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Descriptive Statements:
- Apply knowledge of strategies for developing partnerships with families to support student learning and for encouraging and facilitating the involvement of parents/guardians in their children's education.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the importance of school-home communication, factors that facilitate or impede communication, and methods of initiating and maintaining effective communication with all students' families.
- Identify strategies for conducting effective conferences with parents/guardians, addressing the concerns of parents/guardians in various contexts, and interacting effectively and appropriately with all families, including those with diverse characteristics, backgrounds, and needs.
- Demonstrate knowledge of effective methods for establishing and maintaining supportive, collaborative relationships with professional colleagues in given school contexts.
- Apply knowledge of how to collaborate effectively with specialists and others in the school community to meet student needs and enhance student learning.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to develop partnerships with individuals, businesses, and institutions in the community and how to use community resources to expand and enrich student learning.
Sample Item:
A high school math teacher has a few students in her classes who have learning disabilities that affect various
aspects of their math performance. The teacher has planned a new instructional unit on probability and wants to
make sure that all of the students with learning disabilities will be able to participate fully in unit
activities. The teacher can best help ensure this outcome by:
- preparing a selection of alternative activities that require less advanced math skills for the students with learning disabilities.
- asking the special education teacher to review the planned activities and utilizing adaptations suggested for each student who has learning disabilities.
- having the students with learning disabilities work on unit activities with a peer partner who has strong skills in math.
- trying a few sample activities with the students who have learning disabilities before beginning the unit and making adjustments as needed.
Correct Response and Explanation (Show Correct ResponseHide Correct Response)
B. This question requires the examinee to apply knowledge of how to collaborate effectively
with specialists and others in the school community to meet student needs and enhance student learning.
In inclusive learning environments, classroom teachers must address a wide range of student needs. Special
education staff have in-depth training in the nature of various exceptionalities that is beyond the training
most general education teachers receive. Special education teachers also have a broad knowledge base about
alternative or adapted methods, materials, and approaches that are most effective in meeting the needs of
students with specific exceptionalities.
Descriptive Statements:
- Apply knowledge of the rights and responsibilities of students, teachers, and parents/guardians in various educational contexts.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the structure and components of the public education system, teacher roles in various educational contexts, and appropriate teacher interactions with and responses to other professionals in the system, parents/guardians, community members, and students.
- Recognize the requirements of teachers in given situations, such as providing instruction to students with special needs, ensuring educational equity for all students, maintaining the confidentiality of student records, and seeking copyright permission for use of instructional resource materials.
- Demonstrate knowledge of various types of professional organizations and professional development opportunities and resources, including research; action research; interactions with mentors, supervisors, and colleagues; and their use in enhancing professional knowledge, skills, and expertise.
- Demonstrate knowledge of important traits and behaviors associated with effective teaching (e.g., curiosity and love of learning, tolerance and open-mindedness) and strategies for using reflection and self-assessment to identify teaching strengths and challenges and to improve professional practice.
Sample Item:
In which of the following situations is a teacher most clearly using reflection and self-assessment to improve professional practice?
- A teacher asks another teacher to review his or her lesson plans prior to instruction and provide feedback on planned activities and materials.
- A teacher engages in co-teaching with a more experienced teacher when introducing particularly challenging content to students.
- A teacher reviews videotapes of his or her instruction with a more experienced teacher to identify teaching strengths and challenges.
- A teacher creates a comprehensive description of activities used during each grading period to submit to the department chairperson.
Correct Response and Explanation (Show Correct ResponseHide Correct Response)
C. This question requires the examinee to demonstrate knowledge of strategies for using reflection and self-assessment to identify teaching strengths and challenges and to improve professional practice. Self-assessment requires the teacher's active engagement in the process of reviewing and reflecting upon his or her instructional approach. Viewing a video of a lesson allows a new teacher to observe his or her own speaking patterns, body language, pacing, and other elements of instructional delivery as well as student engagement in the lesson. Soliciting the support of an experienced colleague who has a broader understanding of professional practice can enhance the new teacher's personal observations and reflections by promoting objectivity and providing helpful suggestions for adapting instruction to better promote student learning.
Use the information below to complete the assignment that follows.
You are a new high school teacher. Your principal has asked you to serve on a faculty committee whose goal is
to identify ways to increase faculty collaboration with the school library media specialist. Although the
library media center has expanded its resources significantly in recent years, the library media specialist
reports that many faculty members still do not take advantage of the resources that are available.
Increased faculty collaboration with the library media specialist is a schoolwide goal for the following year.
Write a proposal to other members of the committee describing your ideas about the issue of faculty
collaboration with the school library media specialist. Your response should:
- explain why increased faculty collaboration with the library media specialist is important;
- describe two steps faculty members can take to increase collaboration with the library media specialist; and
- explain why each step you describe would be beneficial.
Sample Responses
Sample Strong Response (Show Sample Strong ResponseHide Sample Strong Response)
Collaboration between school faculty and the library media specialist is important because such collaboration
ultimately benefits student learning. Increased collaboration with the library media specialist provides
faculty with more opportunities to learn about resources and technologies and how to use the resources and
technologies to enhance their instructional effectiveness. This collaboration also facilitates access to
resources that faculty can use to address the particular learning needs of individual students or groups of
students.
One step faculty members can take to increase collaboration with the library media specialist is to inform the
library media specialist about the topics of specific projects that will be included in upcoming units.
The library media specialist can then provide relevant information resources and services. Examples of these
resources and services include bibliographies of materials on specific unit topics, training in the use of
online databases for research, and direct instruction to students on the use of various information resources.
This step is beneficial because it supports classroom instruction and enhances student learning during the unit.
It also helps ensure that teachers and students have current and relevant information at a point of need.
Another step faculty members can take is to invite the library media specialist to participate in planning
activities on a regular basis. By planning together, teachers and the library media specialist can design
learning experiences that integrate content goals and information literacy skills. This step is beneficial
because it allows the library media specialist to assist faculty in identifying information resources and skills
that students will need to achieve a given learning goal. For example, students who are studying the history of
their community may need to learn about primary sources or how to access and evaluate online information sources.
Sample Weak Response (Show Correct ResponseHide Correct Response)
Increased collaboration between faculty and the library media specialist is important because students need
access to the best resources available when they do research. The volume of information and the capabilities
of information technology can easily overwhelm students. Students who do not know how to access the
information they need, how to interpret it when they find it, and how to identify credible sources are no
better off than students who don't have access to a library at all. The library media specialist has the
expertise to help students overcome all of these problems.
One step faculty members can take to increase collaboration with the library media specialist is to plan
frequent class trips to the library media center. When the students arrive in the library, the library media
specialist would show students any new books, DVDs, or other resources, and demonstrate new technologies.
The specialist would also remind the students of the appropriate behaviors in the library, including the
protocols for using the Internet. Students would have time to explore some of the resources, and the
specialist would be available to answer any questions.
Another step would be to invite the library media specialist to the classroom. During these visits,
the specialist could deliver direct instruction of specific information literacy skills. For example,
if the specialist had determined that a certain group of students needed to know how to cite resources,
he or she could take the entire class period to teach that skill. The classroom would be a better venue for
this kind of instruction than the library because of the physical arrangement of chairs and desks,
the availability of presentation technology and interactive whiteboards, and the physical proximity of the
classroom teacher in case of any misbehavior.
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