TExES 268 Leadership & Management 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A school's state accountability rating drops unexpectedly. As principal, what is your FIRST priority?
- Publicly blame the previous administration for the decline
- Convene a data team to disaggregate results and identify specific areas of underperformance (Correct answer)
- Immediately implement a test-prep-only curriculum
- Reassign all teachers to new grade levels
Correct answer: Convene a data team to disaggregate results and identify specific areas of underperformance
Disaggregating data with a team allows targeted identification of root causes before selecting improvement strategies.
Question 2: Which leadership style is MOST appropriate when a campus faces a crisis requiring immediate action?
- Collaborative democratic leadership
- Directive leadership with clear, rapid communication (Correct answer)
- Laissez-faire leadership to avoid creating panic
- Transformational leadership focused on long-term vision
Correct answer: Directive leadership with clear, rapid communication
Crises require directive leadership with clear communication to ensure safety and coordinated response.
Question 3: A principal wants to ensure equitable access to advanced coursework for historically underrepresented students. The MOST strategic action is to:
- Lower academic standards to increase enrollment in advanced courses
- Analyze enrollment data by demographic group and create targeted support pathways (Correct answer)
- Limit advanced coursework to students who self-select
- Eliminate tracking systems district-wide immediately
Correct answer: Analyze enrollment data by demographic group and create targeted support pathways
Disaggregating enrollment data reveals inequities, and targeted support pathways address systemic barriers to advanced access.
Question 4: Under Texas law, which body holds primary legal authority for public school governance?
- Campus-level campus advisory committee (CAC)
- Elected local school board of trustees (Correct answer)
- State Board of Education (SBOE)
- Campus principal
Correct answer: Elected local school board of trustees
Elected local school boards of trustees hold primary legal authority for governing public schools in Texas.
Question 5: A principal is implementing a new evaluation system for teachers. Which element is MOST critical to its effectiveness?
- Using a single high-stakes observation for the entire year
- Ensuring the system includes ongoing, formative feedback connected to professional growth goals (Correct answer)
- Keeping evaluation criteria confidential to prevent teachers from gaming the system
- Delegating all observations to assistant principals
Correct answer: Ensuring the system includes ongoing, formative feedback connected to professional growth goals
Effective evaluation systems combine ongoing formative feedback with clear professional growth connections rather than relying on single summative events.
Question 6: A campus principal is reviewing the master schedule. Which consideration BEST reflects an instructional leadership priority?
- Scheduling electives first to ensure teacher preference satisfaction
- Designing the schedule to maximize instructional time and collaborative planning time for teachers (Correct answer)
- Replicating the previous year's schedule to minimize disruption
- Scheduling all core subjects in the morning regardless of student needs
Correct answer: Designing the schedule to maximize instructional time and collaborative planning time for teachers
A master schedule should maximize instructional time and embed collaborative planning time to support professional learning.
Question 7: Which action BEST demonstrates a principal's commitment to ethical leadership when facing pressure to exclude certain student groups from state assessments?
- Comply with the pressure to improve campus ratings
- Refuse to exclude eligible students and report any improper directives through appropriate channels (Correct answer)
- Seek a compromise by excluding only the lowest-performing students
- Delegate the decision entirely to the district assessment coordinator
Correct answer: Refuse to exclude eligible students and report any improper directives through appropriate channels
Ethical leadership requires refusing unethical directives and using proper reporting channels to ensure all students are assessed fairly.
TExES 268 Leadership & Management 4
A school's state accountability rating drops unexpectedly.
As principal, what is your FIRST priority?