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Test Information Guide: College-Level Examination Program® 2012-13 Introduction to Educational Psychology
© 2012 The College Board. All rights reserved. College Board, College-Level Examination Program, CLEP, and the acorn logo are registered trademarks of the College Board.
CLEP TEST INFORMATION GUIDE FOR INTRODUCTION TO EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
worldwide through computer-based testing programs and also — in forward-deployed areas — through paper-based testing. Approximately one-third of all CLEP candidates are military service members.
History of CLEP
2011-12 National CLEP Candidates by Age*
Since 1967, the College-Level Examination Program (CLEP®) has provided over six million people with the opportunity to reach their educational goals. CLEP participants have received college credit for knowledge and expertise they have gained through prior course work, independent study or work and life experience.
Under 18 10% 30 years and older 29%
18-22 years 39%
23-29 years 22%
Over the years, the CLEP examinations have evolved to keep pace with changing curricula and pedagogy. Typically, the examinations represent material taught in introductory college-level courses from all areas of the college curriculum. Students may choose from 33 different subject areas in which to demonstrate their mastery of college-level material.
* These data are based on 100% of CLEP test-takers who responded to this survey question during their examinations.
2011-12 National CLEP Candidates by Gender
Today, more than 2,900 colleges and universities recognize and grant credit for CLEP.
42%
Philosophy of CLEP Promoting access to higher education is CLEP’s foundation. CLEP offers students an opportunity to demonstrate and receive validation of their college-level skills and knowledge. Students who achieve an appropriate score on a CLEP exam can enrich their college experience with higher-level courses in their major field of study, expand their horizons by taking a wider array of electives and avoid repetition of material that they already know.
58%
Computer-Based CLEP Testing The computer-based format of CLEP exams allows for a number of key features. These include: • a variety of question formats that ensure effective assessment • real-time score reporting that gives students and colleges the ability to make immediate creditgranting decisions (except College Composition, which requires faculty scoring of essays twice a month) • a uniform recommended credit-granting score of 50 for all exams • “rights-only” scoring, which awards one point per correct answer • pretest questions that are not scored but provide current candidate population data and allow for rapid expansion of question pools
CLEP Participants CLEP’s test-taking population includes people of all ages and walks of life. Traditional 18- to 22-year-old students, adults just entering or returning to school, home-schoolers and international students who need to quantify their knowledge have all been assisted by CLEP in earning their college degrees. Currently, 58 percent of CLEP’s test-takers are women and 51 percent are 23 years of age or older. For over 30 years, the College Board has worked to provide government-funded credit-by-exam opportunities to the military through CLEP. Military service members are fully funded for their CLEP exam fees. Exams are administered at military installations
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CLEP Exam Development
The Committee
Content development for each of the CLEP exams is directed by a test development committee. Each committee is composed of faculty from a wide variety of institutions who are currently teaching the relevant college undergraduate courses. The committee members establish the test specifications based on feedback from a national curriculum survey; recommend credit-granting scores and standards; develop and select test questions; review statistical data and prepare descriptive material for use by faculty (Test Information Guides) and students planning to take the tests (CLEP Official Study Guide).
The College Board appoints standing committees of college faculty for each test title in the CLEP battery. Committee members usually serve a term of up to four years. Each committee works with content specialists at Educational Testing Service to establish test specifications and develop the tests. Listed below are the current committee members and their institutional affiliations.
College faculty also participate in CLEP in other ways: they convene periodically as part of standard-setting panels to determine the recommended level of student competency for the granting of college credit; they are called upon to write exam questions and to review forms and they help to ensure the continuing relevance of the CLEP examinations through the curriculum surveys.
The primary objective of the committee is to produce tests with good content validity. CLEP tests must be rigorous and relevant to the discipline and the appropriate courses. While the consensus of the committee members is that this test has high content validity for a typical Introduction to Educational Psychology course or curriculum, the validity of the content for a specific course or curriculum is best determined locally through careful review and comparison of test content, with instructional content covered in a particular course or curriculum.
The Curriculum Survey The first step in the construction of a CLEP exam is a curriculum survey. Its main purpose is to obtain information needed to develop test-content specifications that reflect the current college curriculum and to recognize anticipated changes in the field. The surveys of college faculty are conducted in each subject every three to five years depending on the discipline. Specifically, the survey gathers information on: • the major content and skill areas covered in the equivalent course and the proportion of the course devoted to each area • specific topics taught and the emphasis given to each topic • specific skills students are expected to acquire and the relative emphasis given to them • recent and anticipated changes in course content, skills and topics • the primary textbooks and supplementary learning resources used • titles and lengths of college courses that correspond to the CLEP exam
Diane Finley, Chair
Prince George’s Community College
Judith Peña-Shaff
Ithaca College
The Committee Meeting The exam is developed from a pool of questions written by committee members and outside question writers. All questions that will be scored on a CLEP exam have been pretested; those that pass a rigorous statistical analysis for content relevance, difficulty, fairness and correlation with assessment criteria are added to the pool. These questions are compiled by test development specialists according to the test specifications, and are presented to all the committee members for a final review. Before convening at a two- or three-day committee meeting, the members have a chance to review the test specifications and the pool of questions available for possible inclusion in the exam.
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At the meeting, the committee determines whether the questions are appropriate for the test and, if not, whether they need to be reworked and pretested again to ensure that they are accurate and unambiguous. Finally, draft forms of the exam are reviewed to ensure comparable levels of difficulty and content specifications on the various test forms. The committee is also responsible for writing and developing pretest questions. These questions are administered to candidates who take the examination and provide valuable statistical feedback on student performance under operational conditions.
developing, administering and scoring the exams. Effective July 2001, ACE recommended a uniform credit-granting score of 50 across all subjects, with the exception of four-semester language exams, which represents the performance of students who earn a grade of C in the corresponding college course. The American Council on Education, the major coordinating body for all the nation’s higher education institutions, seeks to provide leadership and a unifying voice on key higher education issues and to influence public policy through advocacy, research and program initiatives. For more information, visit the ACE CREDIT website at www.acenet.edu/acecredit.
