Are flashcards effective for the PPR?

Yes. Flashcards use active recall — pulling an answer from memory — which research shows is one of the most effective study methods, especially in short, spaced sessions. They're ideal for the PPR's many pedagogy concepts: developmental theorists, assessment terms, classroom-management strategies, and the legal and ethical rules every Texas teacher must know.

What topics do the PPR flashcards cover?

All four domains: Domain I (human development — Piaget, Vygotsky, Maslow, Bloom — backward design, differentiation, and assessment), Domain II (classroom climate, management, and motivation), Domain III (communication, engagement, technology, feedback), and Domain IV (family partnerships, professional growth, and Texas legal and ethical responsibilities — the Code of Ethics, FERPA, IDEA, and mandatory reporting).

How should I study with these PPR flashcards?

Focus on one domain at a time. Mix the modes: flip to learn, type to test recall, match for speed, and quiz to check yourself before a full practice test. Lead with the big domains — designing instruction (I) and implementing instruction (III) — then drill the professional roles and ethics in Domain IV.

Are the PPR flashcards free?

Yes — 100% free, all four study modes, no paywall and no sign-up.

Do these flashcards match the current PPR EC-12?

Yes. The cards are organized to the current Texas Education Agency content framework for the PPR EC-12 (160) — the four domains and 13 educator competencies. The exam is administered by Pearson at Pearson VUE, and you pass with a scaled score of 240 on the 100–300 scale.

Piaget's sensorimotor stage

Birth to ~2 years. Infants learn through senses and motor action; key milestone is object permanence (objects exist when out of sight).

Piaget's preoperational stage

~2 to 7 years. Symbolic thinking and language grow, but thought is egocentric and lacks conservation and reversibility.

Piaget's concrete operational stage

~7 to 11 years. Logical thinking about concrete objects; the child masters conservation, classification, and reversibility.

Piaget's formal operational stage

~11 years and up. Abstract, hypothetical, and deductive reasoning; can think about possibilities, not just concrete realities.

Conservation (Piaget)

The understanding that quantity stays the same despite changes in shape or arrangement — mastered in the concrete operational stage.

Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD)

The gap between what a learner can do alone and what they can do with guidance from a more knowledgeable other. Instruction should target this zone.

Temporary, adjustable support (modeling, prompts, sentence frames) that helps a student do a task they cannot yet do alone, then is gradually removed.

Sociocultural theory (Vygotsky)

Learning is social and mediated by language and culture; knowledge is co-constructed through interaction before it is internalized by the individual.

More knowledgeable other (MKO)

Anyone — teacher, peer, or tool — with greater understanding who guides a learner through the zone of proximal development.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs (order)

Physiological → safety → love/belonging → esteem → self-actualization. Lower needs must be largely met before higher ones drive behavior.

Why Maslow matters for teachers

A hungry, anxious, or unsafe student cannot focus on learning; meeting basic and emotional needs is a precondition for academic engagement.

Bloom's taxonomy (revised, low to high)

Remember → understand → apply → analyze → evaluate → create. A hierarchy of cognitive demand used to write objectives and questions.

Higher-order thinking (Bloom's)

Analyze, evaluate, and create — the upper levels that require reasoning beyond recall. Strong instruction pushes students into these levels.

Erikson's psychosocial stage: industry vs. inferiority

~6 to 12 years (elementary). Children develop competence through accomplishment; repeated failure breeds feelings of inferiority.

Erikson's psychosocial stage: identity vs. role confusion

Adolescence. Teens explore and form a personal identity; failure to do so leads to confusion about their role and values.

Erikson's stage: initiative vs. guilt

~3 to 6 years (early childhood). Children assert purpose through play and planning; over-control or criticism can produce guilt.

Kohlberg's preconventional morality

Stages 1–2: behavior is governed by obedience/punishment avoidance and self-interest ('What's in it for me?'). Common in young children.

Kohlberg's conventional morality

Stages 3–4: behavior is guided by social approval and maintaining law and order. Typical of older children and most adults.

Backward design (three stages)

Plan from the end: (1) identify desired results/standards, (2) determine acceptable assessment evidence, (3) plan learning experiences and instruction.

Measurable learning objective

A specific, observable statement of what students will know or be able to do, written with a Bloom's action verb (e.g., 'analyze,' 'compare').

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills — the state's required curriculum standards. Texas teachers must align instruction and assessment to the TEKS.

The match among standards (TEKS), learning objectives, instruction, and assessment. Strong alignment means you assess exactly what you taught and intended.

Differentiated instruction

Tailoring the content, process, product, or learning environment to students' readiness, interests, and learning profiles so all reach the same standards.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

A framework that builds flexible options for engagement, representation, and action/expression into instruction from the start — proactive, not retrofit.

Ongoing, low-stakes checks during instruction (exit tickets, questioning, observation) used to give feedback and adjust teaching. Assessment FOR learning.

An end-of-unit evaluation of mastery against standards (final exam, project, state test). Assessment OF learning; usually higher stakes.

