TExES exam prep
TExES Science of Teaching Reading Online Center
This TExES Science of Teaching Reading Online Center brings together practice, lessons, worksheets, flashcards and review tools. Choose the resource that matches the skill you want to work on next.
2 free pop-up tests · 108 flashcards · 75 connected lessons
2 pop-up practice tests75 connected lessons1 complete flashcard deck
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TExES Science of Teaching Reading Practice Center
Take a full form, then read the explanation under every question you missed. This exam is written to be literal about the reading research, so a miss usually means a definition was slightly off rather than a judgment was wrong. The explanations name the definition each time.
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TExES Science of Teaching Reading at a glance
Texas added this exam in 2021 for several elementary and middle certificates, and it is unusually focused. Nearly half of it, forty-three percent, is one domain: the foundational skills of reading. Another quarter is comprehension. The pedagogy domain is only thirteen percent, and the last fifth is a single written assignment. If you know where the weight sits, the studying plans itself.
| Test code | 293 (Science of Teaching Reading) |
|---|---|
| Status | Current, with year-round appointments. |
| Who takes it | Candidates for Early Childhood EC-3, Core Subjects with STR EC-6, Core Subjects with STR 4-8, English Language Arts and Reading with STR 4-8, and ELAR/Social Studies with STR 4-8. Candidates standard-certified on or before December 31, 2020 are exempt. |
| Number of questions | 90 selected-response questions and 1 constructed-response assignment |
| Time limit | 5 hours total: 15 minutes for the tutorial and compliance agreement, then 4 hours 45 minutes of testing |
| Format | Computer-administered. A headset is used for a listening question. |
| Passing score | 240 on a scale of 100 to 300. |
Texas publishes weights by domain: Reading Pedagogy 13 percent, Reading Development Foundational Skills 43 percent, Reading Development Comprehension 24 percent, and Analysis and Response 20 percent, which is the single written assignment. Texas does not publish a percentage for individual competencies, so any competency-level breakdown you find elsewhere is an estimate.
The four domains, in plain language
Thirteen competencies sit under four domains. Here is what each domain asks of you, with its published weight.
Domain I: Reading pedagogy (13 percent)
How reading instruction is planned, assessed, and adjusted.
- Assessment-driven instruction and the assessment types
- Multi-tiered support and intervention
- Creating a literacy-rich environment
- Differentiating for the range in the room
Domain II: Reading development, foundational skills (43 percent)
The largest domain by far, and the reason this exam exists.
- Oral language as the foundation for reading
- Phonological awareness and phonemic awareness
- Print concepts and alphabet knowledge
- Phonics and word identification
- Syllabication and morphemic analysis
- Reading fluency: accuracy, rate, and prosody
Domain III: Reading development, comprehension (24 percent)
Vocabulary and understanding, across text types.
- Vocabulary development and word learning
- Comprehension development and monitoring
- Comprehension of literary texts
- Comprehension of informational texts
Domain IV: Analysis and response (20 percent)
One written assignment, worth a fifth of the exam.
- Read the assessment evidence you are given
- Identify what the student already controls
- Name the specific need the evidence shows
- Describe an instructional response and justify it from the evidence
A study routine for a 285-minute exam
Almost five hours is generous for ninety questions, so time is not the constraint here. Precision is. This exam is built on a body of research and it expects the terminology exactly.
DiagnoseTake Practice Test 1 cold. Sort your misses by domain and see how many fall in Domain II.
Live in the foundational skillsForty-three percent. Phonological against phonemic, the six syllable types, syllabication, morphemic analysis, and fluency. Run the deck until each is automatic.
Learn the frameworks by nameThe simple view of reading and Scarborough’s rope are the mental models this exam is organized around, and questions are written from them.
Practise the written assignmentTwenty percent for one response. Take a running record or a spelling inventory and write what the student controls, what the evidence shows is missing, and your next teaching move with a reason drawn from the evidence.
Prove itTake Practice Test 2 under the same conditions.
Complete topic map
The descriptive statements Texas publishes across the thirteen competencies, followed by seventy-five lessons on reading and language, each opening in a new tab.
Foundations of the Science of Teaching Reading
- 01Knowledge of scientifically based reading research (e.g., National Reading Panel, National Early Literacy Panel) and the research-based components of reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension.
