Data Analysis NJ EXCEL

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These questions are examples of what you may see on the SLLA test.

1. As principal of Weldon Middle school, the attendance rate has been below the district average for the last three years. Your superintendent is not pleased and wants you to raise the rate. The school has a high population of free & reduced lunch, and is also located near several low-income housing developments. What would be the best course of action to take to increase student attendance.

Talk with the students about why they are not coming to school.

Notify parents every time a student is absent

Make home visits with the social worker to inform parents it is their responsibility to make sure their children come to school

Form a committee of teachers, parents, community members and students to look at possible causes and develop some action steps increase the attendance rate

Clear selection

2. At the end of your first year as principal of a elementary school, your discipline data suggest that minority males are your highest percentage of office referrals and out of school suspensions. This group only makes up 12% of your total school population. What is the best strategy to decrease the amount of office referrals for the segment of your student body?

Encourage parents to raise their concern at the next school board meeting.

Analyze which teachers are sending these students to the office, then provide professional development on classroom management, cultural awareness, and the Importance of authentic teacher/student relationships

Hold parent meetings with each suspended student's parents to find out why their student is misbehaving in school

Review your school-wide discipline policy

Clear selection

3. Of the following evaluation methods, which would provide the most valid indication of the success of a course of study in meeting its instructional goals?

Compiling results of a survey of the students' opinions of the course

Reviewing anecdotal records that describe students' interpersonal growth during the course

Reviewing data that indicates the degree of students' mastery of course objectives

Surveying parents about the students' transfer of concepts learned in the course

Clear selection

4. The newly appointed principal of an elementary school is concerned about the performance of the fourth grade on the state standardized tests for mathematics. Which of the following should be the principal's initial step in developing a plan to improve students' scores?

Hire a staff developer to teach staff innovative approaches to mathematics instruction

Collect information about the instructional methods, materials, and assessments currently in use

Conduct a curriculum audit of the mathematics program at all grade levels

Administer another assessment to identify specific areas of weakness in students' performance

Clear selection

5. A department chair is concerned about a few students in the advanced-level biology class who have received barely passing or failing grades on their first marking period report cards while their classmates have performed well. Which of the following areas of investigation is likely to provide the most valuable information for explaining the weak performance of some students?

Teacher records of tests grades, homework assignments, and class participation

National Science Education content standards for the appropriate grade level

The currency and appropriateness of the instructional materials in the course

Admission standards for the advanced-level science classes

Clear selection

6. A middle school is piloting a new mathematics program aimed at developing students' problem-solving skills. Which of the following actions will provide the most accurate data on the program's effectiveness?

Analyzing the performance evaluations of teachers participating in the program

Sending a survey to representative parents and students asking about the program's effectiveness

Comparing annual state assessment scores of students in the former mathematics program with those of students in the new program

Setting measurable goals and evaluating students' performance in meeting them

Clear selection

7. The 2004-2007 School Academic Progress Report for Jones High School indicated that nearly 50 percent of its students had enrolled in and completed an Advanced Placement (AP) course prior to graduation. This rate is 20 percent higher than the national average and 35 percent higher than the state average. The report also showed that while the students earned an average final grade of93.7 in these courses, only 10 percent of these students scored at least proficient (grade 3-5) or better on the standardized AP test. The principal was asked if the school's AP program needed any modifications.

Which statement best describes the direction that the principal might suggest for the school's AP curriculum and instruction in the future?

The course content is well taught, but more emphasis should be placed on test-taking strategies.

The school's AP curriculum and instructional program should be evaluated to ensure they meet the rigor required by the national standards

Jones High School should be commended for its high participation rate in AP courses, and there is little or no need to increase the rigor of the instruction.

The AP test is not aligned with the state curriculum standards and instruction, and faculty should continue their current instructional program, which prepares students for college.

Clear selection

8. Cone Middle School has failed to achieve adequate yearly progress over the past two school years due to chronically low standardized test scores in math and reading. The principal and administrative team have been charged with developing a school action plan for the upcoming school year.

Which of the following would be the most effective initial action of the plan?

Disaggregate the data, identify specific areas for improvement, and then form a collaborative team of teachers, community members, and officials to develop the action plan

Plan a community meeting with the parents, community members, and local officials to ask for volunteers to help the principal develop the action plan

Disaggregate the data, identify which subgroup had the lowest performance, and remediate that group for the next six months to raise test scores

Meet with all of the students who failed the tests last year and their parents to encourage the students to try harder this year

Clear selection

9. A principal has been appointed to a middle school in which the scores on state tests have been decreasing each year for the past three years. The superintendent is concerned the school will not make adequate yearly progress (A YP), and improving this school's performance is a top priority in the district.

