A sixth-grade teacher's referral states: "Marcus is lazy and disrespectful. He never wants to do anything I ask during writing." Which of the following is the best operational definition of the referral concern for the school psychologist to use in problem identification?

Marcus does not start an assigned written task within 2 minutes of the direction

Marcus shows an unmotivated and defiant attitude toward written work during class

Marcus has a negative view of adult authority that shows up mainly during writing

Marcus becomes frustrated and gives up easily when writing tasks seem too difficult

A student with low vision is evaluated using a norm-referenced achievement test. The school psychologist enlarges the print on the reading items and allows extra time for the visual tasks. Which of the following is the most appropriate way to handle these changes?

Describe the changes in the report and interpret affected scores with appropriate caution

Re-score the test using norms for students one grade lower to offset the accommodations

Omit all scores from the report, because any change makes standardized results meaningless

Report the scores without comment, because accommodations make the results fully comparable

After failing several math tests, a seventh grader tells the school psychologist, "I'm just dumb at math. It doesn't matter how hard I try, so why bother?" He now leaves most problems blank, even easy ones. Which intervention component most directly addresses the pattern the student describes?

Attribution retraining that links his successes to effort and strategy use

Larger tangible rewards for each worksheet that he turns in completed and on time

Easier assignments so that he never experiences an incorrect answer

Praise that emphasizes how smart he is whenever he answers correctly

An advocacy group presenting to a school board cites a federal case in California in which the court found that IQ tests had been used to place disproportionate numbers of Black students in classes for students with mild intellectual disabilities and restricted that use. Which case are they describing?

Diana v. State Board of Education

A teacher reports that Jayla, a second grader, constantly blurts out answers during whole-group lessons. Which of the following is the best target behavior statement for an intervention plan?

Jayla will raise her hand and wait to be called on before speaking in whole-group lessons

Jayla will not blurt out answers or interrupt classmates during any whole-group lesson

Jayla will develop better self-control so that she can participate in group lessons

Jayla will show more respect for classmates' turns to speak during whole-group lessons

At an evaluation planning meeting for an English learner, a team member says, "We'll just use a nonverbal test, since that makes the results culture-free." Which response is most accurate?

Nonverbal tests reduce language demands, but they still reflect cultural experiences and expectations

Nonverbal tests are culture-free only when the directions are translated into the home language

Nonverbal tests should never be used with English learners because they are biased against them

Nonverbal tests are culture-free, so they can be used as the sole basis for eligibility decisions

A fourth grader who already loved reading and read daily on her own joined a classroom program that gave prizes for each book read. When the program ended in spring, her parents reported that she rarely reads at home anymore. Which explanation is best supported by research on motivation?

Tangible rewards for an enjoyable activity can undermine intrinsic motivation

The prizes began to act as a form of punishment once they were removed from the classroom

Her reading declined because the reward schedule was too thin to sustain it

Her reading skills likely regressed, making independent reading too hard

A state committee revising its criteria for identifying specific learning disabilities hears a proposal to require every district to use a severe discrepancy between intellectual ability and achievement. Which statement is accurate under IDEA?

States may not require a severe discrepancy and must permit a response-to-intervention process.

Each school psychologist may choose any identification method regardless of state criteria.

States must require a pattern of strengths and weaknesses and must prohibit all discrepancy models.

States must require a severe discrepancy, since it is the only federally recognized method.

Praxis School Psychologist (5403)

Free Praxis School Psyc 5403 Practice Questions

10 sample questions for the Praxis School Psychologist (5403), 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: Direct and Indirect Services for Children, Families, and Schools (Systems-Level Services), The Professional Practices That Permeate All Aspects of Service Delivery, Direct and Indirect Services for Children, Families, and Schools (Student-Level Services), Foundations of School Psychological Service Delivery.

