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Study Guide

Field 180: Superintendent: Subtest I
Sample Selected-Response Questions

Practice Questions

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Subarea I–Visionary Leadership, Collaboration, and Educational Contexts

Objective 0001: Understand how to develop and implement a shared district vision, mission, and goals, and plans to promote continuous and sustainable improvement in student learning and achievement.

1. A superintendent leads a midsize district with schools that vary in terms of their strengths, challenges, and achievement history. The district leadership team has spent the past two years putting a great deal of energy into preparing principals to be effective in their leadership roles as the district begins implementing an ambitious reform effort that will require significant change in all schools. Research suggests that the superintendent can best support an effective change process by using which of the following additional strategies?

  1. arranging for the leaders at each school to have greater influence and control over their own school's decisions regarding personnel and resource use
  2. implementing high-quality training for faculty at each school on potential barriers to school change and proven practices for addressing these barriers
  3. providing each school with a vision and mission that reflect the unique characteristics of that school's students, staff, and other key stakeholder groups
  4. addressing straightforward technical challenges in each school before initiating efforts to address more deeply ingrained school culture issues
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 0001: Understand how to develop and implement a shared district vision, mission, and goals, and plans to promote continuous and sustainable improvement in student learning and achievement.

2. During the first year of an effort intended to bring vision-aligned transformative change to a district's instructional program, a superintendent surveys the teachers in all district schools. After reviewing responses to the survey, the superintendent should focus most attention on addressing results suggesting that:

  1. a few supervisors in some schools do not support change efforts and openly exhibit negative attitudes regarding these efforts.
  2. some teachers remain somewhat skeptical about prospects for long-term improvement resulting from the district's change efforts.
  3. principals in various schools lack consistency in the approaches they use to manage and motivate change efforts in their schools.
  4. a number of teachers would like more autonomy in determining for themselves the nature and pace of change efforts in their classes.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 0002: Understand the political, social, economic, and cultural contexts of education and how to use effective communication and collaboration skills to build constructive relationships with members of the district governing board and other stakeholders inside and outside the district.

3. A superintendent sometimes hears from individuals in the community who are interested in providing special school programs involving the arts. For example, a local artist recently proposed implementing a program in an elementary school in which she would spend time each week for eight weeks working with students in the early elementary grades helping them create and display several kinds of artwork. In considering whether to support such programs, the superintendent should place the greatest emphasis on evaluating the:

  1. teaching-related credentials and experiences of the community members involved.
  2. expected usefulness of a program in promoting students' proficiency with relevant artistic skills.
  3. students' level of familiarity with and/or intrinsic interest in a particular art form.
  4. potential of a program to strengthen students' curricular learning through hands-on approaches.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 0002: Understand the political, social, economic, and cultural contexts of education and how to use effective communication and collaboration skills to build constructive relationships with members of the district governing board and other stakeholders inside and outside the district.

4. A district includes a growing number of students whose families are homeless. In an effort to meet the needs of this student population, the superintendent has provided all school staff with professional development on the nature and implications of homelessness and how to create positive experiences in the classroom for students who are homeless. Which of the following additional actions taken by the superintendent is likely to be most effective in supporting students who are homeless?

  1. providing teachers with guidance on how to replace the students' homework assignments with in-class assignments without compromising learning
  2. establishing a designated space in each school where the students can go when they have extra time before, during, and after school hours
  3. having selected staff create a modified district curriculum that is more relevant to the needs and daily life issues confronting students who are homeless
  4. appointing a homeless liaison for the district to help connect the students and their families with the various community services they require
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Subarea II–Culture of Achievement and Instructional Leadership

Objective 0003: Understand how to develop, support, and sustain educational cultures and environments that are conducive to student learning and professional growth for all staff.

5. In a district where nearly 60 percent of the students are English Language Learners, the superintendent learns from members of a local advocacy group that fewer than 10 percent of students enrolled in the district's gifted education programs are English Language Learners. After confirming the accuracy of this information, the superintendent talks to staff about the need to investigate and remedy the situation. Which of the following actions taken by district staff is likely to be most useful in helping initiate this effort?

  1. reviewing criteria and procedures currently used within the district to identify students who are eligible for gifted programs
  2. using various quantitative measures to compare the academic performance of students enrolled in a gifted program with that of other students in the district
  3. surveying key district stakeholder groups to learn more about their perceptions and expectations regarding gifted programs
  4. conducting observations in selected classrooms to clarify the types of instructional methods and activities that are currently used in the district's gifted programs
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Correct Response: A.
Objective 0003: Understand how to develop, support, and sustain educational cultures and environments that are conducive to student learning and professional growth for all staff.

6. One of the goals in a low-performing district is to ensure that students consistently exhibit a high level of engagement in learning. The superintendent can best help promote achievement of this goal by providing teachers and other building-level staff with training and support in how to:

  1. implement flexible and personalized behavior management approaches in interactions with students.
  2. provide students with instruction characterized by gradually increasing challenge and rigor.
  3. promote students' sense of collective responsibility for their own and their peers' achievement.
  4. create lessons that students perceive as relevant to their own lives and interests.
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Correct Response: D.
Objective 0004: Understand how to provide instructional leadership focused on effective teaching and learning and the use of best instructional practices that promote academic success for every student.

7. A recently hired superintendent in a low-performing school district wishes to take steps to promote continuous school improvement. The superintendent is likely to be most successful in meeting this goal if he or she places the highest priority on strengthening systems for:

  1. developing and using school advisory groups.
  2. supervising and evaluating principals.
  3. monitoring daily school routines and procedures.
  4. managing and aligning stakeholder expectations.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 0004: Understand how to provide instructional leadership focused on effective teaching and learning and the use of best instructional practices that promote academic success for every student.

8. A district spent two years planning a new Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) program for its secondary schools. The program is now in its second month of implementation. At this time, which of the following should be the superintendent's primary role in relation to the program?

  1. conducting observations in STEM program classes to gain insight into current program strengths and needs and to provide teachers with initial feedback
  2. soliciting and responding to feedback from STEM program faculty about their experiences with the program and any problems they are encountering
  3. working with STEM program staff to specify ways in which the program is expected to promote achievement of the district's vision, mission, and goals
  4. collecting and analyzing data to use in preparing a report for school and community stakeholders on the progress of the STEM program to date
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Correct Response: B.