Word Identification And Spelling Test Manual

–Letter-Word Identification, Word Attack.Reading Rate –Sentence Reading Fluency, Word Reading Fluency. Silent reading rate.Two spelling tests –Spelling, Spelling of Sounds Identifying the Primary Reading and Spelling Difficulties WJ IV ACH Test 8: Oral Reading.Contributes to. Spelling: The spelling subtest assesses students' ability to spell words correctly from dictation. Specifically measures students' (a) recall of correct letter sequences for familiar words or ones ability to apply sound/symbol relationships and rules of English orthography in order to spell unfamiliar words and (b) their recall of letter order in high-frequency words with one or more.

Word Identification: Word Identification measures word reading accuracy which includes (a) students' sight recognition of familiar words and their ability to apply word attack skills in order to decode unfamiliar words and (b) their sight recognition or orthographic memory of high frequency words with one or more irregularities.
Selected sub-tests are administered. These descriptions, adapted from the Woodcock-Johnson III examiner’s manual, include only those sub-tests commonly administered by Montgomery County Public School evaluators. Standard Battery. Letter-Word Identification. This sub-test measures a student’s word identification skills.
A low score on this test may mean the student could not decode the test items, so also consider the Word Attack and Word Identification scores. PASSAGE COMPREHENSION This test measures the student’s ability to study a sentence or short passage (2-3 sentences long) and exercise a variety of comprehension and vocabulary skills in identifying.

Section 3: Overview and Exam Framework
Science of Teaching Reading (293)

Exam Overview

Table outlining the test format, number of questions, time, and passing score.
Exam Name	Science of Teaching Reading
Exam Code	293
Time	5 hours
Number of Questions	90 selected-response questions and 1 constructed-response question
Format	Computer-administered test (CAT)

The TExES Science of Teaching Reading (293) exam is designed to assess whether an examinee has the requisite knowledge and skills that an entry-level educator in this field in Texas public schools must possess. The 90 selected-response questions and the 1 constructed-response question are based on the Science of Teaching Reading exam framework. Questions on this exam range from Prekindergarten–Grade 6. Your final scaled score will be based only on scored questions.

The Standards

(a)	Science of Teaching Reading (STR) Standards. The STR standards identified in this section are targeted for classroom teachers of early learners (birth through age eight). The standards address the discipline that deals with the theory and practice of teaching early reading. The standards inform proper teaching techniques, strategies, teacher actions, teacher judgements, and decisions by taking into consideration theories of learning, understandings of students and their needs, and the backgrounds and interests of individual students. The standards are also aligned with the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and Chapter 110 of this title (relating to Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading). The standards address early reading content knowledge in Prekindergarten–Grade 6, with an emphasis on Prekindergarten–Grade 3, in order to meet the needs of all early learners and address vertical alignment. Candidates in the following categories of classroom teachers will be assessed by the STR standards: Early Childhood: Prekindergarten–Grade 3; Core Subjects with Science of Teaching Reading: Early Childhood–Grade 6; Core Subjects with Science of Teaching Reading: Grades 4–8; English Language Arts and Reading with Science of Teaching Reading: Grades 4–8; and English Language Arts and Reading/Social Studies with Science of Teaching Reading: Grades 4–8.
(b)	Knowledge of Reading Development Components. Classroom teachers identified in subsection (a) of this section demonstrate understanding of Kindergarten–Grade 6 Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills and the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines pertaining to reading and apply knowledge of developmentally appropriate, research- and evidence-based assessment, and instructional practices to promote students' development of grade level skills within the following components of reading: oral language development; print awareness and alphabet knowledge; phonological and phonemic awareness; phonics (decoding and encoding); reading fluency; vocabulary development; syllabication and morphemic analysis; comprehension of literary text; comprehension of informational text; and beginning strategies and reading comprehension skills.
(c)	Reading Pedagogy. Classroom teachers identified in subsection (a) of this section demonstrate understanding of the principles of reading instruction and assessment and use a range of instructional strategies and assessment methods to promote students' development of foundational reading skills, including: providing explicit, systematic instruction that is sequential and multimodal (e.g., sequential lessons, gradual release model, structured literacy); implementing both formal and informal methods of measuring student progress in early reading development; implementing, designing, and executing developmentally appropriate, standards-driven instruction that reflect evidence-based best practices; and acquiring, analyzing, and using background information (familial, cultural, educational, linguistic, and developmental characteristics) to engage all students in reading, including students with exceptional needs and English learners.

(a)

Science of Teaching Reading (STR) Standards. The STR standards identified in this section are targeted for classroom teachers of early learners (birth through age eight). The standards address the discipline that deals with the theory and practice of teaching early reading. The standards inform proper teaching techniques, strategies, teacher actions, teacher judgements, and decisions by taking into consideration theories of learning, understandings of students and their needs, and the backgrounds and interests of individual students. The standards are also aligned with the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and Chapter 110 of this title (relating to Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading). The standards address early reading content knowledge in Prekindergarten–Grade 6, with an emphasis on Prekindergarten–Grade 3, in order to meet the needs of all early learners and address vertical alignment. Candidates in the following categories of classroom teachers will be assessed by the STR standards:

Early Childhood: Prekindergarten–Grade 3;
Core Subjects with Science of Teaching Reading: Early Childhood–Grade 6;
Core Subjects with Science of Teaching Reading: Grades 4–8;
English Language Arts and Reading with Science of Teaching Reading: Grades 4–8; and
English Language Arts and Reading/Social Studies with Science of Teaching Reading: Grades 4–8.

(b)

Knowledge of Reading Development Components. Classroom teachers identified in subsection (a) of this section demonstrate understanding of Kindergarten–Grade 6 Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills and the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines pertaining to reading and apply knowledge of developmentally appropriate, research- and evidence-based assessment, and instructional practices to promote students' development of grade level skills within the following components of reading:

oral language development;
print awareness and alphabet knowledge;
phonological and phonemic awareness;
phonics (decoding and encoding);
reading fluency;
vocabulary development;
syllabication and morphemic analysis;
comprehension of literary text;
comprehension of informational text; and
beginning strategies and reading comprehension skills.

(c)

Reading Pedagogy. Classroom teachers identified in subsection (a) of this section demonstrate understanding of the principles of reading instruction and assessment and use a range of instructional strategies and assessment methods to promote students' development of foundational reading skills, including:

providing explicit, systematic instruction that is sequential and multimodal (e.g., sequential lessons, gradual release model, structured literacy);
implementing both formal and informal methods of measuring student progress in early reading development;
implementing, designing, and executing developmentally appropriate, standards-driven instruction that reflect evidence-based best practices; and
acquiring, analyzing, and using background information (familial, cultural, educational, linguistic, and developmental characteristics) to engage all students in reading, including students with exceptional needs and English learners.