Once the questions are developed and pretested, tests are assembled in one of two ways. In some cases, test forms are assembled in their entirety. These forms are of comparable difficulty and are therefore interchangeable. More commonly, questions are assembled into smaller, content-specific units called testlets, which can then be combined in different ways to create multiple test forms. This method allows many different forms to be assembled from a pool of questions.
CLEP Credit Granting CLEP uses a common recommended credit-granting score of 50 for all CLEP exams. This common credit-granting score does not mean, however, that the standards for all CLEP exams are the same. When a new or revised version of a test is introduced, the program conducts a standard setting to determine the recommended credit-granting score (“cut score”).
Test Specifications Test content specifications are determined primarily through the curriculum survey, the expertise of the committee and test development specialists, the recommendations of appropriate councils and conferences, textbook reviews and other appropriate sources of information. Content specifications take into account: • the purpose of the test • the intended test-taker population • the titles and descriptions of courses the test is designed to reflect • the specific subject matter and abilities to be tested • the length of the test, types of questions and instructions to be used
A standard-setting panel, consisting of 15–20 faculty members from colleges and universities across the country who are currently teaching the course, is appointed to give its expert judgment on the level of student performance that would be necessary to receive college credit in the course. The panel reviews the test and test specifications and defines the capabilities of the typical A student, as well as those of the typical B, C and D students.* Expected individual student performance is rated by each panelist on each question. The combined average of the ratings is used to determine a recommended number of examination questions that must be answered correctly to mirror classroom performance of typical B and C students in the related course. The panel’s findings are given to members of the test development committee who, with the help of Educational Testing Service and College Board psychometric specialists, make a final determination on which raw scores are equivalent to B and C levels of performance.
Recommendation of the American Council on Education (ACE) The American Council on Education’s College Credit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT) has evaluated CLEP processes and procedures for
*Student performance for the language exams (French, German and Spanish) is defined only at the B and C levels.
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Introduction to Educational Psychology Description of the Examination The Introduction to Educational Psychology examination covers material that is usually taught in a one-semester undergraduate course in this subject. Emphasis is placed on principles of learning and cognition, teaching methods and classroom management, child growth and development, and evaluation and assessment of learning. The examination contains approximately 100 questions to be answered in 90 minutes. Some of these are pretest questions that will not be scored. Any time candidates spend on tutorials and providing personal information is in addition to the actual testing time.
15%
Cognitive Perspective • Attention and perception • Memory • Complex cognitive processes (e.g., problem solving, transfer, conceptual change) • Applications of cognitive theory
11%
Behavioral Perspective • Classical conditioning • Operant conditioning • Schedules of reinforcement • Applications of behavioral perspectives
15%
Development • Cognitive • Social • Moral • Gender identity/sex roles
10%
Motivation • Social-cognitive theories of motivation (e.g., attribution theory, expectancy-value theory, goal orientation theory, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, self-determination theory) • Learned helplessness • Teacher expectations/Pygmalion effect • Anxiety/stress • Applications of motivational theories
17%
Individual Differences • Intelligence • Genetic and environmental influences • Exceptionalities in learning (e.g., giftedness, learning disabilities, behavior disorders) • Ability grouping and tracking
Knowledge and Skills Required Questions on the Introduction to Educational Psychology examination require candidates to demonstrate one or more of the following abilities. • Knowledge and comprehension of basic facts, concepts and principles • Association of ideas with given theoretical positions • Awareness of important influences on learning and instruction • Familiarity with research and statistical concepts and procedures • Ability to apply various concepts and theories as they apply to particular teaching situations and problems The subject matter of the Introduction to Educational Psychology examination is drawn from the following topics. The percentages next to the main topics indicate the approximate percentage of exam questions on that topic. 5%
Educational Aims and Philosophies • Lifelong learning • Moral/character development • Preparation for careers • Preparation for responsible citizenship • Socialization
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Testing • Classroom assessment (e.g., formative and summative evaluation, grading procedures) • Norm- and criterion-referenced tests • Test reliability and validity • Bias in testing • High-stakes assessment • Interpretation of test results (e.g., descriptive statistics, scaled scores) • Use and misuse of assessments
10%
Pedagogy • Planning instruction for effective learning • Social constructivist pedagogy (e.g., scaffolding) • Cooperative/collaborative learning • Classroom management
5%
Research Design and Analysis • Research design (e.g., longitudinal, experimental, case study, quasi-experimental) • Research methods (e.g., survey, observation, interview) • Interpretation of research (e.g., correlation versus causation, descriptive statistics)
6 266
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Sample Test Questions The following sample questions do not appear on an actual CLEP examination. They are intended to give potential test-takers an indication of the format and difficulty level of the examination and to provide content for practice and review. Knowing the correct answers to all of the sample questions is not a guarantee of satisfactory performance on the exam. Directions: Each of the questions or incomplete statements below is followed by five suggested answers or completions. Select the one that is best in each case.
3. Which of the following are functions of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) ? I. Supports classroom teachers II. Creates a relationship (partnership) between regular classroom and resource team III. Provides an instructional program to meet the needs of the individual student IV. Allows the school professionals to solely make decisions without consulting parents (A) III only (B) I and III only (C) III and IV only (D) I, II, and III only (E) I, II, III, and IV
1. Which of the following learning outcomes usually undergoes the largest loss within 24 hours of acquisition? (A) The learning of meaningful material (B) The learning of rote material (C) The formulation of concepts (D) The application of principles (E) The making of generalizations
4. In a fifth-grade class that is working on a set of arithmetic problems, which of the following behaviors would be most characteristic of the student who is a divergent thinker?
