Educational Psychology Quiz Questions

How does the inferior frontal gyrus contribute to reading ability?

It helps with understanding what words mean.

Which best describes the term appropriate as used under IDEA?

It refers to a curricular program designed to provide educational benefit to the student.

If teachers want to construct valid assessments, they should do all of the following EXCEPT ______.

measure the time taken to administer the test and score it

In order to construct reliable tests, teachers need to minimize the ______.

measurement error

The Graduate Admissions Committee requires a test measuring the applicants' potential to be successful in graduate school. What type of test should they use?

standardized aptitude test

Informal assessments are usually used to collect ______, whereas formal assessments are often used to collect ______.

subjective data; objective data

The notion of a sensitive period suggests ______.

the brain has times when it is flexible, or prepared for learning, and can be modified by experience

When is it appropriate to use "none of the above" as one of the alternatives in a multiple-choice question?

When students need to have a good comprehension of the subject to rule out the other alternatives.

A teacher obtains scores of 9, 9, 10, 11, and 12. Which is the mode?

9

Children that are bilingual from birth follow the same overall pattern and reach the same developmental milestones as monolingual children but at an accelerated rate.

False

Efficacy expectations are beliefs that particular actions cause particular consequences.

False

In order for an assessment to be considered a standardized test, it requires that the assessment reflects a comprehensive set of curricular standards in the subject area.

False

In self-determination theory, an individual with external regulation is one who has internalized extrinsic motivation.

False

Many schools shifted to reporting standards-based grades in the 1980s.

False

All of the following are constructed-response items EXCEPT ______.

matching exercises

A teacher interested in central tendency would be most interested in the ______.

mean

Checklists are a fast and convenient way of rating the quality of a student's work on a performance assessment.

False

Selected-response items can be scored without interpretation or judgment.

True

Self-referenced grading is more likely to suffer from problems relating to reliability and validity than criterion-referenced grading.

True

Teachers need to explicitly teach students metacognitive skills along with content instruction.

True

The jigsaw method is a way of promoting positive interdependence in cooperative learning groups.

True

To be eligible for Special Education as a student with emotional disturbance, the student's condition or characteristics must adversely affect their educational performance.

True

An assessment that yields consistent results is ______.

reliable

A student participating in a lesson might ask herself any of the following questions. In expectancy-value theory, which best illustrates the idea of expectancy?

"Can I do this task?"

Around what time are children typically diagnosed with specific language impairment?

3 years old

The standard deviation is a measure of the variability among scores. Which of the following is the information that you could get from a standard deviation?

A small standard deviation indicates that the majority of students scored close to the average.

Which of the following statements is true about disproportionate special education identifications in the category of emotional disturbance?

African Americans and Native Americans are overrepresented.

Which of the following best illustrates poor self-efficacy?

Alex has struggled with math in the past, so in his new math class he does not even try anymore.

Which is the best example of the domain-specific nature of self-efficacy?

Daniel is confident about math and believes he can master the current unit but does not believe he has the skills to succeed in other subjects.

Almost all psychologists agree that intelligence involves assimilation to the environment.

False

Which statement about depressive disorders is MOST TRUE?

Depressive disorders are very rare in young children.

A distractor analysis gives teachers' information about how difficult each item on a test is.

False

Multiple-choice questions can only be used to assess the knowledge and comprehension levels of Bloom's taxonomy.

False

Objective assessments such as multiple-choice or true/false questions can only be used to evaluate lower-level skills such as recall of information.

False

One assumption of the information processing approach is that humans are passive participants in the learning process.

False

One of the most useful types of scores, which is easy to interpret accurately, is a grade-equivalent score.

False

Self-determination theory has many similarities to Pavlov's hierarchy of needs.

False

Self-efficacy and self-worth theory are about the need for competence, whereas self-determination theory emphasizes importance of perceived competence.

False

Studies of study-time allocation, particularly the region of proximal learning model, suggest that students achieve best by focusing the majority of study time on the most difficult items.

False

Summative assessment is used to gather information about students' knowledge prior to instruction, whereas formative assessment is used to evaluate what students have learned after instruction.

False

Which best illustrates a standardized test?

Joshua is given a reading test with the same standard items, instructions, time allowed, and scoring procedures as all other students who take the test.

Which of the following descriptions is most consistent with the definition of a norm-referenced test?

Matthew's score is higher than 80% of other children his age.

Two health classes took the same test. Mr. Sanchez's class had a mean score of 70 and a standard deviation of 6. Ms. Lindsey's class had a mean of 78 and a standard deviation of 12. Which class is probably grouped according to ability into a homogeneous class?

Mr. Sanchez's

Which of the following statements about cognitive processes and assessment item types is correct?

Multiple-choice questions can be used to assess all levels of cognitive processes.

Which of the following statements best describes the relationship between levels of Bloom's taxonomy and type of assessment?

Objective assessments are typically used for lower-level objectives, whereas performance assessments are typically used for higher-level objectives.

The individualized plan that is used for students with disabilities who are not served under IDEA is the ______.

Section 504 plan

Which of the following statements is true of bilingual children?

They have as large a vocabulary as monolingual children when vocabularies from both languages are combined.

A standardized achievement test is an example of a summative assessment.

True

A table of specifications can improve the validity of an assessment as it helps teachers to ensure that learning objectives are aligned with instruction and assessment.

True

A teacher interested in whether a student's performance meets a set curricular standard would be most likely to use a criterion-referenced test.

