Free NYSTCE EAS Exam Flashcards

Instruction that draws on students' cultural backgrounds, languages, and community knowledge as assets, weaving them into curriculum and classroom routines rather than ignoring or erasing them.

The skills, experiences, and knowledge students bring from their homes and communities. Asset-based teaching identifies and builds instruction on these funds rather than starting from a deficit view of what students lack.

Multiple means of representation (how content is presented), multiple means of engagement (how students stay motivated), and multiple means of action/expression (how students show learning). UDL builds these in for everyone from the start.

Differentiation adjusts content, process, or product for individual students or groups after a lesson is planned; UDL proactively designs one flexible lesson with built-in options so most learners never need an individual adjustment.

A strategy for gifted/advanced learners: pre-assessing mastered content, then replacing it with enrichment or independent investigation that adds depth and complexity instead of more of the same work.

Using varied formats (not just timed multiple-choice) and clear, transparent criteria so students with different strengths and backgrounds can all demonstrate what they know, then using the results to adjust instruction.

Concrete changes such as equitable questioning techniques (e.g., random selection, wait time) — not an assumption that quiet students simply prefer silence.

Add accurate, contemporary sources and voices from that community throughout the curriculum — removing the topic or ignoring the inaccuracy leaves the stereotype in place.

Guarantee immediate school enrollment even without normal paperwork, transportation to a school of origin, and a discreet path to supplies and support through the school's homeless liaison — without publicizing a student's housing status.

Build rapport, learn the student's strengths and needs, and connect them with school supports proactively — not wait for problems to surface before acting.

Clear norms of respect, inclusive language, and prompt, consistent responses to bias or harassment incidents for students of all genders, orientations, and cultures.

Students with Interrupted Formal Education — students who need an assessment of prior knowledge, targeted foundational-skill support, and scaffolds that still keep them working with grade-level content, not grade-level demotion.

Deficit thinking frames students by what they lack; asset-based thinking builds rigorous instruction on the knowledge, skills, and experiences students already bring from their communities.

It brings relevant funds of knowledge and local resources into the classroom, enriching instruction beyond what the textbook alone provides.

Preproduction (silent period), early production, speech emergence, intermediate fluency, and advanced fluency — each stage calls for different question types and expectations.

A normal early stage where an ELL may not yet speak. Teachers should keep the student engaged with comprehensible input and nonverbal participation, not force speech or assume a disability.

Anxiety, embarrassment, or pressure raises a mental 'filter' that blocks language acquisition; a low-risk, welcoming classroom lowers the filter and supports language learning.

Language input slightly above a learner's current level (i+1) made understandable through context, visuals, and gestures — the core mechanism that drives second-language acquisition forward.

English as a New Language — New York's official term (replacing 'ESL') for language-support programs under Commissioner's Regulations Part 154, delivered by certified ENL/bilingual teachers.

A pedagogical practice where bilingual/multilingual students draw on their entire linguistic repertoire — moving fluidly between languages — to make meaning and access content, rather than being restricted to English only.

Strong primary-language skills and literacy transfer to English (decoding strategies, comprehension, cognates), and primary-language use is a legal right that supports rather than blocks English development.

Words that look and sound similar and share meaning across two languages (e.g., 'información'/'information'); explicitly teaching cognates accelerates literacy transfer from an ELL's primary language to English.

Explicitly teach the vocabulary, sentence structures, and ways of reading/writing specific to the discipline (e.g., how to talk through solving a math problem), since academic language does not develop from social conversation alone.

A content objective states what students will learn about the topic; a language objective states the specific academic language (vocabulary, syntax, function) students will use to express that learning. Effective ELL lessons state both.

Schools must provide meaningful access to the curriculum through appropriate language-support programs — identical instruction with zero support does not satisfy this right.

Pre-taught key vocabulary and a graphic organizer (or visuals) — these support comprehension of the original grade-level material rather than replacing it with an easier text.

Let the student show understanding through diagrams, labels, or oral explanation — grading on English spelling and grammar would measure language proficiency, not content knowledge.

The ESL/bilingual (ENL) teacher, who specializes in language development and can coordinate scaffolds and progress monitoring together with the content teacher.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act — a federal law guaranteeing a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to eligible students across 13 disability categories, delivered through an Individualized Education Program (IEP).

Present levels of performance, measurable annual goals, the specific special education/related services and accommodations provided, and how/when progress will be measured — developed and reviewed by a team that includes the parent.

IDEA (IEP) provides specialized instruction to students in 13 defined disability categories who need it to access FAPE; Section 504 (504 plan) provides accommodations to any student whose impairment substantially limits a major life activity, under a broader eligibility standard and with no specialized-instruction requirement.

IDEA's requirement that students with disabilities be educated alongside non-disabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate, with removal to separate settings only when the disability's severity prevents success in general education even with supports.

Committee on Special Education — New York's team, which includes the parent, that determines eligibility for special education, writes the IEP, and reviews placement decisions.

Response to Intervention / Multi-Tiered System of Supports — a tiered model of increasingly intensive, data-monitored instruction used to catch struggling students early and help distinguish an instructional gap from a possible disability before a special-education referral.

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports — a proactive, school-wide framework that teaches and reinforces expected behavior rather than relying only on punishment after problems occur.

An accommodation changes how a student accesses or demonstrates the same grade-level content (e.g., extended time, audio text); a modification changes what is being taught or expected (e.g., fewer items, different content), lowering the standard itself.

It keeps the student an integral, participating member of the general education classroom (per LRE and inclusive practice) instead of segregating them or lowering expectations.

Evidence from data such as RtI progress-monitoring and observations — not assumption or a single test score — showing a suspected disability is preventing progress despite appropriate general-education support.

Parent/guardian rights including prior written notice, informed consent before evaluation or initial placement, access to educational records, and the right to due process if they disagree with the school's decisions.

Required when a student with a disability faces a disciplinary removal of more than 10 school days: the IEP team decides whether the behavior was caused by, or directly related to, the student's disability or a failure to implement the IEP.

Any device or tool (from a pencil grip to text-to-speech software) that increases, maintains, or improves a student's functional capabilities; IDEA requires it be considered for every student who needs it, at no cost to the family.

Planning seating, materials, and activities to anticipate a range of physical and sensory needs before problems arise, rather than making individual fixes only after a student struggles or a complaint is made.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act — protects the privacy of student education records; parents (or the student at 18) can inspect and request correction of records, and schools generally need written consent to release them, with limited exceptions like directory information.

Report it immediately as a mandated reporter — typically by calling the New York Statewide Central Register (SCR) — rather than investigating personally or waiting for more proof; failure to report is itself a violation.

The Dignity for All Students Act — New York's law requiring schools to be free of discrimination, harassment, and bullying based on categories like race, weight, national origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, and sex, with a trained Dignity Act Coordinator in every school.

Teachers may only access and share such records on a legitimate educational need-to-know basis and must follow FERPA/due-process protections — not discuss a student's status informally with uninvolved staff, families, or students.

Proactive, two-way communication that shares both successes and concerns — not one-way updates that only surface when there's a problem.

Providing interpreters and translated materials so families who don't speak English can fully participate in conferences, IEP meetings, and school communication — a right, not an optional courtesy.

Inviting families as genuine partners in decisions like IEP goals or intervention plans, rather than only informing them after decisions are already made.

To extend and reinforce classroom learning at home in ways families can realistically support, strengthening the school-home partnership beyond the school day.