NES Practice Test

Question 1

As students begin to read, the ability to blend phonemes orally contributes to their reading development primarily because it prepares students to:

a) recognize high-frequency words in a text automatically.

b) combine letter-sounds to decode words.

c) guess the meaning of unfamiliar words from their context.

d) divide written words into onsets and rimes.

Answer 1

b) combine letter-sounds to decode words.

Question 2

A kindergarten teacher is reading a big book to a group of children. The teacher periodically points to the beginning consonant of selected words and accentuates its initial phoneme as the teacher reads the word aloud. The teacher’s practice is most likely to reinforce the children’s:

a) awareness of word boundaries in text.

b) awareness of letter-sound correspondences.

c) ability to segment the sounds of spoken words.

d) ability to apply phonemic blending skills.

Answer 2

b) awareness of letter-sound correspondences.

Question 3

A first-grade teacher administers a spelling assessment midway through the school year. Afterward, the teacher analyzes students’ spelling errors and categorizes the errors according to their most likely cause.

Phonemic Awareness—The spelling error indicates difficulty perceiving all the sounds in words.

Code—The spelling error indicates a code-based difficulty (i.e., mastery of specific phonics/morphemic elements and associated orthographic patterns).

Several students in the class make spelling errors that primarily fall under the category of phonemic awareness. The students’ spelling development would benefit most from an intervention focused on promoting their ability to apply which of the following foundational skills?

a) identifying orally the onset and rime of a series of spoken words

b) substituting target phonemes in spoken words to create new words

c) segmenting sequentially all the phonemes that make up a spoken word

d) blending orally presented phonemes sequentially to produce a target spoken word

Answer 3

c) segmenting sequentially all the phonemes that make up a spoken word

Question 4

Which of the following students is demonstrating the specific type of phonological awareness known as phonemic awareness?

a) a student who, after being shown a letter of the alphabet, can orally identify its corresponding sound(s)

b) a student who listens to the words sing, ring, fling, and hang and can identify that hang is different

c) a student who, after hearing the word hat, can orally identify that it ends with the sound /t/

d) a student who listens to the word magazine and can determine that it contains three syllables

Answer 4

c) a student who, after hearing the word hat, can orally identify that it ends with the sound /t/

Question 5

A teacher is selecting words to use to assess students’ ability to segment the individual phonemes in spoken words. Which of the following words would require the highest level of skill with regard to orally segmenting phonemes?

a) stamp

b) catch

c) fudge

d) chase

Answer 5

a) stamp

Question 6

Which of the following tasks requires the most advanced level of skill along the phonological awareness continuum?

a) orally segmenting the phonemes in the word chimp and then substituting /ŏ/ for /ĭ/ to make a new word, chomp

b) orally segmenting the word wonderful into won/der/ful and then tapping the number of syllables in the word

c) listening to the words place and pluck and then orally segmenting each word into its onset and rime

d) listening to the words fiddle and fresh and then determining that both words begin with the same phoneme, /f/

Answer 6

a) orally segmenting the phonemes in the word chimp and then substituting /ŏ/ for /ĭ/ to make a new word, chomp

Question 7

A kindergarten teacher engages a small group of children in the following Say It and Move It activity.

The teacher says a two-phoneme word slowly (e.g., ape, bee, day, eat, go, she, toe).
The children slowly repeat the word.
The children move a plain wooden block as they say each phoneme, lining up the two blocks from left to right.

Once the children demonstrate mastery of this activity, which of the following strategies would be most appropriate for the teacher to use next to build the children’s phonemic awareness?

a) writing pairs of words on the board that differ by one phoneme (e.g., ape, cape) and pointing out to the children that the second word contains more phonemes than the first

b) exchanging the plain blocks for alphabet letter blocks and then helping the children do the Say It and Move It activity with relevant letter blocks, using pairs of words that have two and three phonemes (e.g., go, goat)

c) saying a pair of words that differ by one phoneme (e.g., bee, beach) and encouraging the children to generate pairs of words that rhyme with the target words (e.g., tea, teach)

d) displaying pictures for a pair of two- and three-phoneme words that differ by a single phoneme (e.g., toe, toad) and having the children complete the Say It and Move It activity for each word in the pair

Answer 7

d) displaying pictures for a pair of two- and three-phoneme words that differ by a single phoneme (e.g., toe, toad) and having the children complete the Say It and Move It activity for each word in the pair

Question 8

A prekindergarten teacher asks a small group of children to listen to and repeat what the teacher says. First, the teacher says the word mop and then pronounces it as /m/ and [ŏp]. Next, the teacher says the word take and then pronounces it as /t/ and [āk]. This activity is likely to promote the children’s phonological awareness primarily by:

a) modeling how to separate the syllables in spoken words.

b) showing them how to segment words into onsets and rimes.

c) promoting their awareness of each phoneme in a spoken word.

d) teaching them how to distinguish between consonants and vowels.

Answer 8

b) showing them how to segment words into onsets and rimes.

Question 9

A prekindergarten teacher is reading a storybook to the class so that the children can see the words and pictures while the teacher points to the line of print. This activity best contributes to the children’s emergent reading development primarily by:

a) promoting their development of letter-recognition skills.

b) helping them recognize the function of spaces between words.

c) developing their awareness of left-to-right directionality.

d) promoting their understanding of letter-sound correspondence.