Diagnostic (preassessment)

Assessment given before instruction to identify students' prior knowledge, skills, and misconceptions so teaching can be targeted.

Norm-referenced assessment

Compares a student's performance to that of a norm group (e.g., percentile rank). Sorts and ranks students rather than measuring mastery of content.

Criterion-referenced assessment

Measures performance against a fixed standard or criterion, not against other students. STAAR is criterion-referenced — did the student meet the standard?

The degree to which an assessment measures what it claims to measure. A valid test matches the objectives and standards it is supposed to assess.

The degree to which an assessment produces consistent, repeatable results across raters, items, or occasions.

A scoring tool that lists criteria and performance levels, making evaluation of student work consistent, transparent, and fair.

Authentic / performance assessment

Tasks that ask students to apply knowledge in a real-world context (a lab, presentation, portfolio) rather than answer isolated questions.

A theory that learners actively build new understanding by connecting experiences to prior knowledge, rather than passively receiving information.

An organized mental framework of prior knowledge. Activating relevant schema before a lesson helps students integrate and remember new information.

Structured group work in which students work toward a shared goal with positive interdependence and individual accountability.

A brief opening activity (hook) that grabs attention, activates prior knowledge, and previews the lesson's purpose.

An end-of-lesson activity in which students summarize or apply what they learned, helping the teacher check understanding and reinforce key points.

Multiple intelligences (Gardner)

The idea that intelligence takes varied forms (linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist).

Bruner's spiral curriculum

The idea of revisiting key concepts repeatedly over time at increasing levels of complexity, building deeper understanding with each cycle.

What students already know about a topic. Effective lessons activate and build on it; unaddressed misconceptions can block new learning.

Demonstrating a skill or thinking process (often via think-aloud) so students see how an expert approaches a task before they try it.

Gradual release of responsibility

The 'I do, we do, you do' progression: teacher models, then guides practice, then students work independently as support fades.

The pause a teacher allows after asking a question (3+ seconds). Longer wait time improves the length, depth, and number of student responses.

An open-ended, thought-provoking question that frames a unit and drives inquiry toward deep understanding.