Domains and Competencies

The content covered by this exam is organized into broad areas of content called domains. Each domain covers one or more of the educator standards for this field. Within each domain, the content is further defined by a set of competencies. Each competency is composed of two major parts:

The competency statement, which broadly defines what an entry-level educator in this field in Texas public schools should know and be able to do.
The descriptive statements, which describe in greater detail the knowledge and skills eligible for testing.

Domain I—Reading Pedagogy

Competency 001—(Foundations of the Science of Teaching Reading): Understand foundational concepts, principles, and best practices related to the science of teaching reading.

For example:

Demonstrate knowledge of scientifically based reading research (e.g., key findings of the National Reading Panel, the National Early Literacy Panel, the National Literacy Panel for Language Minority Children and Youth), including the key research-based components of reading instruction (i.e., phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension) and the essential roles that oral language, writing, and motivation play in promoting reading development for students in prekindergarten through grade 3.
Demonstrate knowledge of the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines related to reading and the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for English Language Arts and Reading (ELAR) (Kindergarten through Grade 6).
Apply knowledge of the interconnected nature of listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking by planning reading instruction that reflects an integrated and recursive model of literacy.
Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics of students at various stages of reading development from learning to read, including emergent (i.e., pre-reading stage or pre-alphabetic stage), beginning (i.e., initial reading and decoding stage or partial- to full-alphabetic stage), and transitional (i.e., confirmation and fluency stage or consolidated-alphabetic stage), to reading to learn, including intermediate (i.e., reading-to-learn-the-new stage) and advanced (i.e., multiple viewpoints stage and construction and reconstruction stage), in order to help inform instructional planning and management of reading instruction.
Recognize that decoding and encoding skills are reciprocal and develop synchronously during the early stages of literacy development, and demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics of students at various stages of spelling development (e.g., pre-communicative or pre-phonetic, semi-phonetic, phonetic, transitional, conventional).
Demonstrate knowledge of the interrelationships between the various components of reading and the importance of promoting students' development of both foundational reading skills and various dimensions of reading comprehension (e.g., listening comprehension, vocabulary development, literary analysis, analysis of informational text, responses to text) at all stages of reading development.
Recognize the importance of planning and managing reading instruction in ways that not only promote students' learning and skill development in reading but also nurture their development as lifelong readers and their self-concept as readers by creating strong associations between reading and feelings of enjoyment, engagement, and self-efficacy and by promoting increased awareness of their own thoughts, feelings, likes, and dislikes with regard to texts.
Demonstrate knowledge of key principles of research-based and evidence-based reading instruction, including basing instruction on the standards outlined in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the TEKS for ELAR (Kindergarten through Grade 6); making instructional decisions based on ongoing assessment results; designing and implementing developmentally appropriate, standards-driven instruction that reflects evidence-based best practices; and ensuring that reading instruction is systematic, sequential, explicit, and strategic and promotes the prevention of reading difficulties.
Demonstrate knowledge of factors that can affect students' reading development, including the amount of time they spend daily engaged in reading, the amount of screen time they engage in daily, a reading curriculum that emphasizes the development of productive reading and vocabulary skills (e.g., phonics, structural analysis) rather than overreliance on memorization and context clues and that emphasizes the reading of whole texts rather than worksheets, and the use of culturally responsive instructional practices (e.g., call-and-response strategies).
Demonstrate knowledge of the importance of using an assets-based approach when acquiring, analyzing, and using background information about students (e.g., familial, cultural, educational, socioeconomic, linguistic, and developmental characteristics) to inform instructional planning and engage all students in reading.
Demonstrate understanding of the importance of differentiating classroom instruction to address the assessed needs of all students (e.g., students with limited prior experiences with literacy, students with exceptional needs, English learners, students who are experiencing difficulty, students who are performing above grade level, students who are gifted and talented), including understanding the importance of being proactive in remediating students' identified reading needs and/or gaps in students' prior learning.
Demonstrate knowledge of key factors to consider in planning and delivering differentiated instruction and flexible grouping, including students' assessed strengths and needs in the area(s) of reading to be addressed in a lesson, the prerequisite knowledge and skills required for students to be able to benefit from instruction, the pacing of instruction, the complexity of the content or skills to be taught, and the scaffolds needed to support all students' learning.
Demonstrate knowledge of tiered instructional models used in Texas classrooms (e.g., Multi-Tiered Systems of Support [MTSS], including Response to Intervention [RtI]) and basic components of these models (e.g., universal screening, evidence-based practices, research-based core curriculum and interventions, progress monitoring, during which they are listening actively without producing oral language, that English learners acquire a new language best when they are provided with multiple, incremental opportunities to expand and extend their English language skills as they build on their strengths in the home language).
Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristic features of the four English language proficiency levels as described in the Texas English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) (i.e., beginning, intermediate, advanced, and high advanced) in order to plan appropriate language and literacy instruction for English learners.
Demonstrate knowledge of culturally responsive instruction, including research-based strategies and best practices for supporting English learners' oral language, literacy, and concept development across academic disciplines as described in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the TEKS for ELAR (Kindergarten through Grade 6) (e.g., identifying and aligning relevant language objectives with content-area lessons; using appropriate scaffolds, particularly visual cues, to support understanding).
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for differentiating instruction in oral language development, including in sentence and grammatical structures, in order to address the assessed needs of all students.

Competency 004—(Phonological and Phonemic Awareness): Understand concepts, principles, and best practices related to the development of phonological and phonemic awareness, and demonstrate knowledge of developmentally appropriate, research- and evidence-based assessment and instructional practices to promote all students' development of grade-level phonological and phonemic awareness skills.

For example:

Demonstrate knowledge of explicit, research-based strategies, tools, and techniques for assessing students' development of phonological and phonemic awareness skills.
Demonstrate ability to accurately interpret the results of ongoing assessments in phonological and phonemic awareness and to use the results to inform instructional planning and delivery, including differentiation strategies and interventions.
Demonstrate knowledge of the role of phonological and phonemic awareness in the development of literacy in an alphabetic language.
Demonstrate understanding of the distinctions between phonological awareness and phonemic awareness and the distinctions between phonemic awareness and the alphabetic principle.
Demonstrate knowledge of key concepts related to the development of phonological and phonemic awareness (e.g., recognizing that young children naturally attend to the meaning of language rather than its sounds and that larger units of sound are easier to detect and manipulate than smaller units of sound).
Demonstrate knowledge of the phonological awareness continuum as described in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the TEKS for ELAR (Kindergarten through Grade 2) and apply knowledge of the phonological awareness continuum in order to plan and deliver instruction that is systematic and sequential.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting young children's development of phonological awareness skills.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting development of phonemic awareness skills, including strategies that help make the concept of phonemes more concrete for young children (e.g., using manipulatives).
Recognize that a student's home language or language variety may not include all the sounds used in standard English and that English learners and speakers of various dialects or regional styles of English may require explicit, linguistically appropriate support in order to perceive and manipulate some of the phonemes of standard English.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for differentiating instruction in phonological and phonemic awareness skills in order to address the assessed needs of all students.

