Background

The Pennsylvania Department of Education has mandated that all candidates recommended for a Level I professional certificate must demonstrate ten generic competencies (see pages 3-5) dealing with the education of handicapped children. The guidelines pertain to compliance with U.S. Public Law 94-142 as amended in 1997 by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) -- Public Law 105-17.

This mandate requires that all certification candidates* seeking Penn State's endorsement for the following Level I certificates (Instructional, Administrative, Educational Specialist, Supervisory, Administrative Letters of Eligibility, and Vocational II) must successfully pass an examination covering the knowledge competencies.

Preparation

Preparation for the examination may be undertaken by several means. First, all Penn State programs preparing school personnel presently address the topic of, and the issues pertaining to Public Law 94-142 and 105-17 in their required coursework. Second, in addition to the list of ten competencies and sample questions on pp. 3-7, relevant chapter citations from several resources can be found on page 8 and are available in the Education Library (501 Paterno Library University Park).  Third, the courses Special Education (SPLED) 305, 400, and 444, and 501 include material directly related to the competency areas.

*NOTE: This exam is waived for School Psychology and Special Education majors, or recipients of such degrees, and students who have completed the PSU course SPLED 400, 444, or 501 with a grade of "C" or better.

Administration

Candidates are encouraged to schedule the examination leaving sufficient time to complete a specified course if the exam is not passed.  Applications for certification will NOT be processed until the examination is passed.

The exam is administered on computers at University Park in 228 Chambers Building. Candidates may preregister in person or call (814) 865-0488. The computer test lab is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., with test administrations at 8:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. Evening and weekend hours are not available. The exam may also be scheduled at Penn State Great Valley call (610) 648-3200 for details.

Although there is no charge for the exam, there is a limitation of two attempts to pass before unsuccessful candidates are required to complete the course SPLED 400.

Effective Spring 2000, a criterion performance of 75% is required to pass this exam and to receive the required Penn State recommendation resulting in the issuance of the professional certificate by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. 

THE TEN COMPETENCY AREAS

Listed below are the ten competencies, a brief description of each, and sample test items. The correct responses have been starred.

A. Understands the Legal Basis for Educating Students with Handicaps in the Least Restrictive Environment.

Description: This competency requires an understanding of practical, theoretical, and technical aspects of the social movements, historical events and statues related to the origin of the least restrictive environment concept.

Sample Test Items

1. The integration of handicapped children with non-handicapped children in regular classrooms is referred to as:

  a. equal educational opportunity.

  b. least restrictive environment.

*c. mainstreaming.

  d. normalization.

2. Which of the following court cases established precedent for the right to education of all handicapped children?

*a. Mills v. Board of Education.

  b. Wyatt v. Aderholt.

  c. P.A.R.C. v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

  d. Larry P. v. Riles.

B. Understands the Implications Which Handicapping Conditions Have for the Learning Process.

Description: This competency includes the ability to recognize and describe handicapping conditions and the implications such abilities have for creating appropriate educational environments.

Sample Test Items

1. A major drawback of the categorical system of classifying handicapped children is that it:

  a. causes inconvenience to the professionals using it.

  b. impedes the procurement of funding for research projects.

  c. deviates from federal statutes.

*d. fails to communicate the behaviors of individual children.

2. In making instructional decisions about a handicapped child, educators should first investigate the child's:

  a. intellectual level.

  b. nutritional needs.

  c. family background.

*d. functional behaviors.

C. Recognizes Students Who May Be in Need of Special Services.

Description: This competency includes the ability to recognize students with learning and behavior problems who may be in need of special education and related services; to record systematic observations of students for use in the referral process; to demonstrate an understanding of special services and the referral procedure.

Sample Test Items

1. A child who exhibits behaviors of excessive movement and distractibility is frequently identified as manifesting:

  a.monoplegia.

  b. dyslexia.

  c. hypoactivity

*d. hyperactivity.

2. Who has the responsibility to refer to the psychologist a child suspected of having problems?

*a. classroom teacher.

  b. building principal.

  c. special education teacher.

  d. parent.

D. Makes Use of Appropriate Resource and Support Services.

Description: This competency includes the ability to serve on a multidisciplinary team and make use of resource and support personnel in the education of students with handicaps; know the roles of support personnel and the procedures for securing support services; know what community resources are available to parents and children.

