MEGA Review

A high school principal encourages teachers to use the school's vision as a guide when making decisions about teaching and learning in their classrooms. This approach is likely to be most effective in promoting student learning if the vision is:

• grounded in research - and evidence-based pedagogy

• framed in broad terms that are compatible with various teaching philosophies.

• communicated clearly to students and their parents/guardians.

• displayed prominently in classrooms and common areas of the school.

A high school's recently developed mission and vision include a focus on promoting all students' academic success. In implementing the vision, which of the following tasks should be the principal's most important priority?

• working with the teachers to develop a program to prepare students for national standardized tests

• providing teachers with time and resources to engage in regular collaborative analysis of student performance data

• hiring additional teachers to enable the school to increase the number of elective course offerings available to students

• assisting teachers in examining instructional plans to ensure classroom instructions supports school goals

A middle school's mission and vision include a goal of ensuring that students are college and career ready. The principal can best lead efforts to achieve this goal by first:

• providing teachers with time to work together to develop cross-disciplinary activities that address skills students need to be college and career ready.

• Surveying members of the school community regarding their perceptions about the most important skills for students to develop in order to be college and career ready.

• forming a committee of stakeholders to research curricula and materials that have proven effective in promoting student's college and career readiness

• collaborating with stakeholders to define specific, concrete objectives for promoting student's college and career readiness.

Every year a school administers surveys designed to elicit information about teacher and student perceptions regarding various aspects of the school. The school principal can best use data derived from these surveys to reflect on which of the following questions?

• In what areas surveyed do teacher and student perceptions show the greatest inconsistencies?

• What area that are addressed in the surveys appear to be most in need of change?

• To what extent do survey results confirm or refute my own perceptions about key areas of school functioning?

• In what areas surveyed do I personally have the most ability to make positive change occur?

Under the leadership of a new principal, stakeholders in a low-performing school have defined a set of challenging improvement goals for students' mathematics and reading performance on interim and end-of-year standardized assessments. After the goals were established, the principal arranged to have a large, colorful chart placed near the entrance to graphically display changes in student performance in mathematics and reading over time. The most important benefit of the chart is most likely to be to:

• Reinforce a sense of personal accountability regarding improved student test results among members of the school community

• communicate to the entire school community that increased student achievement is a high priority for the school

• enhance awareness within the school community of the role that assessment plays within the broader mission of the school

• facilitate the ability of members of the school community to access important information about current school performance

Which of the following types of evidence would most strongly suggest a need for additional teacher training on meeting the needs of students with disabilities?

• a persistent gap observed between the standardized test scores of students with individualized education programs and other students

• a high level of agreement on teacher survey regarding the importance of hiring additional special education staff

• a significant number of students with individualized education programs who are observed participating minimally in classroom activities

• an increase in the number of teacher requests for greater access to special education staff during instructional time

A principal wants to encourage teachers to participate in action research projects individually or in small groups as one way to improve teaching and learning in the school. In providing teachers with training on action research, the principal could most appropriately use which of the following as an example of a question that could serve as a focus for an action research project?

• What role does self concept play in my students achievement?

• How can I get my students more engaged in class discussions?

• In what ways do my own biases influence my interaction with students?

• How can I use principles of cognitive theory to improve my instruction?

An elementary school has received a grant to fund a significant expansion of the computer resources available in each classroom. The principal has arranged for all teachers to participate in training on best practices for integrating the new computers into their instruction. Which of the following additional actions by the principal would likely best promote the school's ability to use it's expanded access two technological resources to improve teaching and learning?

• Organizing regular in service meetings where teachers in each grade level share ideas about the successes and challenges they are experiencing in their efforts to increase their use of technology in their lessons

• providing the teachers with clear concrete expectations regarding their use of technology in the classroom and gradually increasing expectations as teachers increase their confidence and expertise

• sharing with the teachers in each grade level links to websites containing examples of high quality lessons that address different types of grade appropriate content and that incorporate technology in a variety of ways

• helping each teacher establish a personal goal for increasing the use of technology in the classroom and encouraging all teachers use of self monitoring strategies to track their progress in meeting their defined goals

A new high school principal has made walk through observations in all classrooms during the first month of the school year. In these observations, the principal noted with concern that several courses appear to have disproportionate enrollment with regards to students race. The principal decides to meet with the school's counselors to discuss his concerns. Which of the following questions should be the focus of the meeting?

• In the process for course assignments are students discouraged from enrolling in a course based on factors not related to course criteria?

• Is the assessment instrument used to determine appropriate course assignments for students psychometrically sound?

• Are course descriptions and requirements readily available to students and their parents slash guardians during the enrollment period?

• How frequently are the course selection materials students receive reviewed for potential bias?

A principal who is assigned to lead a middle school with widespread student discipline problem wants to establish a school environment that emphasizes appropriate conduct and safety for all students the principal determines that one important step to take in efforts to accomplish this goal will be to develop and implement a new school wide behavior management system. Which of the following actions by the principal would best serve to initiate this process?

• Assigning staff to research various behavior management models and draft a set of alternative plans based on models that seem most likely to meet school needs

• Reaching out to those members of the school community who are likely to be most resistant to this type of global change in the school environment

• Analyzing recent student discipline data to define the school's most common behavior problems and identify the individuals and groups most often involved

• Helping schools stakeholders, including student representatives, build consensus on foundational beliefs and expectations regarding school behavior