Competency 005—(Print Concepts and Alphabet Knowledge): Understand concepts, principles, and best practices related to the development of print concepts and alphabet knowledge, including understanding of the alphabetic principle, and demonstrate knowledge of developmentally appropriate, research- and evidence-based assessment and instructional practices to promote all students' development of grade-level print concepts and alphabet knowledge and their understanding of the alphabetic principle.

Word Identification And Spelling Test Manual

For example:

Demonstrate knowledge of explicit, research-based strategies, tools, and techniques for assessing various aspects of students' development in print concepts and alphabet knowledge, including their understanding of the alphabetic principle.
Demonstrate ability to accurately interpret the results of ongoing assessments in print concepts, alphabet knowledge, and the alphabetic principle, and to use the results to inform instructional planning and delivery, including differentiation strategies and interventions.
Demonstrate knowledge of the continuum of development of knowledge and skills related to print concepts, alphabet knowledge, and the alphabetic principle as described in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the TEKS for ELAR (Kindergarten through Grade 3).
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting young children's development of print concepts (e.g., understanding that illustrations and print carry meaning; distinguishing between illustrations and print and between a letter and a word; identifying key conventions of print that contribute to meaning) and print and digital book-handling skills (e.g., identifying a book's front cover, back cover, and title page; turning pages correctly).
Demonstrate understanding of the role of alphabet knowledge in reading development (e.g., recognizing that phonemic awareness and alphabet knowledge are key predictors of early reading success because phonemic awareness skills, letter recognition, and letter-sound correspondence provide the foundation for decoding and spelling development).
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting young children's development of alphabet knowledge, including strategies for reinforcing alphabet knowledge (e.g., using multimodal techniques).
Demonstrate knowledge of the alphabetic principle (i.e., the understanding that letters and combinations of letters represent the sounds of spoken language and that phonemes have a predictable, systematic relationship to those letters and letter combinations) and the role of the alphabetic principle in reading development (e.g., interrelationships between letter-sound correspondence, phonemic awareness, and beginning decoding).
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting young children's development of the alphabetic principle (e.g., identifying the most common sound or sounds associated with each letter of the alphabet), including strategies for reinforcing the alphabetic principle (e.g., using articulatory feedback when teaching letter-sound relationships, encouraging engagement in meaningful writing using phonetic spelling).
Demonstrate understanding of the role of predictable texts in promoting young children's development of print concepts and alphabet knowledge.
Demonstrate understanding that not all written languages are alphabetic, that many alphabetic languages are more phonetically regular than English, and that English learners' literacy development in English is affected by these factors.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for differentiating instruction in print concepts, alphabet knowledge, and the alphabetic principle in order to address the assessed needs of all students.

Competency 006—(Phonics and Other Word Identification Skills): Understand concepts, principles, and best practices related to the development of phonics and other word identification skills, including related spelling skills, and demonstrate knowledge of developmentally appropriate, research- and evidence-based assessment and instructional practices to promote all students' development of grade-level phonics and other word identification skills and related spelling skills.

For example:

Demonstrate knowledge of explicit, research-based strategies, tools, and techniques for assessing various aspects of students' development in phonics and other word identification skills, including related spelling skills.
Demonstrate ability to accurately interpret the results of ongoing assessments in phonics and other word identification skills, including related spelling skills, and to use the results to inform instructional planning and delivery, including differentiation strategies and interventions.
Demonstrate knowledge of key concepts related to beginning reading, including the role of phonics and other word identification skills in students' development of accurate, automatic decoding; the role of accurate, automatic decoding in reading fluency and comprehension; the reciprocity between decoding and encoding; the importance of sequencing instruction in phonics according to the increasing complexity and relative utility of linguistic units; and the importance of providing students with explicit, systematic instruction in phonics and frequent practice applying new decoding skills in connected text.
Demonstrate knowledge of the continuum of phonics skills as described in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the TEKS for ELAR (Kindergarten through Grade 5), from sounding out and blending each letter in decodable words, to recognizing VC and CVC words as units, to decoding more advanced words that contain increasingly complex letter combinations and/or less common phonics elements.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for delivering explicit, systematic phonics instruction (e.g., short vowels in VC and CVC words; short vowels in CVCC and CCVC words, first with consonant digraphs, then with consonant blends; long-vowel words spelled with silent e [VCe and CVCe]; long-vowel words spelled with vowel teams [CVVC]; words with an r‑controlled vowel [CVrC]; words with vowel teams that are diphthongs; words with consonant trigraphs or complex consonant clusters [CCCVC, CVCCC]).
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for teaching common word patterns (e.g., word families), including explicitly teaching related spelling skills and patterns once students have developed basic phonics skills and orthographic knowledge.
Demonstrate knowledge of the role of high-frequency words in accurate, automatic decoding of grade-level text and knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting students' accurate, automatic decoding and spelling of grade-level high-frequency words, including high-frequency words that are not phonetically regular.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting students' accurate, automatic decoding and spelling of words that contain common inflectional endings (e.g., -s, -ed, -ing, -er, -est), including teaching common orthographic guidelines related to inflections and connecting an inflectional ending to its grammatical meaning.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting students' accurate, automatic decoding and spelling of common homophones, homographs, and contractions.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for teaching students how to self-monitor when reading connected text in order to confirm accurate decoding and comprehension, including how to use semantic and syntactic clues to verify the meaning and pronunciation of homographs.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for reinforcing students' development of beginning reading skills (e.g., reading and rereading decodable texts that feature elements already taught, practicing applying newly taught elements in their writing).
Recognize that a student's home language or language variety may not include all the sounds or sound sequences used in standard English and that English learners and speakers of various dialects or regional styles of English may require additional support in order to perceive, produce, read, or spell certain phonics elements (e.g., consonant clusters) or inflectional endings.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for differentiating instruction in phonics and other word identification skills in order to address the assessed needs of all students.

Competency 007—(Syllabication and Morphemic Analysis Skills): Understand concepts, principles, and best practices related to the development of syllabication and morphemic analysis skills, including related spelling skills, and demonstrate knowledge of developmentally appropriate, research- and evidence-based assessment and instructional practices to promote all students' development of grade-level syllabication and morphemic analysis skills and related spelling skills.

