Pre-Assessment QUESTIONS

18. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. Not only may public schools teach about religious holidays, but they may engage in religious holidays as religious events and promote such observance.

B. In keeping the 1st Amendment’s mandate of governmental neutrality toward religion, any study of religion in a public school must be educational, not devotional.

C. Teaching about the Bible academically in public education may occur in literature, history, or any other required or elective course.

D. The lower courts have ruled that the constitutionality of Bible elective courses in public schools’ classes is highly dependent on how one teaches the class.

E. All the above are correct.

19. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. A superintendent or school board should select teachers for a class involving Biblical studies in the same way as all other teachers.

B. School districts should assign the responsibility of hiring teachers of Bible electives to an outside committee that selects teachers based upon their religious beliefs or perspectives.

C. Hiring of teachers of academic Bible classes in public education should be based upon their academic qualifications, rather than religious beliefs or non-beliefs.

D. Disqualification of teachers should not rest upon the fact that they have received training in religious institutions such as Bible colleges or seminaries.

E. All the above are correct.

20. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. Outside sources cannot fund religious courses on public school campuses.

B. Decisions concerning instructional materials, including which translation of the Bible to use, should remain under the control of the local board of education.

C. The Hebrew Bible is permissible as a primary text in Bible electives public school curriculum.

D. Legal guidelines suggest more than one biblical text for public school Bible elective courses.

E. All the above are correct.

21. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. Funding for an elective course in religion cannot come from the state.

B. Instructional materials and lessons that are of a devotional nature, such as those used in a Sunday school, are constitutionally inappropriate for Bible elective courses in public education.

C. In public education, local school boards should adopt policies on the role of studies about religion in the schools’ curriculum.

D. A school district’s policy for teaching Bible elective courses should reflect constitutional principles and current law.

E. All the above are correct.

22. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. The goals of public schools in teaching about religion and the Hebrew Bible should be academic and not devotional.

B. Academic teaching about the Hebrew Bible should not intend to either undermine or reinforce the beliefs of those who accept the Bible as sacred scripture or of those who do not.

C. Faith formation in children is the responsibility of parents and religious communities, not the public schools.

D. In 1998, a coalition of seventeen religious and educational organizations issued clarification guidelines about religion in public schools and avoidance of religious indoctrination.

E. All the above are correct.

23. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. Public educators may strive for student awareness of religions but should not press for student acceptance of any religion.

B. A public school may sponsor studies about religion but may not sponsor the practice of religion.

C. The public school may expose students to different religious views, but may not impose, discourage, or encourage any view.

D. The Jewish and Christian Bibles have two major divisions-the Old and New Testaments.

E. All the above are correct.

24. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. A public school may educate students about all religions, but may not promote or denigrate, or criticize any religion.

B. Students in public education have the 1st Amendment right to disparage (belittle) other religions.

C. Teachers of Bible electives must understand the difference between favoring the practice of religion and teaching a Bible class in a way that does not influence personal feelings or opinions.

D. Selecting a variety of Bibles for use in literature, history, or elective Bible courses is important since more than one Bible exist in Western cultures.

E. All the above statements are correct.

25. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. Teacher advocacy (support for), indoctrination (teaching a doctrine without questions), and proselytizing (trying to convert someone to a belief) are not permissible in Bible electives courses in public education.

B. In Western cultures, there is a Jewish Bible called the Hebrew Scriptures, or Tanakh.

C. Western cultures have only one official biblical text, the King James Version.

D. In Western societies, there are various Christian Bibles – such as Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox.

E. All the above statements are true.

26. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. To be “objective” is to remain “neutral” in instructional procedures.

B. Public educators should be nonjudgmental, academic, neutral, balanced, and fair in teaching about religion.

C. Judaism (Jewish faith) does not include the Christian New Testament in its Bible.

D. The Catholic Old Testament has forty-six books while the Protestant has thirty-nine books.

E. All the statements above are correct.

27. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. Catholicism and Protestantism have the same meanings.

B. A Protestant is a member or follower of any of the Western Christian churches that are separate from the Roman Catholic church.

C. Teachers of Bible course electives in public education should use a biblical sourcebook that includes the key texts of each of the major Bibles or an anthology (a collection or compilation) of various translations.

D. Parents should be involved in planning academic courses about the Hebrew Bible and religion in public education.

E. All the statements above are correct.

28. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. In elective Bible courses, teachers should remind students about the differences between the various Bibles.

B. Students should discuss the major views concerning authorship and the compilation of books of the Bible.

C. Lessons assigned to Bible courses in public education should reflect on the significance of the differences in various cultures and traditions.

D. In Judaism, various rabbinic (Jewish scholars or teachers) commentators give instruction about the Hebrew Bible.

E. All the statements above are correct.

29. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. Christians and Jews use the findings of modern secular (having no religious or spiritual basis) scholarship to interpret the Bible.

B. Modern scholarship (learning) of the Hebrew text is not common to every denomination in Western culture.

C. Religious and secular studies of the Hebrew Bible are common in Western culture.

D. Public-school teachers should expose students to a variety of interpretations of Hebrew scriptures.

E. All the statements above are correct.

30. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. Teachers should allow students to engage in reading the Hebrew biblical text directly (like any primary source). B. Students should draw on the resources of different religious and secular interpretative traditions for understanding the Hebrew Bible. C. Academic studies of the Hebrew scriptures require the use of secondary sources that offer a discussion of the various religious and secular approaches to the Bible. D. Teaching about the Bible, either in literature and history courses or in Bible electives, requires extensive (considerable, substantial) preparation. E. All the above statements are correct.

31. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. School districts and universities should offer in-service workshops and summer institutes for teachers who are teaching about the Bible in literature and history courses.

B. School districts should look for teachers who have training in the academic study of religion.

C. Teachers selected to teach a course about the Bible should receive substantive inservice training from qualified scholars before teaching such courses.

D. Schools should offer electives in biblical studies if there are teachers academically competent to teach them.

E. All the above statements are correct.

32. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. Changes in teaching education should help ensure that study of religion, including the Bible, is done well in public schools.

B. Literature and history teachers should take at least one course in religious studies that prepares them to teach about religions in their subject.

C. Teachers who wish to teach a Bible elective should take college-level courses in biblical studies.

D. In the future, religious studies will become a certifiable field, requiring at least an undergraduate minor.

E. All the above statements are correct.

33. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. One can expect that eventually, state departments of education will set certification requirements, review curriculums, and adopt proper academic standards for electives in religious studies.

B. In a Bible as literature class, students will examine the Bible as they would other literature in terms of aesthetic (concerned with beauty) categories, as an anthology of narratives and poetry, exploring its language, symbolism, and motifs (recurring themes).

C. In Bible literature classes, students will study the ways in which later writers have used Bible literature, language, and symbols.

D. In Western culture, drama, poetry, and fiction have material from the Bible.

E. All the above statements are correct.

34. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. A literature elective in the Bible would focus on the Bible as a literary text.

B. A primary goal of a Bible as/in Literature course is basic biblical literacy.

C. Within a Bible as/in Literature course, students will learn a grasp of the language, major narratives, symbols, and characters of the Bible.

D. The course might also explore the influence of the Bible on classic and contemporary poems, plays, and novels.

E. All the above statements are true.

35. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. The Bible is not simply literature – for various religious traditions, it is scripture.

B. A “Bible Literature” course could include discussions of how various religious traditions understand the text.

C. The study of history offers opportunities to study about the Bible.

D. When studying the origins of Judaism, students may learn different theories of how the Bible came to be.

E. All the above statements are true.

36. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. Jews and Christians are adherents of the religions that affirm the Hebrew Bible as scripture.

B. A study of the Reformation might include a discussion of how Protestants and Catholics differ in their interpretation and use of the Bible.

C. Protestants and Catholics affirm the Hebrew Bible as scripture

D. In U.S. history, there are natural opportunities for students to learn about the role of religion and the Bible in American life and society.

E. All the above statements are true.

37. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. Presidential addresses and congressional debates hold biblical references.

B. Throughout American history, public-policy debates rely on the Hebrew Scriptures.

C. Social movements such as abolition, temperance, and the civil rights movement apply the Hebrew Scriptures to situations.

D. A government or civics course may include discussions of the biblical sources for parts of America’s legal system.

E. All the above statements are correct.

38. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. Public school students cannot express their faith in school.

B. The Supreme Court said in Abington vs. Schempp that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary qualities.

C. The Supreme Court ruled that the Bible is worthy of study for its historic qualities.

D. In public education, a study of the Bible or of religion should be taught objectively.

E. All the above statements are correct.

39. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. The public school's approach to religion should be academic, not devotional.

B. The Supreme Court said in Abington vs. Schempp. that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary qualities.

C. The Supreme Court ruled that the Bible is worthy of study for its historic qualities.

D. A study of the Bible or of religion must be dispassionate in public education.

E. All the above statements are correct.

40. Which of the following statements is NOT CORRECT?

A. The public school's approach to religion should be academic, not devotional."

B. The school may sponsor study about religion but may not sponsor the practice of religion.

C. The Equal Access Act refers to those student groups whose activities are not related to the body of courses offered by the public school directly.

D. The public school may educate about all religions but may not promote or denigrate any religion.

E. All the above statements are correct.

ONLINE SURVEY

(PRE-ASSESSMENT OF FIRST AMENDMENT KNOWLEDGE)

Overview of The Pre-Assessment:

Pre-assessments, also known as diagnostic tests, assess students' strengths, weaknesses, prior knowledge, and skills before instruction. A pre-assessment is an effective tool to help find the needs and interests of students. Pre-assessments allow teachers to see if students have mastered a lesson or unit of studies. By comparing formative and summative assessments, teachers can measure true learning. At the end of a unit or course, the teacher can see what students learned from earlier lessons. Such evaluations also give students a preview of what teachers expect of them. From engaging in pre-assessments, they can learn to focus on the key topics throughout the units or the entire course.

Lesson Objectives:

Students will:

 complete an online pre-assessment survey of prior knowledge about the 1st Amendment topics covered in the course.  review questions/activities on the survey to become familiar with the course content.

Expected Student Learning Objectives:

At the end of the survey, students and teachers will:  recognize the course content and measure prior knowledge of the course materials.  assess their growth in learning by comparing pre-assessments and summative assessments.  realize their strengths and weaknesses in applying 1st Amendment rights in public education.

Duration: 1-2 hours

Procedure:

 Visit https://freeonlinesurveys.com/app#/1413601/build to take the pre-assessment of your knowledge of 1st Amendment rights of teachers and students in public education.  Check your score, copy, paste and send your results to wilmaforeman@yahoo.com. This score will not affect your final grade average.  NOTE: Be sure to write Pre-assessment #1 (Survey) as the subject.

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