True

Assessment accommodations should be provided for classroom assessments but not for standardized testing.

True

Humans are motivated to protect their self-worth by maintaining a belief that they are competent.

True

One key way to spark critical thinking is to engage in class discussion through questioning.

True

A table of specifications is a common way of representing ______.

a test blueprint

Which of the following is a criterion that must be met for a disorder to be considered an emotional disturbance?

adversely affecting educational performance

If a teacher wants to provide detailed and multidimensional feedback to students, what type of scoring tool is best?

analytic rubric

An assessment is ______.

any procedure for gathering information about students

The most accurate statement about readiness tests is that they ______.

are used for making placement or curricular decisions

The primary characteristic of a criterion-referenced test is that it measures a person's performance ______.

as compared to a standard of performance, such as a learning objective

Which parenting style can help with deterring antisocial behavior among adolescents that live in low-income, high-crime neighborhoods?

authoritarian

Johnson is a middle school student. He tells his parents he will attend a party at a friend's house with no parental supervision. Although they are worried about it, Johnson's parents approve his request, but tell him to call when he arrives at the party, and to be home by 10 p.m. This scenario best illustrates which of the following?

authoritative parenting

If you were giving advice about constructing the alternatives for multiple-choice questions, you should recommend all of the following EXCEPT ______.

avoid placing the correct answer in the second position, as students often select B if they are unsure of the answer

Which part of a brain cell sends or transmits messages to other brain cells?

axon

A physical education teacher wants to send her top athletes in track and field to a university track and field competition. She tests all of her students in the 100-yard dash and submits the names of only those students who run the race in under 12 s. What testing purpose is reflected in this situation?

criterion-referenced

Terrill believes that he has the knowledge and skills to pass his algebra class. This is best described as a(an) ______ expectation.

efficacy

A teacher who does not offer an alternative assessment for his or her students who are English language learners is not concerned with ______.

fairness

If a teacher wants to use a performance assessment to monitor student progress and provide students with feedback, a good choice would be a ______.

growth portfolio

To be successful, a formative assessment should ______.

include high-quality feedback

Dr. Kennedy is a school psychologist who has been asked to assess whether Jonathan, a second-grade student, might qualify for a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Dr. Kennedy observes Jonathan's behavior at school and at home to help with her evaluation. What kind of assessment is she conducting?

informal

The most accurate definition of a standardized test is that the test ______.

is given under the same standard conditions

A valid classroom test measures ______.

knowledge of all of the content in an instructional unit

One of the main advantages of alternative-response questions is ______.

many learning objectives can be assessed in a short time frame

A teacher who gives a criterion-referenced test is most interested in using the scores to understand a student's ______.

mastery of material

Which of the following is a method for collecting objective data?

multiple-choice tests

If a teacher is concerned about the reliability of her assessment, she should use ______.

objective assessments, but ensure she follows research-based guidelines for test construction

The most accurate interpretation of the roles of imitation and reinforcement in language learning is that they ______.

only partly explain language learning

Ms. Collins wants her physics students to demonstrate their knowledge of how to conduct experiments, so she gives them each a box of components and asks them to set up an experiment to determine which color LEDs have the highest breakover voltage. This is an example of a(an) ______.

performance assessment

Checklists, rating scales, holistic rubrics, and analytic rubrics are all ways of scoring ______.

performance assessments

Mr. Stone wants to assess his students' comprehension of geology. He decides to create a multiple-choice exam as he will be able to determine scores quickly and accurately. Which of the following criteria is Mr. Stone concerned about?

practicality

Ms. Spencer has spent several evenings and a few weekends constructing an assessment that will thoroughly test her students' comprehension of the material they have covered in class over the last few months. The exam will take several class periods to complete and she will spend much of the Thanksgiving break grading the essay component. Ms. Spencer's assessment is low on ______.

practicality

An individual with damage to the left hemisphere of the brain has most difficulty with ______.

producing speech

When an adult reproduces a child's utterance as a semantically similar expression, but adds new information to model more complex language, the best word to describe what the adult is doing is ______.

recasting

Mr. Reynolds has created a test for his ninth-grade civics class. The scores that students receive in this test are affected by their mood, the time of day, and how well disposed Mr. Reynolds is feeling toward them while he is grading. This test has very poor ______.

reliability

All of the following are objective tests, EXCEPT ______.

short answer

Jennifer took a test in school that indicated strengths in reading but relative weaknesses on mathematical skills. She probably took what kind of test?

standardized achievement test

Which best describes a test measuring current knowledge?

standardized achievement test

Kelly has impressed her geography teacher, Ms. Basildon, with her willingness to participate in class and her eagerness to learn. When Ms. Basildon is grading the students' term papers, she expects a lot from Kelly. Kelly's paper is mediocre because she did not really grasp the key concepts, but Ms. Basildon gives Kelly a B+. This generous grade is due to ______.

the halo effect

If a teacher presents students with factual information about a topic, then assesses them via performance on a class debate, ______.

there will be a mismatch between instruction and assessment methods

A disadvantage of matching exercises is ______.

they encourage students to memorize material without necessarily understanding it

Teachers should consider using norm-referenced tests for which of the following scenarios?

to compare the mathematics achievement of a certain fourth-grade class with the other fourth graders in the whole school district

If you were giving advice about constructing the stems for multiple-choice questions, you should recommend all of the following EXCEPT ______.

whenever possible, put words in the alternative rather than the stem