Answer 9

c) developing their awareness of left-to-right directionality.

Question 10

Having kindergarten children practice tracing the letters of the alphabet in sand is most appropriate for children who need additional support in:

a) internalizing the alphabetic principle and letter-sound correspondences

b) recognizing that print carries meaning.

c) understanding the relationship between spoken and written language.

d) developing letter-formation skills.

Answer 10

d) developing letter-formation skills.

Question 11

A kindergarten teacher encourages beginning readers to “write” their own captions beneath their drawings. This practice is most likely to lead to which of the following outcomes?

a) The children’s grasp of the alphabetic principle will be reinforced as they apply phonetic spelling.

b) The children may become frustrated by the difficulty of the English spelling system and lose interest in writing.

c) Because of the reciprocity between decoding and encoding, the children’s reading progress may be adversely affected by any uncorrected spelling errors.

d) The children will tend to develop automatic word-recognition skills by engaging in spelling practice.

Answer 11

a) The children’s grasp of the alphabetic principle will be reinforced as they apply phonetic spelling.

Question 12

Several children in a kindergarten class have mastered orally blending sets of spoken sounds together to make words. Which of the following additional skills demonstrated by the children would best indicate that they are ready to begin instruction in decoding simple words?

a) identifying key parts of a book consistently, such as the front, back, and title, when prompted by the teacher and pointing to the first page

b) tracking print directionality with a pointer on a big book of a predictable text after the teacher models reading and tracking the text

c) identifying letter-sound correspondences consistently for several high-utility letters, such as a, m, t, and s, when prompted by the teacher

d) recalling the letters of the alphabet in sequence when prompted by the teacher using an alphabet banner and the alphabet song

Answer 12

c) identifying letter-sound correspondences consistently for several high-utility letters, such as a, m, t, and s, when prompted by the teacher

Question 13

Which of the following statements provides the best rationale for incorporating spelling instruction into a first-grade reading program?

a) Spelling instruction promotes phonological sensitivity by teaching students to break words into onsets and rimes and recognize common phonograms.

b) Spelling instruction streamlines the reading process by focusing on a finite set of orthographic guidelines, which accelerates students’ reading development.

c) Spelling instruction facilitates students’ vocabulary development by introducing them to new grade-level academic words throughout the school year.

d) Spelling instruction reinforces students’ knowledge of phonics patterns, which supports their development of automaticity and ability to construct meaning while reading

Answer 13

d) Spelling instruction reinforces students’ knowledge of phonics patterns, which supports their development of automaticity and ability to construct meaning while reading

Question 14

In the years since the report by the National Reading Panel (2000) was published, evidence-based research has conclusively documented that which of the following phonics approaches is most effective in promoting beginning readers’ reading and spelling development?

a) teaching students common phonograms or word families that share the same orthographic rime (i.e., ending letter sequence with a common pronunciation)

b) introducing students to printed words that are likely to be in their oral vocabularies to support them in making effective guesses based on a text’s context (e.g., the pictures)

c) providing embedded phonics or “phonics in context,” in which the teacher primarily offers support reading a word when a student cannot read a word in connected text

d) focusing on grapheme-phoneme correspondences, in which students are taught explicitly to sound out each letter or letter combination in a word and blend the lettersounds together

Answer 14

d) focusing on grapheme-phoneme correspondences, in which students are taught explicitly to sound out each letter or letter combination in a word and blend the lettersounds together

Question 15

Which of the following sentences contains a pair of italicized words that differ from each other by one phoneme?

a) He took off his cap before he lay down to take a nap.

b) She walked down the lane to see the beautiful deep blue sea.

c) They were distracted by the noise as the window shade retracted.

d) After he bashed his toe, he sat down for a while and basked in the sun.

Answer 15

a) He took off his cap before he lay down to take a nap.

Question 16

A second-grade teacher regularly reviews spelling patterns previously taught. The teacher also provides students with multiple opportunities to read and write connected text that features words containing the spelling patterns and to engage in word sorts comparing new and previously taught spelling patterns. These types of instructional activities are likely to promote students’ reading skills primarily by developing their:

a) skill in identifying and categorizing common word families by their rimes.

b) accuracy and automaticity reading words that follow the target phonics patterns.

c) automatic recognition of and fluency reading texts containing high-frequency words.

d) knowledge of the meaning and usage of common, grade-level vocabulary words.

Answer 16

b) accuracy and automaticity reading words that follow the target phonics patterns.