Sample Test Items

1. Who should be on the multidisciplinary team for evaluating a handicapped student?

*a. It depends on each child's symptoms and ranges from classroom teachers to physicians and social workers.

  b. Psychologists, principal, classroom teacher and one outsider.

  c. It depends on whom the parents request to be on the team.

  d. Psychologist, special education teacher, and parents

2. The time for a teacher to refer a child to a specialist is:

*a. after exhausting other means.

  b. at the family's request.

  c. after the screening process is complete.

  d. after discussing the child with the school nurse.

E. Confers with and Reports to Parents on Educational Programs for Students with Handicaps

Description: This competency includes the ability to encourage a positive relationship with parent(s) in order to establish rapport and mutual understanding for ongoing participation in planning and modifying the student's educational program; the ability to relate information which keeps parents informed of their child's educational progress and school adjustment.

Sample Test Items

1. Which component of the Individual Education Plan (IEP) for handicapped children refers to small teaching steps specified in observable behaviors?

  a. present education levels.

  b. annual goals.

  c. elated services.

*d. short-term objectives.

2. Participants in the IEP planning meeting for all handicapped children must include:

  a. state education department representative.

  b. school board member.

  c. speech therapist.

*d. parent.

F. Facilitates the Social Acceptance of Persons with Handicaps by Encouraging Positive Interpersonal Relationships

Description: This competency includes the ability to identify existing attitudes, including one's own, toward persons with handicaps, to establish a positive learning environment and develop relationships for successful social and intellectual interaction.

Sample Test Items

1. It is a generally accepted belief that applying the label "delinquent" is likely to:

  a. make the individual withdraw from peers and the society.

*b. reinforce the already unacceptable behavior.

  c. decrease the frequency of deviant behaviors.

  d. make the labled individual popular among peers.

2. One of the major problems of American Sign Language is that people who use it:

  a. often spend many hours teaching difficult signs which aren't matched with English words.

  b. emphasize the oral component too much without emphasizing the manual component.

  c. must have at least normal intelligence and some degree of hearing.

*d. can only employ it with the deaf or others who know sign language.

G. Uses Individual, Group, and Classroom Management Techniques for Effective Accommodation of Students with Handicaps.

Description: This competency includes the ability to apply individual and group management skills to ensure a high level of attention and positive response from pupils in instructional situations; an understanding of the personality and emotional dynamics of classroom groups that cause behavior problems; the ability to make use of flexible scheduling and student groupings to solve organizational and management problems in classrooms and the ability to assist in organizing a barrier free physical environment.

Sample Test Items

1. Bonnie bites her fingernails during tests. When talking in front of the class, Carol stutters. Mary occasionally cries when she does not know how to answer a question. These examples illustrate that inappropriate behaviors may occur only in certain situations.

*a. stressful.

  b. unusual.

  c. classroom.

  d. academic.

2. Which of the following statements is most consistent with "generic" teaching strategies?

  a. handicapped children learn best by a process approach.

*b. no single method is best or suitable for teaching all handicapped children.

  c. peer tutoring is the best approach; both children acquire additional cognitive and cooperative skills.

  d. inquiry instruction is best; children are led to an understanding of concepts through careful questioning.

H. Assess the Educational Needs of Students with Handicaps.

Description: This competency includes the ability to assess the instructional demands being placed on each student in an educational environment and determine the extent to which students with handicaps are capable of meeting those demands. This may include classroom, assessment of educational needs, and development interests, personal/social skills, current levels of growth and development and use of the diagnostic information compiled by a multidisciplinary team.

Sample Test Items

1. It is important that we identify the disabilities of exceptional children early because the effects of these disabilities are frequently:

  a. revised.

*b. cumulative.

  c. observable.

  d. decreasing with age.

2. The Bayley Scales of Infant Development are used among other things to assess a child's:

  a. interests and special talents.

  b. memory for recent events.

  c. language usage.

*d. gross and fine motor coordination.

I. Modifies Instructional Strategies to Provide for the Individual Needs of Students with Handicaps.

Description: This competency includes the ability to select and adapt appropriate instructional strategies to meet the individual needs of students with handicaps.

Sample Test Items

1. In task analysis, what type of behaviors must be identified before one can successfully accomplish a terminal objective?

  a. observable.

*b. enabling.

  c. similar.

  d. linking.

2. A diagnostic teaching model is appropriate for which of the following:

  a. enhancing learning problems.

  b. exacerbating learning difficulties.

*c. correcting learning problems.

  d. replacing remedial models.

J. Evaluate Classroom Progress of Students with Handicaps.

Description: This competency includes the ability to collect evidence of progress made by students in meeting specific educational objectives; to understand, use, and adapt formal and informal evaluation materials; to interpret results and maintain records.