For example:

Demonstrate knowledge of explicit, research-based strategies, tools, and techniques for assessing various aspects of students' development in syllabication and morphemic analysis skills, including related spelling skills.
Demonstrate ability to accurately interpret the results of ongoing assessments in syllabication and morphemic analysis skills, including related spelling skills, and to use the results to inform instructional planning and delivery, including differentiation strategies and interventions.
Demonstrate knowledge of the continuum of knowledge and skills related to syllabication and morphemic analysis skills as described in the TEKS for ELAR (Kindergarten through Grade 6).
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for teaching accurate, automatic decoding and spelling of compound words.
Demonstrate knowledge of common syllable types in English (e.g., closed, silent e, open, vowel team, r-controlled, consonant + le); common syllable division patterns (e.g., VC/CV, V/CV); and research-based strategies and best practices for developing students' accurate, automatic decoding and spelling of multisyllabic words.
Demonstrate knowledge of common morphemes in English (e.g., base words, roots, inflections, derivational affixes), including the distinction between inflectional and derivational suffixes, and research-based strategies and best practices for developing students' accurate, automatic decoding and spelling of multisyllabic words that contain two or more morphemes.
Demonstrate understanding of the importance of teaching students to read common syllable types and morphemes as chunks in order to promote accurate, automatic decoding of multisyllabic and multimorphemic words and to support their ability to read increasingly complex texts with fluency.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for teaching accurate, automatic decoding and spelling of less common syllable types and morphemes, as well as other more advanced elements, including multisyllabic words with multiple sound-spelling patterns.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for teaching students how to use print and digital resources to determine syllabication, pronunciation, meaning, and word origin, including how to alphabetize a series of words to the third letter in order to facilitate their ability to use a variety of print resources.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for differentiating instruction in syllabication and morphemic analysis skills in order to address the assessed needs of all students.

Competency 008—(Reading Fluency): Understand concepts, principles, and best practices related to the development of reading fluency, and demonstrate knowledge of developmentally appropriate, research- and evidence-based assessment and instructional practices to promote all students' development of grade-level reading fluency.

For example:

Demonstrate knowledge of explicit, research-based strategies, tools, and techniques for assessing various aspects of students' development of reading fluency.
Demonstrate ability to accurately interpret the results of ongoing assessments in reading fluency and to use the results to inform instructional planning and delivery, including differentiation strategies and interventions.
Demonstrate knowledge of the continuum of fluency development as described in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the TEKS for ELAR (Kindergarten through Grade 6), from accurate, automatic letter naming, to word reading, to reading connected text, to reading increasingly complex connected text.
Demonstrate knowledge of key concepts related to reading fluency, including the key indicators of fluency (i.e., accuracy, rate, and prosody); the role of automaticity in reading fluency; interrelationships between accuracy, rate, and automaticity; the role of fluency in reading comprehension; interrelationships between prosody and comprehension; the importance of providing explicit and frequent instruction in fluency to students at all stages of reading development; and the importance of varying fluency instruction for students at different stages of development in decoding.
Demonstrate knowledge of common factors that disrupt reading fluency (e.g., limited phonics knowledge; lack of automaticity in key decoding skills; limited recognition of grade-level, high-frequency words; unfamiliarity with a text's content, vocabulary, and/or grammatical structures), and apply knowledge of strategies for addressing these factors.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting students' accuracy in order to enhance reading fluency and comprehension (e.g., reteaching grade-level decoding skills or high-frequency words not yet mastered).
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting students' reading rate and automaticity in order to enhance reading fluency and comprehension (e.g., engaging students whose decoding skills are not yet automatic in oral reading or whisper reading with teacher monitoring for accuracy and feedback; engaging students whose decoding skills are accurate and automatic in silent reading with accountability for comprehension).
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting students' prosody (i.e., reading with appropriate phrasing, expression, and intonation) in order to enhance reading fluency and comprehension (e.g., providing explicit teacher modeling of prosody, engaging students in echo reading and phrase-cued reading, preteaching unfamiliar vocabulary and grammatical structures prior to assigning a text, engaging in readers' theatre).
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for selecting texts for fluency practice (e.g., using decodable texts with students who are acquiring basic phonics skills, transitioning students to a broader range of appropriate texts as they progress in their decoding skills, using both literary and informational texts for fluency practice).
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for differentiating instruction in reading fluency in order to address the assessed needs of all students.

Domain III—Reading Development: Comprehension

Competency 009—(Vocabulary Development): Understand concepts, principles, and best practices related to vocabulary development, and demonstrate knowledge of developmentally appropriate, research- and evidence-based assessment and instructional practices to promote all students' development of grade-level vocabulary knowledge and skills.

For example:

Demonstrate knowledge of explicit, research-based strategies, tools, and techniques for assessing students' development of vocabulary knowledge and skills in the context of authentic and meaningful reading.
Demonstrate ability to accurately interpret the results of ongoing assessments in vocabulary development and to use the results to inform instructional planning and delivery, including differentiation strategies and interventions.
Demonstrate knowledge of the essential role of vocabulary in supporting students' oral language development, reading comprehension, and ability to engage in self-sustained reading, including the interrelationships between vocabulary knowledge, reading achievement, and overall academic achievement.
Demonstrate knowledge of the continuum of vocabulary development as described in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the TEKS for ELAR (Kindergarten through Grade 6), including the importance of providing students with frequent, repeated, incremental exposures to and opportunities to use new vocabulary in meaningful contexts.
Demonstrate knowledge of factors that affect vocabulary development (e.g., familial, cultural, educational, socioeconomic, linguistic, and developmental characteristics), including the role of frequent and wide reading in vocabulary development.
Demonstrate knowledge of the distinctions between various tiers of vocabulary (Tier One—everyday, Tier Two—general academic, and Tier Three—discipline-specific) and the importance of explicitly teaching all students new Tier Two and Tier Three words that are key to understanding a new concept or comprehending a new text, while also identifying any relevant Tier One words with which students may be unfamiliar and explicitly teaching these words.
Demonstrate knowledge of criteria for selecting words for explicit word study (e.g., a word's utility and frequency within a discipline or across disciplines) and apply knowledge of strategies for providing students with multiple opportunities to use new Tier Two and Tier Three words in a variety of settings.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting students' ability to identify, use, and explain the meaning of grade-level antonyms, synonyms, idioms, adages, and puns.
Demonstrate understanding of the importance of teaching students independent word-learning strategies, including structural/morphemic analysis, contextual analysis, and use of print and digital resources, in order to promote their ability to engage in self-sustained reading of assigned or self-selected grade-level texts in multiple genres.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting students' ability to use structural/morphemic analysis skills, including etymology, to help them determine the meaning of unfamiliar words.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting students' ability to use context within and beyond a sentence to help infer the meaning of an unfamiliar word or to determine the meaning of a multiple-meaning word, including using different types of context clues (e.g., syntax, punctuation, embedded definition/explanation, apposition, restatement/synonym, contrast/antonym).
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting students' word consciousness and motivation to learn new words and for supporting their retention of new words (e.g., providing student-friendly definitions and meaningful, contextualized examples; grouping words based on conceptual categories and associative meanings; developing semantic maps).
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for differentiating instruction in vocabulary development in order to address the assessed needs of all students.

Competency 010—(Comprehension Development): Understand concepts, principles, and best practices related to the development of reading comprehension, and demonstrate knowledge of developmentally appropriate, research- and evidence-based assessment and instructional practices to promote all students' development of reading comprehension strategies in order to gain, clarify, and deepen understanding of appropriately complex texts.

