NYSTCE exam prep
NYSTCE Students with Disabilities CST Study Hub
Everything for NYSTCE Students with Disabilities (060): 90 selected-response questions and one written assignment in 3 hours 15 minutes of testing time. Two full practice forms with worked explanations, a 108-card deck, and the seven competencies laid out with New York’s own published weightings.
2 free pop-up tests · 108 flashcards · 7 weighted competencies
2 pop-up practice tests60 connected lessons1 complete flashcard deck
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NYSTCE Students with Disabilities Practice Center
Take a full 135-minute form, then read the explanation under every question you missed. On this test most misses are not knowledge gaps. They are a candidate choosing the most supportive-sounding answer over the one the data and the team process require, and the explanations are written to make that difference visible.
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NYSTCE Students with Disabilities CST at a glance
This is the content specialty test for a New York certificate in students with disabilities. Ninety selected-response questions carry 80 percent of the score and one written assignment carries the other 20 percent. Two competencies, assessment and program planning and instructional planning and delivery, carry 40 percent of the selected-response score between them, and the written assignment draws on both.
| Test code | 060 (Students with Disabilities, a Content Specialty Test) |
|---|---|
| Number of questions | 90 selected-response questions and 1 constructed-response assignment |
| Time limit | 3 hours 15 minutes of testing time, in an appointment of 3 hours 30 minutes |
| Section time | Up to 135 minutes for the selected-response section and up to 60 minutes for the written assignment |
| Format | Computer-based, offered year-round Monday through Saturday by appointment |
| Calculator | None provided and none needed. The only numbers are assessment scores you read rather than compute. |
| Scoring | Selected response is 80 percent of the score and the written assignment is 20 percent. |
| Passing score | 520 on a scale of 400 to 600 |
| Results | Reported as Pass or Did Not Pass with a scaled score, plus a four-level performance index for each competency. |
| Written assignment | One exhibit-based response of about 400 to 600 words, scored on a four-point scale across three dimensions. |
New York publishes a percentage and an approximate question count for every competency, and the counts add up to exactly 90. Foundations of Special Education, Knowledge of Students with Disabilities, Planning and Managing the Learning Environment, and Communication, Social, and Functional Living Skills are 10 percent each, about 11 questions apiece. Assessment and Individual Program Planning is 20 percent, about 23 questions, and Instructional Planning and Delivery is 20 percent, about 23. Competency 0007 has no selected-response questions at all; it is the written assignment and carries 20 percent of the total score.
The seven competencies, in plain language
New York states each competency as a performance expectation and then lists the indicators under it. Here is what each one asks of you.
Competency 0001: Foundations of special education (10 percent, about 11 questions)
Where the field came from, what the law requires, and what your professional role includes.
- Know the history of special education and the issues the field argues about now
- Apply federal and state law, regulation, and ethical guidance to a school situation
- State the rights of students, families, teachers, and districts, and the duties that go with them
- Communicate and partner with families across cultural and linguistic differences
- Collaborate with general education teachers, related service providers, and paraprofessionals
- Keep current through reflection, professional development, and research-validated practice
- Point families toward the agencies and services that exist outside the school
- Advocate for a student when the system is not meeting the need
Competency 0002: Knowledge of students with disabilities (10 percent, about 11 questions)
How children develop, how disability changes that path, and how much variation sits inside one label.
- Describe typical and atypical development across cognitive, physical, communication, social, emotional, and adaptive domains
- Know the characteristics, identification criteria, causes, and medical aspects of the disabilities
- Explain how two students with the same classification can need very different things
- Trace how a disability affects school and life outcomes over time
- Account for culture and language when you interpret how a student approaches learning
- Weigh outside factors such as family circumstances, medication effects, and sensory impairment
Competency 0003: Assessment and individual program planning (20 percent, about 23 questions)
What each kind of assessment can and cannot tell you, and how the results become an IEP.
- Use assessment terminology precisely, including standard scores and percentile ranks
- Match the assessment to the question you are trying to answer, and name its limits
- Select and administer nonbiased formal and informal measures
- Interpret results and turn them into a description of strengths and needs
- Explain how evaluation data drive eligibility, program, and placement decisions
- Report results clearly to students, families, and colleagues, and keep accurate records
- Walk through screening, prereferral intervention including RTI, referral, and classification
- Describe the continuum of services and placements
- Know every component of the IEP and your role in writing, delivering, and monitoring it
Competency 0004: Learning environment and behavioral intervention (10 percent, about 11 questions)
Building a room that works, and responding to behavior with a plan rather than a reaction.
- Set routines, procedures, and physical arrangements that keep the room safe and productive
- Recognize how your own expectations and communication style affect students
- Teach effectively one to one, in small groups, and with the whole class
- Spot barriers to access and adapt so a student can participate independently
- Run functional behavioral assessment, write a behavior intervention plan, monitor it, and revise it
- Prevent a crisis where you can and respond safely when you cannot
Competency 0005: Instructional planning and delivery (20 percent, about 23 questions)
Specially designed instruction that gets a student into the general curriculum and moving through it.