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PPR Flashcards

Piaget's sensorimotor stage: Birth to ~2 years. Infants learn through senses and motor action; key milestone is object permanence (objects exist when out of sight).
Piaget's preoperational stage: ~2 to 7 years. Symbolic thinking and language grow, but thought is egocentric and lacks conservation and reversibility.
Piaget's concrete operational stage: ~7 to 11 years. Logical thinking about concrete objects; the child masters conservation, classification, and reversibility.
Piaget's formal operational stage: ~11 years and up. Abstract, hypothetical, and deductive reasoning; can think about possibilities, not just concrete realities.
Conservation (Piaget): The understanding that quantity stays the same despite changes in shape or arrangement — mastered in the concrete operational stage.
Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD): The gap between what a learner can do alone and what they can do with guidance from a more knowledgeable other. Instruction should target this zone.
Scaffolding: Temporary, adjustable support (modeling, prompts, sentence frames) that helps a student do a task they cannot yet do alone, then is gradually removed.
Sociocultural theory (Vygotsky): Learning is social and mediated by language and culture; knowledge is co-constructed through interaction before it is internalized by the individual.
More knowledgeable other (MKO): Anyone — teacher, peer, or tool — with greater understanding who guides a learner through the zone of proximal development.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs (order): Physiological → safety → love/belonging → esteem → self-actualization. Lower needs must be largely met before higher ones drive behavior.
Why Maslow matters for teachers: A hungry, anxious, or unsafe student cannot focus on learning; meeting basic and emotional needs is a precondition for academic engagement.
Bloom's taxonomy (revised, low to high): Remember → understand → apply → analyze → evaluate → create. A hierarchy of cognitive demand used to write objectives and questions.
Higher-order thinking (Bloom's): Analyze, evaluate, and create — the upper levels that require reasoning beyond recall. Strong instruction pushes students into these levels.
Erikson's psychosocial stage: industry vs. inferiority: ~6 to 12 years (elementary). Children develop competence through accomplishment; repeated failure breeds feelings of inferiority.
Erikson's psychosocial stage: identity vs. role confusion: Adolescence. Teens explore and form a personal identity; failure to do so leads to confusion about their role and values.
Erikson's stage: initiative vs. guilt: ~3 to 6 years (early childhood). Children assert purpose through play and planning; over-control or criticism can produce guilt.
Kohlberg's preconventional morality: Stages 1–2: behavior is governed by obedience/punishment avoidance and self-interest ('What's in it for me?'). Common in young children.
Kohlberg's conventional morality: Stages 3–4: behavior is guided by social approval and maintaining law and order. Typical of older children and most adults.
Backward design (three stages): Plan from the end: (1) identify desired results/standards, (2) determine acceptable assessment evidence, (3) plan learning experiences and instruction.
Measurable learning objective: A specific, observable statement of what students will know or be able to do, written with a Bloom's action verb (e.g., 'analyze,' 'compare').
TEKS: Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills — the state's required curriculum standards. Texas teachers must align instruction and assessment to the TEKS.
Alignment: The match among standards (TEKS), learning objectives, instruction, and assessment. Strong alignment means you assess exactly what you taught and intended.
Differentiated instruction: Tailoring the content, process, product, or learning environment to students' readiness, interests, and learning profiles so all reach the same standards.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL): A framework that builds flexible options for engagement, representation, and action/expression into instruction from the start — proactive, not retrofit.
Formative assessment: Ongoing, low-stakes checks during instruction (exit tickets, questioning, observation) used to give feedback and adjust teaching. Assessment FOR learning.
Summative assessment: An end-of-unit evaluation of mastery against standards (final exam, project, state test). Assessment OF learning; usually higher stakes.
Diagnostic (preassessment): Assessment given before instruction to identify students' prior knowledge, skills, and misconceptions so teaching can be targeted.
Norm-referenced assessment: Compares a student's performance to that of a norm group (e.g., percentile rank). Sorts and ranks students rather than measuring mastery of content.
Criterion-referenced assessment: Measures performance against a fixed standard or criterion, not against other students. STAAR is criterion-referenced — did the student meet the standard?
Validity: The degree to which an assessment measures what it claims to measure. A valid test matches the objectives and standards it is supposed to assess.
Reliability: The degree to which an assessment produces consistent, repeatable results across raters, items, or occasions.
Rubric: A scoring tool that lists criteria and performance levels, making evaluation of student work consistent, transparent, and fair.
Authentic / performance assessment: Tasks that ask students to apply knowledge in a real-world context (a lab, presentation, portfolio) rather than answer isolated questions.
Constructivism: A theory that learners actively build new understanding by connecting experiences to prior knowledge, rather than passively receiving information.
Schema: An organized mental framework of prior knowledge. Activating relevant schema before a lesson helps students integrate and remember new information.
Cooperative learning: Structured group work in which students work toward a shared goal with positive interdependence and individual accountability.
Anticipatory set: A brief opening activity (hook) that grabs attention, activates prior knowledge, and previews the lesson's purpose.
Closure: An end-of-lesson activity in which students summarize or apply what they learned, helping the teacher check understanding and reinforce key points.
Multiple intelligences (Gardner): The idea that intelligence takes varied forms (linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist).
Bruner's spiral curriculum: The idea of revisiting key concepts repeatedly over time at increasing levels of complexity, building deeper understanding with each cycle.
Prior knowledge: What students already know about a topic. Effective lessons activate and build on it; unaddressed misconceptions can block new learning.
Modeling: Demonstrating a skill or thinking process (often via think-aloud) so students see how an expert approaches a task before they try it.
Gradual release of responsibility: The 'I do, we do, you do' progression: teacher models, then guides practice, then students work independently as support fades.
Wait time: The pause a teacher allows after asking a question (3+ seconds). Longer wait time improves the length, depth, and number of student responses.
Essential question: An open-ended, thought-provoking question that frames a unit and drives inquiry toward deep understanding.
Cognitive load: The amount of working-memory demand a task imposes. Chunking content and removing extraneous distractions keeps load manageable for learning.
