggests that the students need more rigorous
instruction since they are performing well, but not demonstrating
growth. Rigorous Standards-based curriculum can be delivered at an
appropriate level of rigor so that students experience learning and
demonstrate growth. Instructional delivery may include classes labeled
as honors classes, pre-Advanced Placement, or Advanced Placement
courses; however, classes do not have to be labeled in order for a
teacher to increase the level of instruction in a classroom.
82. C: Evaluating and revising campus-based assessments to ensure
alignment to standards demonstrates a commitment to school-wide
rigorous instruction. Assessments should accurately measure the
standards. Increasing the offering of advanced placement and dual
credit courses supports rigorous curriculum for some students who
qualify, but does not impact rigor school wide. Similarly, increasing
participation in college entrance exams does not raise the rigor of
instruction on campus, but encourages students to seek and prepare
for college admittance.
83. A: Requesting that teachers identify student work and post it, then
reviewing the posted work demonstrates that the school leader wants
to be involved in analyzing student work. The posted work will provide
the school leader with an assessment of student performance as well as
what teachers consider to be exemplary work. This request does not
directly encourage teacher collaboration as teachers could make
autonomous decisions regarding their students’ performance.
Additionally, the request does not directly exemplify an assessment of
alignment to standards. Finally, not all students are recognized, only
students who performed in an exemplary manner.
84. D: Hiring a coach that can train teachers to use differentiated
instruction and evaluate them for efficacy would be the most effective
strategy for increasing the uses of differentiated instruction on
campus. An instructional coach can provide individual and collective
support and can monitor and encourage continuous implementation of
the strategy. Praising teachers who implement differentiated
instruction creates a positive climate but does not help teachers who
do not know how to implement differentiated instruction to do so.
Similarly, providing resources and modeling are not sufficient actions
to take to increase the use of differentiated instruction if teachers do
not know how to implement it or do not see the benefit in
implementing the strategy.
85. A: Student placement in courses should be based on relevant data.
Automatically enrolling students in advanced placement courses
without reviewing data could result in students being placed in classes
that are too rigorous while students who were not previously enrolled
could miss an opportunity to be placed in a challenging course. School
leaders should monitor student performance data, ensure rigor and
alignment of curriculum, and provide campus-wide opportunities for
students when possible. In order to provide all students with
preparation for and access to a challenging curriculum, students should
have opportunities for an appropriate level of rigorous instruction
based on their current academic performance.
86. B: Despite the students not showing growth on the district
benchmark test, there is no evidence of the program’s efficacy or
inefficacy. First, the time period may be too short to determine if the
program is effective. Secondly, it is unknown if the program was
intended to have a direct impact on student performance measured by
the benchmark exam. To determine the program’s efficacy going
forward, the leadership team must develop a plan for data collection
and analysis at regular intervals. Only then can the leadership team
determine the programs efficacy and whether the program should
continue to be implemented on campus.
87. A: All students receiving perfect scores for 18 consecutive weeks
may be an indication that the students are not receiving rigorous
curriculum and instruction. While there is an expectation for students
to be successful in the classroom, there is low statistical likelihood that
all students would perform perfectly over extended periods of time if
they were receiving instruction at or above their level. Each student
should receive a rigorous curriculum which means delivering
instruction at an appropriate level of challenge in order to grow
students academically.
88. C: The principal has expressed a desire to engage in activities
related to curriculum and instruction; therefore, assisting with lunch
duty would not be an option. Analyzing data is a beneficial activity but
is only indirectly related to curriculum and instruction. Similarly,
tutoring students one time in isolation would not be beneficial use of
the principal’s time. Instead, the principal should engage in
professional learning communities with teachers to discuss the
implementation of curriculum and the results.
89. B: The new principal is aware that the teachers on campus are not
happy; therefore, it is best to talk to a small group of teachers to
understand what issues that they have. Sending a survey out is a good
strategy, but not necessarily a first step as the data collected may not
thoroughly describe the issues that the teachers have, especially if
teachers do not feel that they can be honest on the survey. Also, an all-
staff meeting can quickly get out of control if outspoken staff persons
have unaddressed issues. Sending an email is impersonal and not an
advisable first step.
