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Study Guide

Field 281: Principal: Subtest II
Sample Selected-Response Questions

Practice Questions

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Subarea III–Instructional and Organizational Leadership

Objective 0005: Understand how to create and sustain a school culture and learning environment conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.

1. A low-performing elementary school has a goal of increasing student performance in math and reading by a defined amount. Students take district-mandated interim assessments in these areas from time to time during the year as well as state assessments near the end of each year. The school's new principal decides to have a large, brightly colored chart created that will be used to graphically display changes in student performance in math and reading over time. The chart will be placed in a prominent spot in front of the cafeteria. Which of the following is likely to be the most significant benefit of the principal's decision to use the chart?

  1. providing a continuous reminder to staff and students about the connection between daily learning activities and test performance
  2. making critical information about the school readily available to all members of the school community
  3. communicating to the entire school community the school's strong commitment to improved student achievement
  4. enhancing staff and student recognition of the important role of academic testing in the life of the school
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0005: Understand how to create and sustain a school culture and learning environment conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.

2. According to research, which of the following changes in a learning environment is likely to have the greatest positive effect on students' attitudes and motivation regarding learning?

  1. expanded use of high-quality computer-based instruction
  2. increased focus on individual versus group activities
  3. expanded availability of adults to provide assistance in the classroom
  4. increased number of instructional formats employed by the teacher
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 0005: Understand how to create and sustain a school culture and learning environment conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.

3. An elementary school has developed a system where teachers provide the parents/guardians of students with a monthly "learning bulletin" that contains information about what their children will be studying in the coming month as well as a description of what families can do to support their children's learning at home. The learning bulletins include, for example, tips for promoting students' homework completion and strategies for reinforcing students' current learning during everyday activities such as meal preparation and during games families can play together. Inclusion of the learning bulletins in the school program is likely to be most effective in helping achieve which of the following goals?

  1. communicating to families that teachers can best fulfill their responsibilities when families are willing to assist and support them
  2. facilitating teachers' ability to address the full range of required curricular content within the constraints of available class time
  3. prompting families to view themselves as valued partners who can play an important role in promoting students' school success
  4. ensuring personalized, motivating, and equitable learning opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds and family situations
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0005: Understand how to create and sustain a school culture and learning environment conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.

4. A new principal in a low-performing school wants to eliminate some instructional practices commonly used by teachers in the school and replace them with practices that have been shown to be more effective at promoting student learning. After meeting with initial teacher resistance, the principal finds research suggesting that teachers' readiness to learn and change often depends in part on their confidence and self-esteem. In the situation described, the principal can best apply this understanding by using which of the following approaches?

  1. having the teachers assess their own needs and draw their own conclusions about new teaching practices to improve their performance
  2. introducing new teaching practices by involving the teachers in low-risk activities in smallgroup settings
  3. prompting the teachers to locate and read information about targeted new teaching practices before asking them to try the practices themselves
  4. creating a menu of new teaching practices for the teachers to incorporate independently at their own pace
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 0005: Understand how to create and sustain a school culture and learning environment conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.

5. In reviewing the results of a school culture and climate survey administered to students, the principal finds that ratings were particularly low in a section of the survey addressing students' motivation and sense of being encouraged to achieve high standards of academic performance. The principal can best follow up on this result by taking which of the following actions first?

  1. analyzing students' grades and test scores to compare the students' perceptions with actual performance trends
  2. increasing informal observation of interactions among students to try to gain additional insight into the low ratings
  3. administering a similar survey to teachers to determine whether their ratings show a similar pattern
  4. soliciting input from school staff regarding likely reasons for the low student ratings and possible solutions
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 0005: Understand how to create and sustain a school culture and learning environment conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.

6. The teachers in a school are assigned to teams that were established to enhance the school's functioning and provide team members with various types of professional support. A key goal driving the school at this time is to "set and achieve high academic and behavior expectations for every student." In observing the teams, the principal can best ensure that they are striving to meet this goal if team members are seen to focus most attention on exploring and addressing which of the following questions?

  1. How should we respond to students who experience difficulties in learning?
  2. What skills and content are most important for our students to learn?
  3. How can we ensure that behavior management approaches are equitably applied?
  4. In what ways do our students' lives outside of school impact their performance?
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 0005: Understand how to create and sustain a school culture and learning environment conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.

