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Test Items
Chapter 3: Issues and Responses in Today’s Culturally Diverse Schools
Multiple Choice
1. Customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; and
the characteristic features of everyday existence shared by people in a place and time is
which of the following?
A. Micro culture
B. Culture
C. Cultural responsiveness
D. Ethnicity
2. Race/ethnicity, language, income, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, age, and
geography are which of the following?
A. Micro cultures found in schools
B. Cultures in the United States
C. Considerations of cultural responsiveness
D. Macro cultures
3. The extent to which research and practice in instruction and assessment take into
consideration the cognitive, linguistic, and social assets of an individual that are culturally
determined and shape the ways in which that individual learns and makes sense of his or her
experiences is:
A. A micro culture
B. Culture
C. Cultural responsiveness
D. A macro culture
4. Which of the following holds that white people are genetically superior to nonwhite people?
A. Cultural deficit theory
B. Eugenics
C. Cultural difference
D. Genetic deficit theory
5. Blaming the academic failure of students from diverse backgrounds on the inherent
disadvantages that existed within their own cultures is associated with:
A. Cultural deficit theory
B. Eugenics
C. Cultural difference
D. Genetic deficit theory
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6. Which theories reemerged with publication of The Bell Curve?
A. Cultural deficit and genetic deficit
B. Eugenics and cultural deficit
C. Cultural difference and genetic deficit
D. Genetic deficit and eugenics
7. Procedures for seeking to improve the human race by encouraging birth of children with
allegedly “good” hereditary qualities and discouraging or preventing the birth of those with
allegedly “undesirable” hereditary qualities is:
A. Cultural deficit theory
B. Eugenics
C. Cultural reproduction theory
D. Genetic deficit theory
8. The belief that racial and class inequity are reproduced over time to maintain the status quo at
the expense of less privileged groups is associated with:
A. Cultural deficit theory
B. Eugenics
C. Cultural reproduction theory
D. Genetic deficit theory
9. Which of the following ordered schools to desegregate by race with all due deliberate speed?
A. Brown v. Board of Education
B. Larry P. v. Riles
C. Diana v. Board of Education
D. PASE v. Hannon
10. One early consequence of the efforts at school racial desegregation was that, as enrollments
of culturally and linguistically diverse children in previously all-white schools increased,
their enrollment in self-contained programs decreased for which of the following?
A. Students with learning disabilities
B. Students with autism
C. Gifted students
D. Students with mild intellectual disabilities
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11. The court case in California that paved the way for the abandonment of standardized testing
alone as a means for determining whether or not a student was placed in special education
was:
A. Brown v. Board of Education
B. Larry P. v. Riles
C. Diana v. Board of Education
D. PASE v. Hannon
12. Comparing the proportion of a specific racial/ethnic group receiving special education
services to the proportion among the total combined other racial/ethnic groups receiving
special education is:
A. Discriminatory evaluation
B. Segregation
C. Risk ratio
D. Cultural discrimination
13. The proportion of students served in special education by disability and race/ethnicity; the
percentage of students in special education in difference educational environments by
race/ethnicity; and the percentage of student in racial/ethnic groups receiving special
education are:
A. Data sources related to disproportionate representation
B. Data sources related to tracking
C. Data sources used in the Brown v. Board of Education case
D. Data sources related to nondiscriminatory evaluation
14. Which of the following students are the least likely to spend the greatest amount of time in
the general education classroom and more time in special settings?
A. European American
B. Latino
C. Asian/Pacific Islander
D. African American
15. Which of the following students are most likely to experience inclusive settings?
A. European American
B. Latino
C. Asian/Pacific Islander
D. African American
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16. European American students and which of the following are overrepresented in gifted
programs?
A. American Indian/Alaska Native students
B. Latino students
C. Asian/Pacific Islander students
D. African American students
17. Each of the following is a key microculture associated with disproportionate representation in
special education EXCEPT:
A. Race/ethnicity
B. Income level
C. Education level
D. Language
18. Three special education categories where educators have the greatest leeway for exercising
their judgments about students’ abilities and needs are learning disabilities, emotional-
behavioral disorders, and:
A. Intellectual disabilities
B. Speech and language disorders
C. Autism spectrum disorders
D. ADHD
19. Which statement about suspensions and expulsions in grades 6–12 is TRUE?
A. African American students are expelled about 13 times more than European
Americans.
B. African American students are suspended about 13 times more than European
Americans.
C. Asian/Pacific Islander students are suspended about 2 times more than European
Americans.