For example:

Demonstrate knowledge of explicit, research-based strategies, tools, and techniques for assessing students' ability to gain and enhance their understanding of appropriately complex texts.
Demonstrate ability to accurately interpret the results of ongoing assessments in reading comprehension, including reading comprehension strategies and trends in student work that provide insights into possible misconceptions, and to use the results to inform instructional planning and delivery, including differentiation strategies and interventions.
Demonstrate knowledge of factors affecting reading comprehension (e.g., oral language development, including listening comprehension skills; academic language development, including vocabulary and grammatical knowledge and skills; decoding skills; reading fluency; ability to monitor for understanding; background knowledge relevant to a text's topic or setting; level of English language proficiency; prior literacy experiences with other texts of the same genre or text type; specific text characteristics).
Demonstrate knowledge of the importance of and strategies for providing students with multiple opportunities to listen to, independently read, and respond to a wide range of appropriately complex literary and informational texts and to interact with others about texts in order to support and enhance their comprehension development and to gain, clarify, and deepen their understanding of a given text, including providing young children with frequent opportunities to repeat key parts of predictable or patterned texts during read-alouds and to reenact stories using a variety of strategies (e.g., using puppets and character voices, using student illustrations, using digital applications).
Demonstrate knowledge of the challenges and supports in a text (e.g., pictures, predictability, decodability, text structure) and strategies for evaluating and sequencing texts for reading instruction according to text complexity (e.g., quantitative dimensions, qualitative dimensions, reader and task variables), including strategies that promote students' self-sustained reading of increasingly complex texts and their ability to self-select appropriately complex texts for independent reading, inquiry, and research.
Demonstrate knowledge of different levels of comprehension, including literal comprehension skills, inferential comprehension skills, and evaluative comprehension skills.
Recognize the essential role background knowledge (including vocabulary knowledge) plays in a reader's ability to make inferences from text, to make connections within and across texts, and to learn through reading; and apply knowledge of strategies for systematically supporting students in accumulating background knowledge through the reading of informational texts (e.g., reading aloud and discussing a wide range of informational texts with students, having students read and discuss multiple informational texts related to a given topic, helping English learners connect background knowledge from their home language and experiences to reading contexts in English, providing explicit explanations of content and Tier Three vocabulary relevant to a text, engaging students in hands-on learning and academic discussions related to a text's topic, encouraging and supporting students' independent reading of informational texts) to promote students' reading comprehension and deepen their understanding of appropriately complex texts.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting students' ability to apply metacognitive reading comprehension strategies to literary and informational texts in order to gain, clarify, and deepen their understanding of appropriately complex texts (e.g., establishing a purpose for reading assigned and self-selected texts; generating questions about a text before, during, and after reading; making predictions about a text and then confirming or correcting the predictions; creating mental images; making connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts, and society; monitoring comprehension and making adjustments such as rereading, using background knowledge, asking questions, and annotating when understanding breaks down).
Demonstrate knowledge of the importance of developing students' ability to comprehend increasingly complex literary and informational texts by engaging students in focused rereadings of complex grade-level texts and applying research-based best practices to support their understanding of the texts (e.g., using text-dependent questions; demonstrating how to use annotation to help construct meaning from and clarify ideas about a text; supporting students in deconstructing grammatically complex sentences; rereading the text with students for different levels of meaning; engaging students in collaborative conversations about and written responses to the text).
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting students' ability to engage in independent self-sustained reading with comprehension for increasing periods of time (e.g., by explicitly teaching students self-monitoring skills, comprehension repair strategies, and strategies for self-selecting appropriate texts).
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for teaching students how to vary approaches to reading a text according to the purpose for reading (e.g., skimming for gist, scanning for specific information, focused reading and rereading for deep understanding).
Demonstrate knowledge of the importance of structuring students' exposure to and reading of multiple genres of literary and informational texts and strategies for selecting and using multiple texts for reading instruction that reflect a diversity of genres, cultures, perspectives, and time periods, including the diversity of the classroom, school community, and society.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for differentiating instruction in text comprehension in order to address the assessed needs of all students.

Competency 011—(Comprehension of Literary Texts): Understand concepts, principles, and best practices related to the comprehension of and critical thinking about literary texts, and demonstrate knowledge of developmentally appropriate, research- and evidence-based assessment and instructional practices to promote all students' development of grade-level comprehension and analysis skills for literary texts.

For example:

Demonstrate knowledge of explicit, research-based strategies, tools, and techniques for assessing students' reading comprehension and analysis of appropriately complex literary texts.
Demonstrate ability to accurately interpret the results of ongoing assessments in reading comprehension and analysis of literary texts and to use the results to inform instructional planning and delivery, including differentiation strategies and interventions.
Demonstrate knowledge of distinguishing characteristics of well-known children's literature, such as folktales, fables, fairy tales, legends, myths, tall tales, nursery rhymes, poetry, and drama from various cultures.
Demonstrate knowledge of the continuum of development in the comprehension and analysis of literary texts as described in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the TEKS for ELAR (Kindergarten through Grade 6).
Demonstrate understanding of the importance of reading aloud high-quality, culturally relevant, and appropriately complex literary texts on a regular basis to develop young children's familiarity with literary texts and basic story structures, and apply knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices related to using read-alouds for this purpose (e.g., asking questions about a story as it is being read aloud; providing props for children to use while acting out the story; helping children construct a story map with a clear beginning, middle, and end; providing story cards to assist children in sequencing retellings of the story; encouraging children to provide sound effects through musical instruments or environmental noises that fit what is happening in the story; extending the story into centers for children to continue to explore the story in other ways).
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting students' ability to comprehend and analyze a range of appropriately complex literary texts, including identifying a text's key ideas and details; analyzing an author's purpose for writing; identifying story elements, such as characters, plot, setting, and theme; analyzing an author's craft, such as word choice and use of imagery and figurative language; and using evidence from a literary text to support responses.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting students' comprehension of appropriately complex literary texts at all three comprehension levels (i.e., literal, inferential, and evaluative) and for promoting critical thinking about literary texts (e.g., synthesizing information to create new understandings; asking and having students generate questions related to bias, such as which voices and perspectives are present and absent in a text).
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for differentiating instruction in the comprehension and analysis of appropriately complex literary texts in order to address the assessed needs of all students.

Competency 012—(Comprehension of Informational Texts): Understand concepts, principles, and best practices related to the comprehension of and critical thinking about informational texts, and demonstrate knowledge of developmentally appropriate, research- and evidence-based assessment and instructional practices to promote all students' development of grade-level comprehension and analysis skills for informational texts.