Question 17

A third-grade teacher is planning differentiated reading instruction for an entering-level English learner who has grade-level reading skills in a language that uses the Roman alphabet. The teacher could best accelerate the student’s progress in reading English by using which of the following approaches?

a) providing instruction to promote the student’s development of the alphabetic principle by drawing explicit connections between oral and written language

b) supporting the student in identifying consonant sounds that both languages have in common while systematically teaching common English syllable types to introduce English vowel patterns and pronunciations

c) introducing systematic, explicit phonics skills to the student by showing the student how to sound out and blend the letter-sounds in simple English words

d) modeling how to use textual and graphic context clues to decode unfamiliar words in texts while providing the student with predictable, illustrated texts to use in practicing context as a word-identification strategy

Answer 17

b) supporting the student in identifying consonant sounds that both languages have in common while systematically teaching common English syllable types to introduce English vowel patterns and pronunciations

Question 18

According to basic principles of evidence-based, systematic phonics instruction, which of the following common English letter combinations would be most appropriate for a firstgrade teacher to introduce first?

a) ir

b) kn

c) th

d) oi

Answer 18

c) th

Question 19

Which of the following principles is best illustrated by the words watched, wanted, and warned?

a) Spelling is often the best predictor of the pronunciation of a suffix.

b) Open syllables are usually pronounced with a long vowel sound.

c) The spelling of a suffix is often more reliable than its pronunciation.

d) The second letter of a consonant blend is usually pronounced as the onset of the following syllable.

Answer 19

c) The spelling of a suffix is often more reliable than its pronunciation.

Question 20

Which of the following sets of words would be most effective to use when introducing students to the concept of structural/morphemic analysis?

a) late, great, wait, eight

b) afraid, obtain, explain, remain

c) swim, swims, swam, swum

d) pretest, retest, tested, testing

Answer 20

d) pretest, retest, tested, testing

Question 21

A second-grade teacher wants to ensure that students become automatic in recognizing the orthographic patterns they are explicitly taught during decoding instruction. According to evidence-based best practices, which of the following instructional strategies best promotes students’ automatic recognition of a new orthographic pattern to support proficient reading?

a) providing instruction in the new orthographic pattern implicitly when it arises in the context of reading a shared text or it appears in a text selected for comprehension instruction

b) providing practice with phoneme-grapheme mapping and various reading and spelling activities that focus on words containing the new orthographic pattern

c) emphasizing the use of the three-cueing systems, especially context clues, to decode words that contain the new orthographic pattern

d) emphasizing a tactile-kinesthetic approach when introducing new words that follow the new orthographic pattern

Answer 21

b) providing practice with phoneme-grapheme mapping and various reading and spelling activities that focus on words containing the new orthographic pattern

Question 22

Which of the following instructional strategies would be most effective in promoting students’ decoding of multisyllable words that are not multimorphemic?

a) giving students opportunities to read literature featuring predictable text containing multisyllable words

b) teaching students how to divide multisyllable words into syllables according to common syllable types

c) prompting students to sound out and blend the individual phonemes that compose multisyllable words

d) developing and reinforcing students’ recognition of high-frequency multisyllable words using flash cards

Answer 22

b) teaching students how to divide multisyllable words into syllables according to common syllable types

Question 23

A teacher is working with a group of learners who exhibit the following characteristics.

• The students can accurately read single-syllable words that feature closed, open, and silent-e syllables; and vowel-team syllables that make a long-vowel sound.
• The students can accurately read multisyllable words that feature closed and open syllables.

Which of the following sets of words includes appropriate types of syllables to provide the students with practice applying their knowledge of syllable types to read decodable multisyllable words?

a) treadmill, healthy, pleasant

b) council, county, avoid

c) table, pickle, candle

d) reveal, combine, explain

Answer 23

d) reveal, combine, explain

Question 24

A group of first-grade students has mastered reading single-syllable words that follow the closed-syllable patterns VC, CVC, CVCC, and CCVC. The teacher would like to expand students’ reading development by teaching them how to read two-syllable words that consist of closed syllables, such as picnic, muffin, trumpet, pretzel, invent, and frantic. The teacher could best promote the students’ accurate, efficient reading of this type of word by teaching them to use which of the following decoding strategies?

a) Look at the vowels in a target word; if they are separated by two consonants, divide the word between the consonants (e.g., muf/fin), and then read each syllable from left to right.

b) Look for recognizable single-syllable words within a target word (e.g., muff in muffin, ant in frantic), and then use that word as a starting point to decode the longer word.

c) Sound out each of the letters of a target word from left to right, continuing to the end of the word, and then go back and blend the letter-sounds into recognizable syllables.

d) Sound out and blend the first two letters in a target word; if you recognize the word, then stop, but if not, proceed to the next set of letters until you recognize the word.

Answer 24

a) Look at the vowels in a target word; if they are separated by two consonants, divide the word between the consonants (e.g., muf/fin), and then read each syllable from left to right.

Question 25

A fourth-grade student tries to decode the word accumulate in a science article by using syllabication skills. In order to read the individual syllables of the word after dividing them correctly, the student would need to be proficient in decoding which of the following syllable types?

a) silent e, closed, vowel team

b) vowel team, consonant + le, silent e

c) closed, open, silent e

d) open, silent e, vowel team

Answer 25

c) closed, open, silent e

Question 26

Which of the following statements best describes the relationship between word decoding and reading comprehension in a beginning reader’s development?

a) Decoding skills and reading comprehension tend to develop independently of one another.

b) Development of decoding skills has little effect on the development of reading fluency or reading comprehension

c) Reading comprehension contributes to and directly facilitates the development of decoding skills.

d) Decoding skills are essential for the development of reading fluency to support reading comprehension.