Question 1 · Direct and Indirect Services for Children, Families, and Schools (Systems-Level Services)
A sixth-grade teacher's referral states: "Marcus is lazy and disrespectful. He never wants to do anything I ask during writing."
Which of the following is the best operational definition of the referral concern for the school psychologist to use in problem identification?
- A.Marcus shows an unmotivated and defiant attitude toward written work during class
- B.Marcus has a negative view of adult authority that shows up mainly during writing
- C.Marcus becomes frustrated and gives up easily when writing tasks seem too difficult
- D.Marcus does not start an assigned written task within 2 minutes of the direction
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Marcus does not start an assigned written task within 2 minutes of the direction
An operational definition describes behavior in observable, measurable terms so that two observers could agree on whether it occurred and how often. Failing to start a task within a set time can be counted reliably. The other choices describe attitudes, traits, or inferred emotions (such as frustration) that cannot be directly observed or measured.
Question 2 · Direct and Indirect Services for Children, Families, and Schools (Systems-Level Services)
A student with low vision is evaluated using a norm-referenced achievement test. The school psychologist enlarges the print on the reading items and allows extra time for the visual tasks. Which of the following is the most appropriate way to handle these changes?
- A.Re-score the test using norms for students one grade lower to offset the accommodations
- B.Describe the changes in the report and interpret affected scores with appropriate caution
- C.Omit all scores from the report, because any change makes standardized results meaningless
- D.Report the scores without comment, because accommodations make the results fully comparable
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Describe the changes in the report and interpret affected scores with appropriate caution
Accommodations that let a student access a test without changing the construct are appropriate, but any deviation from standardized administration must be documented and the scores interpreted cautiously, since the norm group was tested differently. Reporting the scores without comment misleads readers. Using norms for a different grade is not a valid correction.
Question 3 · Direct and Indirect Services for Children, Families, and Schools (Student-Level Services)
After failing several math tests, a seventh grader tells the school psychologist, "I'm just dumb at math. It doesn't matter how hard I try, so why bother?" He now leaves most problems blank, even easy ones.
Which intervention component most directly addresses the pattern the student describes?
- A.Larger tangible rewards for each worksheet that he turns in completed and on time
- B.Easier assignments so that he never experiences an incorrect answer
- C.Praise that emphasizes how smart he is whenever he answers correctly
- D.Attribution retraining that links his successes to effort and strategy use
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Attribution retraining that links his successes to effort and strategy use
The student shows learned helplessness built on stable, internal, uncontrollable attributions ("I'm dumb"), so retraining him to attribute outcomes to controllable effort and strategies targets the core problem. Praising intelligence reinforces the belief that ability is fixed, which is the very attribution causing him to give up.
Question 4 · Direct and Indirect Services for Children, Families, and Schools (Systems-Level Services)
At a middle school, every student who scores below the reading screening benchmark is placed in the same 30-minute, scripted small-group program delivered four days a week for 10 weeks, with progress monitored every two weeks. Students are not individually assessed before placement. This practice is most consistent with which approach to Tier 2 intervention?
- A.Individualized Tier 3 approach
- B.Dual discrepancy approach
- C.Standard protocol approach
- D.Problem-solving approach
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Standard protocol approach
A standard protocol approach delivers the same validated intervention to all students with similar needs, which is efficient and easy to deliver with fidelity. A problem-solving approach would instead analyze each student's difficulty and design an individualized intervention; dual discrepancy is a decision rule for judging response, not a delivery approach.
Question 5 · The Professional Practices That Permeate All Aspects of Service Delivery
An advocacy group presenting to a school board cites a federal case in California in which the court found that IQ tests had been used to place disproportionate numbers of Black students in classes for students with mild intellectual disabilities and restricted that use. Which case are they describing?
- A.Mills v. Board of Education
- B.Larry P. v. Riles
- C.Lau v. Nichols
- D.Diana v. State Board of Education
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Larry P. v. Riles
Larry P. v. Riles addressed the use of IQ tests to place Black students in classes for students with mild intellectual disabilities in California. Diana v. State Board of Education is the most tempting alternative because it also involved California placement testing, but it concerned Spanish-speaking students and required assessment in the primary language.
Question 6 · Direct and Indirect Services for Children, Families, and Schools (Systems-Level Services)
A teacher reports that Jayla, a second grader, constantly blurts out answers during whole-group lessons. Which of the following is the best target behavior statement for an intervention plan?
- A.Jayla will not blurt out answers or interrupt classmates during any whole-group lesson
- B.Jayla will develop better self-control so that she can participate in group lessons
- C.Jayla will raise her hand and wait to be called on before speaking in whole-group lessons
