Adolescence Chapter 6: Schools

Kelly's parents are disappointed with the education she is receiving in her public high school, so they have been investigating alternative options. Assuming Kelly's parents are financially strapped but want to send her to a private school, which of the following should they do?

obtain government-subsidized school or education vouchers to use for private school tuition

Which of the following is not an example of higher-order thinking?

rote memorization

Which of the following is most important in influencing adolescents' learning and psychosocial development?

school climate

Professor Lerner is investigating sexism in tracking in same-sex schools and in coeducational schools. She is likely to find:

sexism exists in all of these schools

Which of the following has the least effect on student achievement?

the classroom

Of the students who enter college, what percent complete their degrees within six years?

50%

Today, the typical student attends nearly ____ of his/her classes throughout the year.

90%

Which statement concerning students placed on an advanced track is false?

Advanced tracking has a positive effect on retaining a strong interest in school

Generalizing from the text, who would benefit most from summer school?

Ron, an African American

Which boy is most likely to commit an act of lethal violence?

There is no way to identify which student will commit a lethal crime

Placing students in tracks that match their abilities is called:

meritocratic

Marnia attends a school with seventh and eighth graders as well as adolescents who are 1 or 2 years younger. This type of educational institution is called a:

middle school

Secondary education refers to:

middle school, junior high school, and high school

Taisha was discouraged from taking math classes throughout her high school years. Although she is intelligent, a likely long-term implication of this biased tracking is that Taisha will:

miss the opportunity to pursue certain careers for which she may be well qualified

Cross-cultural comparisons during the 1980s revealed that American adolescents were scoring significantly lower on achievement tests than those in many industrialized countries. As a result, during the late 1980s, education reformers called for:

more emphasis in the classroom on higher-order thinking

Which of the following is not a benefit that small schools offer?

more varied instruction

Which of the following statements about tracking is false?

*Tracking can cause hostility between students in different tracks.*

Before schools became compulsory, high schools were designed to:

*act as finishing schools for elite youngsters.*

Since the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954:

*all schools in the United States have become desegregated*

Kelly is at a high school with tracked classes. She has been placed in the average track. What type of effects is this placement likely to have on her?

*cannot predict*

Which aspect of the school climate is the least important in influencing psychosocial development during adolescence?

*class size*

During this course, you have been asked to interpret and analyze adolescent behavior. This type of thinking is referred to as:

*deductive reasoning*

By the middle of the 1990s, after decades of school reform, American students:

*ranked much higher than students in other countries in science*

Research has shown that teachers tend to favor high-achieving students by providing extra cues for answers and more positive nonverbal behaviors than for lower-achieving students. Such evidence provides support for the notion that teachers' expectations may contribute to:

*the self-fulfilling prophecy*

Experts on school reform are likely to express all of the following reasons for the failure of school report, except:

*the spread of poverty outside the inner city into suburban communities*

Which of the following is not a factor that moved children out of the workplace?

*the strength needed to perform unskilled labor*

Susannah's school psychologist has recently determined that Susannah has a learning disability. Her parents are concerned about the effects this will have. Which effect should the psychologist warn her parents about?

All of the above

Which of the following features may contribute to segregation within a desegregated school?

All of the above

Which adolescent would be expected to have the most positive academic self-concept?

Claudia Jean, a gifted student who is integrated into the regular classroom

Which of the following is an accurate description of European countries' school systems?

European countries separate students into college and non-college-bound tracks early in adolescence

Which of the following statements about classroom environment is true?

Moderate, rather than strict, control in the classroom promotes positive student behavior

Of these students who were initially placed in a low track, ________ is most likely to be moved to a higher track.

Sarah, a European American,

What is the paradox of dropping out of school?

Students who drop out are typically the ones who are most harmed by doing so

Jillian's family is moving to another town. Her parents are concerned that Jillian will have a difficult time adjusting to the new school. Which of the following difficulties should they anticipate for Jillian?

all of the above

Ms. Willingham sets high standards for her students but is very responsive to their needs. What type of teaching style is this characteristic of?

authoritative

What kind of family environment most closely resembles the optimal classroom environment?

authoritative

Samantha attends a public school that has a great deal of freedom to set its own curriculum. This type of school is referred to as what in your text?

charter school

During the 1920s, the _____ was designed to meet the needs of a diverse population of young people.

comprehensive high school

What two dominant characteristics distinguish the development of postsecondary education in contemporary America from that in other parts of the world?

diversity and accessibility

To reduce the decline of students' academic knowledge, the Carnegie Corporation Council on Adolescent Development recommends all of the following, except:

divide middle schools into units of 50 to 100 students

Michelle has been placed in a school program for gifted children. She was probably selected because she:

has a high IQ

Even though Scott has some difficulty in English, his school places him in the highest track. Scott's school follows which type of tracking system?

inclusive

The perceived threat of the Soviet Union's space program in the early 1950s sparked which of the following changes in American high schools?

increased emphasis was placed on math and science education

Changes in the structure of secondary schools have been linked to broader societal revolutions. All of the following factors have contributed to these changes, except:

intellectualization

Amy, a social reformer in the early 20th century, would have likely considered all of the following to be good reasons to push for secondary education, except:

it is effective in increasing the economic development of the United States

Mrs. Denny wants to provide the best educational opportunities for all of the students in her high school. As school principal, she should:

keep remedial classes small, but not worry if other classes have as many as 40 students

Professor Richards is studying high school students from the time they enter 9th grade until they graduate. Professor Gallagher is comparing students who are in grades 9 through 12 over a period of one fall semester. Professor Richards is conducting a ________ study and Professor Gallagher is conduct a ________ study.

longitudinal; cross-sectional

During the school year, the rate of academic progress was equal between low-income and middle-income students. During the summer months:

low-income students' scores declined

Under current federal law, children with learning disabilities must be:

mainstreamed whenever possible

Sex bias in tracking students in junior and senior high schools is most evident in which subject?

math

The practice of moving students from one grade to the next regardless of their academic performance is known as what?

social promotion

Compared with their counterparts ninety years ago, today's American adolescents:

spend fewer days per year in school

Debbie is moving from elementary school into middle school. We would expect her to experience declines in all of the following, except her:

standardized test scores

Comparisons of large and small schools reveal that:

students in small schools are more likely to participate in school activities. Save Previous PageNext Page

Jacquelynne Eccles describes all of the following changes in school environment when moving from elementary school to middle school or junior high school, except that:

teachers in middle and junior high schools feel more confident in their teaching abilities

Eccles argues that the difficulty adolescents experience in the transition to junior high school is a result of the:

teachers' beliefs about junior high students

One potential explanation for the finding that gifted students who are integrated into regular classrooms have more positive academic self-conceptions than those in special classes is:

the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect

Jacquelynne Eccles believes that ________ a negative effect on junior high school teachers, which then affects the teachers' interactions with their students.

the organization and anonymity of junior high schools have

Kerry and Kristie's teacher accidentally got their test scores mixed up and mistakenly thought that Kerry was the more intelligent of the two girls. At the end of the year, her records demonstrated that, indeed, Kerry had gained more and performed at a higher level than Kristie. This is best thought of as an example of:

the self-fulfilling prophecy

In America today, what percentage of individuals between the ages of 14 and 17 are in school?

virtually all individuals