Behaviorism: A theory that learning is shaped by stimulus–response and consequences (reinforcement and punishment). Underlies many classroom-management systems.
Bilingual / ESL program goals: Texas programs aim to help emergent bilingual students develop English proficiency and grade-level content knowledge, valuing the home language as an asset.
Self-actualization (Maslow): The top of Maslow's hierarchy: realizing one's full potential and creativity, possible only after lower needs are met.
Reliability vs. validity: Reliability = consistent results; validity = measures the right thing. A test can be reliable but not valid (consistent yet measuring the wrong skill).
Classroom management: The systems of routines, procedures, expectations, and relationships a teacher uses to create an orderly, respectful, productive learning environment.
Procedures vs. rules: Procedures are how routine tasks are done (turning in work, lining up); rules are expectations for behavior. Both should be taught and practiced early.
Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS): A proactive, school-wide framework that teaches and reinforces expected behaviors and uses data to support students, rather than relying on punishment.
Positive reinforcement: Adding a desirable consequence after a behavior to increase that behavior (praise, privileges). The most effective tool for shaping classroom behavior.
Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation: Intrinsic motivation comes from internal interest or satisfaction; extrinsic motivation comes from outside rewards. Fostering intrinsic motivation is the goal.
Withitness (Kounin): A teacher's awareness of everything happening in the room at all times, so problems are caught early and addressed before they escalate.
Proactive vs. reactive management: Proactive management prevents misbehavior through clear routines, engagement, and relationships; reactive management responds after problems occur. Prevention is preferred.
Growth mindset (Dweck): The belief that ability can grow with effort and strategy. Praising effort and process (not innate talent) builds resilience and persistence.
Equitable vs. equal: Equal gives every student the same thing; equitable gives each student what they need to succeed. A fair classroom is equitable, not identical.
Culturally responsive teaching: Instruction that recognizes and values students' cultural backgrounds, using them as assets to make learning relevant and the classroom inclusive.
Social-emotional learning (SEL): Developing self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making alongside academics.
Logical consequences: Responses to misbehavior that are related, respectful, and reasonable, connecting the consequence to the behavior (clean up the mess you made).
Establishing rapport: Building trusting, respectful relationships with students. Strong relationships are the foundation of motivation, engagement, and effective management.
Physical classroom arrangement: Organizing space and seating to support the activity — clear sightlines, easy movement, and areas configured for whole-group, small-group, or independent work.
Time on task / academic engaged time: The portion of class time students spend actively engaged in learning. Smooth transitions and efficient routines maximize it.
De-escalation: Calm, non-confrontational strategies (lowered voice, choices, space) used to reduce a student's emotional intensity before addressing the behavior.
Restorative practices: Approaches that repair harm and rebuild relationships after conflict (restorative circles, conferences) rather than relying solely on exclusionary discipline.
Investigating the function of behavior: Identifying why a student misbehaves (attention, escape, sensory, tangible) so the response addresses the underlying cause, not just the surface behavior.
Student ownership / autonomy: Giving students appropriate choice and voice (in rules, goals, or how they show learning) to increase motivation and responsibility.
Safe and supportive climate: A classroom where students feel physically and emotionally safe to take risks, make mistakes, and express ideas without ridicule.
Consistency: Applying rules, routines, and consequences predictably and fairly. Inconsistency undermines expectations and erodes trust.
Transitions: The shifts between activities. Teaching and practicing efficient transition procedures prevents lost time and off-task behavior.
Proximity control: A subtle management move: moving near an off-task student to redirect behavior without stopping instruction or calling attention.
High expectations: Communicating the belief that all students can meet rigorous standards. High expectations paired with support drive achievement.
Self-efficacy: A student's belief in their own ability to succeed at a task. Mastery experiences and encouragement build it; it strongly predicts effort and persistence.
Engagement strategies: Techniques that keep all students active — think-pair-share, total participation responses, choice, and relevant, challenging tasks.
Bullying response: A teacher must intervene immediately, ensure safety, report per district policy, and address it with the students and families — never ignore it.
Attribution theory: How students explain success and failure. Helping them attribute outcomes to effort and strategy (controllable) builds motivation and persistence.
Inclusive environment: A classroom that welcomes and supports all students — across abilities, languages, and cultures — so each feels they belong and can participate.
Co-constructing rules with students: Involving students in creating classroom rules builds ownership and understanding, increasing the likelihood they follow them.
Active learning: Engaging students directly in doing — discussion, problem-solving, application — rather than passively receiving information, which deepens understanding and retention.
Effective feedback: Feedback that is specific, actionable, and timely, focused on the task and how to improve — not just a grade or vague praise.
Questioning techniques: Using a mix of lower- and higher-order questions, wait time, and cold-call/all-respond methods to engage every student at different cognitive levels.
Data-driven instruction: Using assessment results to identify learning gaps and adjust teaching — reteaching, regrouping, or enriching based on what the data show.
Inquiry-based learning: Instruction driven by student questions, investigation, and exploration; the teacher acts as a facilitator guiding students to construct understanding.
Project-based learning (PBL): Extended, student-driven projects centered on a real-world problem or question, in which the teacher serves as a guide and facilitator.
Flipped classroom: Students learn new content (often via video) before class, freeing in-class time for active practice, application, and problem-solving with the teacher present.
Supporting English Language Learners (ELLs): Use comprehensible input — visuals, scaffolds, gestures, sentence frames, and differentiated tasks — to make grade-level content accessible while building English.
Comprehensible input: Making content understandable to language learners through visuals, simplified language, and context, so they can access meaning at their proficiency level.
Metacognition: Thinking about one's own thinking. Self-assessment and reflection build metacognitive skills that help students monitor and regulate their learning.