2. When Robert’s classmates no longer showed approval of his clowning, his clowning behavior occurred less frequently. The concept best exemplified by Robert’s change in behavior is (A) extinction (B) discrimination (C) generalization (D) transfer (E) learning set
(A) Writing down the principle used to solve the problem as well as the solution itself (B) Making answers far more exact than is necessary (C) Working as fast as possible in order to be the first to finish the assignment (D) Finding a variety of ways to solve each problem (E) Providing the correct solution to the greatest number of problems 5. To measure students’ understanding of a theorem in geometry, it is best for a teacher to have the students do which of the following? (A) Write out the theorem (B) Recall the proof of the theorem (C) Demonstrate that they have memorized the theorem (D) Solve a problem that is given in the textbook (E) Solve a related problem that is not in the textbook
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U Cc Tt Ii Oo Nn T tO o I In Nt TrR oO dD u e dE u o Yg y D Uc Ca At Ti I oO nN aA Ll PP Ss Y yC cH hO oL Ol G 6. A child who is frightened by a dog and develops a fear of other dogs is exhibiting which of the following principles of learning?
9. The psychological frame of reference that deals extensively with the effects of unconscious motivation on behavior is
(A) Discrimination learning (B) Negative transfer (C) Behavior shaping (D) Stimulus generalization (E) Cognitive dissonance
(A) behaviorism (B) structuralism (C) psychoanalysis (D) humanism (E) Gestalt psychology
7. In experimental studies of the motor development of identical twins, one twin is given practice at a particular skill early and the other twin six weeks later. The fact that it generally takes less practice for the later-trained twin to acquire the skill is evidence for the importance of (A) heredity (B) maturation (C) intelligence quotient (IQ) (D) individual differences (E) early experience
10. Of the following, learning is best defined as (A) development that occurs without external stimulation (B) the process of overcoming obstacles during instinctual behavior (C) effort that is persistent, selective, and purposeful (D) the modification of behavior through experience (E) the gathering of data to test hypotheses 11. According to cognitive learning theorists, a new unit can be most readily learned by a class of students when the unit’s concepts and terms are
8. In a fifth-grade class studying the ancient Incan culture, all of the following questions are likely to stimulate pupils to think creatively EXCEPT: (A) Why do you suppose the clothing of the Incas was so different from today’s clothing? (B) What weapons and tools did the Incas use for hunting? (C) What would be the reaction of ancient Incas toward modern Peru? (D) If the Incas had defeated the Spanish, how might things be different in Peru today? (E) If you had lived in Peru during the time of the Incas, what are the things you would have liked and disliked?
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(A) recited from memory in a number of contexts (B) expressed as observable behavioral objectives (C) chosen to reflect the most up-to-date findings in the field (D) related hierarchically to concepts and terms mastered previously (E) presented in a manner that students find different and complex
U Cc Tt Ii Oo Nn T tO o I In Nt TrR oO dD u e dE u o Yg y D Uc Ca At Ti I oO nN aA Ll PP Ss Y yC cH hO oL Ol G 12. A preschool child sees a teacher roll a ball of clay into a sausage-like shape. The teacher asks, “Is the amount of clay the same as before?” The child insists that the sausage shape consists of more clay than the ball did. According to Jean Piaget, this mistake by the child occurs principally because of which of the following? (A) A poorly stated question by the teacher (B) Erroneous earlier learning by the child (C) The greater attractiveness of the sausage shape (D) A cognitive impairment (E) A lack of understanding of the conservation principle
15. If a test is reliable, the (A) results will be approximately the same if the test is given again under similar conditions (B) test measures what it was designed to measure (C) predictive validity of the test is high (D) objectives measured by the test are important (E) test scores can be interpreted objectively by anyone simply by using the test manual 16. The concept of developmental tasks refers to the (A) development of mental abilities, as distinguished from physical abilities (B) ability of the child to develop certain conceptual arrangements (C) behavior of the child that results from hereditary determinants (D) behaviors of the child that are expected at various ages (E) physiological development of the child
13. A fourth-grade teacher wants her students to learn to recognize oak trees. Which of the following strategies would best lead to that goal? (A) Bringing oak leaves into the classroom and having students trace them (B) Taking the students to the park to show them oaks and other trees and pointing out the distinguishing characteristics of oaks (C) Giving each student one or two acorns to plant and presenting a lesson on how oak trees grow (D) Decorating the classroom bulletin boards with pictures of trees (E) Showing students a film of the major trees of North America and then giving the students a quiz on oak trees 14. Longitudinal studies of cognitive abilities during middle and later adulthood indicate which of the following declines most with age?
17. Which of the following correlation coefficients has the highest predictive value? (A) .80 (B) .60 (C) .00 (D) –.70 (E) –.90 18. Which of the following statistics is most affected by extreme scores? (A) Mean (B) Median (C) Mode (D) Rank correlation (E) Interquartile range
(A) Speed of information processing (B) Size of vocabulary (C) Wisdom (D) Quality of verbal reasoning (E) Crystallized intelligence
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U Cc Tt Ii Oo Nn T tO o I In Nt TrR oO dD u e dE u o Yg y D Uc Ca At Ti I oO nN aA Ll PP Ss Y yC cH hO oL Ol G 19. A certain researcher studied Stephanie’s development of mathematical proof and justification from grade 1 through grade 5 by collecting videotapes, portfolios, notes, student interviews, and small-group evaluations of Stephanie over the five-year period. This type of study is referred to as
Students’ Achievement Scores
High
(A) an experimental study (B) a case study (C) a matched-group study (D) a correlational study (E) a survey
Lecture Method of Instruction
Discussion Method of Instruction
Low Low
High Students’ Test Anxiety Level
21. Assuming that the data above were collected in an experimental study, which of the following statements best describes the relationships depicted in the graph?