- Align specially designed instruction with grade-level standards
- Use co-planning and co-teaching models with a general education partner
- Differentiate with research- or evidence-based practices rather than by lowering the work
- Choose specialized materials, adapt resources, and integrate assistive technology
- Deliver explicit, systematic instruction in reading, in writing, and in mathematics
- Teach essential vocabulary and content across subject areas
- Teach learning strategies, listening, study skills, and test-taking skills directly
Competency 0006: Communication, social, and functional living skills (10 percent, about 11 questions)
The skills a student needs outside the academic curriculum, taught as deliberately as reading.
- Teach communication skills across a range of disabilities and communication needs
- Evaluate and plan for augmentative and alternative communication
- Weave social, affective, career, and life skills into academic instruction
- Teach social skills that transfer beyond your classroom
- Build self-advocacy and self-determination
- Teach personal management, career development, and independent living
- Support transitions between settings during school and into life after it
Competency 0007: Analysis, synthesis, and application (the written assignment, 20 percent)
One exhibit-based response that asks you to read a real student profile and recommend what to do.
- Read a set of exhibits: a student profile, IEP documentation, and assessment data
- Synthesize formal and informal data into a defensible statement of strengths and needs
- Name two needs and recommend an intervention matched to each one
- Ground every recommendation in something the exhibits actually show
- Write 400 to 600 words that a scorer can follow: need, strategy, rationale
A study routine for a two-part test
The selected-response section gives you about ninety seconds a question, which is enough to think but not enough to agonize. The written assignment is a separate skill, and candidates who never practice it lose the twenty percent it is worth.
DiagnoseTake Practice Test 1 cold and untimed if you need to. Note not just what you missed but which wrong answer pulled you, because that pattern repeats across the form.
Learn the vocabulary coldFAPE, LRE, IEP, FBA, BIP, RTI, UDL, AAC, CBM, transition plan, standard score, percentile rank. New York will not define any of them for you.
Get fluent with assessment dataCompetency 0003 is the largest selected-response block and it feeds the written assignment. Practice reading a score report and saying in one sentence what it means for instruction.
Write one practice response a weekGive yourself sixty minutes and a student profile. Name two needs from different categories, recommend one strategy for each, and explain why the exhibits support it.
Prove itTake Practice Test 2 under time. On every miss, write one sentence naming the step the correct answer took first.
Complete competency map
Every performance indicator New York publishes for this field, grouped by competency and weighted the way the state weights it. There are no linked lessons here yet; these are the points to be able to speak to.
Competency 0001: Foundations of Special Education (10% of the total score, about 11 questions)
- 01Demonstrates knowledge of the historical and philosophical foundations of special education and of contemporary issues in the field
- 02Applies knowledge of federal and state laws, regulations, policies, and ethical guidelines governing the education of students with disabilities
- 03Demonstrates an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of students, parents and guardians, teachers, and schools
- 04Applies knowledge of culturally responsive communication and partnership strategies for working with students and families from diverse backgrounds
- 05Applies knowledge of strategies for collaborating with general education teachers, related services providers, paraprofessionals, and other school personnel
- 06Demonstrates knowledge of the role of self-reflection and engagement in ongoing professional development
- 07Demonstrates knowledge of strategies for remaining current with research-validated practices in special education
- 08Demonstrates knowledge of local, state, and national services, agencies, organizations, and resources available to students with disabilities and their families
- 09Demonstrates an understanding of the special education teacher’s responsibility to advocate for the interests and needs of students with disabilities
Competency 0002: Knowledge of Students with Disabilities (10% of the total score, about 11 questions)
- 10Demonstrates knowledge of typical and atypical human growth and development across the cognitive, physical, communication, social, emotional, and adaptive domains
- 11Demonstrates knowledge of the characteristics, identification criteria, etiologies, and medical aspects of the various disabilities
- 12Demonstrates an understanding of the similarities and differences among students with and without disabilities, and among students who share the same disability classification
- 13Analyzes how the characteristics associated with a disability influence a student’s educational experience and life outcomes across the life span
- 14Applies knowledge of the different ways in which students with disabilities approach learning, including students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
- 15Analyzes factors that affect development, learning, and daily living, including family roles and circumstances, effects of medications, and sensory impairments
Competency 0003: Assessment and Individual Program Planning (20% of the total score, about 23 questions)
- 16Demonstrates knowledge of specialized assessment terminology used in special education
- 17Demonstrates an understanding of the characteristics, uses, and limitations of formal and informal assessments
- 18Applies knowledge of procedures for selecting and administering nonbiased formal and informal assessments
- 19Interprets information obtained from formal and informal assessments of students with disabilities
- 20Applies knowledge of how individual evaluation assessment data and other assessment information are used to make eligibility, program, and placement decisions