Self-assessment: Students evaluating their own work against criteria. It promotes metacognition, ownership, and awareness of progress toward goals.
Technology integration: Using digital tools purposefully to advance learning objectives — for immediate feedback, personalized paths, collaboration, or access — not technology for its own sake.
Checking for understanding: Frequent, in-the-moment checks (questioning, signals, quick writes) during a lesson to confirm students are learning before moving on.
Reteaching: Revisiting content using a different approach or representation when assessment shows students did not master it the first time.
Flexible grouping: Grouping and regrouping students by readiness, interest, or task — sometimes homogeneous, sometimes mixed — based on data and instructional purpose.
Think-pair-share: A strategy where students think individually, discuss with a partner, then share with the class — boosting participation and processing.
Graphic organizers: Visual tools (Venn diagrams, concept maps, T-charts) that help students organize information, see relationships, and support comprehension.
Pacing: Adjusting the speed and density of instruction to keep students appropriately challenged and engaged — slowing for difficulty, accelerating when ready.
Responsive instruction: Adapting teaching in real time based on student understanding and needs, rather than rigidly following a script regardless of how the class responds.
Scaffolded questioning: Sequencing questions from concrete and recall toward abstract and analytical, leading students step by step to higher-order thinking.
Differentiating by process: Varying how students engage with content (tiered tasks, choice of activity, varied support) while keeping the same learning goal.
Differentiating by product: Letting students demonstrate the same learning in different ways (essay, presentation, model) suited to their strengths.
Real-world relevance: Connecting lessons to students' lives and authentic contexts to increase motivation, engagement, and transfer of learning.
Productive struggle: Letting students grapple with appropriately challenging problems before help is given, building perseverance and deeper understanding.
Accommodations vs. modifications: Accommodations change how a student accesses content (extra time, audio) without changing the standard; modifications change what is taught or expected.
Spaced practice / distributed practice: Spreading study and review across time rather than massing it, which improves long-term retention far more than cramming.
Retrieval practice: Practicing recalling information from memory (low-stakes quizzing, flashcards), which strengthens learning more than rereading.
Direct instruction: An explicit, teacher-led model — clear objectives, modeling, guided practice, and independent practice — effective for teaching discrete skills and foundational content.
Differentiating by content: Varying what students learn or the materials' complexity (leveled texts, tiered resources) based on readiness while targeting the same standard.
Using assessment results to group: Analyzing formative data to form small groups for targeted reteaching or enrichment, then regrouping as needs change.
Texas Educators' Code of Ethics: The state's binding ethics rules (Texas Administrative Code Chapter 247) covering professional conduct, ethical practices, and conduct toward students and colleagues.
Three sections of the Texas Code of Ethics: (1) Professional Ethical Conduct, Practices, and Performance; (2) Ethical Conduct Toward Professional Colleagues; (3) Ethical Conduct Toward Students.
FERPA: The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act — a federal law protecting the privacy of student education records and giving parents/eligible students rights over them.
IDEA: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act — a federal law guaranteeing eligible students with disabilities a free appropriate public education (FAPE) via an IEP.
IEP: An Individualized Education Program — a legally binding document under IDEA that specifies a student's goals, services, and accommodations.
Section 504: Part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 — prohibits disability discrimination and provides accommodations (a 504 plan) for students who don't qualify under IDEA.
FAPE: Free Appropriate Public Education — the IDEA guarantee that students with disabilities receive education and services at no cost, tailored to their needs.
Least restrictive environment (LRE): The IDEA principle that students with disabilities are educated with non-disabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate.
Mandatory reporting: By Texas law, educators must report suspected child abuse or neglect within 48 hours, and may not delegate or be relieved of this personal duty.
TEA: The Texas Education Agency — the state agency that oversees public education, sets the TEKS, administers STAAR, and governs educator certification.
Reflective practice: Regularly analyzing one's own teaching to identify strengths and areas for growth, then adjusting to improve effectiveness.
Professional learning community (PLC): A collaborative group of educators who meet regularly to share practice, analyze student data, and improve instruction together.
Communicating with families: Building partnerships through regular, two-way, respectful communication in multiple formats and languages, keeping families informed about progress.
Sensitive parent conversations: Handle privately, lead with the student's strengths, share specific evidence, listen, and collaborate on a plan rather than assigning blame.
Confidentiality of student information: Under FERPA and ethics rules, educators must keep student records and personal information private, sharing only with those who have a legitimate need.
Professional boundaries: Maintaining appropriate relationships with students — including on social media — and adhering to district policy to protect students and one's certification.
Reporting a colleague's ethics violation: Document the behavior and report it through proper school or district channels — not gossip or ignore it. The duty to protect students comes first.
Professional development: Ongoing learning (workshops, coursework, coaching) chosen to target specific growth areas and improve instruction; required to maintain certification.
Co-teaching: Two educators (often general and special education) sharing planning, instruction, and assessment in one classroom; most effective when both are equal partners.
ARD committee: Admission, Review, and Dismissal — the Texas team (including parents and teachers) that develops, reviews, and revises a student's IEP under IDEA.
Advocating for students: Acting in students' best interests — connecting them to resources, services, and supports — while following district and legal procedures.
Collaboration with specialists: Working with counselors, special educators, ELL specialists, and administrators to meet the full range of student needs.
Acting with integrity: Honesty in records, assessment, and reporting; avoiding falsifying data, misrepresenting credentials, or misappropriating resources — required by the Code of Ethics.
Resources for struggling students: Tutoring, response to intervention (RTI/MTSS), counseling, special education referral, and family engagement — used before assuming a student simply can't learn.
Continuing education / certificate renewal: Texas educators renew standard certificates by completing required continuing professional education (CPE) hours over the renewal period.