Answer 26

d) Decoding skills are essential for the development of reading fluency to support reading comprehension.

Question 27

A group of third-grade students reads a poem aloud accurately but without much expression. Before asking the students text-dependent questions about the poem’s content, the teacher spends time focusing on phrase-cueing. For example, the teacher asks the students to “Read the phrase that tells us ________” or “Identify the phrase that describes ________”. After focusing on key phrases, the teacher conducts an expressive oral reading of the poem, focusing on proper pausing and expression, especially with respect to the phrases they discussed. Finally, the teacher leads the students in an expressive choral reading of the poem. Engaging the students in these activities prior to discussing the meaning of the poem demonstrates the teacher’s understanding of:

a) the concept that poetry must be read aloud in order for readers to fully appreciate it.

b) the importance of accuracy as the foundation of reading fluency and comprehension.

c) the role of fluency as a bridge between simply decoding a text and comprehending it.

d) the interrelationships between the three key indicators of oral reading fluency.

Answer 27

c) the role of fluency as a bridge between simply decoding a text and comprehending it.

Question 28

A second-grade teacher is working with a small group of students to improve their oral reading fluency. As part of lesson planning, the teacher analyzes the students’ oral reading errors and plans instruction to address phonics knowledge and skills not yet mastered. The teacher’s actions are likely to benefit the students’ reading fluency most directly by:

a) encouraging the students to slow down and decode words letter by letter, a prerequisite of fluent oral reading.

b) improving the students’ reading accuracy, a key component of fluency.

c) promoting the students’ recall of a large number of grade-level words by sight, a prerequisite of fluent oral reading.

d) focusing the students on increasing their reading rate, a key component of fluency.

Answer 28

b) improving the students’ reading accuracy, a key component of fluency.

Question 29

A second-grade teacher pairs students with appropriate, accessible texts for a pairedreading activity. During the activity, two students sit side by side and take turns reading an entire short text aloud. Over a period of several days, the pairs of students read and reread a large number of accessible texts together. This activity best promotes students’ development of:

a) reading rate and automaticity.

b) prosodic reading skills.

c) comprehension skills and strategies.

d) new phonics skills.

Answer 29

a) reading rate and automaticity.

Question 30

A first-grade teacher would like to promote students’ development of accurate decoding to support their oral reading fluency and reading comprehension. The teacher could most effectively promote first graders’ accuracy by teaching them how to:

a) use semantic and syntactic context clues in a text for word identification.

b) apply phonics skills and knowledge of common syllable types and inflections to read words.

c) memorize sets of grade-level words posted on classroom word walls by theme.

d) sound out the first letter of a word and then guess the word based on a text’s illustrations.

Answer 30

b) apply phonics skills and knowledge of common syllable types and inflections to read words.

Question 31

An entering second-grade student performs well below benchmarks on the universal screening for oral reading fluency. These results are aligned with the teacher’s observation that the student does not read with fluency when reading aloud during daily reading activities. At this stage of reading development, the factor that is most likely disrupting the student’s reading fluency is that the student does not:

a) have the phonics knowledge and skills needed to decode the words in the texts.

b) know the meaning of most of the vocabulary words that appear in the texts.

c) know how to deconstruct the complex language structures used in the texts.

d) have sufficient background knowledge related to the texts’ topics.

Answer 31

a) have the phonics knowledge and skills needed to decode the words in the texts.

Question 32

A third-grade teacher has students work on their oral reading fluency each day using a repeated-reading approach. Students work with a classmate to take turns reading an assigned grade-level text and timing each other’s oral reading fluency rate. Some students in the class are currently participating in Tier 2 interventions to address identified gaps in grade-level decoding skills. The teacher differentiates the repeated-reading activity for these students by selecting texts that are aligned with the decoding skills they have been studying. According to evidence-based best practices, which of the following additional modifications to the activity should the teacher make in order to improve the students’ oral reading performance with their assigned text?

a) providing the individual students with explicit teacher feedback with respect to their reading accuracy and prosody between readings

b) increasing the amount of time the students spend daily engaged in the repeated oral reading activity by having them read the text ten times

c) reminding the students to look at the pictures for clues whenever they do not immediately recognize a word in the assigned text

d) having the students engage in silent reading practice instead of participating in the oral reading activity

Answer 32

a) providing the individual students with explicit teacher feedback with respect to their reading accuracy and prosody between readings

Question 33

A third-grade teacher observes that students who can read aloud fluently also demonstrate greater comprehension of expository texts. The best explanation for this is that fluent readers:

a) possess a self-awareness that allows them to use metacognitive skills efficiently.

b) have already developed the base of background knowledge typically covered by textbooks.

c) have well-developed skills for decoding any level of text word by word

d) are able to focus their full attention and cognitive resources on the meaning of a text.

Answer 33

d) are able to focus their full attention and cognitive resources on the meaning of a text.