- D.Jayla will show more respect for classmates' turns to speak during whole-group lessons
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Jayla will raise her hand and wait to be called on before speaking in whole-group lessons
A good target states an observable behavior the student will do, which allows it to be taught and reinforced (it passes the "dead man test"). A goal stated only as the absence of behavior can be met by doing nothing and does not specify a replacement. Respect and self-control are constructs rather than observable behaviors.
Question 7 · Direct and Indirect Services for Children, Families, and Schools (Systems-Level Services)
At an evaluation planning meeting for an English learner, a team member says, "We'll just use a nonverbal test, since that makes the results culture-free." Which response is most accurate?
- A.Nonverbal tests reduce language demands, but they still reflect cultural experiences and expectations
- B.Nonverbal tests are culture-free only when the directions are translated into the home language
- C.Nonverbal tests should never be used with English learners because they are biased against them
- D.Nonverbal tests are culture-free, so they can be used as the sole basis for eligibility decisions
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Nonverbal tests reduce language demands, but they still reflect cultural experiences and expectations
Nonverbal measures lower the language load of a test, which is useful for English learners, but no test is culture-free; tasks, materials, timing, and test-taking behavior still reflect cultural experience. They are one source of data and should not be used alone for eligibility. Saying they should never be used overstates the problem.
Question 8 · Direct and Indirect Services for Children, Families, and Schools (Student-Level Services)
A fourth grader who already loved reading and read daily on her own joined a classroom program that gave prizes for each book read. When the program ended in spring, her parents reported that she rarely reads at home anymore.
Which explanation is best supported by research on motivation?
- A.The prizes began to act as a form of punishment once they were removed from the classroom
- B.Tangible rewards for an enjoyable activity can undermine intrinsic motivation
- C.Her reading declined because the reward schedule was too thin to sustain it
- D.Her reading skills likely regressed, making independent reading too hard
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Tangible rewards for an enjoyable activity can undermine intrinsic motivation
When expected tangible rewards are given for an activity a student already enjoys, the reward can shift her reason for the activity from interest to payoff, so engagement drops when the reward ends. Removing a reward is not punishment; it is the loss of an extrinsic reinforcer for a behavior that had once been intrinsically motivated.
Question 9 · Direct and Indirect Services for Children, Families, and Schools (Systems-Level Services)
A district places students into seventh-grade advanced math based on sixth-grade teacher recommendations. The school psychologist reviews placement data for students who scored in the top quartile on the state sixth-grade math test.
Top-quartile scorers recommended for advanced math
Student group Top-quartile scorers Recommended Percent recommended
Not English learners, not low income 180 140 78%
Low income 95 44 46%
English learners 40 12 30%
Which of the following is the school psychologist's best recommendation to the district?
- A.Keep teacher recommendations and add an appeal process for families of students not chosen
- B.Keep the policy, because the same recommendation process is applied to every sixth grader
- C.Place students who meet an objective score criterion automatically and monitor results by group
- D.Require English learners to exit language services before they can be recommended for placement
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Place students who meet an objective score criterion automatically and monitor results by group
Among students with equally high test scores, low-income students and English learners are recommended at much lower rates, so the policy has unequal effects that a uniform process does not justify; using an objective criterion for automatic placement and monitoring subgroup outcomes reduces subjective gatekeeping. An appeal process places the burden on families who may be least able to use it, and requiring exit from language services bars capable students for a reason unrelated to math skill.
Question 10 · The Professional Practices That Permeate All Aspects of Service Delivery
A state committee revising its criteria for identifying specific learning disabilities hears a proposal to require every district to use a severe discrepancy between intellectual ability and achievement. Which statement is accurate under IDEA?
- A.Each school psychologist may choose any identification method regardless of state criteria.
- B.States must require a pattern of strengths and weaknesses and must prohibit all discrepancy models.
- C.States may not require a severe discrepancy and must permit a response-to-intervention process.
- D.States must require a severe discrepancy, since it is the only federally recognized method.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. States may not require a severe discrepancy and must permit a response-to-intervention process.
IDEA regulations bar states from requiring a severe ability–achievement discrepancy, require them to permit a process based on the child's response to scientific, research-based intervention, and allow other research-based alternatives such as a pattern of strengths and weaknesses. Districts must follow the criteria their state adopts, so individual practitioners cannot set their own method.

Top-quartile scorers recommended for advanced math
Student group	Top-quartile scorers	Recommended	Percent recommended
Not English learners, not low income	180	140	78%
Low income	95	44	46%
English learners	40	12	30%

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