D. Latino students are expelled 3 time more than African American students.
20. The stage of language proficiency in which students understand about 500 words, but cannot
use them is:
A. Early production stage
B. Receptive or preproduction stage
C. Speech emergence stage
D. Intermediate language proficiency stage
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21. Each statement about children living in poverty is true EXCEPT:
A. 69% of children living in poverty live with a single parent.
B. Most children living in poverty have some health insurance.
C. 21% of children do not have enough food.
D. Students with disabilities live in poverty at about the same percentage of those without
disabilities.
22. Each of the following is an example of a majority value EXCEPT:
A. Independence
B. Competition
C. Contentment
D. Achievement
23. Examining our own cultural values, bias, stereotypes, and prejudices is:
A. Increasing knowledge and experiences of other cultures
B. Cultural reciprocity
C. Enhancing self-awareness
D. Culturally responsive instruction
24. Using cultural reciprocity, capitalizing upon instructional consultation teams, and
implementing response to intervention are strategies for:
A. Increasing self-awareness
B. Implementing culturally responsive instruction
C. Increasing knowledge and experiences of other cultures
D. Advocating for systems change
25. Learning about the family’s strength, needs and preferences; inviting the family to describe
their cultural values; identifying disagreements or alternative perspectives; and showing
respect for differences are steps to which of the following?
A. Increasing knowledge and experiences of other cultures
B. Culturally responsive instruction
C. Enhancing self-awareness
D. Cultural reciprocity
26. Content integration, knowledge of the construction process, an equity pedagogy, prejudice
reduction, and empowering school culture and social structure are elements of:
A. Increasing knowledge and experiences of other cultures
B. Culturally responsive instruction
C. Enhancing self-awareness
D. Cultural reciprocity
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27. Which of the following involves teachers using examples and content from a variety of
cultures and groups to illustrate key concepts, principles, generalizations, and theories in
their subject area?
A. Content integration
B. Knowledge construction process
C. Equity pedagogy
D. Prejudice reduction
28. Teachers helping students to understand, investigate, and determine how the implicit cultural
assumptions, frames of references, perspectives, and biases within a discipline influence the
ways in which knowledge is constructed within it is:
A. Content integration
B. Knowledge construction process
C. Equity pedagogy
D. Prejudice reduction
29. Which of the following exists when teachers modify their teaching in ways that will facilitate
the academic achievement of students from diverse racial, cultural, and social-class groups?
A. Content integration
B. Knowledge construction process
C. Equity pedagogy
D. Prejudice reduction
30. Which statement about instructional consultation teams is TRUE?
A. Intervention assistance teams are a completely different model.
B. The teams usually consist of general educators who try to solve a problem before
calling specialists.
C. They have little influence on disproportionate referral and placement, but have more
success improving academic achievement.
D. Schools that use teams had lower rates of students from diverse backgrounds placed in
special educations than schools that did not use teams.
Praxis style questions
1. Juanita, a second grader who recently arrived from Mexico with rudimentary English skills,
was referred for a special education assessment after displaying sustained poor academic
performance in the classroom. With permission from her parents, the team began the
assessment process. Juanita’s scores on the intelligence exam (WISC-III) demonstrated an IQ
similar to students with moderate intellectual disabilities. She also performed poorly on the
school’s standard reading, spelling, and writing tests. However, her adaptive and social living
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skills were above average. Before the team recommends Juanita for special education, which
principle of IDEA should they be concerned that they may have violated?
A. Nondiscriminatory assessment
B. Free appropriate public education (Zero reject)
C. Individualized Education
D. Due process
2. This school year you have very culturally diverse students. In order to enhance your self-
awareness of culture, you should do all of the following EXCEPT:
A. Examine your cultural values.
B. Talk to each student’s parents.
C. Become aware of your biases.
D. Consider your expectations for your students.
3. You notice in your culturally diverse classroom that there are some underlying prejudices
among certain students. How can you reduce these prejudices to create a culturally accepting
environment?
A. When you notice prejudice, punish the student.
B. Talk to the parents of the student who is exhibiting prejudice.
C. Teach about the concept of race as a social construct.
D. When you notice prejudice, send that student to the principal’s office.
Short Answer
1. What is the relationship between culture and microcultures?
2. Define eugenics.
3. What is risk ratio as it relates to special education?
4. Describe the outcome of the Larry P. v. Riles federal court case.
5. Explain how one can enhance self-awareness of one’s own cultural values.
Essay
1. Describe how theories and approaches to diversity have changed over time.
2. Explain how Brown v. Board of Education impacted students with special needs.
3. What data sources are used to document representation in special education? Summarize the
findings of these sources (not with specific numbers).
4. How do race/ethnicity, language, and poverty intersect to affect classification of students into
special education categories (i.e., how do the 6 ecological layers influence provision of
education) and what term describes how educators need to deal with this problem?
5. Explain how one becomes a culturally responsive teacher and advocate.
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Chapter 3
Multiple Choice
Praxis
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Short Answer
Essay
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