7. Which of the following guidelines applied in developing a new student code of conduct for a school or district would best help ensure the creation of an effective document?

  1. Describe behavior expectations and consequences for infractions as precisely, comprehensively, and concretely as possible.
  2. Use the school or district vision as a blueprint for defining appropriate behavior expectations and consequences to include in the code.
  3. Define behavior expectations and consequences for infractions in ways that can accommodate substantial flexibility and judgment in enforcing the code.
  4. Emphasize behavior expectations and consequences for infractions that reflect as much as possible students' experiences in their homes and community.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 0005: Understand how to create and sustain a school culture and learning environment conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.

8. Although an elementary school has a good record of performance, the principal believes that teaching and learning in the school could be improved. The principal decides that one way to promote such improvement is to create a school environment that encourages innovation and responsible risk taking among faculty. Which of the following strategies is likely to contribute most to the development of this type of environment?

  1. implementing a system for providing faculty with regular updates about current trends and research in elementary education
  2. giving faculty regular opportunities for collaborative problem solving and sustained support for implementing workable solutions
  3. allowing faculty considerable autonomy in selecting student learning goals and determining how to achieve them in their classes
  4. visiting classrooms regularly and offering faculty praise for what they are doing well and suggestions for addressing observed needs
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 0005: Understand how to create and sustain a school culture and learning environment conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.

9. Which of the following observations made by a high school principal is most likely a sign that there may be inequitable treatment of students in the school?

  1. Elective classes in science and social studies tend to have half as many students as required classes.
  2. Content-area teachers tend not to modify instruction for English Language Learners and instead deliver the same instruction to all students.
  3. A large number of African American, American Indian, and Hispanic students participate in fine arts classes.
  4. Some students with special needs attend general classes throughout the entire school day, while others attend a resource room for part of the day.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 0005: Understand how to create and sustain a school culture and learning environment conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.

10. In which of the following circumstances would a principal be most justified in granting a teacher's request that a student be removed from the classroom?

  1. The teacher has determined that the student's classroom performance makes it highly unlikely that the student will be eligible for promotion.
  2. The student's unwillingness to complete assignments on time is having a negative effect on the morale and motivation of other students.
  3. The teacher has determined that the student's behavior seriously interferes with the teacher's ability to communicate effectively with other students.
  4. The student's unwillingness to participate in group activities creates an unfair amount of work for the other members of the groups to which the student is assigned.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0006: 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.

11. A principal has been hired to lead a school where assessment is not currently used to drive instruction. The principal has a goal of creating an effective, data-driven instructional program. Which of the following questions would be most important for the principal to address to help make this goal a reality?

  1. What types of student achievement issues in evidence at this school are best addressed through data analysis?
  2. How can adequate time for collaborative data analysis and discussion be built into teachers' schedules?
  3. How much flexibility should teachers have in determining when and how to use data analysis to plan their own instruction?
  4. What is the most effective way to involve a broad cross-section of school stakeholders in data analysis activities?
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 0006: 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.

12. A principal advises a new teacher to start making frequent use of various types of formative assessment in addition to the end-of-unit tests the teacher already uses. The most important advantage of the principal's recommended assessment approach is that it will:

  1. give the teacher a larger number of data points for making his or her grading decisions.
  2. promote a higher level of student motivation to master the content taught.
  3. allow the teacher to monitor the effectiveness of his or her instruction on an ongoing basis.
  4. provide each student with many opportunities to be a successful learner.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0006: 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.

13. In a school where performance on state assessments is used to help enforce accountability, the principal should be most concerned about which of the following issues?

  1. Item formats used on most classroom tests differ substantially from those used on the state assessments.
  2. School staff have no access to the state assessments prior to the test administration dates.
  3. Students have very limited opportunity to take practice tests to prepare for the state assessments.
  4. The curriculum taught in the school is not closely aligned with the content on the state assessments.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 0006: 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.

14. According to research, which of the following would be the most likely outcome of a decision to significantly increase the use of ability grouping for academic instruction within each classroom in an elementary school?

  1. Teachers will generally be able to teach the curriculum more quickly and efficiently to the students in each group.
  2. Teachers will tend to find it more challenging to organize and implement data-driven differentiation and intervention.
  3. Students will mostly perform at the level expected of them based on the group(s) to which they are assigned.
  4. Students will perceive the learning environment overall as more personalized and responsive to their own strengths and needs.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0006: 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.