- 02Knowledge of the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the TEKS for English Language Arts and Reading, Kindergarten through Grade 6.
- 03Plan instruction that reflects an integrated and recursive model of literacy in which the components are interconnected.
- 04Knowledge of the stages of reading development from emergent through advanced and the characteristics of students at each level.
- 05Recognize that decoding and encoding skills are reciprocal and develop synchronously during early literacy development.
- 06Knowledge of the interrelationships among the components of reading and the importance of promoting both foundational skills and comprehension.
- 07Recognize the importance of managing instruction so as to nurture lifelong readers and a positive reading self-concept through engagement and enjoyment.
- 08Knowledge of principles of research-based instruction, including standards-based decisions and instruction that is systematic, sequential, explicit, and strategic.
Foundations of Reading Assessment
- 09Knowledge of the role of assessment in standards-based instruction and the use of data to inform instruction, plan differentiated instruction, and adjust instructional planning.
- 10Knowledge of assessment types, including screening or entry-level assessments, formative or progress-monitoring assessments, and summative assessments.
- 11Understand the importance of using both code-based and meaning-based classroom assessments, and techniques for assessing decoding and comprehension.
- 12Understand the importance of selecting assessment texts that reflect a variety of genres, perspectives, and time periods.
- 13Knowledge of validity, reliability, and equity, and the characteristics of standardized criterion-referenced and norm-referenced tests.
- 14Knowledge of the distinctions between group and individual classroom assessments and between formal and informal reading assessments.
- 15Knowledge of techniques for determining a student’s independent, instructional, and frustration reading levels.
- 16Knowledge of assessment strategies for monitoring independent reading, including conferring with students about their text selections.
Oral Language Foundations of Reading Development
- 17Knowledge of explicit, research-based strategies for assessing aspects of oral language development, including academic language and grammatical structures.
- 18Accurately interpret oral language assessment results and use the findings to inform instructional planning and differentiation.
- 19Knowledge of the oral language development continuum described in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the TEKS, including its stages and characteristic features.
- 20Recognize that individual variation in oral language development occurs and that speech delays may warrant additional support or professional collaboration.
- 21Knowledge of research-based strategies for promoting understanding and use of sentences and grammatical structures of increasing complexity.
- 22Knowledge of research-based strategies for promoting instructional language, including terminology and sentence structures for describing people, things, actions, and categories.
- 23Knowledge of the interrelationships between oral language and literacy development, particularly for emergent and beginning readers.
- 24Knowledge of the importance of English learners’ home language and strategies for facilitating language transfer by helping English learners make cross-language connections.
Phonological and Phonemic Awareness
- 25Knowledge of explicit, research-based strategies, tools, and techniques for assessing phonological and phonemic awareness skills.
- 26Accurately interpret assessment results and use the findings to inform instructional planning, differentiation, and intervention.
- 27Knowledge of the role of phonological and phonemic awareness in literacy development in alphabetic languages.
- 28Understand the distinction between phonological awareness and phonemic awareness, and between phonemic awareness and the alphabetic principle.
- 29Knowledge of key concepts of phonological and phonemic awareness development, including that young children naturally attend to the meaning of language rather than to its sounds.
- 30Knowledge of the phonological awareness continuum described in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the TEKS, applied to systematic, sequential instructional planning.
- 31Knowledge of research-based strategies and best practices for promoting phonological awareness skills in young children.
- 32Knowledge of research-based strategies for promoting phonemic awareness, including the use of manipulatives to make phonemes more concrete.
Print Concepts and Alphabet Knowledge
- 33Knowledge of explicit, research-based strategies for assessing print concepts, alphabet knowledge, and understanding of the alphabetic principle.
- 34Accurately interpret assessment results and use the findings to inform instructional planning, differentiation, and intervention.
- 35Knowledge of the developmental continuum for print concepts, alphabet knowledge, and the alphabetic principle described in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the TEKS for Kindergarten through Grade 3.
- 36Knowledge of research-based strategies for promoting print concepts, including understanding that illustrations and print carry meaning, and the conventions of print.
- 37Understand the role of alphabet knowledge in reading development, recognizing that phonemic awareness and alphabet knowledge are key predictors of early reading success.
- 38Knowledge of research-based strategies for promoting alphabet knowledge, including multimodal techniques.
- 39Knowledge of the alphabetic principle as the understanding that letters and combinations of letters represent the sounds of spoken language.