Sample Test Items

1. It is not possible to directly observe processes such as thinking or feeling. Inferences about these processes must be made on the basis of observable:

*a. behaviors.

  b. concerns.

  c. implications.

  d. situations.

2. Which is the primary purpose of making formative evaluations of instructional programs?

  a. summarize program results.

  b. determine if results are generalizable.

  c. assess whether program should be terminated.

*d. determine whether program modifications are needed.

PRECERTIFICATION EXAMINATION OUTLINE COMPETENCIES AND SUBCOMPETENCIES

A. Understands the legal basis for educating students with handicaps in the least restrictive environment.

A1. Special education litigation.

A2. Federal statutory mandates.

A3. Social issues and history of special education services.

B. Understands the implications which handicapping conditions have for the learning process.

B1. Labels and handicapping characteristics of exceptional groups.

B2. Definition, terminology, and classification of handicapping conditions and physiological concepts.

B3. Noninstructional modifications to accommodate student needs.

C. Recognizes students who may be in need of special services.

C1. Atypical classroom functioning.

C2. Referral and treatment procedures.

C3. Causation and incidence of handicapping conditions.

D. Makes use of appropriate resource and support services in educating the handicapped.

D1. Multidisciplinary team members and their roles.

D2. Availability of resource services.

D3. Availability of community services.

E. Confers with and reports to parents on educational programs for students with handicaps.

E1. Individual educational plans and maintenance of records.

E2. Confidentiality and notification.

F. Facilitates the social acceptance of persons with handicaps by encouraging positive interpersonal relationships.

F1. Developing social interactions.

F2. Awareness of attitudes.

G. Uses individual, group, and classroom management techniques for effective accommodation of students with handicaps.

G1. Individual and group management skills.

G2. Systematic decision making and research findings.

H. Assesses the educational needs of students with handicaps.

H1. Commercial and teacher-made assessment procedures.

H2. Characteristics of evaluation procedures.

H3. Principles and generalizations of testing and human development.

I. Modifies instructional strategies to provide for the individual needs of students with handicaps.

I1. Remedial and compensatory teaching strategies.

I2. Adaptation and selection of materials.

J. Evaluates classroom progress of students with handicaps.

J1. Observation and data collection.

J2. Interpretation and communication of evaluative data to professionals and parents.

J3. Determine intervention through evaluation.

PRECERTIFICATION EXAMINATION ON EDUCATING THE HANDICAPPED

Chapter Citations

TITLE: Special Education Law (2nd ed.), White Plains, NY: Longman
AUTHOR: Laura F. Rothstein (1995)
CHAPTERS: 1-9 & 13-14

TITLE: Characteristics of and Strategies for Teaching Students with Mild Disabilities, Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon
AUTHOR: M. Henley, R. Ramsey, & R. Algozzine (1993)
CHAPTERS: 1-9

TITLE: Introduction to Behavior Analysis in Special Education, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall
AUTHOR: F. Rusch, T. Rose, & C. Greenwood (1988)
CHAPTERS: 1-3 & 5-14

TITLE: Curriculum and Teaching Strategies for Students with Behavioral Disorders, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall
AUTHOR: D. Center (1989)
CHAPTERS: 1-7 & 9-12 & Appendix A

TITLE: Technology for Inclusion: Meeting the Special Needs of All Students, Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon
AUTHOR: M. Male (1994)
CHAPTERS: 1 & 12

TITLE: Hope at Last for At-Risk Youth, Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon
AUTHOR: Robert D. Barr & William H. Parrett (1995)
CHAPTERS: 2, 4, & 6

TITLE: Teaching Special Students in the Mainstream, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall
AUTHOR: R. Lewis & D. Doorlag (1995)
CHAPTERS: 1-15 & 18

TITLE: Teaching Children with Special Needs in Inclusive Settings, Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon
AUTHOR: T. Smith, E. Polloway, J. Patton, & C. Dowdy (1995)
CHAPTERS: 1-10 & 12-15

TITLE: Special Education: A Practical Approach for Teachers (3rd ed.), Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin
AUTHOR: Ysseldyke & Algozzine (1995)
CHAPTERS: 1-15

TITLE: Educating Special Learners (4th ed.), Belmont, CA: Wadsworth
AUTHOR: G. Cartwright, C. Cartwright, & M. Ward (1995)
CHAPTERS: 1-16

TITLE: Technology, Computers and the Special Needs Learner, Albany, NY: Delmar
AUTHOR: J. Ray & M. Warden (1994)
CHAPTERS: 1-3, 6-8, & Appendix A