To print with the answers, first select Expand All, then print The sample test questions in this study guide are designed to give you an introduction to the nature of the questions included in the Washington Educator Skills Tests—Endorsements (WEST–E). They represent the various types of questions you may expect to see on an actual test in this test field; however, they are not designed to predict your performance on the test as a whole. Work through the sample questions carefully before referring to the answers. The correct response and test objective being assessed are provided for each question. When you are finished with the sample questions, you may wish to review the test objectives and descriptive statements provided in the test framework for this test field. In addition to reading and answering the sample questions, you should also utilize the following preparation materials available in this study guide:
Practice QuestionsExpand All | Collapse All Understanding Students with DisabilitiesObjective 0001: Demonstrate knowledge of human growth and development1. In typical human development, which of the following gross-motor skills is usually developed last?
2. A teacher works with a kindergartner who is occasionally disfluent. When the student is excited about a topic, the student often has short pauses and repetitions of sounds in speech. Which of the following observations would be most indicative that the student should be referred to a speech-language pathologist for an evaluation?
3. Compared to a young child with typical vision, a young child with a visual impairment is likely to find it significantly more challenging to:
4. A seven-year-old student frequently stutters and demonstrates difficulty with rate and smoothness of speech. Which of the following types of disorders is most closely associated with these characteristics?
5. A kindergarten student with typically developing motor skills would most likely be able to complete which of the following self-help skills without assistance?
6. Which of the following social-emotional characteristics should a typically developing second-grade student demonstrate by the end of the school year?
7. A special education teacher will be co-teaching a social-emotional curriculum in a ninth-grade classroom. Which of the following rationales describes the most important reason to continue developing social-emotional skills in all high school students?
8. A first-grade student with prelingual deafness has bilateral cochlear implants and communicates with spoken language. The student is more likely than hearing peers to have difficulty developing which of the following literacy skills?
Objective 0002: Understand the characteristics and needs of students with disabilities.9. Which of the following activities would likely be most challenging for an eight-year-old student with a mild intellectual disability?
10. Which of the following practices will best prevent the spread of illnesses such as the common cold and the flu within an elementary school special education classroom?
11. A student who has an emotional behavioral disability is likely to have the most difficulty with which of the following aspects of communication development?
12. A special education teacher works with a student who has epilepsy involving generalized tonic-clonic seizures. If the student has a seizure in class, the teacher should first:
13. Which of the following factors causes Down syndrome?
14. An elementary school student with severe physical disabilities requires adult assistance with feedings. Which of the following information would be most important for the student's special education teacher and staff who assist the student to know first in this situation?
15. One of the leading causes for deaf-blindness in children is:
16. A special education teacher is reviewing Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) prior to the beginning of the school year and notices that several students on the caseload have asthma. Which of the following actions should the teacher take first to support the students' needs?
17. A special education teacher works with an eighth-grade student who requires toileting assistance due to a disability. Which of the following tasks must the teacher complete first to most effectively support the student's needs?
18. A fifth-grade student with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is reading a fiction text and completing a comprehension activity related to the text. With which of the following aspects of this work would the student have the most difficulty, based on central characteristics of ASD?
19. A prelingually deaf student who communicates with American Sign Language (ASL) via a full-time interpreter is entering third grade. The student receives special education services for reading but remains in the general education setting for all other classes. The student's parents/guardians are concerned that their child does not have many friends. What suggestion could the special education teacher make to support the student in developing a sense of belonging and strong friendships?
Objective 0003: Demonstrate knowledge of the factors affecting learning and development of students with disabilities.20. Which of the following factors has the most significant influence in fostering self-advocacy and independence in children who have mild to moderate intellectual disabilities?
21. A twelfth-grade student with a physical disability has experienced two severe episodes of depression within the past year and is currently taking an antidepressant medication. As the student approaches graduation and the transition from high school to college, it would be most important for the student to:
22. A ninth-grade student who will soon return to school after suffering a moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a bicycle accident. While in a rehabilitation center, the student received speech-language, physical, and occupational therapies. An Individualized Education Program (IEP) team is developing an IEP to support the student's return to school. Which of the following results best describes the educational implications of the student's TBI?
