GCPS Professional Knowledge 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A GCPS teacher is differentiating instruction in a mixed-ability classroom. Which strategy targets differentiation by PROCESS?
- Providing some students with a condensed version of the assignment
- Offering students tiered activities that build toward the same learning goal using varied levels of support (Correct answer)
- Allowing students to choose between a poster, essay, or presentation as a final product
- Grouping advanced students together to work on extension projects
Correct answer: Offering students tiered activities that build toward the same learning goal using varied levels of support
Tiered activities differentiate the process — the way students make sense of content — while keeping the same essential learning goal.
Question 2: Which statement about Georgia's Teacher Keys Effectiveness System (TKES) is accurate?
- TKES evaluates teachers solely based on student standardized test score growth
- TKES uses a combination of classroom observations, professional growth goals, and student growth data (Correct answer)
- TKES only applies to teachers in their first three years of employment
- TKES evaluations are conducted exclusively by district-level administrators
Correct answer: TKES uses a combination of classroom observations, professional growth goals, and student growth data
TKES is a comprehensive evaluation system that incorporates multiple measures of teacher effectiveness, not just test scores.
Question 3: A GCPS teacher wants to promote higher-order thinking as described by Bloom's Taxonomy. Which task best represents the EVALUATE level?
- Students list the causes of the Civil War from their textbook
- Students create a timeline of events leading to the Civil War
- Students critique two historians' interpretations of the Civil War's primary cause using textual evidence (Correct answer)
- Students describe what daily life was like for soldiers during the Civil War
Correct answer: Students critique two historians' interpretations of the Civil War's primary cause using textual evidence
Evaluating requires students to make judgments based on criteria and evidence, which critiquing historical interpretations demonstrates.
Question 4: When a GCPS teacher uses data from the Georgia Milestones Assessment System, what is the most instructionally productive use of that data?
- Ranking students publicly to motivate them to improve their scores
- Identifying skill gaps by standard to inform targeted reteaching and intervention (Correct answer)
- Using the data as the sole basis for final course grades
- Sharing individual student score reports with other students as models
Correct answer: Identifying skill gaps by standard to inform targeted reteaching and intervention
Analyzing results by standard helps teachers identify which concepts need reteaching and which students need additional support.
Question 5: Which scenario represents an appropriate application of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act in a GCPS school?
- Providing a student with ADHD extended time on tests as a documented accommodation (Correct answer)
- Placing a student with a physical disability in a self-contained special education classroom
- Reducing the academic curriculum for a student with a documented learning disability
- Excusing a student with anxiety from all assessments for the school year
Correct answer: Providing a student with ADHD extended time on tests as a documented accommodation
Section 504 provides accommodations that level the playing field for students with disabilities without changing the curriculum itself.
Question 6: A GCPS teacher is working to build culturally responsive pedagogy in their classroom. Which practice best exemplifies this approach?
- Treating all students identically to avoid showing favoritism
- Incorporating students' cultural backgrounds and experiences into instructional content and examples (Correct answer)
- Avoiding discussion of cultural differences to prevent discomfort
- Focusing exclusively on majority-culture literature to prepare students for standardized tests
Correct answer: Incorporating students' cultural backgrounds and experiences into instructional content and examples
Culturally responsive pedagogy validates students' identities by connecting learning to their cultural contexts and lived experiences.
Question 7: According to GCPS professional standards, which describes the most appropriate use of social media by a teacher?
- Friending students on personal social media accounts to build stronger relationships
- Maintaining separate personal and professional accounts and keeping communications with students through official channels (Correct answer)
- Posting photos of students' work on personal social media to celebrate their achievements
- Sharing student behavioral concerns in a private teachers-only social media group
Correct answer: Maintaining separate personal and professional accounts and keeping communications with students through official channels
Maintaining professional boundaries on social media protects both teacher and student and complies with FERPA and district policy.
GCPS Professional Knowledge 3
A GCPS teacher is differentiating instruction in a mixed-ability classroom.
Which strategy targets differentiation by PROCESS?