Praxis Teaching Reading: Elementary Online Center
This Praxis Teaching Reading: Elementary Online Center brings together practice, lessons, worksheets, flashcards and review tools. Choose the resource that matches the skill you want to work on next.
Praxis Teaching Reading Practice Center
Take a full form, then read the explanation under every question you missed. This test is unusually literal about the reading research, so a miss almost always points at a definition you had slightly wrong rather than a judgment you got wrong.
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Praxis Teaching Reading: Elementary at a glance
This is the reading test many states require of elementary candidates on top of a general content test, and it is the most research-literal test in the Praxis series. Ninety selected-response questions carry three quarters of the score and three short written assignments carry the last quarter. The written assignments all ask the same kind of thing: here is assessment evidence about a reader, what does it show and what would you teach next.
| Test code | 5205 (Teaching Reading: Elementary). It replaced the older code 5203. |
|---|---|
| Status | Current. No retirement date or successor code is published, and the 5002 to 5005 retirement does not affect it. |
| Number of questions | 90 selected-response questions and 3 constructed-response assignments |
| Time limit | 150 minutes, one session |
| Format | Computer-delivered |
| Scoring | Selected response is about 75 percent of the score and the three constructed responses are about 25 percent. Each written response is rated 0 to 3. |
| Score scale | 100 to 200 |
| Passing score | ETS does not set one. Each state sets its own qualifying score. |
ETS publishes the count and percentage for every category. Phonological and Phonemic Awareness and Emergent Literacy is 14 questions, 11 percent. Phonics and Decoding is 18 questions, 15 percent. Vocabulary and Fluency is 21 questions, 18 percent. Comprehension of Literary and Informational Text is 21 questions, 18 percent. Written Expression is 16 questions, 13 percent. Assessment and Instructional Decision Making is the three written assignments, 25 percent on its own. Note that the written section outweighs any single selected-response category.
The six categories, in plain language
ETS lists each category and the topics under it. Here is what each one asks of you.
I. Phonological and phonemic awareness and emergent literacy (11 percent, 14 questions)
The oral foundation, before print.
- The phonological awareness continuum from rhyme down to phonemes
- Phoneme blending, segmenting, deletion, and substitution
- Print concepts and letter knowledge
- The alphabetic principle
- Oral language and its link to later reading
II. Phonics and decoding (15 percent, 18 questions)
Linking sound to print, and doing it systematically.
- Consonants, blends, digraphs, and vowel patterns
- The six syllable types and syllable division
- Morphology, affixes, and roots
- Multisyllabic word reading
- High-frequency and irregular words, and orthographic mapping
III. Vocabulary and fluency (18 percent, 21 questions)
Reading enough words fast enough to think while you read.
- Fluency: accuracy, rate, and prosody
- Building fluency without simply reading faster
- Vocabulary tiers and choosing words to teach
- Word learning strategies, including morphology and context
- Vocabulary for multilingual learners
IV. Comprehension of literary and informational text (18 percent, 21 questions)
Understanding, monitoring, and repairing understanding.
- Comprehension strategies and when each one helps
- Comprehension monitoring and repair
- Literary elements and informational text structure
- Background knowledge and its role
- Text complexity and matching readers to text
V. Written expression (13 percent, 16 questions)
Writing, spelling, and how they feed reading.
- Writing development and the writing process
- The modes of writing
- Spelling development stages and encoding
- Handwriting and transcription
- Grammar and conventions in the context of writing
VI. Assessment and instructional decision making (25 percent, the 3 written assignments)
Three short written responses, worth a quarter of the score.
- Read assessment evidence about a reader
- Name precisely what the evidence shows
- Choose an instructional response and justify it
- Write it directly, in the space given, without padding
A study routine for a 150-minute reading test
Most candidates over-prepare the comprehension half and under-prepare the two things this test actually leans on: precise definitions of the foundational terms, and the three written assignments.
Complete topic map
Every topic ETS lists under the six categories, followed by seventy-five lessons on reading and language, each opening in a new tab.