Question 34

Use the information below to answer the three questions that follow. A first-grade teacher creates poetry booklets for students to read each day as a morning “warmup” activity to begin supporting their development of reading fluency. The teacher sequences the poems in the booklets according to phonics patterns and high-frequency words that students have recently learned. At the beginning of each week, the teacher works with small groups of students to ensure that they can read their new poem-of-the-week accurately. For the rest of the week, students practice reading the new poem with a classmate from their group. They also practice reading aloud other poems in the fluency warm-up booklet that they have previously learned.

Which of the following rationales best describes the advantage of using poems for fluency practice?

a) Poems frequently have predictable structures to support phonics development.

b) Poetry resources are typically abundant in most classroom libraries.

c) Poetry is meant to be read aloud and reread many times to construct meaning.

d) Poems can be found in many lengths and address many topics.

Answer 34

c) Poetry is meant to be read aloud and reread many times to construct meaning.

Question 35

A first-grade teacher creates poetry booklets for students to read each day as a morning “warmup” activity to begin supporting their development of reading fluency. The teacher sequences the poems in the booklets according to phonics patterns and high-frequency words that students have recently learned. At the beginning of each week, the teacher works with small groups of students to ensure that they can read their new poem-of-the-week accurately. For the rest of the week, students practice reading the new poem with a classmate from their group. They also practice reading aloud other poems in the fluency warm-up booklet that they have previously learned.

The teacher has arranged for various adult volunteers to participate during the morning “fluency warm-up.” According to evidence-based instruction, the teacher could best use the volunteers to support students’ development of prosody by:

a) providing the volunteers with unfamiliar poems for individual students to practice reading aloud “cold” to a volunteer.

b) having the volunteers time individual students’ oral reading and then show the students how to record and track their own fluency data on a weekly basis.

c) showing the volunteers how to model appropriate oral reading of a target poem and engage students in echo reading.

d) asking the volunteers to monitor pairs of students to make sure both students are practicing a target poem and reminding them to take turns, if needed.

Answer 35

c) showing the volunteers how to model appropriate oral reading of a target poem and engage students in echo reading.

Question 36

A first-grade teacher creates poetry booklets for students to read each day as a morning “warmup” activity to begin supporting their development of reading fluency. The teacher sequences the poems in the booklets according to phonics patterns and high-frequency words that students have recently learned. At the beginning of each week, the teacher works with small groups of students to ensure that they can read their new poem-of-the-week accurately. For the rest of the week, students practice reading the new poem with a classmate from their group. They also practice reading aloud other poems in the fluency warm-up booklet that they have previously learned.

By halfway through the school year, a majority of students in the class are making good progress reading the poems with fluency. However, a handful of students still read the poems haltingly, word by word, and ignore punctuation. Which of the following explicit, evidenced-based strategies would best transition the students away from word-by-word reading during the daily poetry activity?

a) shifting the students from poetry to a broader range of narrative and informational texts

b) establishing a weekly poetry performance to motivate the students to read with more expression

c) building the students’ background knowledge with respect to each poem’s theme and literary device

d) adding phrase-cues to the students’ poetry booklets and modeling how to read aloud in phrases

Answer 36

d) adding phrase-cues to the students’ poetry booklets and modeling how to read aloud in phrases

Question 37

A second-grade student demonstrates automaticity decoding grade-level regular and irregular words. However, the student frequently experiences poor text comprehension with informational texts. Which of the following steps should the teacher take first to promote the student’s reading development?

a) evaluating the student’s ability to apply grade-level phonics and syllabication skills when reading the target texts

b) determining the rate of the student’s phonological processing when reading the target informational texts

c) evaluating the degree to which the student uses syntactic clues when reading the target informational texts

d) using questioning to determine the student’s vocabulary and background knowledge with respect to the target texts

Answer 37

d) using questioning to determine the student’s vocabulary and background knowledge with respect to the target texts

Question 38

A first-grade teacher designs the following activity.

1. Divide students into pairs.
2. Have the two students sit back-to-back.
3. Give a student in each pair a picture of a familiar object to describe.
4. Have the second student try to name the object based on the description.
5. If the second student cannot determine the target object, instruct the student describing the object to use more precise language (e.g., describing the object’s color, texture, size, use).
6. The student pairs switch roles and repeat steps 2–5.

This activity is likely to contribute to students’ literacy development primarily by:

a) showing them how to distinguish shades of meaning among words with similar denotations.

b) developing their ability to categorize words according to their function.

c) promoting their oral language development and listening comprehension.

d) encouraging them to develop their oral presentation skills.

Answer 38

c) promoting their oral language development and listening comprehension.

Question 39

Students in a fourth-grade class read a text that includes the word indefensible, which is unfamiliar to some of them. Which of the following strategies for teaching the word would be most effective in both clarifying the meaning of the word and extending the students’ understanding and use of an appropriate word-learning strategy?

a) asking the students to paraphrase the sentence that contains the word by substituting a synonym for the word

b) having the students enter the word in their ongoing list of new vocabulary words and then look up its definition independently

c) modeling for the students how to apply knowledge of morphology to construct the word’s meaning and use context to confirm it

d) using print and digital reference materials to explain the word’s meaning to the students before they read the text

Answer 39

c) modeling for the students how to apply knowledge of morphology to construct the word’s meaning and use context to confirm it

