DSST Foundations of Education Practice Questions Answer Key

1. C: According to Spring, the purpose of early public schools was to promote Anglo-American values. Protestant Anglo-Americans found themselves in a culture war because many people who were not Anglo-Americans, such as Native Americans, African Americans, and Irish immigrants, did not agree with the Anglo-American values. Public schools were developed with the hope that teaching children Anglo-American values would help spread those values throughout the rest of society.
2. D: Public schools were thought to be the solution for many societal problems, including poverty, and it was believed that public education would create equal opportunities. Standardized tests and ability grouping in elementary school classrooms were only two of the many ideas used by schools that sought to fulfill these goals and positively impact the economy.
3. A: During the 1960s, the federal government created the Head Start program, compensatory programs in reading and Math, and the television program Sesame Street as part of its War on Poverty. The idea was that helping low-income families would help the children of these families to become successful and contributing citizens. The government believed this would help eliminate poverty.
4. D: Before the American Revolution, public education primarily promoted religions and emphasized class status. After the Revolution, Americans began to see education as a means to create productive citizens, reform society, and build up nationalism. Education became viewed as the tool to meet the needs of humanity rather than to teach religion. The American Revolution did not wipe out poverty or take children out of school. Nor was the American Revolution responsible for making Americans more religious. The American Revolution did not bring about the unification of any level of education.
5. B: Post-Revolutionary leaders wanted to teach patriotism, teach the responsibility of exercising freedom, and effectively train students to become the future political leaders. The Post-Revolutionary leaders disagreed on what knowledge students needed to achieve these goals, but they still agreed on these common goals. The expansion of public schools was not a concern at this time.
6. B: Education may play several roles in society, but it is not expected to identify cultural weaknesses or provide the government with primary access to the brightest students. Though many parents consider public schools to be convenient day care, and many schools provide before and after school care, providing day care is not the purpose of the education system. Our education system serves society by providing an outlet for selecting and educating leaders for our future.
7. D: Jefferson’s opinions on education differed considerably from those of most of his contemporaries. He believed average citizens should have access to education. He also believed that students should not be taught a specific political view point; instead, they should be allowed to form their own political viewpoints by reading history and newspapers. He also believed in a natural aristocracy that was formed by targeting the brightest students for specific leadership training from an early age through college.
8. B: Equality of educational opportunity refers to every student’s right to receive equal opportunities in receiving an education. It also provides students equal opportunities in the classroom. The equality of educational opportunity does not infer a choice to attend any desired school, and it does not address the quality of education, only that access be equal.
9. C: The interpretation by the Supreme Court was that “equal protection” could also mean “separate but equal.” This interpretation was used as justification for creating segregated schools, so long as the schools were “equal.” This doctrine of “separate but equal” was later overturned by reasoning that segregated education was intrinsically not equal.
10. D: Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act declared that schools could not deny anyone the right to participate in any program that received federal financial aid. It stated that institutions not following the guidelines for desegregation would lose federal financial assistance. In this way, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 attempted to enforce the desegregation of public schools.