23. A twelfth-grade student has mild autism spectrum disorder and has received special education and speech-language services since kindergarten. Based on this infor¬mation, the student is likely to have greatest difficulty with which of the following aspects of adulthood?
24. A special education teacher is concerned about test bias in evaluation of students for special education services. Which of the following outcomes in special education is most closely related to test bias?
25. According to Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), in which of the following ways must significant disproportionality be addressed in special education services?
Assessment and Program DevelopmentObjective 0004: Demonstrate knowledge of types and characteristics of assessments for students with disabilities.26. It is important to follow the established basal and ceiling levels when administering a standardized achievement test in order to:
27. A student earns a score in the 72nd percentile on a standardized achievement test. Which of the following is the best interpretation of this score?
28. Which of the following factors is most important to consider when assessing the academic achievement of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds?
29. A curriculum-based assessment provides information primarily about a student's:
30. The validity of an achievement test refers to:
31. Which of the following goals is most effectively reached by using norm-referenced measures to assess a student?
32. A special education teacher plans to use district norms in interpretation of norm-referenced assessment scores. For which of the following purposes would this practice be most effective?
33. A special education teacher conducts progress monitoring with a seventh-grade student who has been struggling with English language arts and mathematics assignments. Which of the following steps should the teacher take for this purpose?
Objective 0005: Demonstrate knowledge of procedures for conducting assessments to address the individual needs of students with disabilities.34. Results from an academic screening test indicate that the reading scores of several students in a third-grade class fall below the district benchmark. According to response to intervention (RTI) procedures, which of the following steps should the classroom teacher take first?
35. Which of the following procedures must an Individualized Education Program (IEP) team follow in order to determine that a student is eligible for special education services?
36. A special education teacher will be evaluating the academic achievement of a student who is also an English language learner. Which of the following procedures should the teacher follow to ensure nonbiased assessment results?
37. A fifth-grade student who has a specific learning disability and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has begun demonstrating disruptive behavior in recent weeks. Despite various intervention efforts, the behavior has continued. The student's team decides to conduct a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA). The first step the team should take in conducting the FBA is to:
38. A special education teacher provides reading instruction to a small group of second-grade students. Each student has Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals related to increasing their sight word vocabulary and fluency. Which of the following assessment procedures should the teacher use to monitor the students' progress toward these goals?
39. A special education teacher plans to support the child find mandate for children with disabilities. In which of the following ways can the teacher meet this goal?
40. An Individualized Education Program (IEP) team will soon be developing a transition plan for a high school student with an intellectual disability. Which of the following steps is essential for the IEP team to take first in this process?
41. A student will be using a text-to-speech accommodation for English language arts (ELA) reading passages on a statewide assessment. Which of the following procedures will best prepare the student for use of the accommodation for the test?
42. A special education teacher works with a student who participated in Tier I intervention for twelve weeks at the beginning of second grade. The following data describes the student's mathematics intervention goals and the student's progress toward the goals. Mathematics
Which of the following steps should the teacher take next based on the student's performance?
Objective 0006: Apply knowledge of procedures for developing and implementing individualized programs for students with disabilities.43. An initial evaluation has been completed on a fourth-grade student who has been struggling in mathematics. Based on the student's present level of educational performance, the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team finds the student eligible for special education services. Which of the following components must be included in the students IEP?
44. Which of the following must be included in an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP)?
45. An Individualized Education Program (IEP) team will be developing a transition plan for a ninth-grade student who has specific learning disabilities and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Which of the following steps should the team take first in supporting a successful transition for this student?
46. An Individualized Education Program (IEP) team is developing an IEP for a third-grade student with a learning disability. Which of the following contributions should the special education teacher make in this process?
47. A kindergarten student with an intellectual disability has been identified as eligible to receive special education services. Which of the following processes best describes how the student's placement will be determined?