90. D: Teachers need opportunities to share their beliefs and ideas
about teaching and learning with the school leader and with one
another. Teachers must belief that they operate in an environment that
allows them to be open and honest when examining their own beliefs
and practices. Suggestion boxes and surveys are one-way
communication tools that do not allow for peer discussion, although
anonymity may help teachers feel comfortable giving honest feedback.
Providing collaborative meeting time for teachers and meeting with
them regularly gives teachers the opportunity to discuss their ideas
with one another, but also gives them the opportunity to share their
ideas with the school leader when they are comfortable.
91. A: Supporting teachers in conducting action research on campus is
an example of giving them opportunities to take risks for improving
teaching and learning. Action research allows the teacher to identify
the area of improvement and hypothesize which actions or strategies
may lead to improving the identified area. Action research allows
teachers to problem solve using solutions that they have developed
which gives them the opportunity to take risks.
92. C: The goal of professional development is to foster continuous
improvement of teaching and learning. Professional development has
limited applicability if it is all conducted at the beginning of the school
year or at the end of the school year. The best action that the principal
can take is to monitor professional development at regular intervals
throughout the school year and to encourage teachers to take
advantage of timely professional development that can impact their
practice during the school year.
93. D: One of the foundations of a professional learning community is
identifying the standards and curriculum that must be taught and
ensuring that the curriculum is delivered effectively. A question that
PLC members must ask is “What do we want students to learn?”.
Answering this question ensures that the standards-based curriculum
is prioritized, and that formative and summative assessment is a
reflection of the curriculum that is taught.
94. A: Data must be compared from one point in time to another to
determine progress. Benchmark tests are typically used to assess
objectives taught during a certain period and do not necessarily assess
the same objectives from test to test; therefore, benchmark scores
would not necessarily compare the same data to determine progress.
Student portfolios from multiple marking periods would provide an
assessment of authentic student performance over time and would be
most helpful in determining student progress.
95. C: The PLC will include teachers in the same grade level in different
subjects which is horizontal alignment. The PLC will also include
teachers in different grade levels in the same subject which is vertical
alignment. Consequently, this PLC is an example of both horizontal and
vertical alignment of curriculum and instruction.
96. B: The principal should determine which professional development
sessions that teachers are attending and whether those sessions are
aligned to the curriculum, instruction, and programs on campus. The
professional development sessions may be informative but may not be
practically applicable to the campus if they are not aligned with campus
goals. For example, if a teacher attends a professional development
session on project-based learning, yet the campus does not implement
nor support project-based learning, there will be little to no evidence of
changes in instructional practice on campus as a result of attendance to
that session.
97. A: Classroom observations, student class grades, and summative
assessment data would be the best sources of data to provide feedback
to teachers to improve student learning. Data sources for improving
teaching and learning should include instructional delivery (classroom
observations) and student performance outcomes. Both formative and
summative assessment data can be used to determine student mastery
of objectives and efficacy of instructional delivery.
98. D: The first step that a principal must take is to determine the
causes of the low morale. Implementing solutions without
understanding the causes may lead to wasted time and resources if the
solutions do not address the perceived problems. The principal should
collect data to identify the issues that staff may have on campus and
then develop appropriate solutions.
99. A: Student performance data is a valuable source of data for
determining teacher efficacy. Effective instruction should result in
student academic growth and satisfactory performance. Survey data
and self- assessments can inform support and professional
development for teachers but are not as useful in teacher evaluations
due to their qualitative and subjective nature.
100. C: The school budget should be in alignment with the school
vision and goals. When facing a budget shortfall, a school leader must
scrutinize the budget to determine which areas of spending will most
directly impact the school goals. Areas that do not directly impact
school goals can have reduced budget allocations or be eliminated
entirely.
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