Question 40

A fifth-grade teacher is about to begin a new unit on ecosystems, with an emphasis on the movement of matter among the various components of an ecosystem. Which of the following types of vocabulary words from the unit would be most appropriate for the teacher to pre-teach?

a) words that are conceptually challenging

b) high-frequency, phonetically irregular words

c) high-frequency words that have multiple meanings

d) multisyllable words made of two or more syllable types

Answer 40

a) words that are conceptually challenging

Question 41

A fifth-grade student reads the sentence, “After playing with her friends all day, Kaylee did her science homework, her geography project, and her English paper in one fell swoop.” The student asks the teacher for support in understanding the meaning of the phrase one fell swoop. After explaining the phrase’s meaning, the teacher could best deepen and extend the student’s understanding of this idiomatic expression by:

a) asking the student to find other sentences in the text that use the words fell and swoop.

b) discussing with the student additional examples of the phrase used in context

c) directing the student to look up different meanings of fell and swoop in the dictionary

d) showing the student how to create a tree diagram of the structure of the phrase

Answer 41

b) discussing with the student additional examples of the phrase used in context

Question 42

A sixth-grade teacher is planning explicit instruction to develop students’ ability to read and understand sentences that have a complex sentence structure. Which of the following skills would be most effective for the teacher to focus on?

a) distinguishing between complex sentences that use passive and active voice

b) deconstructing complex sentences into independent and dependent clauses

c) identifying common transition words that link ideas in two or more sentences

d) distinguishing between demonstrative and indefinite pronouns in a sentence

Answer 42

b) deconstructing complex sentences into independent and dependent clauses

Question 43

Over the course of the school year, a sixth-grade student who had been a fluent, proficient reader in previous years has become increasingly inconsistent in comprehending grade-level literary and informational texts assigned in class. The results of informal, curriculum-based assessments indicate that the student still meets grade-level expectations in vocabulary knowledge, but the student’s reading rate and comprehension have dropped below grade-level expectations. The teacher observes that the student does not read smoothly when reading aloud sentences that contain more than one clause, and the student often comments about “getting lost in the sentence.” The teacher is also aware that the student tends to choose fiction and graphic novels for independent reading that are written well below grade-level expectations. The student’s overall reading profile suggests that the student would likely benefit most from explicit instruction focused on promoting the student’s:

a) understanding of important features of skilled and prosodic oral reading.

b) ability to deconstruct complex academic language and interpret its meaning.

c) skill in applying contextual analysis and other word analysis strategies.

d) development of automaticity recognizing grade-level high-frequency words.

Answer 43

b) ability to deconstruct complex academic language and interpret its meaning.

Question 44

A third-grade class that includes several English learners is preparing to read a text about the life cycles of various organisms (e.g., plants, mammals, reptiles). Which of the following teaching strategies would be most effective in promoting the English learners’ comprehension of the text?

a) having the students look up unknown English words using bilingual dictionaries and then make vocabulary lists in both languages

b) pairing English learners with students whose home language is English and asking the latter to explain any unknown vocabulary

c) activating the students’ prior knowledge about the topic and providing visual aids such as illustrations to clarify new vocabulary

d) giving the students a list of new vocabulary with definitions and having them try to construct original sentences using the words

Answer 44

c) activating the students’ prior knowledge about the topic and providing visual aids such as illustrations to clarify new vocabulary

Question 45

Before beginning a new content-area reading passage, a fourth-grade teacher asks students to think of words related to the topic of the text. The teacher writes the words on the board and then asks the students to suggest ways to group the words based on meaningful connections. The teacher also encourages them to explain their reasons for grouping particular words together. This series of activities is likely to promote the students’ reading development primarily by helping them:

a) extend and reinforce their expressive and receptive vocabularies related to the text’s topic.

b) infer the meaning of new vocabulary in the text based on word derivations.

c) strengthen and extend their understanding of the overall structure of the text.

d) verify word meanings in the text by incorporating syntactic and semantic clues into their word analysis.

Answer 45

a) extend and reinforce their expressive and receptive vocabularies related to the text’s topic.

Question 46

A second-grade teacher is reading aloud a literary text to the class. Which of the following post-reading activities would be most likely to promote the students’ comprehension of the story by enhancing their literary analysis skills?

a) encouraging the students to identify the key vocabulary words in the story

b) discussing with the students how the characters in the story respond to major events and challenges

c) asking the students to reread the story silently and respond to several literal comprehension questions

d) having the students freewrite about the story in their reading response journals

Answer 46

b) discussing with the students how the characters in the story respond to major events and challenges

Question 47

Which of the following strategies would be most appropriate to use to promote secondgrade students’ ability to analyze key ideas and details in a literary text?

a) explicitly teaching students the key features and conventions of different literary genres

b) prompting students to evaluate the significance of a story’s setting with respect to its theme

c) asking students text-dependent who, what, where, when, why, and how questions about story elements

d) encouraging students to clarify their understanding of a story by reflecting on their personal experiences

Answer 47

c) asking students text-dependent who, what, where, when, why, and how questions about story elements

Question 48

A fourth-grade teacher is planning a lesson focused on promoting students’ recognition of distinguishing features of prose, poetry, and drama. The teacher plans to begin the lesson by having students follow along as the teacher reads aloud three short passages—a chapter from a novel, a narrative poem, and a scene from a play. Afterward, the teacher plans to lead a whole-class discussion about the passages. Which of the following postreading activities would be most effective in helping the students prepare for the discussion and achieve the lesson’s objective?

a) having students meet in small groups of four or five to consider the question, “Which of the three passages affected you most powerfully?”

b) asking students to take notes in their literature journals while they reread the three passages silently and then review their notes before the discussion

c) having pairs of students use a graphic organizer to compare how major story elements such as setting, characters, and plot are conveyed in the three passages

d) asking individual students to freewrite for two minutes in response to the prompt, “Which of the three passages did you like best, and why?”