48. When determining the least restrictive environment (LRE) for a student, which of the following components must be considered?
49. A referral for an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) has been provided to the Local Lead Agency for an infant. A Family Resources Coordinator (FRC) has been assigned and will contact the infant's parents/guardians. At this stage of the process, which of the following conversations should the FRC have with the infant's parents/guardians?
50. An Individualized Education Program (IEP) team will soon meet to discuss a fifth-grade student's triennial reevaluation results. Which of the following steps is necessary to ensure the student's parents/guardians attend the meeting?
Promoting Development and LearningObjective 0007: Demonstrate knowledge of strategies for designing and managing learning environments to promote the learning, behavioral, and social interaction skills of students with disabilities in alignment with state standards.51. A special education teacher and a general education teacher will be co-teaching a second-grade class, and they are planning activities for the first day of school. Which of the following strategies would be most effective for the teachers to use in promoting positive interactions between students?
52. A special education teacher works with a third-grade student with a mild intellectual disability. The student often hugs peers and adults when greeting them, and some classmates have stated that they are not comfortable with hugging. The special education teacher is planning to work with the student to reduce this behavior. Which of the following strategies would be most effective in addressing this goal?
53. A tenth-grade student with posttraumatic stress disorder will soon return to school after receiving six weeks of inpatient psychiatric care. The student is stabilized, but unrelated stressors have the potential to trigger angry outbursts and symptoms of depression. Which of the following strategies should the special education teacher implement first to prevent the student from experiencing unnecessary anxiety?
54. A sixth-grade student with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is having significant difficulty getting started on a long-term writing assignment given by the English language arts teacher. The student tells the special education resource room teacher about feeling overwhelmed by the assignment, having difficulty finding information about the topic, and feeling unable to write the report. Which of the following responses from the special education teacher would likely be most effective in this situation?
55. A special education teacher co-teaches a third-grade class. The teachers work with students with various strengths and needs and would like to promote students' engagement within the classroom. Which of the following actions would most effectively support this goal?
56. A fourth-grade student with a learning disability in reading attends a general education class. The teacher asks the special education teacher for recommendations on how to best support the student's understanding during whole-class instruction. The special education teacher recommends teaching the whole group to use response cards. Which of the following results describes the greatest benefit of this practice?
57. An Individualized Education Program (IEP) team has recommended an assistive technology evaluation to support a sixth-grade student with a learning disability. The student can generate thoughts and content but has difficulty with spelling, handwriting, and organizing thoughts into written words. Which of the following steps should the IEP team take to ensure the evaluation best supports the student's needs?
58. A special education teacher works with a fourth-grade student who frequently becomes frustrated. The student often expresses frustration through throwing classroom objects or knocking over chairs and tables. Which of the following actions should the teacher take to prevent the student's aggressive episodes in the classroom?
Objective 0008: Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies that promote positive academic outcomes for students with disabilities.59. A middle school English language arts (ELA) teacher meets with the special education teacher for advice about a student with a learning disability in writing. The ELA teacher says that while the student writes fluently and has many original ideas, the student's inattention to punctuation makes the student's work difficult to read. The special education teacher has worked with the student on punctuation and has seen significant improvement on exercises and drills in the resource room. The special education teacher's best response would be to suggest that the ELA teacher:
60. A special education teacher meets twice a week with a ninth grader who has a learning disability in writing. When reviewing the notes the student has taken in preparation for a geography report, the teacher sees that they are excessively detailed and do not distinguish between major ideas and minor points. The teacher's best response in this situation would be to:
61. Which of the following is a key component of all tiers of response in a response to intervention (RTI) model?
62. A special education teacher uses choral reading when working with groups of students. Which of the following results describes the greatest benefit of this practice?
63. A special education teacher uses the following vocabulary activity with students.
Which of the following research-based strategies does this activity describe?
64. A special education teacher works with a tenth-grade student with a learning disability in writing. The teacher plans to engage the student in various prewriting activities. Which of the following results would describe the greatest benefit of this practice?