Which of the following actions by the principal is most likely to be effective in addressing the issue of declining scores?

Forming a committee composed of teachers, students, parents, and community members to develop a plan of action

Working with the superintendent and other district administrators to develop a plan of action

Following the improvement plan of a school with similar demographics whose students consistently perform adequately

Hiring an outside consulting firm that has expertise in the area of school improvement

Clear selection

10. A district has hired an outside consultant to perform an audit of the high school's instructional and disciplinary programs. The results of the audit have been given to the school principal. Which of the following methods is the most appropriate first step in developing a plan to address the areas of weakness identified in the audit?

Meeting with teachers in each academic area to discuss changes to their curriculums

Holding a student assembly to review behavioral expectations

Surveying area high schools for comparative data in student achievement and discipline

Defining the problem for the faculty, students, and parents by sharing the data appropriate for each group

Clear selection

11. A parent survey distributed at Back-to-School Night has shown a desire by parents to learn strategies for supporting their children's literacy at home. In response, a group of teachers approaches the principal with a proposal to host a series of evening workshops for parents.

Which of the following should be the principal's primary consideration when deciding whether to endorse the teachers' plan?

Whether this strategy reaches the parents who would most benefit from the sessions

Whether this is a proper use of teacher time and school resources

Whether parental input was sought in the selection of this strategy

Whether the teachers are adequately trained to work with parents

Clear selection

12. Following the decision to adopt a new science program, a series of professional-development workshops is scheduled to train science teachers. Which of the following would yield the most helpful information for evaluating the effectiveness of the professional-development program?

A comparison of the administrators' annual evaluations of the attendees before and after the workshops

An evaluation from the teacher attendees about the pros and cons of the workshop

A comparison of how well students performed on science achievement tests before and after the workshops

An evaluation from the school's site-based management committee about the science workshops' effectiveness

Clear selection

The next THREE questions (13-15) are based on the following scenario:

A principal has been appointed to an elementary school in which the scores on the fourth-grade state language-arts tests have been decreasing each year for the past three years. The weakest area is writing. With a goal of improving writing instruction, the principal and the fourth-grade teachers decide to set aside time to examine and discuss student writing samples as a group.

13. Each teacher brings copies of student writing samples to share with the group. Which of the following actions should the teachers take first to improve instruction?

Conducting an analytical review of all papers to assign scores

Reviewing all papers to identify common areas of weakness

Targeting students in need of remediation based on the samples provided

Identifying benchmark-quality samples to use as exemplars for next year's instruction

Clear selection

14. Over the course of several weeks, the principal observes each of the fourth-grade teachers. In light of the concern about improving students' scores on language-arts assessments, the principal's primary concern should be whether the teachers

align their lesson objectives with their teaching strategies and materials

match their lesson plans with the lessons actually taught

include teaching strategies that meet the needs of diverse learners

match their lesson objectives with the fourth-grade language-arts standards

Clear selection

15. Which of the following two pieces of information would be most relevant for the principal to use to help the teachers determine strategies for improving fourth grade students' achievement in language arts?

The school's vision statement and student demographic information

The language arts block schedule for the fourth-grade classrooms and the reading levels of each fourth-grade student

The language arts standards for fourth grade students and disaggregated standardized test data

The educational background and years of experience of the fourth-grade teachers

Clear selection

The next THREE questions (16-18) are based on the following scenario:

Ms. Mansour is the principal at Riverview Elementary School. The past three years have shown a marked increase in the number of beginning teachers leaving the school to pursue other professions. Ms. Mansour has identified learning more about attracting, retaining, and supporting new teachers as her individual professional-development project this year. She plans to conduct research into the problem, including surveying the beginning teachers, and to improve Riverview's practices for supporting them.

16. If the Riverview School is typical of national trends, Ms. Mansour's teacher survey is likely to find which of the following as the primary reason for teachers leaving the profession within the first five years?

Salaries not competitive with the private sector

Increased focus on assessment and accountability

Lack of administrative support

Inadequate facilities, equipment, and supplies

Clear selection

17. Ms. Mansour's research has revealed several impediments to attracting and retaining quality teachers. Which of the following impediments is Ms. Mansour able to address as a building principal?