Phonological and phonemic awareness and emergent literacy
- 01Teach phonological awareness including rhyme, alliteration, syllable segmentation, blending, and manipulation
- 02Teach basic and advanced phonemic awareness skills such as isolating, blending, segmenting, adding, deleting, and substituting phonemes
- 03Develop the expressive and receptive components of oral language as a foundation for reading
- 04Teach concepts about print including directionality, return sweep, parts of a book, and the form and function of print
- 05Build fluency in recognizing and naming upper and lowercase letters
- 06Use formal and informal assessment of emergent literacy and apply the data to guide instruction
Phonics and decoding
- 07Teach phoneme-grapheme correspondence
- 08Deliver phonics instruction that is systematic, explicit, and recursive
- 09Teach common phonics patterns and generalizations including digraphs, blends, diphthongs, the schwa, syllable types, and word families
- 10Teach morphological analysis using affixes, roots, and base words
- 11Use the six syllable types to decode multisyllabic words
- 12Use multisensory approaches to teach irregular and nondecodable high-frequency words
- 13Use formal and informal assessment of phonics and decoding and apply the data to guide instruction
Vocabulary and fluency
- 14Build and expand expressive and receptive vocabulary
- 15Teach vocabulary systematically, explicitly, and with repeated exposure
- 16Match the instructional method to the complexity and tier of the word
- 17Teach multiple word-solving approaches including structural analysis and context
- 18Guide understanding of common and content-specific words through both direct instruction and independent word learning
- 19Support automaticity through accuracy, rate, and prosody
- 20Support fluent reading behaviors at the phoneme, word, and connected-passage levels
- 21Explain and use the interrelationships among fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension
- 22Use formal and informal assessment of vocabulary and fluency and apply the data to guide instruction
Comprehension of literary and informational text
- 23Support listening comprehension and relate it to reading comprehension
- 24Support speaking and listening skills during discussions of text
- 25Activate and build background knowledge to increase comprehension
- 26Teach comprehension systematically and explicitly
- 27Develop metacognition and self-monitoring of comprehension
- 28Teach strategies for self-selecting appropriately challenging texts
- 29Differentiate instruction using culturally responsive print and digital materials
- 30Teach the use of graphic and semantic organizers
- 31Teach literary genres, text structures, and text features
- 32Teach literary devices including figurative language, word nuance, and alliteration
- 33Teach informational text types, structures, and features
- 34Apply assessment data to differentiate instruction and to support construction of literal and inferential meaning
- 35Use technology to critically examine online resources and build digital literacy
Written expression
- 36Teach writing as a recursive process that supports self-evaluation and self-expression
- 37Deliver systematic and explicit writing instruction informed by the Simple View of Writing and the Not So Simple View of Writing
- 38Integrate reading and writing through strategies such as summarizing and annotation
- 39Use digital tools for communication, writing, collaboration, and publishing
- 40Teach informational, argumentative or persuasive, and narrative writing
- 41Connect decoding and encoding as reciprocal skills
- 42Teach spelling development through a systematic, explicit, multisensory, and recursive approach
- 43Teach the structure of written language including grammar and mechanics
- 44Use formal and informal assessment of writing and apply the data to guide instruction
Assessment and instructional decision making (constructed response)
- 45Analyze assessment data for an emergent literacy learner and plan instruction in phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics, and decoding and encoding
- 46Analyze assessment data for an independent literacy learner and plan instruction in fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing
- 47Respond to diverse learners including gifted students, English learners, struggling readers and writers, and students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia
- 48Use assessment data to guide both individual and flexible group instruction
- 49Select formal and informal, formative and summative methods for assessing each element of literacy
- 50Monitor progress by analyzing formative assessment data over time
- 51Decide on appropriate modifications and accommodations for diverse learners
- 52Integrate digital tools into assessment practice
- 53Justify instructional recommendations with evidence and rationale, since responses are scored 0 to 3 on how thoroughly they answer every part of the prompt with supporting evidence
Key ideas, details, and textual evidence
Inference, conclusions, and how ideas develop
Word meaning, word choice, and tone
Text structure, features, and organization
Purpose, perspective, and point of view
Evaluating claims, evidence, and reasoning
Integrating information across texts and formats
Sentence Foundations
Sentence Boundaries
Agreement, Verbs, and Pronouns
Punctuation and Capitalization
Spelling and Confused Words
Knowledge of Language
Before test day
Two things decide this test. The first is vocabulary precision, because the wrong answers are written for candidates who nearly know the term. The second is the written section, which is worth a quarter of the score and takes maybe thirty minutes of the hundred and fifty. Answer each written prompt directly, name the evidence, and give one instructional move with a reason. Nobody is scoring your prose.
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Praxis Teaching Reading: Elementary: study questions
What can I study in this Praxis Teaching Reading: Elementary Online Center?
This Praxis Teaching Reading: Elementary Online Center includes practice, lessons, worksheets, flashcards and review tools. Topics on the page include Phonological and phonemic awareness and emergent literacy, Phonics and decoding, Vocabulary and fluency.
How should I use the Praxis Teaching Reading: Elementary resources?
Choose a topic or practice activity from this Online Center. Review the linked explanation, try the practice, and use the result to decide what to study next. Check each resource’s directions for its format and access requirements.
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