For example:

Demonstrate knowledge of explicit, research-based strategies, tools, and techniques for assessing students' reading comprehension and analysis of appropriately complex informational texts.
Demonstrate ability to accurately interpret the results of ongoing assessments in reading comprehension and analysis of informational texts and to use the results to inform instructional planning and delivery, including differentiation strategies and interventions.
Demonstrate knowledge of distinguishing characteristics and structures of informational, persuasive, multimodal, and digital texts.
Demonstrate knowledge of the continuum of development in the comprehension and analysis of informational texts as described in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the TEKS for ELAR (Kindergarten through Grade 6).
Demonstrate understanding of the importance of reading aloud high-quality, appropriately complex informational texts on a regular basis to develop young children's familiarity with informational texts, and demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices related to using read-alouds for this purpose, including asking questions about a text as it is being read aloud, engaging students in activities related to the text's content, and extending an informational text into centers to continue students' interactions with the text's content.
Demonstrate understanding of the importance of scaffolding students' comprehension and analysis of informational texts, and apply knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices related to this purpose (e.g., using strategic questioning and engaging students in academic conversations about a text's content, teaching text annotation and note-taking skills, helping students develop semantic maps and other graphic organizers to help clarify or reinforce a text's content or organizational structure, helping students generate and respond to peer questioning about a text).
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting students' ability to comprehend and analyze appropriately complex informational texts, including identifying different informational text structures (e.g., descriptive, comparison/contrast, cause/effect, sequential, chronological), identifying and summarizing a text's central ideas and supporting evidence, using textual features (e.g., subtitles, bold or italicized text) and graphic features (e.g., charts, diagrams) to gain information, comparing and contrasting the content presented in a book's text with that presented in its graphic features, identifying a sequence of steps or events in a text, recognizing the characteristics of multimodal and digital texts, identifying an author's purpose and intended audience, analyzing an author's craft (e.g., choice of words, evidence, and rhetorical devices), distinguishing facts from opinions, and identifying the claim in an argumentative text.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting students' comprehension of appropriately complex informational texts at all three comprehension levels and for promoting critical thinking about informational texts (e.g., synthesizing information to create new understandings; asking and having students generate higher-order questions about a text, such as questions related to voices or perspectives present and absent in a text or questions about the credibility of a text).
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting students' development of disciplinary-literacy skills, including distinguishing discipline-specific meanings of words (e.g., ruler in mathematics [a measuring device] versus ruler in social studies [a monarch or government leader]), and recognizing text structures commonly used in a discipline.
Demonstrate knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for differentiating instruction in the comprehension and analysis of appropriately complex informational texts in order to address the assessed needs of all students.

Domain IV—Analysis and Response

Competency 013—(Analysis and Response): Analyze assessment data related to reading development in foundational reading skills and reading comprehension, and prepare an organized, developed written response based on the data and information presented.

For example:

Demonstrate the ability to analyze, interpret, and discuss accurately and appropriately the results of a reading assessment for an individual student.
Demonstrate the ability to identify a significant need that a student demonstrates related to foundational reading skills (e.g., phonemic awareness skills, phonics skills, recognition of high-frequency words, syllabication skills, morphemic analysis skills, automaticity, reading fluency [i.e., accuracy, rate, and prosody]) and to support the analysis with specific, appropriate examples from the student's reading performance.
Demonstrate the ability to select and accurately describe an appropriate, effective instructional strategy or intervention to address a student's identified need in foundational reading skills.
Using sound reasoning and knowledge of foundational reading skills, demonstrate the ability to explain the effectiveness of the selected instructional strategy or intervention to address a student's identified need in foundational reading skills.
Demonstrate the ability to identify a significant need that a student demonstrates related to reading comprehension (e.g., vocabulary knowledge; knowledge of sentence and grammatical structures; application of literal, inferential, or evaluative comprehension skills; use of comprehension strategies; application of text analysis skills to a literary or informational text) and to support the analysis with specific, appropriate examples from the student's reading performance.
Demonstrate the ability to select and accurately describe an appropriate, effective instructional strategy or intervention to address a student's identified need in reading comprehension.
Using sound reasoning and knowledge of reading comprehension, demonstrate the ability to explain the effectiveness of the selected instructional strategy or intervention to address a student's identified need in reading comprehension.

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Section 3: Overview and Exam Framework
English Language Arts and Reading 4–8 (117)

Exam Overview

Table outlining the exam format, number of questions, time, and passing score.
Exam Name	English Language Arts and Reading 4–8
Exam Code	117
Time	5 hours
Number of Questions	100 selected-response questions
Format	Computer-administered test (CAT)

The TExES English Language Arts and Reading 4–8 (117) exam is designed to assess whether an examinee has the requisite knowledge and skills that an entry-level educator in this field in Texas public schools must possess. The 100 selected-response questions are based on the English Language Arts and Reading 4–8 exam framework. Questions on this exam range from grades 4–8. The exam may contain questions that do not count toward the score. Your final scaled score will be based only on scored questions.

The Standards

Standard I	Oral Language: Teachers of students in grades 4–8 understand the importance of oral language, know the developmental processes of oral language and provide a variety of instructional opportunities for students to develop listening and speaking skills.
Standard II	Foundations of Reading: Teachers of students in grades 4–8 understand the foundations of reading and early literacy development.
Standard III	Word Analysis Skills and Reading Fluency: Teachers understand the importance of word analysis skills (including decoding, blending, structural analysis, sight word vocabulary) and reading fluency and provide many opportunities for students to practice and improve their word analysis skills and reading fluency.
Standard IV	Reading Comprehension: Teachers understand the importance of reading for understanding, know the components of comprehension and teach students strategies for improving their comprehension.
Standard V	Written Language: Teachers understand that writing is a developmental process and provide instruction that helps students develop competence in written communication.
Standard VI	Study and Inquiry Skills: Teachers understand the importance of study and inquiry skills as tools for learning and promote students’ development in applying study and inquiry skills.
Standard VII	Viewing and Representing: Teachers understand how to interpret, analyze, evaluate and produce visual images and messages in various media and to provide students with opportunities to develop skills in this area.
Standard VIII	Assessment of Developing Literacy: Teachers understand the basic principles of assessment and use a variety of literacy assessment practices to plan and implement instruction.

Domains and Competencies

Table outlining exam content subject weighting by domain.
Domain	Domain Title	Approx. Percentage of Exam	Standards Assessed
I	Language Arts, Part I: Oral Language, Early Literacy Development, Word Identification Skills and Reading Fluency	33%	English Language Arts and Reading 4–8 I–III, VIII
II	Language Arts, Part II: Reading Comprehension and Assessment, Reading Applications, Written Language, Viewing and Representing and Study and Inquiry Skills	67%	English Language Arts and Reading 4–8 IV–VIII

The competency statement, which broadly defines what an entry-level educator in this field in Texas public schools should know and be able to do.
The descriptive statements, which describe in greater detail the knowledge and skills eligible for testing.