Answer 48

c) having pairs of students use a graphic organizer to compare how major story elements such as setting, characters, and plot are conveyed in the three passages

Question 49

A fourth-grade class will be comparing the treatment of a similar theme, “family ties,” in stories from different countries. After students read the stories independently, the teacher plans to lead close rereadings focused on the influence of culture on the target theme. Which of the following teaching preparation strategies would be most essential and effective for achieving the goals of this lesson?

a) dividing the stories into coherent parts (e.g., beginning, middle, end) and composing a summary of key ideas or information conveyed in each section

b) identifying passages key to comprehending the basic plot of each story and particular words or phrases the authors use that might be unfamiliar to students

c) defining the key story elements in each story (e.g., time, place, characters) and identifying similarities and differences between these aspects of the stories

d) identifying passages in each story that are essential to understanding the author’s perspective and key words or other stylistic choices that convey certain values

Answer 49

d) identifying passages in each story that are essential to understanding the author’s perspective and key words or other stylistic choices that convey certain values

Question 50

Which of the following activities would be most effective for a teacher to use to promote students’ strategic reading of literary texts?

a) giving students bookmarks that list reading comprehension strategies with brief descriptions of their features and steps for their use

b) leading students in frequent small-group discussions and close readings focused on relevant strategies (e.g., skimming, rereading) to use for different academic tasks and purposes

c) reminding students to practice newly learned strategies (e.g., scanning for specific details) during independent reading and then enter the strategies they used in their reading logs

d) pairing students with a classmate after a reading assignment and asking them to share which reading comprehension strategies they used

Answer 50

b) leading students in frequent small-group discussions and close readings focused on relevant strategies (e.g., skimming, rereading) to use for different academic tasks and purposes

Question 51

Fourth-grade students silently read an assigned text for part of the English language arts block and then meet for a small-group discussion of the text in another part of the block. During the silent reading portion, the teacher instructs students to use stick-on notes to bookmark passages where they make predictions, ask or answer questions, or encounter an unfamiliar word. In addition to anchoring the group discussions in the text, this practice benefits students primarily by increasing their:

a) silent reading fluency.

b) metacognitive awareness while reading.

c) level of reading enjoyment.

d) ability to concentrate during reading.

Answer 51

b) metacognitive awareness while reading.

Question 52

Some children in a kindergarten class have had limited prior exposure to storybooks read aloud and/or limited prior experiences discussing narrative texts. Their teacher wants to develop their knowledge of story structure. According to evidence-based best practices, which of the following instructional approaches is most likely to accelerate the children’s understanding of the causal nature of story events?

a) teaching story elements explicitly, such as main character, goal or problem, and resolution, as part of the daily read-aloud

b) rereading favorite stories to children and letting them dress up like the characters

c) having children practice putting photocopies of pictures taken from storybooks in the order in which they occurred in the book

d) asking text-dependent questions about the key details in story events

Answer 52

a) teaching story elements explicitly, such as main character, goal or problem, and resolution, as part of the daily read-aloud

Question 53

A group of fifth-grade students finishes reading a novel written in the first person. The teacher has the students work together to write a new account of a key scene as it might be reported by a different major character. Which of the following questions would be the most appropriate focus of a group discussion following the writing activity?

a) How does the narrative point of view in a story shape a reader’s understanding of events?

b) How do key structural elements in a narrative work affect the emotional impact of a story?

c) How does the author use figurative language to foreshadow the resolution in a narrative?

d) How do descriptive and expository writing affect a reader differently in a narrative text?

Answer 53

a) How does the narrative point of view in a story shape a reader’s understanding of events?

Question 54

An entering third-grade student with a specific learning disability demonstrates reading comprehension that is below grade-level expectations. The student can read aloud narrative texts that are aligned with second-grade expectations with accuracy and fluency; however, the student does not consistently remember key details or events after reading the texts. In keeping with evidence-based best practices, which of the following strategies would be most appropriate for the teacher to try first to support the student’s reading comprehension with literary texts?

a) providing the student with explicit instruction in story elements using a graphic organizer

b) engaging the student in repeated oral reading of grade-level texts with explicit teacher feedback

c) providing the student with explicit instruction and guided practice in grade-level, Tier Three vocabulary

d) having the student practice reading two- and three-sentence grade-level narrative paragraphs

Answer 54

a) providing the student with explicit instruction in story elements using a graphic organizer

Question 55

Sixth-grade students have just finished reading a chapter in a novel and are getting ready to write an entry in their response journals. The teacher could most effectively develop students’ literary response skills by assigning which of the following journal prompts?

a) What new vocabulary words did you learn when reading this chapter? List and define the new words from the chapter.

b) What happened in the chapter? Describe two or three events from the chapter.

c) What do you think is the main idea or theme of the novel? Relate specific events in this chapter to the theme you suggest.

d) Which characters are mentioned in this chapter? List each of the characters.