15. High schools throughout a district are collaborating in creating a Web-based program of elective courses. With this program, selected teachers from each high school will provide online elective courses, and students attending any high school in the district may enroll in any of the courses. Which of the following is likely to be the greatest advantage of the program?

  1. maximizing curricular offerings in a cost-effective way
  2. standardizing the presentation of instructional content across the district
  3. exposing students to diverse peers and perspectives
  4. promoting a districtwide sense of accountability regarding teaching and learning
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 0006: 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.

16. In recent years, an elementary school has experienced a rapid increase in the proportion of students who are English Language Learners. Most of these students spend part of each day in English Language Learner (ELL) classes and part of the day in regular education classes. Standardized test scores and report card grades indicate that the needs of most English Language Learners are not currently being met. The school principal can best begin to address the problem by:

  1. requesting funds to increase the school's ELL staff and expand the amount of time English Language Learners spend in ELL classes each day.
  2. developing a system to facilitate classroom teachers' ability to communicate with the administration about English Language Learners who are struggling.
  3. surveying classroom teachers about their work with English Language Learners to identify those most in need of relevant professional development.
  4. forming grade-level teacher teams to analyze English Language Learners' classwork and test results to identify specific areas of need.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 0006: 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.

17. During a review of a school's math curriculum, a committee of educators identifies and addresses gaps in the current curriculum. Which of the following would most likely be the primary benefit of this action?

  1. helping teachers plan math instruction that is based on well-organized, clearly defined goals and objectives
  2. facilitating alignment between the learning materials students use in math and the instruction they receive
  3. helping ensure that instruction will be appropriate for students who have varied levels of proficiency in math
  4. ensuring that students acquire the prerequisite math knowledge and skills needed to benefit from subsequent instruction
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 0006: 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.

18. After reviewing student scores on a statewide assessment, a middle school principal determines that a significant proportion of students from diverse cultural backgrounds are not benefiting fully from the instruction they receive in their classes. The principal raises this concern in a faculty meeting and then asks the teachers to generate a list of ideas for strategies they can use in their classes to remedy the situation. Which of the following suggestions would be most appropriate to include in the list?

  1. Offer students flexibility in defining their own learning goals and determining how to achieve them.
  2. Divide students into groups based on prior performance and implement varied curricula that reflect each group's strengths and needs.
  3. Use examples that are likely to be familiar to all students to illustrate and clarify instructional content.
  4. Focus instruction on basic knowledge and gradually incorporate higher-level learning after students master basic concepts.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0006: 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.

19. On the most recent administration of the statewide assessment, a majority of fourth graders at an elementary school scored far below the standards in math, and a majority scored at a level approaching the standards in reading and writing. Which of the following steps would be most useful for school staff to take first in analyzing these results?

  1. Compare the fourth-grade test data with that of other elementary schools within the school district to determine whether the problems are systemwide.
  2. Review third-grade test data from the previous year to see whether there have been significant changes in the performance of this group of students.
  3. Compare the fourth-grade test data with the report card grades received by the school's fourth graders during the school year.
  4. Disaggregate the test data for the entire school to determine the performance and needs of specific student groups.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 0006: 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.

20. After analyzing student assessment data, a middle school principal recommends to the school site council that writing should be a focus for improvement during the next three years. The site council agrees, and the principal appoints a committee of language arts teachers to investigate potential writing programs for the school. After several weeks of reviewing various writing programs, the committee presents its recommendation to the principal. In reviewing the information, the principal realizes that the new program will require substantial changes in instructional practices for many teachers. Which of the following steps would likely be most effective for the principal to take in an effort to facilitate a smooth transition to the new program?

  1. Request that teachers submit a weekly progress report to document their implementation of the new program.
  2. Have the committee develop a series of short-term goals for teachers to achieve during the implementation of the new program.
  3. Develop a plan for providing teachers with ongoing professional development during the implementation of the new program.
  4. Arrange for teachers to visit and observe classrooms in other schools that have already implemented the new program.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0007: Understand how to provide professional development opportunities and experiences that promote staff growth and improve learning for every student.