- 21Applies knowledge of strategies for communicating assessment results to students, families, and other professionals, and for maintaining accurate records
- 22Demonstrates knowledge of screening, prereferral intervention (including Response to Intervention), referral, and classification procedures
- 23Demonstrates knowledge of the continuum of services and placements available to students with disabilities
- 24Demonstrates knowledge of the components of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) and of the special education teacher’s role in developing, implementing, and monitoring the IEP
- 25Demonstrates an understanding of the roles of the student, parents and guardians, general education teachers, related services providers, and other team members in the assessment and program planning process
Competency 0004: Strategies for Planning and Managing the Learning Environment and for Providing Behavioral Interventions (10% of the total score, about 11 questions)
- 26Applies knowledge of strategies for creating safe, productive learning environments, including establishing routines, procedures, and effective physical arrangements
- 27Analyzes the effects of teacher attitudes and behaviors on students with disabilities, and applies strategies for building rapport and adjusting communication to student needs
- 28Applies knowledge of methods for ensuring individual academic success in one-to-one, small-group, and large-group settings
- 29Identifies barriers to accessibility and applies knowledge of adaptations that promote optimal learning, participation, and independence
- 30Applies knowledge of procedures for developing, implementing, monitoring, and modifying behavioral interventions, including the use of positive behavioral supports and functional behavioral assessment
- 31Applies knowledge of crisis prevention and intervention strategies
Competency 0005: Instructional Planning and Delivery to Promote Students’ Success in the General Curriculum (20% of the total score, about 23 questions)
- 32Applies knowledge of strategies for aligning instruction with local, state, and national curriculum standards
- 33Demonstrates knowledge of co-planning and co-teaching methods and models
- 34Applies knowledge of research- or evidence-based practices for differentiating instruction to address individual student needs
- 35Applies knowledge of specialized materials and curricula, the integration of assistive technology, and the adaptation of instructional resources
- 36Demonstrates knowledge of research- or evidence-based methods for explicit and systematic reading instruction and intervention
- 37Demonstrates knowledge of research- or evidence-based methods for explicit and systematic writing instruction and intervention
- 38Demonstrates knowledge of research- or evidence-based methods for explicit and systematic mathematics instruction and intervention
- 39Applies knowledge of methods for teaching essential concepts, vocabulary, and content across the curriculum
- 40Demonstrates knowledge of research- or evidence-based methods for explicitly teaching learning strategies, listening skills, study skills, and test-taking skills
- 41Applies knowledge of the use of technology to promote students’ academic success
Competency 0006: Strategies for Teaching Communication Skills, Social Skills, and Functional Living Skills (10% of the total score, about 11 questions)
- 42Applies knowledge of strategies for teaching communication skills to students with a range of disabilities and communication needs
- 43Demonstrates knowledge of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) options and of planning for their selection and use
- 44Applies knowledge of strategies for integrating affective, social, career, and life skills instruction with academic instruction
- 45Applies knowledge of strategies for teaching social skills for use in educational and other environments
- 46Applies knowledge of strategies for teaching self-advocacy and self-determination skills
- 47Applies knowledge of strategies for teaching personal management, career development, and independent living skills
- 48Applies knowledge of strategies for supporting students’ transitions between environments and settings during the school years
- 49Applies knowledge of strategies for supporting postsecondary transition to further education, employment, and independent living
Competency 0007: Analysis, Synthesis, and Application (the constructed-response assignment, 20 percent of the total score)
- 50Analyzes profiles of students with mild, moderate, severe, or multiple disabilities
- 51Interprets and synthesizes formal and informal assessment data to identify a student’s strengths and needs
- 52Recommends the development and implementation of behavioral interventions incorporating positive behavioral supports
- 53Recommends appropriate research-validated interventions matched to a given student’s documented characteristics and needs
- 54Recommends appropriate reading intervention strategies for a given student
- 55Recommends appropriate writing intervention strategies for a given student
- 56Recommends appropriate mathematics intervention strategies for a given student
- 57Recommends appropriate strategies for teaching essential content and vocabulary to a given student
- 58Recommends appropriate learning strategy and study skills interventions for a given student
- 59Recommends appropriate communication skills and social skills interventions for a given student
- 60Recommends appropriate functional and independent living skills interventions for a given student
Before test day
Two habits carry the selected-response section. The answer that collects or checks data usually beats the answer that acts, because the test is written by people who have watched teams act on an assumption. The answer that keeps the student in the general curriculum usually beats the one that removes them, unless the data say removal is what works. For the written assignment, plan before you write: choose two needs the exhibits clearly support, and stay with them. A response that names a need and never returns to it loses more points than a short one.