Study Guide

Field 015: Educational Leadership
Sample Multiple-Choice Questions

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Competency 0001
Understand how to provide leadership in facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a shared vision of learning; collaborating with diverse stakeholders; and mobilizing school and community resources to achieve the vision and promote the success of all student groups.

In a time of reduced school funding, educational leaders can best help ensure that sufficient resources are available to achieve a school's vision and goals for all student groups by emphasizing which of the following approaches?

  1. using student performance data to identify areas of greatest weakness and making those areas a priority in terms of resource allocation
  2. soliciting views about budget priorities from a broad range of stakeholders and allocating resources based on level of stakeholder support
  3. applying a formula for distributing resources that ensures equal allocations for each school program and student population
  4. using budgets from the previous year as a basis for guiding decisions about resource allocations for each subsequent budget
Answer
Correct Response: A.
This question requires examinees to demonstrate understanding of how to provide leadership in facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a shared vision of learning. When addressing resource needs, it is imperative that educational leaders focus first on what will sustain and enhance student achievement, and that their decisions be based on data from multiple measures of student learning.
Competency 0002
Understand the interplay of the political, social, economic, legal, ethical, and cultural contexts of education in promoting the success of all student groups.

In a school district where students from particular cultural and language backgrounds are significantly overrepresented in special education programs, educational leaders can best initiate efforts to address the issue by analyzing:

  1. assessment instruments used to evaluate students for special educational needs.
  2. the local curriculum and associated student performance expectations.
  3. instructional strategies used with students prior to their referral for special education.
  4. the placement procedures currently used to determine students' grade levels.
Answer
Correct Response: C.
This question requires examinees to demonstrate understanding of the interplay of political, social, economic, legal, ethical, and cultural contexts of education in promoting the success of all student groups. A significant overrepresentation of students from specific cultural and language backgrounds in special education programs is more likely to be a function of a gap between instruction and student needs than an accurate representation of student capabilities. The first step in analyzing such a situation, therefore, is to closely examine the instructional methodologies such students were exposed to prior to their referral for special education to see if cultural or language factors may have created interference that resulted in poor academic performance or behavioral issues.
Competency 0003
Understand how to advocate, nurture, and sustain a positive culture of learning that emphasizes high expectations and an instructional program that promotes success for all student groups.

Staff at a middle school are ready to implement instructional changes designed to improve students' math achievement. In planning these changes, the school leader has guided staff in a review of current research on math instruction and an examination of students' math performance for the last three years. The leader can best ensure that the planned changes achieve the desired results by prompting staff to take which of the following additional actions?

  1. outlining steps for phasing in the instructional changes with one subgroup of students at a time
  2. communicating the rationale for the instructional changes to students and their families
  3. seeking individual professional development as needed to prepare for the instructional changes
  4. developing a plan for assessing student improvement during and following the instructional changes
Answer
Correct Response: D.
This question requires examinees to demonstrate understanding of how to advocate, nurture, and sustain a positive culture of learning that emphasizes high expectations and an instructional program that promotes success for all student groups. An integral part of any modification designed to improve student achievement is a carefully thought-out method for determining whether the changes that are going to be implemented actually produce the desired outcomes. Therefore, a plan for assessing student improvement during and following the instructional changes must be a built-in component of any new instructional initiative.
Competency 0004
Understand effective teaching and learning and the use of instructional leadership to promote the success of all student groups.

One goal at an elementary school is to create a climate that reflects a commitment to the belief that all children can learn and achieve success. School leaders can best support achievement of this goal by emphasizing to teachers the value of which of the following classroom practices?

  1. engaging students in team academic competitions
  2. using a variety of grouping strategies for activities
  3. surveying students regularly about their interests
  4. differentiating standards used to evaluate student work
Answer
Correct Response: B.
This question requires examinees to demonstrate understanding of effective teaching and learning and the use of instructional leadership to promote the success of all student groups. While dividing students into instructional groups can be an effective way to differentiate instruction, no child should be compartmentalized as a single-level learner. Instead, grouping should be a flexible, dynamic tool that employs a variety of grouping strategies that support teaching and learning goals, facilitate active learning, and promote student inquiry and reflection.
Competency 0005
Understand how to use professional development for faculty, staff, and self to promote lifelong learning and the success of all student groups.

In which of the following situations would peer coaching be the most appropriate professional development strategy for a school leader to use?

  1. Teachers as a group wish to learn more about the benefits and limitations of a particular instructional strategy.
  2. Teachers have identified a problem in a specific area of instruction and are ready to develop a plan to address the need.
  3. Teachers from several schools in the district have been reassigned to teach at a newly built school.
  4. Teachers have received training on a new instructional strategy and are ready to implement it in their classrooms.
Answer
Correct Response: D.
This question requires examinees to demonstrate understanding of how to use professional development for faculty, staff, and self to promote lifelong learning and the success of all student groups. Peer coaching is a technique through which professional colleagues work together to reflect on current practices; expand, refine, and build new skills; share ideas; and teach one another. Peer coaching is particularly effective when two or more teachers begin to implement a new instructional strategy for which they received training but have no classroom experience on which to draw. In such situations, peer coaches can act as objective observer, provide support, and help measure each other's individual progress.
Competency 0006
Understand organizational management and its use in creating positive and productive learning systems that promote the success of all student groups.

Which of the following behaviors by members of a high school's school site council should be of greatest concern to educational leaders at the school?