Student feedback on instruction: Gathering and weighing student input as one of several sources to reflect on and improve teaching practices.
Equity in professional practice: Investigating disparities (e.g., an underperforming group) and adapting instruction and supports to close gaps, rather than lowering expectations.
Addressing suspected abuse vs. respecting privacy: Mandatory reporting of suspected abuse overrides ordinary confidentiality — the duty to protect the child's safety comes first.
School-community partnerships: Connecting families and community resources to the classroom to support student learning, well-being, and a sense of belonging.
STAAR: The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness — the criterion-referenced state tests measuring student mastery of the TEKS.
Assimilation (Piaget): Fitting new information into an existing schema without changing the schema — interpreting the new through what you already know.
Accommodation (Piaget): Changing an existing schema, or creating a new one, to incorporate information that doesn't fit — the schema adapts to the new reality.
Egocentrism (preoperational): A young child's difficulty seeing a situation from another's perspective — assuming others share their viewpoint.
Reversibility: Understanding that an action can be reversed (e.g., 5 + 3 = 8 and 8 − 3 = 5) — a hallmark of the concrete operational stage.
Erikson: trust vs. mistrust: Infancy (0–1). Consistent, responsive care builds trust; neglect breeds mistrust of the world.
Erikson: autonomy vs. shame and doubt: Toddlerhood (1–3). Children assert independence; over-control or criticism produces shame and doubt.
Kohlberg: postconventional morality: Stages 5–6: reasoning based on social contract and universal ethical principles, beyond mere law or approval.
Equilibration (Piaget): The drive to balance assimilation and accommodation; cognitive conflict pushes a learner to a new, more stable understanding.
Information-processing theory: A model of memory as input → sensory register → working memory → long-term memory; teaching should manage attention and reduce overload.
Working memory: The limited-capacity system that holds and manipulates information in the moment; chunking and reducing distractions protect it.
Transfer of learning: Applying knowledge or skills learned in one context to a new situation; relevance and varied practice promote it.
Concrete-representational-abstract (CRA): A sequence for teaching concepts (especially math): start with concrete objects, move to pictures, then to abstract symbols.
Tiered assignments: Tasks at varied levels of challenge addressing the same objective, so students work at their readiness level toward one standard.
Pre-assessment: Assessing students before a unit to reveal prior knowledge, skills, and misconceptions so instruction can be targeted.
Performance-based assessment: Asking students to apply skills in a realistic task (lab, presentation, portfolio) rather than answer isolated questions.
Portfolio assessment: A purposeful collection of student work over time that shows growth and mastery toward standards.
Self- and peer assessment: Students evaluating their own or each other's work against criteria, building metacognition and ownership.
Standardized test: A test administered and scored under uniform conditions; can be norm- or criterion-referenced (STAAR is criterion-referenced).
Bias in assessment: Features of a test that disadvantage a group unfairly; using varied, accessible measures and reviewing items reduces it.
ELPS: English Language Proficiency Standards — Texas standards for teaching academic English to emergent bilingual students across all subjects.
Gifted and talented (GT): Students who perform or show potential at remarkably high levels; they need enrichment, depth, and complexity, not just more work.
Response to Intervention (RTI/MTSS): A tiered system providing increasing levels of support to struggling students, using data to decide who needs more.
Backward-design Stage 1: Identify desired results — the standard (TEKS) and the enduring understandings and learning goals students should reach.
Backward-design Stage 2: Determine acceptable evidence — how you'll assess that students have met the goal, planned before the activities.
Backward-design Stage 3: Plan learning experiences and instruction — the activities that build toward the assessment and the desired results.
Vertical alignment: Coordinating curriculum across grade levels so skills build coherently from year to year.
Horizontal alignment: Coordinating curriculum across classes or teachers in the same grade so students get comparable, standards-based instruction.
Maslow: belonging needs: The third level — the need for connection, acceptance, and relationships; a classroom community helps meet it.
Maslow: esteem needs: The fourth level — the need for recognition, respect, and a sense of accomplishment; achievable challenge and feedback build it.
Learning style vs. readiness: Readiness (current skill level) drives most differentiation decisions; interests and profiles add engagement, but readiness is primary.
Negative reinforcement: Removing an unpleasant condition to increase a behavior (ending a nagging reminder once work is done). It increases behavior, unlike punishment.
Punishment vs. reinforcement: Reinforcement increases a behavior; punishment decreases it. The PPR favors reinforcing desired behavior over punishing undesired behavior.
Extinction: Withholding the reinforcement that maintains a behavior so the behavior fades (e.g., not giving attention to minor attention-seeking).
Token economy: A system in which students earn tokens for desired behavior, exchangeable for rewards; an extrinsic-motivation tool to use sparingly.
Group contingency: A reward or consequence based on the behavior of a group, used to build positive peer accountability and a shared goal.
Functional behavior assessment (FBA): A process to identify the purpose (function) of a challenging behavior so a support plan can address its cause.
Behavior intervention plan (BIP): A plan, often following an FBA, that teaches replacement behaviors and supports a student with persistent behavior challenges.
Establishing routines early: Teaching and practicing procedures in the first days of school prevents most management problems all year.
Overlapping (Kounin): Attending to more than one event at a time — e.g., helping one group while monitoring the whole room.
Momentum & smoothness (Kounin): Keeping lessons moving without abrupt stops or 'jerkiness' so students stay engaged and off-task time shrinks.
Ripple effect (Kounin): How a teacher's response to one student's behavior influences the behavior of others watching.
Classroom community: A climate of belonging, shared norms, and mutual respect that supports learning and reduces behavior problems.
Choice as motivation: Offering students appropriate choices (of task, partner, or product) increases autonomy and intrinsic motivation.
Relevance as motivation: Connecting learning to students' lives and goals raises engagement and the perceived value of a task.
Locus of control: Whether students attribute outcomes to factors inside (effort) or outside (luck) their control; an internal locus supports motivation.
Learned helplessness: When repeated failure leads a student to stop trying; countered by achievable success, effort attribution, and scaffolding.
Fixed vs. growth mindset: A fixed mindset sees ability as unchangeable; a growth mindset sees it as developable through effort and strategy.