- 40Knowledge of research-based strategies for promoting understanding of the alphabetic principle, including letter-sound correspondence instruction and phonetic writing.
Phonics and Other Word Identification Skills
- 41Knowledge of explicit, research-based strategies for assessing phonics, word identification skills, and related spelling skills.
- 42Accurately interpret assessment results and use the findings to inform instructional planning, differentiation, and intervention.
- 43Knowledge of key beginning reading concepts, including the role of phonics in accurate, automatic decoding and the importance of explicit, systematic phonics instruction.
- 44Knowledge of the phonics continuum from simple to complex letter combinations described in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the TEKS for Kindergarten through Grade 5.
- 45Knowledge of research-based strategies for delivering explicit, systematic phonics instruction covering progressively more complex word patterns and sounds.
- 46Knowledge of research-based strategies for teaching word patterns, including explicitly teaching related spelling skills once basic phonics is developed.
- 47Knowledge of the role of high-frequency words in accurate decoding and research-based strategies for promoting their automatic recognition and spelling.
- 48Knowledge of research-based strategies for promoting the decoding and spelling of words with inflectional endings, including teaching orthographic guidelines.
Syllabication and Morphemic Analysis Skills
- 49Knowledge of explicit, research-based strategies for assessing syllabication and morphemic analysis skills, including related spelling skills.
- 50Accurately interpret assessment results and use the findings to inform instructional planning, differentiation, and intervention.
- 51Knowledge of the syllabication and morphemic analysis continuum described in the TEKS for Kindergarten through Grade 6.
- 52Knowledge of research-based strategies for teaching the decoding and spelling of compound words.
- 53Knowledge of the common syllable types and syllable division patterns, and research-based strategies for developing accurate, automatic decoding of multisyllabic words.
- 54Knowledge of common morphemes and the distinction between inflectional and derivational suffixes, and strategies for developing multisyllabic, multimorphemic word reading.
- 55Understand the importance of teaching syllable types and morphemes as chunks to promote automatic decoding of complex texts.
- 56Knowledge of research-based strategies for teaching less common syllable types and morphemes and advanced sound-spelling patterns.
Reading Fluency
- 57Knowledge of explicit, research-based strategies for assessing the various aspects of reading fluency development.
- 58Accurately interpret fluency assessment results and use the findings to inform instructional planning, differentiation, and intervention.
- 59Knowledge of the fluency development continuum, from automatic letter naming through increasingly complex connected text, as described in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the TEKS.
- 60Knowledge of key fluency concepts, including the key indicators of fluency (accuracy, rate, and prosody) and fluency’s role in comprehension.
- 61Knowledge of common factors that disrupt fluency and strategies for addressing them.
- 62Knowledge of research-based strategies for promoting reading accuracy to improve fluency and comprehension.
- 63Knowledge of research-based strategies for promoting rate and automaticity, including oral, whisper, and silent reading with appropriate monitoring.
- 64Knowledge of research-based strategies for promoting prosody, including explicit teacher modeling of prosody, echo reading, and phrase-cued reading.
Vocabulary Development
- 65Knowledge of explicit, research-based strategies for assessing vocabulary development in authentic, meaningful reading contexts.
- 66Accurately interpret vocabulary assessment results and use the findings to inform instructional planning, differentiation, and intervention.
- 67Knowledge of the essential role of vocabulary in supporting students’ oral language development, reading comprehension, and ability to engage in self-sustained reading.
- 68Knowledge of the vocabulary development continuum described in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the TEKS, including the importance of frequent, repeated, incremental exposures.
- 69Knowledge of factors affecting vocabulary development, including familial, educational, socioeconomic, linguistic, and developmental characteristics, and the role of wide reading.
- 70Knowledge of the distinctions among vocabulary tiers and the importance of explicitly teaching Tier Two and Tier Three words while identifying unfamiliar Tier One words.
- 71Knowledge of criteria for selecting words for explicit study and strategies for giving students multiple opportunities to use new words in varied settings.
- 72Knowledge of research-based strategies for promoting the ability to identify, use, and explain antonyms, synonyms, idioms, adages, and puns.
Comprehension Development
- 73Knowledge of explicit, research-based strategies for assessing students’ understanding of appropriately complex texts.
- 74Accurately interpret comprehension assessment results, including identifying misconceptions, and use the findings to inform instructional planning.