  1. Some members of the council are more reserved than others and are less comfortable expressing their views in front of other members.
  2. Several members of the instructional staff who are on the council often dismiss comments and suggestions by noninstructional staff and parents/guardians.
  3. Two members of the council hold very different political and social views and often differ about the best way to proceed in dealing with particular issues.
  4. Certain members of the council have difficulty staying on topic when discussing issues with other members of the team.
Answer
Correct Response: B.
This question requires examinees to demonstrate understanding of organizational management and its use in creating positive and productive learning systems that promote the success of all student groups. A key to a well-functioning school site council is a collaborative decision-making approach that values the experience, training, and perspective of all participants. Site councils that do not function as a team focused on consensus building and conflict resolution are unlikely to be successful or provide value to either the school community in general or to the students who should be the focus of the council's attention.
Competency 0007
Understand human resource management and its use in creating a positive and productive learning system that promotes the success of all student groups.

A new leader takes over at a school that has been characterized in recent years by very high teacher turnover among probationary teachers, with many leaving voluntarily by the end of their probationary period. The leader and the school site council wish to design a program of enhanced support for probationary teachers. Which of the following would be the most useful first step for the group to take in designing this program?

  1. surveying permanent teaching staff about the difficulties that they faced as probationary teachers
  2. conducting extensive exit interviews with probationary teachers who have recently left
  3. reviewing current literature about the best ways to provide support to new teachers
  4. distributing a survey about conditions at the school to all parents/guardians and other stakeholders
Answer
Correct Response: B.
This question requires examinees to demonstrate understanding of human resource management and its use in creating a positive and productive learning system that promotes the success of all student groups. While becoming familiar with current literature about new teacher support, and consulting with permanent teaching staff about difficulties they may have encountered as new teachers are both valuable steps to take in considering how to address a situation in which many probationary teachers are leaving the school, all of that information is theoretical. The most valuable, concrete information available to the school leader and school site council in considering this situation is to talk with the probationary teachers whose actual, current experiences have led them to leave the school. Only then can the specific factors contributing to this problem be identified and addressed.
Competency 0008
Understand operational management and its use in creating a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment that promotes the success of all student groups.

As part of a crisis response plan, educational leaders at a school have established a command and control structure that identifies those individuals who are charged with directing the response to a crisis. To maximize the effectiveness of this system, it would be most important to ensure that:

  1. responsibilities of each individual in the command and control structure are clearly defined in advance for a variety of crisis situations.
  2. each individual in the command and control structure reports to at least two other individuals in the structure during a crisis.
  3. overall leadership of the command and control structure during a crisis is spread among several individuals in the structure.
  4. membership of the command and control structure is drawn from the longest-serving staff who are most familiar with school operations.
Answer
Correct Response: A.
This question requires examinees to demonstrate understanding of operational management and its use in creating a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment that promotes the success of all student groups. The way in which a command and control structure designed to perform effectively in the event of a crisis is organized is likely to be a fundamental determinant of that group's performance. However, when a crisis occurs, the single most important factor in whether the crisis will be addressed successfully is a clear definition of the responsibilities of each individual within the structure and a clear understanding on each person's part of their role and the actions that they should take.
Competency 0009
Understand fiscal and material resource management and its use in creating efficient and effective learning systems that promote the success of all student groups.

In determining the resources that the district will need to provide during the next fiscal year for a school's English Language Learner program, educational leaders should first:

  1. evaluate the success of the program in developing English language skills of participating students.
  2. calculate the proportion of total district revenues that was allocated to the program during the previous fiscal year.
  3. project the resources needed to maintain other programs at the school at their current levels of funding.
  4. identify state and federal mandates for the program and the amount of categorical aid provided for meeting those mandates.
Answer
Correct Response: D.
This question requires examinees to demonstrate understanding of fiscal and material resource management and its use in creating efficient and effective learning systems that promote the success of all student groups. Educational programs that fall within the oversight of governmental units beyond the town or city of which the school district is a part can only be operated in a way that addresses the goals—and takes advantage of the resources—of those entities. In calculating what resources a school district will need to provide for programs regulated in part by legislative mandates at the state or federal level, understanding what those mandates require and how much funding is available to meet those mandates is the starting point for all planning activities.
Competency 0010
Understand the legal dimensions of educational leadership.

Administrators find marijuana in a student's school locker. The student handbook indicates that the consequences include a ten-day suspension from school. In accordance with the Goss v. Lopez decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, school leaders are obligated to do which of the following before imposing a suspension?

  1. review and document the manner in which the locker search was conducted
  2. provide the student with legal advice through the state's juvenile court system
  3. arrange for an impartial hearing to listen to the student's side of the story
  4. demonstrate that the disciplinary action has been applied in a nondiscriminatory manner
Answer
Correct Response: C.
This question requires examinees to demonstrate understanding of the legal dimensions of educational leadership. In its decision in Goss v. Lopez, the U.S. Supreme Court held that under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, a public school cannot suspend a student without a hearing. In its ruling, the Court upheld a decision of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio which found that: "Having chosen to extend the right to an education to [its citizens], Ohio may not withdraw that right on grounds of misconduct, absent fundamentally fair procedures to determine whether the misconduct has occurred, and must recognize a student's legitimate entitlement to a public education as a property interest that is protected by the Due Process Clause, and that may not be taken away for misconduct without observing minimum procedures required by that Clause."