Trauma-informed practice: Recognizing how trauma affects behavior and learning, and responding with safety, predictability, and support rather than punishment.
Conflict resolution: Teaching students to resolve disputes through communication and problem-solving rather than aggression.
Classroom rules (effective): Few, positively stated, clearly taught, and consistently enforced; co-creating them builds student ownership.
Engaging the disengaged: Re-engage a checked-out student with relevance, choice, achievable challenge, and relationship — not just consequences.
Seating arrangements: Arrange seating to fit the activity — rows for direct instruction, clusters for collaboration, a circle for discussion.
Nonverbal redirection: Using a look, gesture, or proximity to redirect off-task behavior without interrupting instruction or drawing attention.
Building belonging: Greeting students, learning their names and interests, and creating shared rituals to make every student feel they belong.
Equitable participation: Structuring discussion so all students contribute (cold call, all-write, random call) rather than the same few volunteers.
Cooperative learning structures: Designs like jigsaw and think-pair-share that build positive interdependence and individual accountability.
Jigsaw: A cooperative structure where each student becomes an 'expert' on one part, then teaches it to their group.
Bloom's verbs for objectives: Action verbs at each level (define, explain, apply, analyze, evaluate, design) used to write measurable objectives.
Higher-order questioning: Questions that ask students to analyze, evaluate, or create — pushing thinking beyond recall.
Open- vs. closed-ended questions: Open questions invite extended reasoning and multiple answers; closed questions check a single fact. Mix both purposefully.
Total participation techniques: Methods (whiteboards, signals, all-write) that have every student respond at once, not just one volunteer.
Exit ticket: A brief end-of-lesson prompt that gives the teacher quick formative data on who learned the objective.
Scaffolds for ELLs: Visuals, sentence frames, word banks, native-language support, and partner talk that make content comprehensible.
Sheltered instruction: Teaching grade-level content to English learners using strategies that make the language and concepts accessible.
Differentiation in delivery: Adjusting how a lesson is delivered in real time — re-explaining, adding a visual, regrouping — based on student response.
Anticipatory set (hook): A brief opener that grabs attention, activates prior knowledge, and previews the lesson's purpose.
Guided practice: Students practice a new skill with teacher support and feedback before working independently.
Independent practice: Students apply a skill on their own once they can do it successfully with support; the teacher monitors.
Modeling / think-aloud: Demonstrating a skill while narrating the thinking, so students see how an expert approaches the task.
Differentiated questioning: Posing questions at varied levels so every student can engage at their readiness while some are pushed higher.
Purposeful technology use: Using a digital tool only when it advances the objective — for feedback, collaboration, access, or personalization.
Digital citizenship: Teaching students to use technology safely, responsibly, and ethically — privacy, credibility, and respectful conduct online.
Equitable tech access: Ensuring all students can use required technology, accounting for differing devices and connectivity.
Real-time monitoring: Circulating, observing, and questioning during work time to catch misunderstandings as they happen.
Feedback loop: The cycle of assessing, giving actionable feedback, letting students revise, and reassessing — feedback only helps if students act on it.
Adjusting pacing: Speeding up or slowing instruction based on understanding — extending when ready, reteaching when needed.
Data-informed grouping: Forming temporary small groups from formative data to reteach or enrich, then regrouping as needs change.
Reteaching a new way: When students don't master content, revisit it with a different approach or representation — not just a repeat.
Activating prior knowledge: Connecting a new lesson to what students already know, so new information has something to attach to.
Checking for understanding (CFU): Frequent in-the-moment checks (questioning, signals, quick writes) confirming students learn before you move on.
SBEC: The State Board for Educator Certification — sets the standards and rules for Texas educator certification and ethics.
Educator Preparation Program (EPP): A TEA/SBEC-approved program (university, alternative, or post-baccalaureate) that prepares and recommends candidates for certification.
Inclusion: Educating students with disabilities in the general classroom with appropriate supports, reflecting the least restrictive environment.
504 plan: A plan under Section 504 providing accommodations for a student with a disability who doesn't qualify for special education under IDEA.
Directory information (FERPA): Information (like name or grade level) a school may disclose without consent, unless a parent opts out — narrower categories still need consent.
Legitimate educational interest: The standard under FERPA for which school officials may access a student's records — a real need tied to their duties.
Copyright & fair use: Educators must respect copyright; limited educational use may be allowed under fair use, but copying wholesale is not.
Confidentiality of student info: Keep student records and personal information private, sharing only with those who have a legitimate need to know.
Professional boundaries online: Maintain appropriate, professional relationships with students on social media and follow district policy to protect students and your certificate.
Reporting timeline (Texas): Suspected child abuse or neglect must be reported within 48 hours; the duty is immediate, personal, and cannot be delegated.
Non-delegable duty: A teacher cannot satisfy the mandatory-reporting duty merely by telling a principal — each educator must make the report themselves.
Code of Ethics: toward students: Protect students from harm, keep their information confidential, and never engage in inappropriate or abusive relationships.
Code of Ethics: toward colleagues: Keep colleague information confidential; no harassment, discrimination, coercion, retaliation; give honest evaluations.
Code of Ethics: professional conduct: Honesty with funds and property; no falsifying records or misrepresenting qualifications; no misuse of an official position.
Mentoring: Pairing a new teacher with an experienced one for guidance and support, accelerating professional growth.
Reflective journal: A record of observations about one's teaching used to reflect, identify patterns, and plan improvements.
Advocacy for students: Acting in students' best interests — connecting them to resources, services, and supports — within legal and district procedures.
Two-way family communication: Communication that invites family input, not just delivers information — building genuine partnership.
Strengths-based conferencing: Opening parent conferences with what the student does well before discussing concerns, keeping the tone collaborative.
Cultural competence with families: Respecting families' languages, customs, and perspectives and removing barriers to their participation in school.
Continuous professional improvement: An ongoing cycle of reflection, learning, and applying new strategies to grow as an educator throughout a career.