65. A special education teacher works with a second-grade student who struggles with place value. The teacher uses the following activity with the student.
Which of the following instructional strategies is represented by this teaching activity?
66. A special education teacher implements peer-assisted learning strategies (PALS) with a fourth-grade class during mathematics activities. Which of the following actions should the teacher take to utilize this intervention most effectively?
Objective 0009: Demonstrate knowledge of research-based methods for promoting students' adaptive, communication, and independent living skills.67. A first-grade student with cerebral palsy uses a communication board with speech output. The student will soon begin receiving instruction in a general education classroom for part of each school day. Which of the following steps should the special education teacher take first to promote the student's communication skills within the new classroom environment?
68. A special education teacher who works in a high school resource room overhears students making unfavorable remarks about themselves and their ability to obtain jobs in the future. The teacher wishes to increase students' self-confidence so that they will be more likely to experience successful transitions from high school into the workplace. Which of the following strategies would most effectively meet the teacher's goal?
69. A student with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who attends a fourth-grade general education class has been having difficulty during quiet work times. The student often disturbs peers by engaging in behaviors such as tapping a pencil loudly on the desk, humming, or stomping feet on the floor. The teacher has discussed these behaviors with the student. Which of the following strategies should the teacher use next to increase the student's self-management skills during quiet work times?
70. A middle school special education teacher who works in a self-contained classroom has recently discovered that the primary leisure activities of most students involve watching television, playing on the computer, and playing video games. The teacher would like to increase the students' participation in different types of leisure activities. Which of the following strategies would best meet this goal?
71. A special education teacher who works with three high school students in a life skills class would like to promote the students' food preparation skills. Which of the following strategies would best address this goal?
72. A third-grade student with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrates difficulty with following rules in the classroom. The teacher discusses the rules frequently with the class, but the student often prefers to engage in disruptive behaviors such as talking during quiet work time and refusing to share classroom materials with others. The special education teacher would like to support the student's abilities in these areas. Which of the following actions would likely be most effective for this purpose?
73. A seventh-grade student with cerebral palsy uses a speech-generating device with eye-gaze software. Which of the following actions would be most important for the special education teacher to take first to support the student's communication skills in all classes?
74. A special education teacher would like to promote the participation of students with physical disabilities in leisure and recreation activities. Which of the following actions should the teacher take to most effectively meet this goal?
75. A special education teacher is working on identifying individualized transition services to support a student's achievement of post-secondary goals through community experiences. Which of the following questions must the teacher answer to effectively identify these services?
Foundations and Professional PracticeObjective 0010: Understand the philosophical, historical, and legal foundations in the education of individuals with disabilities.76. An elementary school is implementing a positive behavioral support program for all students, including students with special needs. The basis for this type of educational practice has its foundation in which of the following principles of behavior theory?
77. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has had which of the following effects upon special education practice?
78. An initial evaluation has just been completed for a sixth-grade student. During the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team meeting, the team informs the student's parents/guardians that the has a specific learning disability in reading comprehension. The team recommends pull-out services three times a week in the resource room. The student's parents/guardians disagree, and the team cannot reach an agreement during the meeting. According to federal law, which of the following actions best describes the next step in this process?
79. A fourth-grade teacher is concerned that an English language learner (ELL)'s academic achievement is significantly below grade level. The prereferral team decides to try providing the student with a paraeducator to translate assignments. The teacher is also asked to keep anecdotal records regarding the student's informal verbal interactions with classmates. The prereferral team's actions are likely to be most useful for providing information about:
80. Full inclusion models of special education are based on the idea that students with disabilities are best served in which of the following environments?
81. In which of the following ways does the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) support students with physical disabilities?
82. A special education teacher's familiarity with the developmental stages of learning English as an additional language is most likely to result in:
83. In which of the following ways did the court case Honig v. Doe affect special education services?
Objective 0011: Apply knowledge of strategies for communicating and collaborating with others to help students with disabilities achieve desired learning outcomes.84. A high school special education teacher will be leading Individualized Education Program (IEP) team meetings that involve numerous service providers within the school and community. Which of the following collaborative approaches would likely be most effective for the teacher to use in facilitating these team meetings?
85. A second-grade teacher is notified that a new student will be joining the class. The student has a specific learning disability and has severe asthma that requires medication several times per day. In preparation for the student's arrival, the second-grade teacher, the special education teacher, and the school nurse meet to discuss the student's needs. Which of the following best describes the second-grade teacher's primary role?
86. A paraeducator is assigned to a general education classroom that includes several students with learning disabilities. Which of the following best describes a responsibility of the paraeducator in this setting?
87. An elementary special education teacher holds monthly group meetings for students' parents/guardians to share information and discuss their concerns. Several parents/guardians have asked the teacher to speak to the group about ways they can support their children's learning at home. Which of the following guidelines would be most important for the teacher to keep in mind when developing suggestions for the parents/guardians?
88. A special education teacher is collaborating with a fifth-grade general education teacher. Four of the students in the class have disabilities. Several times in the past month, the special educator has noticed that the general education teacher does not actively involve the students with disabilities in class activities. Which of the following steps should the special educator take first in addressing this situation?
89. An Individualized Education Program (IEP) team would like middle school students who receive special education services to be actively involved in their own education. Which of the following actions would most appropriately promote this goal?
90. At an Individualized Education Program (IEP) team meeting for a kindergarten student, the student's parents/guardians state that they would like to be involved in their child's education. The IEP team decides that a home-school communication notebook would be beneficial for the student's teachers and the parents/guardians. In which of the following ways could the home-school notebook most effectively support the parents'/guardians' involvement?
91. A middle-school special education teacher works with students who receive specific instruction in life skills. The teacher would like to collaborate with the school's speech language pathologist (SLP) on coteaching during a cooking lesson. Which of the following parts of the lesson would be most appropriate to ask the SLP to address with the students?
92. A special education teacher provides consultation services for several elementary students who participate in classes within the general education setting. Which of the following actions by the special education teacher would be most critical in meeting the students' academic needs?
Objective 0012: Demonstrate knowledge of the professional responsibilities of the special education teacher.93. A special education teacher has recently heard about a new instructional method for teaching problem-solving skills to students with learning disabilities in mathematics reasoning. Which of the following resources would contain the most reliable research-based information on this instructional method?
94. A new paraeducator has just begun working with a student with multiple disabilities who attends a general education sixth-grade class. The special education teacher is responsible for overseeing the work of three other paraeducators in the school. Which of the following actions should be the special education teacher take to monitor the services that the new paraeducator is providing to the assigned student?
95. Which of the following organizations was founded to advocate for the rights and full participation of all children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities?
96. A special education teacher has noticed that a student with an intellectual disability regularly shows considerable academic regression during breaks in the school schedule. The teacher is becoming increasingly concerned that the student may experience significant setbacks over summer vacation. Under these circumstances, the teacher could best advocate for the student by:
97. A special education teacher observes a student with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who attends the second-grade general education classroom for most of the school day. The student is showing significant changes in behavior. During a lesson, the student frequently gets up and walks around the classroom and engages in unrelated activities, such as lining up pencils on the desk and folding and crumpling paper. These activities and behaviors interfere with the student's participation in the general education setting and have begun to distract classmates. Which of the following actions should the special education teacher take to most effectively support the student?
98. A special education teacher supervises several paraeducators who each work with an individual student who receives special education services. The special education teacher can best provide these paraeducators with current and relevant training by:
99. A special education teacher reads a research article about a software program that supports students with learning disabilities in reading. Which of the following reasons would be the most appropriate to cause the teacher to question the accuracy of the research?
100. A special education teacher is interested in purchasing materials from a Web site that sells content created by teachers. The teacher is interested in using these materials for specific lessons with individual students. Which of the following actions is most important for the teacher to engage in before purchasing any materials?
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