GACE School Psychology

The School Psychology assessment, offered as part of the Georgia Assessments for the Certification of Educators, is divided into two tests.

The first test consists of 60 selected-response questions (80% of the test score) and 2 constructed-response assignments (20% of the test score). The content areas covered by the first test are: learning, development, and diversity; and student assessment and data-based decision making. The topics covered by the learning, development, and diversity subarea are: learning processes and the development of cognitive, linguistic, and academic skills; socialization and the development of life skills; and student diversity in development and learning. The topics covered by the student assessment and data-based decision making subarea are: the principles of data-based decision making and student assessment; and creating, implementing, and interpreting assessments of students with diverse needs.

The second test consists of 60 selected-response questions (80% of the test score) and 2 constructed-response questions (20% of the test score). The content areas covered by the second test are: prevention, intervention, collaboration, and program evaluation; and the professional context of school psychology practice. The topics covered by the prevention, intervention, collaboration, and program evaluation subarea are: prevention and intervention strategies and resources for addressing individual, group, and school-wide needs; research methods and program evaluations; and communication, consultation, and collaboration processes to provide students with appropriate services. The topics covered by the professional context of school psychology practice subarea are: the historical, legal, and ethical foundations of the school psychology profession; the roles and responsibilities of school psychologists and the organization and operation of school systems; and the use of information sources and technology to improve school psychology services.

The examination must be completed within four hours. The total test score is placed on a scale of 100 to 300, with 220 as the lowest passing score. Scores are based on the number of selected-response questions answered correctly and the scores assigned by judges to the constructed responses. Test-takers will also receive performance indices indicating their success in each subarea of the examination. Scores will be available approximately a month after the date of the examination; unofficial results are posted on the internet, and an official score report is mailed to the test-taker, the Professional Standards Commission, and the institution specified by the test-taker during registration.

GACE School Psychology Practice Questions

1. What are the four criteria of creativity as measured by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT)?

A: flexibility, intelligence, elaboration, and fluency
B: intelligence, originality, elaboration, and flexibility
C: fluency, flexibility, elaboration, and originality
D: fluency, originality, intelligence, and charisma

2. According to Piaget, what occurs during the development phase known as equilibrium?

A: schemata are proven to be inadequate to explain environment
B: responses to environment are adjusted to agree with schemata
C: schemata are adjusted to agree with environment
D: schemata become adequate to explain the child's environment

3. What is the name of the instructional strategy that entails learning complex behaviors through a sequence of connected stimulus-response interactions?

A: fading
B: chaining
C: scaffolding
D: coding

4. Which school of educational psychology asserts that individuals react to their entire field of experience rather than to individual elements?

A: Gestalt psychology
B: behaviorism
C: Freudian psychoanalysis
D: classical conditioning

5. Which of the following is NOT one of Marcia's four stages of adolescent development?

A: crisis
B: identity diffusion
C: moratorium
D: foreclosure

Answer Key

1. C. Fluency is the ability to come up with alternative solutions to a given problem; flexibility is the ability to adjust one's ideas; elaboration is the ability to expand and refine ideas; originality is the ability to create innovative ideas.
2. D. Piaget maintained that learning is a struggle to achieve equilibrium.
3. B. Chaining is often used to build up to a complex behavior lesson.
4. A. Gestalt psychology arose as a reaction to the behaviorist school.
5. A. Marcia's four stages of adolescent development, in order, are identity diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, and identity achievement.