20. Which of the following perspectives on teaching would most likely support the idea that instruction should emphasize a positive relationship between teachers and students?
(A) Differences among students in test anxiety result in different achievement levels depending on the instructional method received. (B) Differences among students in test anxiety result in different achievement levels independent of the instructional method received. (C) The effect of two different instructional methods on students’ achievement is positively correlated with students’ test anxiety levels. (D) The effect of two different instructional methods on students’ achievement is negatively correlated with students’ test anxiety levels. (E) Students’ achievement levels are independent of their test anxiety levels.
(A) Behavioral (B) Humanistic (C) Cognitive (D) Psychoanalytic (E) Maturational
22. Frank, a fifteen year old, is capable of reasoning abstractly without the use of real objects to assist him. According to Jean Piaget, Frank is in which of the following stages of cognitive development? (A) Concrete operations (B) Tertiary circular reactions (C) Preoperations (D) Formal operations (E) Sensorimotor
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U Cc Tt Ii Oo Nn T tO o I In Nt TrR oO dD u e dE u o Yg y D Uc Ca At Ti I oO nN aA Ll PP Ss Y yC cH hO oL Ol G 23. Decisions about the values that are transmitted in schools are best related to the teacher’s role as
26. In cooperative learning it is NOT important for students to (A) rely on group members’ contributions to complete the task (B) be held individually accountable for their own learning (C) be at the same achievement level (D) interact directly with other group members (E) know and use good interpersonal skills
(A) instructional expert (B) socialization agent (C) counselor (D) motivator (E) classroom manager 24. Using the principle of successive approximations involves which of the following? (A) Reinforcing responses that represent progress toward a desired response (B) Making a succession of trials designed to provide information about a problem (C) Acquiring a behavior change through imitation of models demonstrating the behavior (D) Averaging repeated measures for adequate assessment of a variable (E) Testing possible solutions until success is obtained in problem solving
27. Some psychologists theorize that behavioral development, like anatomical development, proceeds from the simple to the complex, from homogeneous to heterogeneous, and from the general to the specific. Which of the following terms refers to these developmental trends? (A) Constancy (B) Assimilation (C) Metacognition (D) Differentiation (E) Transfer 28. Paying attention to new information is important in the learning process because such attention brings information from
25. Which of the following best characterizes the concept of a critical or sensitive period in development? (A) A bridge between two cognitive stages, such as the transition between preoperational and concrete-operational thinking (B) An age period during which a behavior must develop if it is to develop normally (C) An age period during which the child tends to display a certain class of behaviors, such as the “terrible twos” (D) An age period during which the child’s sense of self-worth is especially vulnerable to social criticism (E) An age period during which children are influenced more by peers than by adults
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(A) an external environment into the sensory register (B) an external environment into long-term memory (C) the sensory register into working memory (D) working memory into long-term memory (E) the sensory register into long-term memory
U Cc Tt Ii Oo Nn T tO o I In Nt TrR oO dD u e dE u o Yg y D Uc Ca At Ti I oO nN aA Ll PP Ss Y yC cH hO oL Ol G 33. Which of the following treatments is most common for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder?
29. When a two-year-old child points to a picture of a horse in a picture book and says “doggie,” the child is committing an error of
(A) Stimulant medication (B) Mnemonic aids (C) Self-esteem workshops (D) Psychotherapy (E) Motivational training
(A) overregularization (B) overextension (C) receptive vocabulary (D) syntax (E) articulation
34. A person who drove a manual-transmission car for years finds that, when driving a car with an automatic transmission, he often lifts his foot to step on the clutch. This driver is experiencing
30. Which of the following psychological schools of thought most emphasizes perceptual organization? (A) Behaviorism (B) Evolutionary psychology (C) Humanism (D) Psychodynamic approach (E) Gestalt psychology
(A) parallel distributed processing (B) an articulatory loop (C) positive transfer (D) proactive interference (E) retroactive interference
31. A student has to memorize a long list of nouns for a contest. Which of the following is the best strategy for the student to use to enhance recall of the words?
35. A parent complains that 40 percent of the questions on a classroom test were taken from 4 pages of the 70 pages covered in the material assigned in the test. The parent is questioning the test’s
(A) Grouping the words by semantic category (B) Spelling each of the words (C) Sorting the words according to length (D) Writing out the definition of each of the words (E) Determining the presence or absence of a target sound in each word
(A) interrater reliability (B) test-retest reliability (C) split-half reliability (D) content validity (E) criterion-related validity 36. Joseph Renzulli’s triad for identifying giftedness is best described as which of the following?
32. In an evaluation of achievement, the relationship between formative evaluation and summative evaluation is most similar to that between
(A) Above-average ability, task commitment, creativity (B) Skillful processing of verbal information, artistic expression, assertiveness (C) High IQ scores, academic aptitude, practical intelligence (D) Language fluency, analytic problemsolving ability, ethical thinking (E) Interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence
(A) skills instruction and skills practice (B) diagnostic examinations and final examinations (C) subjective data and objective data (D) descriptive data and inferential data (E) norm-referenced tests and criterionreferenced tests
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U Cc Tt Ii Oo Nn T tO o I In Nt TrR oO dD u e dE u o Yg y D Uc Ca At Ti I oO nN aA Ll PP Ss Y yC cH hO oL Ol G 37. Behavioral theories that focus on helping students develop self-management skills emphasize that it is important for students to
40. Among White, middle-class parents in the United States, which of the following parenting styles is most likely to help children develop into responsible adolescents?