- 75Knowledge of the factors affecting reading comprehension, including listening comprehension, academic language, decoding, fluency, comprehension monitoring, background knowledge, and text characteristics.
- 76Knowledge of the importance of providing multiple opportunities to listen to, independently read, and respond to many appropriately complex literary and informational texts.
- 77Knowledge of text challenges and supports and strategies for evaluating and sequencing texts by complexity, including quantitative and qualitative dimensions.
- 78Knowledge of the different levels of comprehension: literal comprehension skills, inferential comprehension skills, and evaluative comprehension skills.
- 79Recognize the essential role of background knowledge in inference, text connections, and learning, and apply strategies for systematically helping students accumulate knowledge.
- 80Knowledge of research-based strategies for promoting metacognitive reading comprehension strategies, including questioning, predicting, imaging, and monitoring.
Comprehension of Literary Texts
- 81Knowledge of explicit, research-based strategies for assessing comprehension and analysis of appropriately complex literary texts.
- 82Accurately interpret assessment results in literary text analysis and use the findings to inform instructional planning and differentiation.
- 83Knowledge of the distinguishing characteristics of the types of children’s literature, including folktales, fables, fairy tales, legends, myths, tall tales, nursery rhymes, poetry, and drama.
- 84Knowledge of the continuum of literary text comprehension and analysis described in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the TEKS for Kindergarten through Grade 6.
- 85Understand the importance of regularly reading aloud high-quality literary texts, and apply research-based read-aloud strategies to build familiarity with story structure.
- 86Knowledge of research-based strategies for promoting the ability to comprehend and analyze literary texts, including identifying key ideas, analyzing author’s purpose, and identifying story elements.
- 87Knowledge of strategies for promoting comprehension at all three levels and for promoting critical thinking, including synthesizing information and questioning perspectives.
- 88Knowledge of research-based strategies for differentiating literary text comprehension instruction to address the assessed needs of all students.
Comprehension of Informational Texts
- 89Knowledge of explicit, research-based strategies for assessing comprehension and analysis of appropriately complex informational texts.
- 90Accurately interpret assessment results in informational text analysis and use the findings to inform instructional planning and differentiation.
- 91Knowledge of the distinguishing characteristics and structures of informational, persuasive, multimodal, and digital texts.
- 92Knowledge of the continuum of informational text comprehension and analysis described in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and the TEKS for Kindergarten through Grade 6.
- 93Understand the importance of regularly reading informational texts aloud, and apply research-based strategies for developing familiarity with informational text.
- 94Understand the importance of scaffolding informational text comprehension, and apply research-based strategies including questioning, annotation, and graphic organizers.
- 95Knowledge of research-based strategies for promoting comprehension and analysis of informational texts, including text structures, central ideas, and textual and graphic features.
- 96Knowledge of strategies for promoting comprehension at all three levels and critical thinking, including synthesizing information and questioning credibility.
Analysis and Response
- 97Analyze, interpret, and discuss accurately and appropriately the results of a reading assessment for an individual student.
- 98Identify a significant need in foundational reading skills, citing specific, appropriate examples from the student’s reading performance.
- 99Select and accurately describe an appropriate, effective instructional strategy to address the identified foundational skills need.
- 100Using sound reasoning, explain the effectiveness of the selected instructional strategy for addressing the foundational skills need.
- 101Identify a significant reading comprehension need, citing specific, appropriate examples from the student’s reading performance.
- 102Select and accurately describe an appropriate, effective instructional strategy to address the identified comprehension need.
- 103Using sound reasoning, explain the effectiveness of the selected instructional strategy for addressing the comprehension need.
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 carry this exam. The first is definitional precision, because the wrong answers are written for candidates who nearly know the term: phonological is the umbrella, phonemic is the sound level, and phonics is where print arrives. The second is Domain II, which is nearly half the exam on its own. If you have one week left, spend five days of it there.
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TExES Science of Teaching Reading: study questions
What can I study in this TExES Science of Teaching Reading Online Center?
This TExES Science of Teaching Reading Online Center includes practice, lessons, worksheets, flashcards and review tools. Topics on the page include Domain I: Reading pedagogy (13 percent), Domain II: Reading development, foundational skills (43 percent), Domain III: Reading development, comprehension (24 percent).
How should I use the TExES Science of Teaching Reading 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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