Domain I—Language Arts, Part I: Oral Language, Early Literacy Development, Word Identification Skills and Reading Fluency

Competency 001—(Oral Language): The teacher understands the importance of oral language, knows the developmental processes of oral language and provides a variety of instructional opportunities for students to develop listening and speaking skills.

The beginning teacher:

Knows basic linguistic concepts (e.g., phonemes, segmentation) and developmental stages in acquiring oral language, including stages in phonology, semantics, syntax and pragmatics and recognizes that individual variations occur.
Knows characteristics and uses of informal and formal oral language assessments and uses multiple, ongoing assessments to monitor and evaluate students’ oral language skills.
Provides language instruction that acknowledges students’ current oral language skills and that builds on these skills to increase students’ oral language proficiency.
Plans, implements and adapts instruction that is based on informal and formal assessment of students’ progress in oral language development and that addresses the needs, strengths and interests of individual students, including English-language learners.
Recognizes when oral language delays or differences warrant in-depth evaluation and additional help or intervention.
Knows how to provide explicit, systematic oral language instruction and supports students’ learning and use of oral language through meaningful and purposeful activities implemented one-to-one and in a group.
Selects and uses instructional materials and strategies that promote students’ oral language development; that respond to students’ individual strengths, needs and interests; that reflect cultural diversity; and that build on students’ cultural, linguistic and home backgrounds to enhance their oral language development.
Understands relationships between the development of oral language and the development of reading and provides instruction that interrelates oral and written language to promote students’ reading proficiency and learning (e.g., preview-review, discussion, questioning).
Knows similarities and differences between oral and written language and how to promote students’ awareness of these similarities and differences.
Selects and uses instructional strategies, materials, activities and models to strengthen students’ oral vocabulary and narrative skills in spoken language and teaches students to connect spoken and printed language.
Selects and uses instructional strategies, materials, activities and models to teach students skills for speaking to different audiences for various purposes and for adapting spoken language for various audiences, purposes and occasions.
Selects and uses instructional strategies, materials, activities and models to teach students listening skills for various purposes (e.g., critical listening to evaluate a speaker’s message, listening to enjoy and appreciate spoken language) and provides students with opportunities to engage in active, purposeful listening in a variety of contexts.
Selects and uses instructional strategies, materials, activities and models to teach students to evaluate the content and effectiveness of their own spoken messages and the messages of others.
Knows how to promote students’ development of oral communication skills through the use of technology.

Competency 002—(Early Literacy Development): The teacher understands the foundations of early literacy development.

The beginning teacher:

Understands the significance of phonological and phonemic awareness for reading and typical patterns in the development of phonological and phonemic awareness and recognizes that individual variations occur.
Understands elements of the alphabetic principle (e.g., letter names, graphophonemic knowledge, the relationship of the letters in printed words to spoken language) and typical patterns of students’ alphabetic skills development and recognizes that individual variations occur.
Understands that comprehension is an integral part of early literacy.
Understands that not all written languages are alphabetic and that many alphabetic languages are more phonetically regular than English and knows the significance of this for students’ literacy development in English.
Understands that literacy acquisition generally develops in a predictable pattern from prereading (emergent literacy) to conventional literacy and recognizes that individual variations occur.
Understands that literacy development occurs in multiple contexts through reading, writing and the use of oral language.
Knows characteristics of informal and formal literacy assessments (e.g., screening devices, criterion-referenced state tests, curriculum-based reading assessments, informal reading inventories, norm-referenced tests).
Knows how to select, administer and use results from informal and formal assessments of literacy acquisition.
Knows how to use ongoing assessment to determine when a student needs additional help or intervention to bring the student’s performance to grade level, based on state content and performance standards for reading in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
Analyzes students’ errors in reading and responds to individual students’ needs by providing focused instruction to promote literacy acquisition.
Selects and uses instructional materials that build on the current language skills of individual students, including English-language learners, to promote development from emergent literacy to conventional literacy.

Competency 003—(Word Identification Skills and Reading Fluency): The teacher understands the importance of word identification skills (including decoding, blending, structural analysis and sight word vocabulary) and reading fluency and provides many opportunities for students to practice and improve word identification skills and reading fluency.

The beginning teacher:

Understands that many students develop word analysis skills and reading fluency in a predictable sequence and recognizes that individual variations occur.
Understands differences in students’ development of word identification skills and reading fluency and knows instructional practices for meeting students’ individual needs in these areas.
Understands the connection of word identification skills and reading fluency to reading comprehension.
Knows the continuum of word analysis skills in the statewide curriculum and grade-level expectations for attainment of these skills.
Knows how students develop fluency in oral and silent reading.
Understands that fluency involves rate, accuracy and intonation and knows the norms for reading fluency that have been established in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for various age and grade levels.
Knows factors affecting students’ word identification skills and reading fluency (e.g., home language, vocabulary development, learning disability).
Understands important phonetic elements and conventions of the English language.
Knows a variety of informal and formal procedures for assessing students’ word identification skills and reading fluency on an ongoing basis and uses appropriate assessments to monitor students’ performance in these areas and to plan instruction for individual students, including English-language learners.
Analyzes students’ errors in word analysis and uses the results of this analysis to inform future instruction.
Applies norms and expectations for word identification skills and reading fluency, as specified in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), to evaluate students’ reading performance.
Knows how to use ongoing assessment of word identification skills and reading fluency to determine when a student needs additional help or intervention to bring the student’s performance to grade level, based on state content and performance standards for reading in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
Knows strategies for decoding increasingly complex words, including using the alphabetic principle, structural cues (e.g., prefixes, suffixes, roots) and syllables and for using syntax and semantics to support word identification and confirm word meaning.
Selects and uses instructional strategies, materials, activities and models to teach students to recognize high-frequency irregular words, to promote students’ ability to decode increasingly complex words and to enhance word identification skills for students reading at different levels.
Selects and uses appropriate instructional strategies, materials, activities and models to improve reading fluency for students reading at different levels (e.g., having students read independent-level texts, engage in repeated reading activities, use self-correction).

Domain II—Language Arts, Part II: Reading Comprehension and Assessment, Reading Applications, Written Language, Viewing and Representing and Study and Inquiry Skills

Competency 004—(Reading Comprehension and Assessment): The teacher understands the importance of reading for understanding, knows components and processes of reading comprehension and teaches students strategies for improving their comprehension.