(A) assess their competencies (B) improve their self-concepts (C) increase their general knowledge (D) develop social awareness (E) recognize clear signals that behaviors are appropriate
(A) autocratic (B) authoritarian (C) authoritative (D) permissive (E) enmeshed
38. Jacob Kounin’s concept of “withitness” refers to which of the following teacher abilities? (A) Maintaining awareness of everything that is happening in the classroom (B) Sequentially processing classroom activities and giving feedback to students (C) Going from one activity to another without wasting time (D) Focusing on one thing at a time in the classroom to keep from becoming frustrated (E) Identifying students’ academic strengths and deficiencies 39. Which of the following would be the best evidence that a test intended to estimate future success in school was biased against one group of examinees? (A) A large mean-score difference between that group and the rest of the examinees (B) A large standard deviation in the test scores of that group (C) A low passing rate for all examinees (D) An 80 percent passing rate for that group (E) An underprediction of academic achievement for that group
41. Which of the following is a major point in Carol Gilligan’s criticism of Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development? (A) The levels of moral reasoning in Kohlberg’s scheme are unrelated to social and political attitudes. (B) Mature levels of moral reasoning may differ qualitatively between men and women. (C) The higher levels of moral reasoning in Kohlberg’s scheme apply only to children in the United States. (D) The stages in Kohlberg’s scheme deviate from those in Jean Piaget’s stage theory. (E) Chronological age is unrelated to maturity of moral reasoning on Kohlberg’s scale. 42. Which of the following best illustrates metacognition? (A) Memorizing terms and definitions from a textbook (B) Monitoring one’s comprehension while reading (C) Listening to the radio and studying at the same time (D) Retrieving information from working memory (E) Retrieving information from longterm memory
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U Cc Tt Ii Oo Nn T tO o I In Nt TrR oO dD u e dE u o Yg y D Uc Ca At Ti I oO nN aA Ll PP Ss Y yC cH hO oL Ol G 47. A teacher informs parents that their child has earned a stanine score of five. The teacher is actually saying that the student’s test score
43. George Miller’s research finding that humans have a processing capacity of seven plus-orminus two items applies to which of the following types of memory?
(A) is below average (B) is average (C) is above average (D) indicates giftedness (E) indicates a disability
(A) Sensory register (B) Explicit (C) Implicit (D) Short-term (E) Procedural
Questions 48–49 refer to the following information.
44. Alice maintains a messy desk in order to gain attention from her teacher. For Alice, the teacher’s attention serves as which of the following?
Jodie, who is in the ninth grade, took a test that measured her ability in mathematics. The test consisted of 50 multiple-choice questions and had a completion time of two hours. It was scored from 0 to 50 points, with a mean of 27, a mode of 26, and a median of 25. Jodie’s score represented her actual knowledge of mathematics and did not provide any information about how she compared with other students who had taken the same test.
(A) Negative reinforcement (B) Positive reinforcement (C) Extinction (D) Primary reinforcement (E) Shaping
48. The test that Jodie took is best characterized as 45. Research that investigates nature versus nurture as a basis of intelligence has found the highest correlations of IQ scores between which of the following?
(A) a portfolio assessment (B) an intelligence (IQ) test (C) a developmental profile (D) a norm-referenced test (E) a criterion-referenced test
(A) Dizygotic twins raised together (B) Nontwin siblings raised together (C) Nontwin siblings raised apart (D) Monozygotic twins raised together (E) Monozygotic twins raised apart
49. An examination of the scores of all of the students who took the test would reveal that the score most often earned was
46. Mary’s score on an achievement test is 75. The normative data show an overall test mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. This information indicates that Mary’s z score equivalent is (A) –2.5 (B) –0.53 (C) +0.53 (D) +1.3 (E) +2.5
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(A) 15 (B) 25 (C) 26 (D) 27 (E) 50
U Cc Tt Ii Oo Nn T tO o I In Nt TrR oO dD u e dE u o Yg y D Uc Ca At Ti I oO nN aA Ll PP Ss Y yC cH hO oL Ol G 54. Mary enjoys reading, primarily because her father gives her a dollar for each book she reads. Mary’s motivational orientation for reading is most accurately described as
50. A teacher rewards students for every fifth question they get right in class. Which of the following is a schedule of reinforcement that the teacher is using?
(A) mastery oriented (B) goal oriented (C) intrinsic (D) extrinsic (E) egocentric
(A) Fixed interval (B) Fixed ratio (C) Variable interval (D) Extinction (E) Differential 51. José cannot find his favorite toy. When his father talks with him about it and encourages José to think about where he last used it, José suddenly remembers the toy’s location. José’s thinking is thus aided by the conversation with his father. This is an example of a theory of cognitive development formulated by (A) Jean Piaget (B) Lev Vygotsky (C) Noam Chomsky (D) Carol Gilligan (E) Lawrence Kohlberg
55. Which of the following is a motivational theory in which students attempt to explain the causes of their successes and failures? (A) Cognitive-behavioral theory (B) Hierarchy of needs (C) Reward theory (D) Attribution theory (E) Achievement motivation 56. A student’s score at the 75th percentile indicates that the student (A) correctly answered 75 percent of the exam (B) correctly answered 75 questions on the exam (C) scored worse than 75 percent of the test-takers (D) scored the same as or better than 75 percent of the test-takers (E) scored the same as or better than 25 percent of the test-takers
52. Paul is fourteen years old, has recently broken up with his girlfriend of three weeks, and believes that no one can understand the pain he is feeling. According to David Elkind, Paul is displaying (A) the imaginary audience (B) metacognition (C) a personal fable (D) postformal thought (E) symbolic thought
57. Five-year-old Billy rarely makes eye contact and frequently self-stimulates and repeats back the speech that he hears. Based on this information alone, it is most likely that Billy has
53. Mrs. Smith’s third graders love creative writing. Research on the use of rewards generally indicates that if she continuously rewards her students with candy for writing creative stories, the students’
(A) autistic disorder (B) major depressive disorder (C) attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (D) mental retardation (E) dyslexia
(A) writing abilities will keep improving (B) writing abilities will get worse over time (C) writing will not be affected in any way (D) interest in writing will lessen over time (E) interest in writing will increase over time
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U Cc Tt Ii Oo Nn T tO o I In Nt TrR oO dD u e dE u o Yg y D Uc Ca At Ti I oO nN aA Ll PP Ss Y yC cH hO oL Ol G 62. Which of the following is NOT consistent with developmentally appropriate practice in kindergarten?
58. Which of the following is most likely to be used as an individually administered intelligence test? (A) Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (B) Differential Ability Scales (C) Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (D) Graduate Record Examinations General Test (E) Thematic Apperception Test 59. Tests such as the SAT® and the ACT® Test are most often used for which type of testing? (A) Diagnostic (B) Intelligence (C) Achievement (D) Aptitude (E) Projective
(A) Having different learning centers in the classroom (B) Expecting all children to read simple words by the end of the year (C) Giving children time for free play during each week (D) Having children engaged in activities in small groups (E) Allowing children a rest period during the day 63. Based on group data, which of the following is a gender difference that is regularly observed on achievement tests? (A) Boys tend to have higher average scores on reading tests than girls do. (B) Girls tend to have higher average scores on science tests than boys do. (C) Girls tend to have higher average scores on spatial reasoning tests than boys do. (D) There tends to be more variability among boys’ scores on achievement tests than there is among girls’ scores. (E) Girls tend to have higher average scores on math tests than boys do.
60. A self-regulated learner is likely to engage in all of the following EXCEPT (A) thinking about which learning strategies are appropriate for a given task (B) evaluating his or her performance while progressing through a task (C) thinking about multiple tasks and responsibilities simultaneously (D) setting realistic goals (E) managing study time
64. Learned helplessness is most likely to occur when students view the cause of their failures as
61. Token economies in classrooms often provide students with the opportunity to earn points for good behavior that can be exchanged for some type of reward, such as candy, free time, or toys. According to researchers, a token economy system would be most beneficial in a classroom in which students
(A) stable and uncontrollable (B) stable and controllable (C) unstable and controllable (D) external and controllable (E) internal and unstable
(A) exhibit high intrinsic motivation (B) typically behave well (C) are out of control (D) are especially gifted (E) have just begun to show minor behavior problems
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U Cc Tt Ii Oo Nn T tO o I In Nt TrR oO dD u e dE u o Yg y D Uc Ca At Ti I oO nN aA Ll PP Ss Y yC cH hO oL Ol G 65. Mr. Arevola, an experienced fifth-grade mathematics teacher, is acknowledged as an excellent teacher and often acts as a mentor to young teachers. He is especially helpful by assisting newcomers to understand the difficulties that students often have with comprehension of fractions and to teach in a way that will address that issue. According to Lee Shulman, the type of teacher knowledge Mr. Arevola conveys could best be described as
68. Which of the following is an example of disequilibrium? (A) Robert has learned about different types of sharks, and he reasons that a dolphin is a type of shark because it looks similar. (B) William has figured out that the Sun is covered by clouds at night, which causes the darkness. (C) Dameon wonders how a caterpillar can be an insect when it appears to have more than six legs. (D) Ricky understands that his teddy bear is not alive, because he has learned about characteristics of living things. (E) Jon decides that sand is a liquid because it takes the shape of its container.
(A) content knowledge (B) process knowledge (C) declarative knowledge (D) pedagogical content knowledge (E) pedagogical process knowledge 66. According to Albert Bandura, which of the following is the most powerful source of self-efficacy for a child?
69. Achievement tests differ from aptitude tests primarily in that (A) the score distributions of achievement tests tend to be linear, whereas the score distributions of aptitude tests tend to be bell-shaped (B) achievement tests are designed to measure what students have learned, whereas aptitude tests are designed to predict how well students will perform in the future (C) achievement tests tend to face more resistance from parents, students, and classroom teachers than do aptitude tests (D) achievement tests are designed to measure the middle-ability population most accurately, whereas aptitude tests are designed to measure the high- and low-ability populations most accurately (E) aptitude tests are designed to have less variability in scores than achievement tests have
(A) Physiological cues (B) Verbal persuasion (C) Mastery experiences (D) Observational learning (E) Imitation 67. Stage theories of development are best described as (A) quantitative/continuous (B) qualitative/discontinuous (C) morally bound (D) universally accepted (E) socially determined
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U Cc Tt Ii Oo Nn T tO o I In Nt TrR oO dD u e dE u o Yg y D Uc Ca At Ti I oO nN aA Ll PP Ss Y yC cH hO oL Ol G 70. Mr. Janis asked his class to draw a picture of a flower. Ninety percent of the class drew a picture of a rose. In terms of cognitive psychology, what would a rose be for these students? (A) An attribute (B) A concept (C) A prototype (D) A heuristic (E) An algorithm
74. Jacquelin has always done well in school. In her fifth-grade class, she works hard and always does her homework. She often reads extra books and does extra math problems. Which of Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages would Jacquelin best exemplify? (A) Trust versus mistrust (B) Autonomy versus shame and doubt (C) Initiative versus guilt (D) Industry versus inferiority (E) Identity versus role confusion
71. During the final exam, Ellen started breathing really hard and her heart felt as if it would jump out of her chest. What hormone was most likely involved in this process?
75. A seventh-grade boy scores 66 on an IQ test. He is very sociable but has some trouble with independent living tasks. He would most likely be diagnosed with which of the following?
(A) Epinephrine (B) Dopamine (C) Norepinephrine (D) Serotonin (E) Cortisol
(A) A learning disability (B) Autistic disorder (C) Asperger’s disorder (D) Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (E) A mild intellectual disability
72. Jenna has just been diagnosed with an articulation disorder. Which behavior is she most likely to exhibit?
76. When teachers praise students who score the highest on tests or who do work without mistakes, this often makes other students
(A) Saying “wed” instead of “red” (B) Speaking too slowly (C) Stammering while talking (D) Using a high-pitched voice (E) Speaking without emotional tone 73. Ms. Sharps has been emphasizing the use of authentic assessment in her watercolor painting class. What type of assessment is she most likely to use to grade her students? (A) Portfolio (B) Essay test (C) Oral presentation (D) Short essays (E) Multiple-choice tests
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(A) achieve the highest test scores possible (B) give up if they are not also doing well (C) help each other (D) start learning outside their zone of proximal development (E) put maximum effort into their own work
U Cc Tt Ii Oo Nn T tO o I In Nt TrR oO dD u e dE u o Yg y D Uc Ca At Ti I oO nN aA Ll PP Ss Y yC cH hO oL Ol G 80. Larae has been selected to serve on a jury. When Larae sees the defendant she decides that he is not guilty. When the prosecutor presents her case, Larae does not listen as attentively as she does when the defense attorney presents his case. Larae is showing evidence of
77. Which of the following strategies is LEAST likely to increase test scores? (A) Giving rewards to students who get very high scores (B) Giving partial credit for partially correct answers (C) Giving clear feedback about the reasons for a low score (D) Providing ungraded assignments to encourage creativity and risk-taking (E) Grading oral as well as written work
(A) the availability heuristic (B) diffusion of responsibility (C) the overconfidence effect (D) confirmation bias (E) the representative heuristic
78. A teacher believes that students of all ages can improve their basic abilities through hard work, even though many of them might think that their ability is fixed and cannot be changed. The teacher’s belief is associated with a view of intelligence referred to as
81. Which of the following practices promotes a performance goal orientation? (A) Using cooperative learning strategies (B) Evaluating students in terms of their progress over time (C) Encouraging students to use multiple strategies when solving a problem (D) Allowing students extra time to master content they find difficult (E) Posting the names of students who pass a classroom test
(A) fluid (B) crystallized (C) multiple (D) incremental (E) the g factor
82. An Individualized Transition Plan (ITP) would most likely be written for which of the following students?
79. Teachers who want to positively reinforce students’ behaviors would best be guided by which of the following statements? (A) Make sure that all children get the same reward so that they are equally motivated. (B) Delay reinforcement rather than providing it right after the behavior being rewarded. (C) Promote self-regulation and selfmanagement so students do not become dependent on incentives. (D) Balance positive reinforcement with punishment so students do not expect only to be rewarded. (E) Wait until a complex behavior is performed in full before rewarding it, rather than relying on shaping.
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(A) Jason, a thirteen year old who just transferred to a new school (B) Maddy, a twelve year old who is now taking regular physical education (C) Rachel, a five year old who is beginning kindergarten (D) Stanley, a sixteen year old who is learning job skills (E) Madison, an eleven year old who is about to enter middle school
U Cc Tt Ii Oo Nn T tO o I In Nt TrR oO dD u e dE u o Yg y D Uc Ca At Ti I oO nN aA Ll PP Ss Y yC cH hO oL Ol G 83. Which of the following groups is not covered by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA)?
84. Which of the following correctly lists the components of Robert Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence?
(A) Students with emotional disturbances (B) Students who have learning disabilities but average intelligence (C) Students with some hearing impairment but who are not profoundly deaf (D) Students identified as intellectually gifted (E) Students with Asperger’s disorder
(A) Analytical, creative, and practical (B) Linguistic, logical-mathematical, and interpersonal (C) General, insightful, and automatic (D) Fluid, crystallized, and practical (E) Verbal, logical, and bodily-kinesthetic
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U Cc Tt Ii Oo Nn T tO o I In Nt TrR oO dD u e dE u o Yg y D Uc Ca At Ti I oO nN aA Ll PP Ss Y yC cH hO oL Ol G
Study Resources Most textbooks used in college-level introduction to educational psychology courses cover the topics in the outline given earlier, but the approaches to certain topics and the emphases given to them may differ. To prepare for the Introduction to Educational Psychology exam, it is advisable to study one or more college textbooks, which can be found in most college bookstores. When selecting a textbook, check the table of contents against the knowledge and skills required for this test. You may also find it helpful to supplement your reading with books listed in the bibliographies that can be found in most educational psychology textbooks. Visit www.collegeboard.org/clepprep for additional educational psychology resources. You can also find suggestions for exam preparation in Chapter IV of the Official Study Guide. In addition, many college faculty post their course materials on their schools’ websites.
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Answer Key 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42.
B A D D E D B B C D D E B A A D E A B B A D B A B C D C B E A B A D D A E A E C B B
43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84.
D B D E B E C B B C D D D D A A D C C B D A D C B C B C A A A D E B A D C D E D D A
I n t r o d u c t i o n t o e d u c a t i o n a l P s y c h o l o g y
Test Measurement Overview Format There are multiple forms of the computer-based test, each containing a predetermined set of scored questions. The examinations are not adaptive. There may be some overlap between different forms of a test: any of the forms may have a few questions, many questions, or no questions in common. Some overlap may be necessary for statistical reasons. In the computer-based test, not all questions contribute to the candidate’s score. Some of the questions presented to the candidate are being pretested for use in future editions of the tests and will not count toward his or her score.
Scoring Information CLEP examinations are scored without a penalty for incorrect guessing. The candidate’s raw score is simply the number of questions answered correctly. However, this raw score is not reported; the raw scores are translated into a scaled score by a process that adjusts for differences in the difficulty of the questions on the various forms of the test.
Scaled Scores The scaled scores are reported on a scale of 20–80. Because the different forms of the tests are not always exactly equal in difficulty, raw-to-scale conversions may in some cases differ from form to form. The easier a form is judged to be, the higher the raw score required to attain a given scaled score. Table 1 indicates the relationship between number correct (raw score) and scaled score across all forms.
