NYSTCE School Leadership Assessments Preparing for the Test

	The purpose of the New York State Teacher Certification Examinations™ (NYSTCE®) School Leadership Assessments is to help ensure that certified school- and district-level leaders have the essential knowledge and skills necessary to provide effective educational leadership in New York State public schools. These assessments have been developed by the New York State Education Department (NYSED), New York State educational leaders, and the Evaluation Systems group of Pearson in response to new regulations that became effective in 2006 for preparing, testing, and certifying educational leaders in New York State. The assessments are based on the principles of Essential Knowledge and Skills for Effective School Leadership developed by the New York State Board of Regents' Blue Ribbon Panel on School Leadership. This preparation guide provides information to help you prepare to take the NYSTCE School Leadership Assessments as follows: This section includes information about available resources and their use in understanding the design and content of the assessment, and strategies for success on the day of the test. The following sections contain sample test questions and additional test materials to assist you in your preparation. Understanding the Design and Content of the Test The content knowledge assessed by the NYSTCE School Leadership Assessments is described in the test design and assessment framework for each assessment. You may view, print, or download the test design and assessment framework for any of the School Leadership Assessments by selecting "School Leadership Assessments" on the NYSTCE Web site at www.nystce.nesinc.com. This section describes how to use the test design and assessment framework to understand both the design and content of the School Leadership Assessments. Test Design Read the test design to familiarize yourself with the structure of the assessment. The test design outlines the following assessment components: the content areas covered on each test within the assessment the approximate number of questions for each content area the types of questions (multiple-choice questions and written assignments) contained on each test the percentage of your total test score derived from each test section (multiple-choice section and written assignment section) The following example illustrates the information provided by the test design. Assessment Framework Read the assessment framework to understand the content covered by the assessment and to determine your preparedness to test. The framework for each assessment is divided into two parts, each of which is measured by its own test. Each test is organized into subareas, objectives, and focus statements as follows: Subareas define the major content domains of the assessment. Each test contains two subareas. Subareas typically consist of several objectives. The number of objectives may vary, depending on the breadth of content contained in the subarea. Objectives define the knowledge and skills that New York State educational leaders have determined to be important for educational leaders to possess. Each objective is expanded upon by focus statements. Focus statements provide examples of the range, type, and level of content that may appear on the test for questions measuring the objective. Test questions are designed to measure specific content within each test. Each written assignment measures the content defined by a specific subarea of the test. Each multiple-choice question measures the content defined by a specific subarea of the test. The number of objectives within a subarea generally determines the number of multiple-choice test questions that will address that subarea's content on the test. Subareas that consist of more objectives will receive more emphasis on the test than subareas that consist of fewer objectives. The following example from the School Building Leader assessment framework illustrates the relationship of a multiple-choice test question to the test, subarea, objective, and focus statement in the framework to which it corresponds. This same direct relationship between multiple-choice test questions and their corresponding objectives applies to all NYSTCE assessments. Strategies for Success on the Day of the Test Review the following strategies to help you do your best when taking the NYSTCE School Leadership Assessments.
	Follow directions	Listen to and follow all test directions. This includes the oral directions that will be read by the test administrators and any written directions.

	Pace your work	The test schedule is designed to allow sufficient time for you to complete your test. You may wish to page through the test questions when you are instructed to begin testing to help you gauge how to pace yourself. Remember to leave enough time to respond to any written assignments.

	Read carefully	Do not try to save time by skimming directions or by reading the test questions quickly. You may miss important information and instructions.

	Determine the "best answer"	Your response to each multiple-choice question should be the best answer of the alternatives provided. Read and evaluate all four answer choices before deciding which one is best.

	Guess wisely	Your results on the multiple-choice section of the test will be based on the number of questions you answer correctly. You will not be penalized for guessing. If you are unsure about a question, use your knowledge of the content area to eliminate as many of the alternatives as you can. Then select among the remaining choices.

	Designate your answers carefully	Your responses to the multiple-choice questions will be scored electronically. It is very important for you to designate your answers carefully. If you skip questions, be sure to go back later to answer them. You may wish to use remaining time at the end of the test session to check the accuracy of your work.

	Respond to the written assignments fully and clearly	Be sure to read and respond to each part of the written assignments on the test you are taking. It is important for scorers to be able to understand your responses. Also, make sure that you have recorded your responses to the written assignments as instructed.
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