The beginning teacher:

Understands reading comprehension as an active process of constructing meaning.
Understands the continuum of reading comprehension skills in the statewide curriculum and grade-level expectations for these skills.
Understands factors affecting students’ reading comprehension (e.g., oral language development, word analysis skills, prior knowledge, language background, previous reading experiences, fluency, vocabulary development, ability to monitor understanding, characteristics of specific texts).
Knows characteristics of informal and formal reading comprehension assessments (e.g., criterion-referenced state tests, curriculum-based reading assessments, informal reading inventories, norm-referenced tests).
Selects and uses appropriate informal and formal assessments to monitor and evaluate students’ reading comprehension.
Analyzes student errors and provides focused instruction in reading comprehension based on the strengths and needs of individual students, including English-language learners.
Knows how to use ongoing assessment to determine when a student needs additional help or intervention to bring the student’s performance to grade level, based on state content and performance standards for reading in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
Understands metacognitive skills, including self-evaluation and self-monitoring skills and teaches students to use these skills to enhance their own reading comprehension.
Knows how to determine students’ independent, instructional and frustration reading levels and uses this information to select and adapt reading materials for individual students, as well as to guide their selection of independent reading materials.
Uses various instructional strategies to enhance students’ reading comprehension (e.g., linking text content to students’ lives and prior knowledge, connecting related ideas across different texts, engaging students in guided and independent reading, guiding students to generate questions and apply knowledge of text topics).
Knows how to provide students with direct, explicit instruction in the use of strategies to improve their reading comprehension (e.g., previewing, self-monitoring, visualizing, retelling).
Uses various communication modes (e.g., written, oral) to promote students’ reading comprehension.
Understands levels of reading comprehension and how to model and teach literal, inferential and evaluative comprehension skills.
Knows how to provide instruction to help students increase their reading vocabulary.
Understands reading comprehension issues for students with different needs and knows effective reading strategies for those students.
Knows the difference between guided and independent practice in reading and provides students with frequent opportunities for both.
Knows how to promote students’ development of an extensive reading and writing vocabulary by providing them with many opportunities to read and write.

Word Identification And Spelling Test (wist) Pdf

Competency 005—(Reading Applications): The teacher understands reading skills and strategies appropriate for various types of texts and contexts and teaches students to apply those skills and strategies to enhance their reading proficiency.

The beginning teacher:

Understands skills and strategies for understanding, interpreting and evaluating different types of written materials, including narratives, expository texts, technical writing and content-area textbooks.
Understands different purposes for reading and related reading strategies.
Knows and teaches strategies to facilitate comprehension of different types of text before, during and after reading (e.g., previewing, making predictions, questioning, self-monitoring, rereading, mapping, using reading journals, discussing texts).
Provides instruction in comprehension skills that support students’ transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn” (e.g., matching comprehension strategies to different types of text and different purposes for reading).
Understands the importance of reading as a skill in all content areas.
Understands the value of using dictionaries, glossaries and other sources to determine the meanings, pronunciations and derivations of unfamiliar words and teaches students to use these sources.
Knows how to teach students to interpret information presented in various formats (e.g., maps, tables, graphs) and how to locate, retrieve and retain information from a range of texts and technologies.
Knows how to help students comprehend abstract content and ideas in written materials (e.g., by using manipulatives, examples, diagrams).
Knows literary genres (e.g., historical fiction, poetry, myths, fables) and their characteristics.
Recognizes a wide range of literature and other texts appropriate for students.
Provides multiple opportunities for students to listen and respond to a wide variety of children’s and young people’s literature, both fiction and nonfiction, and to recognize characteristics of various types of narrative and expository texts.
Understands and promotes students’ development of literary response and analysis, including teaching students elements of literary analysis (e.g., story elements, features of different literary genres) and providing students with opportunities to apply comprehension skills to literature.
Selects and uses a variety of materials to teach students about authors and about different purposes for writing.
Provides students with opportunities to engage in silent reading and extended reading of a wide range of materials, including expository texts and various literary genres.
Engages students in varied reading experiences and encourages students to interact with others about their reading.
Uses strategies to encourage reading for pleasure and lifelong learning.
Knows how to teach students strategies for selecting their own books for independent reading.
Uses technology to promote students’ literacy and teaches students to use technology to access a wide range of appropriate narrative and expository texts.

Competency 006—(Written Language – Writing Conventions): The teacher understands the conventions of writing in English and provides instruction that helps students develop proficiency in applying writing conventions.

The beginning teacher:

Knows predictable stages in the development of writing conventions (including the physical and cognitive processes involved in letter formation, word writing, sentence construction, spelling, punctuation and grammatical expression) and recognizes that individual variations occur.
Knows and applies appropriate instructional strategies and sequences to teach writing conventions and their applications to all students, including English-language learners.
Knows informal and formal procedures for assessing students’ use of writing conventions and uses multiple, ongoing assessments to monitor and evaluate students’ development in this area.
Uses ongoing assessment of writing conventions to determine when a student needs additional help or intervention to bring the student’s performance to grade level, based on state content and performance standards for writing in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
Analyzes students’ errors in applying writing conventions and uses the results of this analysis as a basis for future instruction.
Knows writing conventions and appropriate grammar and usage and provides students with direct instruction and guided practice in these areas.
Understands the contribution of conventional spelling toward success in reading and writing.
Understands stages of spelling development (prephonetic, phonetic, transitional and conventional) and how and when to support students’ development from one stage to the next.
Provides systematic spelling instruction and gives students opportunities to use and develop spelling skills in the context of meaningful written expression.

Competency 007—(Written Language — Composition): The teacher understands that writing to communicate is a developmental process and provides instruction that promotes students’ competence in written communication.

The beginning teacher:

Knows predictable stages in the development of written language and recognizes that individual variations occur.
Promotes student recognition of the practical uses of writing, creates an environment in which students are motivated to express ideas in writing and models writing as an enjoyable activity and a tool for lifelong learning.
Knows and applies appropriate instructional strategies and sequences to develop students’ writing skills.
Knows characteristics and uses of informal and formal written language assessments and uses multiple, ongoing assessments to monitor and evaluate students’ writing development.
Uses assessment results to plan focused instruction to address the writing strengths, needs and interests of all individuals and groups, including English-language learners.
Uses ongoing assessment of written language to determine when a student needs additional help or intervention to bring the student’s performance to grade level, based on state content and performance standards for writing in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
Understands the use of self-assessment in writing and provides opportunities for students to self-assess their writings (e.g., for clarity, interest to audience, comprehensiveness) and their development as writers.
Understands differences between first-draft writing and writing for publication and provides instruction in various stages of writing, including prewriting, drafting, editing and revising.
Understands the development of writing in relation to the other language arts and uses instructional strategies that connect these various aspects of language.
Understands similarities and differences between language (e.g., syntax, vocabulary) used in spoken and written English and helps students use knowledge of these similarities and differences to enhance their own writing.
Understands writing for a variety of audiences, purposes and settings and provides students with opportunities to write for various audiences, purposes and settings.
Knows how to write using voices and styles appropriate for different audiences and purposes, and provides students with opportunities to write using various voices and styles.
Understands the benefits of technology for teaching writing and writing for publication and provides instruction in the use of technology to facilitate written communication.

Competency 008—(Viewing and Representing): The teacher understands skills for interpreting, analyzing, evaluating and producing visual images and messages in various media and provides students with opportunities to develop skills in this area.

The beginning teacher: