A new teacher is reviewing the history of special education. Which federal law first guaranteed a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment to all eligible children with disabilities and was later renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)?

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act

The Americans with Disabilities Act

A parent submits a written request for an ESE evaluation of her first-grade child. After reviewing MTSS data, the district decides that an evaluation is not warranted at this time. What is the district required to do?

Provide the parent with prior written notice explaining the refusal and the basis for it, along with procedural safeguards information

Inform the parent verbally that the request was reviewed and no further action is needed

Complete the evaluation anyway, because a parent request always requires an evaluation

Wait until the child has completed two more years of MTSS before responding to the request

A student with InD can correctly count the coins needed for a purchase when using the coin pictures on classroom worksheets but cannot do so with real coins at the school store. Which strategy would BEST promote generalization of this skill?

Teach the skill with a variety of real coins, prices, and settings, including the school store

Increase the number of coin-counting worksheets the student completes each day

Provide a token reinforcer each time the student finishes a worksheet correctly

Wait until the student reaches 100% accuracy on worksheets before introducing real coins

An FBA concludes that a ninth-grade student with OHI puts his head down and refuses to work to escape lengthy reading assignments. Which replacement behavior should the behavior intervention plan teach?

Using a break card to request a short break from the assignment

Sitting quietly with his materials ready until the teacher checks on him

Completing the entire assignment before he is allowed to talk to peers

Raising his hand to ask the teacher to read the assignment to the class

A fourth-grade student with an SLD reads one-syllable words accurately but skips or guesses at longer words such as fantastic, reptile, and complicated. Which instructional focus is MOST appropriate?

Teaching syllable types and a routine for dividing longer words into syllables to decode them

Repeated reading of passages that contain only one-syllable words

Encouraging the student to skip unknown words and use context to keep reading

Reviewing short-vowel CVC words before introducing longer words

Before federal special education law was enacted, two landmark federal court cases established that children with disabilities could not be excluded from a public education. Which pair of cases is this?

PARC v. Pennsylvania and Mills v. Board of Education

Brown v. Board of Education and Plessy v. Ferguson

Larry P. v. Riles and Diana v. State Board of Education

Honig v. Doe and Board of Education v. Rowley

The parent of a nonverbal ninth-grade student with multiple disabilities asks to receive more regular information about her daughter's school day. Which approach would best support collaboration with this family?

Agree on a two-way communication system, such as a daily log or app, that shares successes as well as concerns

Contact the parent only when behavior incidents occur so that messages remain important

Refer the parent to the quarterly IEP progress reports, which already provide this information

Ask the paraprofessional to call the parent each evening without a set format or focus

A fourth-grade student with an SLD in mathematics made these errors on a subtraction probe: 52 - 27 = 35; 61 - 38 = 37; 80 - 24 = 64. Which instructional focus BEST matches the error pattern?

Explicit instruction in regrouping using base-ten blocks, linked to the written algorithm

Fluency practice with single-digit subtraction facts using timed drills

Instruction in estimating answers to check for reasonableness

Practice with addition of two-digit numbers before returning to subtraction

A team conducting an FBA for a second-grade student with a language impairment has completed teacher and parent interviews and a behavior rating scale. The information suggests the student's hitting is maintained by access to preferred toys. What should the team do next?

Conduct direct observations, such as ABC recording, across the settings where hitting occurs

Write the behavior intervention plan based on the interview results alone

Ask the student to explain in writing why he hits classmates during play

Administer an intelligence test to determine whether cognitive factors explain the hitting

A fifth-grade student with an SLD reads grade-level text at 118 words correct per minute with 98 percent accuracy but reads in a flat, word-by-word manner, ignoring punctuation, and comprehension is inconsistent. Which instructional focus is MOST appropriate?

Prosody instruction with teacher modeling and phrase-cued text

Timed readings to further increase the student's reading rate

Phonics instruction on multisyllabic word patterns

Silent sustained reading of self-selected books

FTCE Exceptional Student Education K-12 (061)

Free FTCE Exceptional Student Practice Questions

10 sample questions for the FTCE Exceptional Student Education K-12 (061), with the correct answer and an explanation for each. No account needed. Try each one before you open the answer.

Sections covered on the exam: Foundations of Exceptional Student Education, Assessment and Evaluation, Instructional Practices in Exceptional Student Education, Positive Behavioral Support Process, Multiple Literacies and Communication Skills, Transition Process.

Question 1 · Foundations of Exceptional Student Education
A new teacher is reviewing the history of special education. Which federal law first guaranteed a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment to all eligible children with disabilities and was later renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)?
- A.Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
- B.The Education for All Handicapped Children Act
- C.The Elementary and Secondary Education Act
- D.The Americans with Disabilities Act
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. The Education for All Handicapped Children Act
The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (P.L. 94-142) established FAPE, LRE, IEPs, and procedural safeguards and was later reauthorized and renamed IDEA. Section 504 prohibits disability discrimination but is a civil rights statute, not the law that created the special education entitlement and IEP process. The ADA came later and extends civil rights protections beyond federally funded programs.
Question 2 · Foundations of Exceptional Student Education
A parent submits a written request for an ESE evaluation of her first-grade child. After reviewing MTSS data, the district decides that an evaluation is not warranted at this time. What is the district required to do?
- A.Inform the parent verbally that the request was reviewed and no further action is needed
- B.Provide the parent with prior written notice explaining the refusal and the basis for it, along with procedural safeguards information
- C.Complete the evaluation anyway, because a parent request always requires an evaluation
- D.Wait until the child has completed two more years of MTSS before responding to the request
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Provide the parent with prior written notice explaining the refusal and the basis for it, along with procedural safeguards information
IDEA requires prior written notice whenever a district proposes or refuses to initiate an evaluation, describing the action refused, the reasons, the data used, and the parent's procedural safeguards. A verbal response does not meet this requirement. A district may refuse a request when it has a reasoned basis, and MTSS may not be used to delay or deny an evaluation.
Question 3 · Instructional Practices in Exceptional Student Education
A student with InD can correctly count the coins needed for a purchase when using the coin pictures on classroom worksheets but cannot do so with real coins at the school store. Which strategy would BEST promote generalization of this skill?
- A.Increase the number of coin-counting worksheets the student completes each day
- B.Provide a token reinforcer each time the student finishes a worksheet correctly
- C.Teach the skill with a variety of real coins, prices, and settings, including the school store
- D.Wait until the student reaches 100% accuracy on worksheets before introducing real coins
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Teach the skill with a variety of real coins, prices, and settings, including the school store
Teaching with multiple exemplars across materials and settings, including the setting where the skill is needed, helps the student respond correctly to the natural stimuli. More worksheets and added reinforcement strengthen performance only under the training conditions, and delaying real coins until worksheet mastery postpones generalization instead of programming for it.
Question 4 · Positive Behavioral Support Process
An FBA concludes that a ninth-grade student with OHI puts his head down and refuses to work to escape lengthy reading assignments. Which replacement behavior should the behavior intervention plan teach?
- A.Sitting quietly with his materials ready until the teacher checks on him
- B.Using a break card to request a short break from the assignment
- C.Completing the entire assignment before he is allowed to talk to peers
- D.Raising his hand to ask the teacher to read the assignment to the class
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Using a break card to request a short break from the assignment
A replacement behavior should serve the same function as the problem behavior in a more appropriate way, so a student seeking escape can be taught to request a brief break, while the plan also addresses task difficulty. The other choices either do not give access to the same outcome or require behavior the student cannot yet perform without support.
Question 5 · Multiple Literacies and Communication Skills
A fourth-grade student with an SLD reads one-syllable words accurately but skips or guesses at longer words such as fantastic, reptile, and complicated. Which instructional focus is MOST appropriate?
- A.Repeated reading of passages that contain only one-syllable words
- B.Encouraging the student to skip unknown words and use context to keep reading
- C.Teaching syllable types and a routine for dividing longer words into syllables to decode them
- D.Reviewing short-vowel CVC words before introducing longer words
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Teaching syllable types and a routine for dividing longer words into syllables to decode them
Explicit instruction in syllable types and syllable-division patterns gives the student a strategy for breaking multisyllabic words into decodable parts, which directly addresses the gap. Skipping words and guessing from context do not build decoding, passages with only one-syllable words avoid the target skill, and reviewing CVC words reteaches a skill the student has already mastered.
Question 6 · Foundations of Exceptional Student Education
Before federal special education law was enacted, two landmark federal court cases established that children with disabilities could not be excluded from a public education. Which pair of cases is this?
- A.PARC v. Pennsylvania and Mills v. Board of Education
- B.Brown v. Board of Education and Plessy v. Ferguson
- C.Larry P. v. Riles and Diana v. State Board of Education
- D.Honig v. Doe and Board of Education v. Rowley
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. PARC v. Pennsylvania and Mills v. Board of Education
PARC v. Pennsylvania established the right of children with intellectual disabilities to a free public education, and Mills v. Board of Education extended that right to all children with disabilities regardless of cost; both shaped the federal law that followed. Brown provided the civil rights foundation but addressed racial segregation. Larry P. and Diana concerned biased testing, and Honig and Rowley came after the federal law was enacted.
Question 7 · Foundations of Exceptional Student Education
The parent of a nonverbal ninth-grade student with multiple disabilities asks to receive more regular information about her daughter's school day. Which approach would best support collaboration with this family?
- A.Contact the parent only when behavior incidents occur so that messages remain important
- B.Agree on a two-way communication system, such as a daily log or app, that shares successes as well as concerns
- C.Refer the parent to the quarterly IEP progress reports, which already provide this information
- D.Ask the paraprofessional to call the parent each evening without a set format or focus
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Agree on a two-way communication system, such as a daily log or app, that shares successes as well as concerns
A mutually agreed, two-way system gives the family a voice, keeps communication consistent, and balances positive news with concerns, which is especially important when a student cannot report on her own day. Contacting the parent only for problems damages the relationship. Progress reports address IEP goals periodically rather than daily communication, and unstructured calls by a paraprofessional lack teacher oversight and purpose.
Question 8 · Instructional Practices in Exceptional Student Education
A fourth-grade student with an SLD in mathematics made these errors on a subtraction probe: 52 - 27 = 35; 61 - 38 = 37; 80 - 24 = 64. Which instructional focus BEST matches the error pattern?
- A.Explicit instruction in regrouping using base-ten blocks, linked to the written algorithm
- B.Fluency practice with single-digit subtraction facts using timed drills
- C.Instruction in estimating answers to check for reasonableness
- D.Practice with addition of two-digit numbers before returning to subtraction
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Explicit instruction in regrouping using base-ten blocks, linked to the written algorithm
In each problem the student subtracts the smaller digit from the larger digit in each column regardless of position, showing a misunderstanding of regrouping. Explicit instruction with base-ten models connected to the algorithm targets that conceptual error. Fact drills, estimation, and addition practice do not address the specific error pattern revealed by the analysis.
Question 9 · Positive Behavioral Support Process
A team conducting an FBA for a second-grade student with a language impairment has completed teacher and parent interviews and a behavior rating scale. The information suggests the student's hitting is maintained by access to preferred toys. What should the team do next?
- A.Write the behavior intervention plan based on the interview results alone
- B.Conduct direct observations, such as ABC recording, across the settings where hitting occurs
- C.Ask the student to explain in writing why he hits classmates during play
- D.Administer an intelligence test to determine whether cognitive factors explain the hitting
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Conduct direct observations, such as ABC recording, across the settings where hitting occurs
Interviews and rating scales are indirect methods, and the hypothesis should be confirmed with direct observation of antecedents, behavior, and consequences in natural settings before a plan is written. Relying on indirect data alone risks an inaccurate hypothesis, and a cognitive test does not identify the function of a behavior.
Question 10 · Multiple Literacies and Communication Skills
A fifth-grade student with an SLD reads grade-level text at 118 words correct per minute with 98 percent accuracy but reads in a flat, word-by-word manner, ignoring punctuation, and comprehension is inconsistent. Which instructional focus is MOST appropriate?
- A.Timed readings to further increase the student's reading rate
- B.Prosody instruction with teacher modeling and phrase-cued text
- C.Phonics instruction on multisyllabic word patterns
- D.Silent sustained reading of self-selected books
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Prosody instruction with teacher modeling and phrase-cued text
Rate and accuracy are adequate, so the need is prosody, the expression and phrasing that support comprehension; modeled reading followed by practice with phrase-cued text targets that directly. Further rate drills could worsen word-by-word reading, phonics is not indicated by 98 percent accuracy, and unmonitored silent reading provides no feedback on phrasing.

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