TExES Core Subjects EC-6 ELAR Online Center
This TExES Core Subjects EC-6 ELAR Online Center brings together practice, lessons, worksheets, flashcards and review tools. Choose the resource that matches the skill you want to work on next.
TExES Core Subjects EC-6 ELAR Practice Center
Take a full 70-minute form, then read the explanation under every question you missed. This subtest is about teaching reading rather than doing it, so each explanation names the skill in play, which is what makes the next question easier.
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TExES Core Subjects EC-6 ELAR at a glance
This is the reading and language arts subtest of Core Subjects EC-6. Ten competencies in forty-five questions means most competencies get four or five items, so breadth matters more than depth. It is not a reading comprehension test. It asks whether you know how children learn to read and what to do when one of them is stuck, and it expects the vocabulary that goes with that.
| Subtest code | 901 (English Language Arts and Reading) |
|---|---|
| Part of | TExES Core Subjects EC-6, test code 391, alongside Mathematics (902), Social Studies (903), Science (904), and Fine Arts, Health and Physical Education (905). Each subtest can be taken and retaken on its own. |
| Number of questions | 45 selected-response questions |
| Answer options | Four per question |
| Time limit | 1 hour 10 minutes |
| Format | Computer-administered. Many items describe a classroom situation, a piece of student work, or an assessment result and ask what a teacher should conclude or do. |
| Competencies | Ten, running from oral language and word analysis through comprehension, writing, media, and literacy assessment. |
| Passing score | A scaled score of 240. |
Texas does not publish how many questions come from each competency on this subtest. With ten competencies and forty-five questions, no single one can carry many items, so a gap in any of them is expensive. The competencies worth the most attention are word analysis, comprehension, and assessment, because they are where the technical vocabulary is densest.
The ten competencies, in plain language
Texas states each competency in one sentence. Here they are, with what each one asks of you.
Competency 001: Oral language
The teacher understands the importance of oral language, knows the developmental processes of oral language, and provides students with varied opportunities to develop listening and speaking skills.
- Know how oral language develops from prekindergarten upward
- Build listening and speaking through structured talk
- Support students whose home language is not English
- Connect oral language growth to later reading and writing
Competency 002: Word analysis and identification skills
The teacher understands the importance of word analysis and identification skills for reading comprehension and provides many opportunities for students to practice and improve these skills.
- Phonological and phonemic awareness, and how they differ
- Letter-sound correspondence, the alphabetic principle, and decoding
- Syllable types, blends, digraphs, and vowel patterns
- Structural analysis: prefixes, suffixes, roots, and compound words
- High frequency words and orthographic mapping
Competency 003: Reading fluency
The teacher understands the importance of fluency for reading comprehension and provides many opportunities for students to improve their reading fluency.
- Accuracy, rate, and prosody, and what each one tells you
- Methods that build fluency, including repeated and partner reading
- Choosing text at the right level for fluency work
- Reading a fluency measure and acting on it
Competency 004: Reading comprehension and applications
The teacher understands the importance of reading for understanding, knows the components and processes of reading comprehension, and teaches students strategies for improving their comprehension, including using a variety of texts and contexts.
- Before, during, and after reading strategies
- Text structure, text features, and genre
- Literary elements and author’s purpose
- Comprehension monitoring and self-correction
- Matching text complexity to the reader
Competency 005: Vocabulary development
The teacher knows the importance of vocabulary development and applies that knowledge to teach reading, listening, speaking, and writing.
- Tiers of vocabulary and which words to teach directly
- Context clues and morphology as word learning tools
- Wide reading and repeated exposure
- Academic language across the content areas
Competency 006: Reading, inquiry, and research
The teacher understands the importance of inquiry and research skills to students’ academic success and provides instruction that promotes students’ acquisition and effective use of these skills in the content areas.
- Ask a researchable question and locate sources
- Evaluate a source for accuracy and relevance
- Take notes, paraphrase, and avoid plagiarism
- Present findings in an appropriate form
Competency 007: Writing conventions
The teacher understands the conventions of writing in English and provides instruction that helps students develop proficiency in applying writing conventions.
- Developmental spelling stages and what a spelling reveals
- Grammar, usage, capitalization, and punctuation
- Handwriting and keyboarding expectations
- Teaching conventions inside real writing rather than in isolation
Competency 008: Written communication
The teacher understands that writing to communicate is a developmental process and provides instruction that promotes students’ competence in written communication.
- The writing process from prewriting through publishing
- Purpose, audience, and the modes of writing
- Organization, elaboration, and voice
- Conferring, revision, and feedback that a child can use
Competency 009: Viewing and representing
The teacher understands skills for interpreting, analyzing, evaluating, and producing visual images and messages in various types of media, including electronic media, and provides students with opportunities to develop skills in this area.
- Interpret and evaluate visual and media messages
- Recognize persuasive technique and point of view in media
- Have students produce media for a real purpose
Competency 010: Assessment of developing literacy
The teacher understands the basic principles of literacy assessment and uses a variety of assessments to guide literacy instruction.
- Formal and informal literacy assessments and what each is for
- Running records, miscue analysis, and accuracy bands
- Screening, diagnostic, and progress monitoring measures
- Using results to group students and plan instruction
A study routine that fits 70 minutes of testing
Forty-five questions in seventy minutes is roughly ninety seconds each, and several of them carry a piece of student work you have to read first. Fluency with the vocabulary is what buys that time back.
Complete lesson map
Thirty-seven lessons on the language content this subtest tests directly. Each one opens in a new tab so you can keep this page open while you work.
Sentence Foundations
Sentence Boundaries
Agreement, Verbs, and Pronouns
Punctuation and Capitalization
Spelling and Confused Words
Knowledge of Language
Before test day
Candidates who struggle here are usually strong readers who never had to name what they do automatically. The test asks for the names. Know a phoneme from a grapheme, what an accuracy rate means and which chart you are reading it against, what makes a text complex, and what a child who writes JUMPD for jumped has already worked out. Once the vocabulary is automatic, most of these questions answer themselves.
A USEFUL NEXT STEP
TExES Core Subjects EC-6 ELAR: study questions
What can I study in this TExES Core Subjects EC-6 ELAR Online Center?
This TExES Core Subjects EC-6 ELAR Online Center includes practice, lessons, worksheets, flashcards and review tools. Topics on the page include Competency 001: Oral language, Competency 002: Word analysis and identification skills, Competency 003: Reading fluency.
How should I use the TExES Core Subjects EC-6 ELAR 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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