The Recommended Credit-Granting Score Table 1 also indicates the recommended credit-granting score, which represents the performance of students earning a grade of C in the corresponding course. The recommended B-level score represents B-level performance in equivalent course work. These scores were established as the result of a Standard Setting Study, the most recent having been conducted in 2005. The recommended
credit-granting scores are based upon the judgments of a panel of experts currently teaching equivalent courses at various colleges and universities. These experts evaluate each question in order to determine the raw scores that would correspond to B and C levels of performance. Their judgments are then reviewed by a test development committee, which, in consultation with test content and psychometric specialists, makes a final determination. The standard-setting study is described more fully in the earlier section entitled “CLEP Credit Granting” on page 4. Panel members participating in the most recent study were: Sharon Anderson H. Keith Cochran Joanna Dickey Maggie Foster Charlyn Harper Browne Steven Hoover Brenda Karns Kathleen Kleissler Randy Lennon John McClure Steven Osterlind Kathryn Penrod Keith Roach Warren Shillingburg Joanne Stephenson Karen Thierry Katherine Vorwerk Steuart Watson
Colorado State University Missouri Southern State University Eastern Kentucky University Plattsburgh State University Clark Atlanta University St. Cloud State University Austin Peay State University Kutztown University University of Northern Colorado Northern Arizona University University of Missouri South Dakota State University Mid-Continent University Community College of Southern Nevada Union University Rutgers University — Camden University of Massachusetts Miami University
To establish the exact correspondences between raw and scaled scores, a scaled score of 50 is assigned to the raw score that corresponds to the recommended credit-granting score for C-level performance. Then a high (but in some cases, possibly less than perfect) raw score will be selected and assigned a scaled score of 80. These two points — 50 and 80 — determine a linear raw-to-scale conversion for the test.
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Table 1: Introduction to Educational Psychology Interpretive Score Data American Council on Education (ACE) Recommended Number of Semester Hours of Credit: 3 Course Grade
B
C
Scaled Score
Number Correct
80 79 78 77 76 75 74 73 72 71 70 69 68 67 66 65 64 63 62 61 60 59 58 57 56 55 54 53 52 51 50* 49 48 47 46 45 44 43 42 41 40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
90 88-89 87-88 86 85 83-84 82-83 81-82 80-81 79-80 77-78 76-77 75-76 74-75 73-74 72-73 71 69-70 68-69 67-68 66-67 65-66 64 63 61-62 60-61 59-60 58-59 57-58 56 55 54 52-53 51-52 50-51 49-50 48 47 46 45 43-44 42-43 41-42 40-41 39-40 38 37 35-36 34-35 33-34 32-33 31-32 30-31 29-30 28-29 27 25-26 24-25 0-24
*Credit-granting score recommended by ACE. Note: The number-correct scores for each scaled score on different forms may vary depending on form difficulty.
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I n t r o d u c t i o n t o e d u c a t i o n a l P s y c h o l o g y
Validity
Reliability
Validity is a characteristic of a particular use of the test scores of a group of examinees. If the scores are used to make inferences about the examinees’ knowledge of a particular subject, the validity of the scores for that purpose is the extent to which those inferences can be trusted to be accurate.
The reliability of the test scores of a group of examinees is commonly described by two statistics: the reliability coefficient and the standard error of measurement (SEM). The reliability coefficient is the correlation between the scores those examinees get (or would get) on two independent replications of the measurement process. The reliability coefficient is intended to indicate the stability/consistency of the candidates’ test scores, and is often expressed as a number ranging from .00 to 1.00. A value of .00 indicates total lack of stability, while a value of 1.00 indicates perfect stability. The reliability coefficient can be interpreted as the correlation between the scores examinees would earn on two forms of the test that had no questions in common.
One type of evidence for the validity of test scores is called content-related evidence of validity. It is usually based upon the judgments of a set of experts who evaluate the extent to which the content of the test is appropriate for the inferences to be made about the examinees’ knowledge. The committee that developed the CLEP Introduction to Educational Psychology examination selected the content of the test to reflect the content of the general introductory educational psychology curriculum and courses at most colleges, as determined by a curriculum survey. Since colleges differ somewhat in the content of the courses they offer, faculty members should, and are urged to, review the content outline and the sample questions to ensure that the test covers core content appropriate to the courses at their college. Another type of evidence for test-score validity is called criterion-related evidence of validity. It consists of statistical evidence that examinees who score high on the test also do well on other measures of the knowledge or skills the test is being used to measure. Criterion-related evidence for the validity of CLEP scores can be obtained by studies comparing students’ CLEP scores with the grades they received in corresponding classes, or other measures of achievement or ability. At a college’s request, CLEP and the College Board conduct these studies, called Admitted Class Evaluation Service, or ACES, for individual colleges that meet certain criteria. Please contact CLEP for more information.
Statisticians use an internal-consistency measure to calculate the reliability coefficients for the CLEP exam. This involves looking at the statistical relationships among responses to individual multiple-choice questions to estimate the reliability of the total test score. The formula used is known as Kuder-Richardson 20, or KR-20, which is equivalent to a more general formula called coefficient alpha. The SEM is an index of the extent to which students’ obtained scores tend to vary from their true scores.1 It is expressed in score units of the test. Intervals extending one standard error above and below the true score (see below) for a test-taker will include 68 percent of that test-taker’s obtained scores. Similarly, intervals extending two standard errors above and below the true score will include 95 percent of the test-taker’s obtained scores. The standard error of measurement is inversely related to the reliability coefficient. If the reliability of the test were 1.00 (if it perfectly measured the candidate’s knowledge), the standard error of measurement would be zero. Scores on the CLEP examination in Introduction to Educational Psychology are estimated to have a reliability coefficient of 0.90. The standard error of measurement is 3.42 scaled-score points. 1
True score is a hypothetical concept indicating what an individual’s score on a test would be if there were no errors introduced by the measuring process. It is thought of as the hypothetical average of an infinite number of obtained scores for a test-taker with the effect of practice removed.
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