21. A new principal conducts a time audit for one week, using a tablet computer to briefly describe her activities during the previous hour, including both planned activities (e.g., meetings, teacher observations) and unexpected interruptions (e.g., phone calls from parents/guardians). This action is likely to be most effective for helping the principal:

  1. identify barriers to her ability to implement high-priority leadership tasks.
  2. recognize components of her daily routine that are most crucial for successful school leadership.
  3. gather concrete evidence for evaluating her current leadership approach.
  4. define those leadership tasks she could most easily and effectively delegate to others in the school.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 0007: Understand how to provide professional development opportunities and experiences that promote staff growth and improve learning for every student.

22. The teachers in a school have just completed three hands-on workshops on instructional strategies for meeting the needs of students who have learning disabilities. Which of the following steps taken by the principal would best help ensure the teachers' effective use of these strategies to promote increased achievement for the targeted student population?

  1. creating teacher teams and allocating time for team members to observe and coach one another on use of the strategies
  2. having teachers debrief regularly with the principal on the strategies they are using and their effects on their students with learning disabilities
  3. supplementing information provided in the workshops with professional articles on practical applications of the strategies
  4. having special education staff in the school or district send teachers a weekly e-mail that includes easy-to-implement tips for using the strategies
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 0007: Understand how to provide professional development opportunities and experiences that promote staff growth and improve learning for every student.

23. Last year a principal was assigned to lead a school with a history of poor student achievement. The principal decided to try to address the situation in part by encouraging the development of a professional learning community within the school. As a new school year begins, the principal can best help evaluate the success of this effort by reflecting on the extent to which:

  1. teachers' expressed goals for their own development reflect high standards of practice.
  2. teachers' mastery of the content of their own subject area(s) has increased.
  3. teachers are using inquiry and collaboration to improve their practice.
  4. teachers show a willingness to expand their use of research-based instructional strategies.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0007: Understand how to provide professional development opportunities and experiences that promote staff growth and improve learning for every student.

24. In a clinical supervision context, the supervisor is most likely to:

  1. use a teacher's self-assessment of his or her needs to guide decisions about appropriate development experiences.
  2. create opportunities for a teacher to learn and grow in a collaborative team context.
  3. use observation and analysis to provide a teacher with feedback on aspects of performance needing improvement.
  4. focus on motivational or other personal issues that are affecting a teacher's effectiveness.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0007: Understand how to provide professional development opportunities and experiences that promote staff growth and improve learning for every student.

25. A principal wants to take steps to reverse a school trend toward declining writing scores on the state assessment. The principal decides that one way to help achieve this goal would be to plan appropriate professional development activities for school staff. Which of the following actions would be most effective for initiating this planning?

  1. examining data to determine particular writing skills needing improvement or subgroups of students needing additional support
  2. analyzing publicly available information about the kinds of questions and/or tasks included in the state's writing assessment
  3. surveying teaching staff about their current approaches to teaching writing and how they incorporate writing into their classes
  4. seeking information from the district language arts coordinator about high-quality resources available to enhance writing instruction
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 0007: Understand how to provide professional development opportunities and experiences that promote staff growth and improve learning for every student.

26. A pre-observation conference between a principal and a teacher is most likely to promote an effective observation process if it includes an emphasis on:

  1. defining one or more particular areas of performance that will serve as a primary focus for the observation.
  2. reviewing the results of prior observations of the teacher and determining their current relevance.
  3. using a collaborative approach to design the checklist or other tool(s) the principal will use during the observation.
  4. exploring ways in which the lesson to be observed supports the school's vision, mission, and goals.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 0007: Understand how to provide professional development opportunities and experiences that promote staff growth and improve learning for every student.

27. Which of the following factors should play the greatest role in defining goals for a professional growth plan for a beginning teacher?

  1. annual school and district priorities for improvement
  2. results of observations of the teacher's performance
  3. types of development resources and support available for the teacher
  4. teacher self-evaluation of needs in relation to state and district standards
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 0007: Understand how to provide professional development opportunities and experiences that promote staff growth and improve learning for every student.

28. While conducting classroom observations, a middle school principal notes that some teachers are inadvertently behaving in discriminatory ways with students from particular groups (e.g., asking some students easier questions during class discussions, accepting work from some students that does not meet standards). When meeting individually with these teachers, the principal can best address this issue by taking which of the following actions first?

  1. prompting the teachers to use self-reflection to identify and analyze their own problematic behaviors
  2. asking the teachers to describe the processes and criteria they use to evaluate the performance of the students in their class
  3. providing the teachers with concrete examples of the problematic patterns they are exhibiting
  4. reviewing and discussing the antidiscrimination laws and policies that all teachers should use to guide their interactions with students
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0007: Understand how to provide professional development opportunities and experiences that promote staff growth and improve learning for every student.

29. A number of teachers at a middle school have expressed concern about their ability to provide adequate and appropriate instruction for academically gifted students who are assigned to their classes. In response, the principal has asked the district's gifted education coordinator to organize periodic workshops to expand classroom teachers' knowledge and skills in this area. The principal can best help ensure that the workshops will be successful in leading to improved teacher performance in the classroom by taking which of the following additional actions?

  1. implementing follow-up sessions that give teachers an opportunity to work together to evaluate and discuss their efforts at implementing new approaches
  2. arranging for a gifted education specialist to observe each teacher in the classroom after each workshop and report back to the administration on additional needs
  3. reviewing plans for the workshops before they occur to ensure an emphasis on knowledge and procedures that have a foundation in current educational research
  4. providing teachers with a written summary of the main points addressed in each workshop and related ideas for improving their classroom instruction
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 0007: Understand how to provide professional development opportunities and experiences that promote staff growth and improve learning for every student.

30. A principal would like to support a teacher's professional growth by helping him become a reflective practitioner. Which of the following questions about a lesson observed by the principal would likely be most effective in facilitating the teacher's examination of his own instructional practices?

  1. How many students understood the material presented in the lesson by the end of the class period?
  2. When several students entered the classroom late from another class, how did you respond to the disruption?
  3. When students became confused during the lesson, what could you have done differently to help them succeed?
  4. How well did students participate in the review exercises at the beginning of the lesson?
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0008: Understand organizational and human resource management that supports school improvement and helps ensure success for every student.

31. An annual teacher evaluation system uses student performance on standardized tests as one criterion for judging teacher performance. To implement the system effectively and equitably, it is most important for school-level administrators to take into consideration the:

  1. difficulty level of the standardized test(s) taken by each teacher's students.
  2. number of students in the class(es) that each teacher is assigned to teach.
  3. test scores achieved by each teacher's students in previous years.
  4. scope and challenge of the curriculum each teacher is teaching.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0008: Understand organizational and human resource management that supports school improvement and helps ensure success for every student.

32. A high school has been struggling with poor academic performance for some student groups as well as high rates of teacher turnover. The primary goal of the school's new principal is to ensure continuous academic improvement for all students. The principal can best help achieve this goal if he begins by seeking information about which of the following?

  1. actions that would improve job satisfaction for high-performing teachers and those with strong potential
  2. the extent to which teachers have a voice in determining the courses and students they are assigned to teach
  3. current teacher pay and benefits at the school in relation to pay and benefits in neighboring schools and districts
  4. workable strategies for increasing teacher autonomy in the classroom while still maintaining a focus on vision achievement
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 0008: Understand organizational and human resource management that supports school improvement and helps ensure success for every student.

33. A principal has overseen the creation of a comprehensive database that includes classroom test and quiz scores, formative assessment results, scores from standardized tests, and report card grades for the students in each class at each grade level. Teachers can easily access the database for their grade level to enter new information and review existing information. Teachers' use of this database on a regular basis is likely to be most effective for helping accomplish which of the following goals?

  1. strengthening teachers' sense of collective accountability
  2. strengthening teachers' instructional decision making
  3. facilitating ongoing evaluation of grade-level curricula
  4. facilitating increased collaboration between teachers
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 0008: Understand organizational and human resource management that supports school improvement and helps ensure success for every student.

34. A new principal in a school that has traditionally used a top-down management approach wants to build the school's capacity for distributed leadership. The principal can best initiate efforts to achieve this goal by providing teachers and other staff with opportunities to demonstrate and enhance their ability to:

  1. direct the efforts of others for the purpose of attaining specified aims.
  2. create a variety of plans aligned with the school vision and goals.
  3. engage collaboratively with colleagues and other school stakeholders.
  4. adhere to various types of school protocols, schedules, and deadlines.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0008: Understand organizational and human resource management that supports school improvement and helps ensure success for every student.

35. A superintendent has informed a newly hired high school principal that her primary goal must be to reduce her school's very large achievement gap. In light of this goal, the principal should be most concerned about which of the following practices at the school?

  1. using a teacher evaluation system that allows teachers with poorly performing students to be rated "satisfactory"
  2. basing teacher hiring decisions more on prior classroom experience than on demographic background factors
  3. allowing teachers to determine through voting the school's professional development emphases for each school year
  4. giving teachers with the greatest seniority and experience first priority in selecting the courses they wish to teach
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 0008: Understand organizational and human resource management that supports school improvement and helps ensure success for every student.

36. After receiving word that the students in her school performed poorly on state-mandated assessments, a school principal is preparing for a faculty meeting at which the assessment results will be shared and discussed. The principal wishes to use the meeting to initiate changes aimed at improving teaching and learning in the school. During the meeting, the principal can best promote change by emphasizing which of the following ideas?

  1. Student test scores are only one among many indicators of the quality of student learning occurring at the school.
  2. Responsibility for the test results is shared among many individuals and groups within the educational community.
  3. Statewide assessments are an effective means by which to ensure educator accountability for student learning and achievement.
  4. The test results offer valuable information school staff can use to identify and respond positively to specific problem areas.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 0008: Understand organizational and human resource management that supports school improvement and helps ensure success for every student.

37. A principal is leading an initiative to improve the school's integration of technology into instruction. The principal organizes a committee of teachers, specialists, parents/guardians, and community members to develop a plan to achieve this goal. After the first few meetings, the principal finds that little progress has been made and some committee members are losing interest. Which of the following would be the most effective way for the principal to motivate committee members to put in the time and effort necessary to ensure the success of the initiative?

  1. establishing a rotating chair to ensure that each committee member is responsible for conducting one or more meetings
  2. reminding committee members that they willingly agreed to serve on the committee and are jointly responsible for its success
  3. identifying manageable, short-term goals and tasks and giving each committee member responsibility for achieving a specific goal or task
  4. asking each committee member to develop and present to the rest of the group a set of recommendations about what to include in a plan
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0008: Understand organizational and human resource management that supports school improvement and helps ensure success for every student.

38. The leader of an elementary school's parent/guardian organization tells the principal that a large number of parents/guardians have expressed concern that teachers in the upper elementary grades are not assigning enough meaningful homework. Which of the following would be the best first step for the principal to take to address the concerns of these parents/guardians?

  1. meeting individually with teachers to encourage them to provide students with more challenging homework assignments
  2. recommending that the site council work with faculty and staff to develop general homework guidelines for each grade
  3. creating a committee of teachers, parents/guardians, and staff to study the issue of homework and make recommendations
  4. suggesting that the parent/guardian organization prepare a report on the homework issue and present it at an upcoming faculty meeting
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0008: Understand organizational and human resource management that supports school improvement and helps ensure success for every student.

39. After hiring a number of first-year teachers, a principal will use a mentoring program in which each new teacher will be paired with a mentor teacher. The principal has arranged to provide the mentors with training in their roles. The principal can best help ensure the success of the mentoring program by taking which of the following additional actions?

  1. allocating time and resources to support participants in establishing and maintaining their mentoring relationships
  2. arranging to participate in meetings between the new teachers and their mentors on an occasional basis to monitor progress and problems
  3. providing the mentors with available information about the educational and personal backgrounds of the teachers they will be mentoring
  4. planning regular meetings with the new teachers to obtain feedback on their mentors and the status of their mentoring relationships
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 0008: Understand organizational and human resource management that supports school improvement and helps ensure success for every student.

40. A school principal plans to recommend nonrenewal of a teacher's contract due to inadequate performance over a prolonged period. The principal can best ensure that the recommendation will lead to the action he or she desires by using which of the following strategies?

  1. maintaining careful documentation of the teacher's poor performance and the school's efforts to improve the performance
  2. including with the recommendation a narrative highlighting specific incidents and events representative of the teacher's inadequacies
  3. soliciting support from other school staff who share the principal's concerns about the teacher's performance
  4. citing published educational research to show how the behaviors exhibited by the teacher can be expected to affect students
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.