New teachers are frequently assigned to difficult classes and afforded few opportunities for support or growth

New teachers are not reimbursed for expenses in traveling and relocating to new school districts

States do not offer new teachers certification reciprocity or the opportunity to transfer pension benefits from other states

The salaries of new teachers who are experienced or highly educated are subject to caps set in place by school boards

Clear selection

18. The practice in the Riverview School has been to match mentors and new teachers based on sharing the same teaching assignment; for example, an experienced first-grade teacher is assigned to mentor a new first-grade teacher. This practice has not always resulted in productive mentor-new teacher relationships. The mentoring program is likely to be more successful if mentors are selected primarily for the mentors'

availability for collaboration, meetings, and joint presentations

ability to model a successful career by setting attainable standards

desire to be active participants in another's learning and growth

ability to establish networks and foster professional relationships

Clear selection

The next TWO questions (19-20) are based on the following scenario:

The newspaper at Evergreen High School publishes an annual survey of student attitudes, preferences, and interests. Over the years, Ms. Berg, the journalism teacher, has helped her classes learn how to construct questionnaires, analyze results, and write in-depth stories with the information gathered. This year the survey focused on teachers and their instructional methods, including assessment. The results were provocative. For example, 42 percent of the students rated two particular math teachers as "weak" or "poor." Ms. Berg is very concerned about how the faculty will react when the survey results appear in the school paper, but she believes strongly that student journalists should have the same rights as professionals. She consults with the principal about publishing the article, who hears her concerns but ultimately decides that the newspaper cannot publish the survey results and accompanying stories.

19. The basis for the principal's decision is

concern for the journalism teacher's reputation among colleagues

the resulting adverse publicity for the school

the negative impact the survey would have on school culture and morale

the inaccuracy of the survey methodology used by the students

Clear selection

20. Based on the principal's decision, which of the following conclusions can be drawn about the principal's values and beliefs?

The principal believes that all principals have the final authority in resolving teaching and learning issues

The principal supports unrestricted free expression and free speech for all students.

The principal believes that student surveys are insignificant and uninformative.

The principal realizes that his first priority is maintaining a school culture that promotes the school's goals

Clear selection

Sample Constructed Response 1

Vision and Goals for Hale Elementary School:
Our vision is to become a top-ranked learning community that graduates productive, caring citizens who are prepared to succeed in a global society.
• Improve academic performance and achievement for all students.
• Improve standardized test results for the school.

Documents (on following pages)
I. Maple Tree School District Grade Five Test Results Summary
2. Hale Elementary School Grade Five Test Results Summary

Note: Hale Elementary School is one of the four elementary schools in the Maple Tree School District.

SR1. Examine the test results. Identify and explain at least three concerns or advantages that might impact Hale Elementary School in its efforts to meet its goals. Then describe three steps that a specific education leader would need to take to meet those goals.

Sample Constructed Responses 2-3

The next three relate to a constructed responses relate to the following case presented as a scenario and accompanied by three documents.

Scenario:
A new principal has been assigned to Susan Abernathy School, an elementary school that enjoys an excellent reputation in the area, a rigorous curriculum in all grades, and a high level of parent participation. The district has embarked on a major initiative in cooperative learning. By and large, the community has been quite supportive. In recent years, the school has experienced rapid growth as a result of extensive real estate development in the area, and many new teachers have been added to the faculty. Most of the new teachers have less than three years experience in the classroom. One change evident in the student population over the past five years has been that a much smaller proportion of students now participates in lessons, classes, sports activities, and other educational and personal opportunities outside the scope of public school.

Document 1 : School fact sheet
Document 2: Achievement data for the current year and the previous three years
Document 3: Excerpts from a school improvement plan (completed by the previous principal)

Document 1 for Case School Fact Sheet

Document 2 for Case Achievement Data

Document 3 for Case Excerpt from Current School Year Improvement Plan

SR2. Based on review of the school improvement plan and achievement data, what are the steps the principal needs to take to assure that cooperative learning is being implemented effectively in classrooms?

Read all of the documents presented in this section and consider the scenario given above. Using information from the documents, address each of the following questions:

SR3. Describe how the principal would assess the effectiveness of the cooperative learning program. Include how this might impact classroom teachers and the assessments conducted within a classroom.

Read all of the documents presented in this section and consider the scenario given above. Using information from the documents, address each of the following questions:

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