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By Career EmployerUpdated Jun 20, 2026

200+ free PPR flashcards — 4 ways to study

PPR Flashcard of the Day

The classic card. Do you know this one?

Click Study Flashcards above to open the flashcard hub — hundreds of PPR cards you can flip, match, type, or quiz yourself on. Every card is drawn from the four TExES PPR domains, so you study exactly what the exam measures.^[1] Pair them with our free practice test and study guide.

PPR Flashcard Study Modes

Most flashcard sites give you one thing: a card to flip. Ours has four modes so you can both learn the material and prove you know it — the difference between recognizing an answer and recalling it under test pressure.

Flip (Study) — the classic card. Flip term ↔ definition, shuffle the deck, and mark each card “Got it” or “Still learning.”
Match (Game) — a timed game: pair each term to its definition as fast as you can. Great for theorists, assessment terms, and pedagogy vocabulary.
Type (Recall) — read the definition and type the term. Typing forces true active recall instead of passive recognition.
Quiz (Test) — multiple-choice questions generated from the cards, so you self-test exactly like test day.

Free TExES PPR EC-12 flashcards from Career Employer — active recall across development, instruction, classroom management, assessment, and Texas ethics

Why Flashcards Work for the PPR

Flashcards aren’t busywork — they’re built on active recall: pulling an answer out of memory strengthens it far more than re-reading notes. Pair that with spacing — short sessions across several days rather than one cram — and you retain more in less time.

The PPR spans a lot of ground — developmental theorists, instructional design, classroom management, assessment terms, and the legal and ethical rules every Texas teacher must know.^[2] Spaced flashcards are the most efficient way to keep it all fresh. Used alongside our practice test and study guide, they turn review time into measurable progress.

PPR Flashcards by Domain

The cards are organized by the four PPR EC-12 domains. Because the domains carry different weight, drill them in priority order — start with the largest:

PPR flashcards by domain
Domain	What the cards cover
I · Designing Instruction & Assessment (34%)	Piaget, Vygotsky, Maslow, Bloom; backward design; differentiation; assessment
III · Implementing Instruction (33%)	Communication, engagement, technology, feedback, monitoring
IV · Professional Roles (20%)	Family partnerships, collaboration, ethics, FERPA, IDEA, reporting
II · Positive Environment (13%)	Climate, management, procedures, motivation, growth mindset

How to Get the Most Out of These Flashcards

One domain at a time. Lead with the big ones — designing instruction (I) and implementing instruction (III) are two-thirds of the test.
Use Type and Quiz, not just Flip. Recognizing the right answer is easy; recalling and choosing it is the real test.
Drill your weakest domain. Pick a single deck — often the developmental theorists or the legal/ethical rules — and grind it until the Match time drops and the Quiz score climbs.
Then prove it. When the cards feel easy, confirm with a full practice test — aim comfortably above a scaled 240 before test day.

PPR Flashcards FAQ

Hundreds of free TExES PPR EC-12 flashcards, organized across the four exam domains — designing instruction and assessment, creating a positive classroom environment, implementing responsive instruction, and fulfilling professional roles. They cover the high-yield theorists, terms, and concepts the PPR measures, and they're free with no account required.

References

1.Texas Education Agency / Pearson. “TExES PPR EC-12 (160) Test Framework.” tx.nesinc.com. ↑
2.Texas Education Agency / Pearson. “TExES PPR EC-12 (160) Preparation Manual.” tx.nesinc.com. ↑
3.Texas Administrative Code (SBEC). “19 TAC Chapter 247, Educators' Code of Ethics.” tea.texas.gov. ↑

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