Answer 55

c) What do you think is the main idea or theme of the novel? Relate specific events in this chapter to the theme you suggest.

Question 56

A fifth-grade teacher gives students a “reading planner” for an informational text that they will be reading independently. The reading planner contains various activities, including prompting students to summarize certain passages, to explain relationships between concepts according to specific information in the text, and to determine the meaning of domain-specific words based on appositives or appositive phrases embedded in the text. This reading planner is likely to be most effective for achieving which of the following instructional purposes?

a) developing students’ ability to read the text evaluatively

b) supporting students’ development of prosodic reading skills

c) encouraging students to read and interact closely with the text

d) teaching students to adjust their reading rate based on text complexity

Answer 56

c) encouraging students to read and interact closely with the text

Question 57

A sixth-grade teacher gives students several essays that present contrasting opinions on a current social issue. The teacher then asks students to consider the following questions as they read the texts.

1. What is the author’s opinion on the issue?
2. How might the author’s background influence the opinion?
3. What evidence does the author use to support the opinion?

These questions support students’ reading comprehension primarily by prompting them to:

a) monitor comprehension of informational texts.

b) identify the theme in expository texts.

c) draw inferences from informational texts.

d) analyze points of view in expository texts.

Answer 57

d) analyze points of view in expository texts.

Question 58

A second-grade teacher frequently reads aloud informational books related to grade-level content in social studies, science, and the arts. The teacher supports students in developing their own questions during and after the read-alouds and then helps them conduct research on their questions using grade-level resources the teacher has collected on these topics. In keeping with evidence-based best practices, providing direct instruction in which of the following aspects of informational text would be most essential to students’ success and growing independence in using informational texts for personal research?

a) using text features to locate specific information in a text

b) presenting information gained from a text in charts and tables

c) using an outline to organize collected information in a logical format

d) distinguishing between implied and explicitly stated information in a text

Answer 58

a) using text features to locate specific information in a text

Question 59

During a series of integrated science and literacy lessons, a third-grade teacher plans to have students read several articles from a children’s magazine about new technologies for cleaning up pollution in the oceans. After they read the articles, students will work in small groups to create a graphic organizer comparing and contrasting two of the solutions. To prepare students to integrate information across texts in this activity, which of the following steps would be most essential for the teacher to take?

a) providing a brief history of the environmental movement in the United States

b) providing explicit instruction in how to identify the most important points and key details presented in the texts

c) providing students with opportunities to share their personal responses to the articles

d) providing explicit instruction in discipline-specific conventions of scientific writing (e.g., use of passive voice, quantitative data)

Answer 59

b) providing explicit instruction in how to identify the most important points and key details presented in the texts

Question 60

A third-grade teacher periodically reads aloud from a chapter in content-area textbooks using think-aloud while reading. Following is an example.

“The moon does not shine on its own. The sun’s light reflects off the moon.” Hmm. I’m imagining that the sun is like a flashlight shining on the moon in the dark. “As the moon rotates, only the part that faces the sun is visible from the Earth.” I’m not quite sure what ‘visible’ means, but it sounds kind of like vision, which I know has to do with eyes. It probably means the part that we can see from the Earth. Now, that makes me wonder— why do we see different amounts of the moon at different times? Let’s see if the next part of the chapter explains this. …”

The teacher’s practice is most likely to promote students’ reading comprehension of informational texts by:

a) modeling for them metacognitive comprehension strategies.

b) giving them an example of fluent oral reading.

c) summarizing for them the main ideas of an expository text.

d) exposing them to new vocabulary in context.

Answer 60

a) modeling for them metacognitive comprehension strategies.

Question 61

A second-grade class includes several students who are developing-level (intermediate) English learners. The teacher is planning to use a whole-class read-aloud to provide instruction in making inferences when reading informational text. Which of the following differentiation strategies would best support students with diverse language abilities in making text-based inferences?

a) inviting the English learners to read the passages that will be used in the lesson in advance and to refer back to the printed copies of the passages during the lesson

b) offering the English learners alternative, literal comprehension-building activities (e.g., “Fill in the blank: The authors said ________. The text was mostly about ________.”)

c) collecting a variety of reference materials for the classroom, and making them freely available to the English learners as needed during instruction

d) providing the English learners with sentence frames to scaffold the lesson (e.g., “I think that ________. I think so because I read ________ and because I know that ________.”)

Answer 61

d) providing the English learners with sentence frames to scaffold the lesson (e.g., “I think that ________. I think so because I read ________ and because I know that ________.”)

Question 62

Two proficient readers are answering post-reading comprehension questions about a chapter in a content-area textbook.

• The first student demonstrates exceptional recall of details from the chapter but has difficulty answering questions about the gist of the chapter.
• The second student can give an outstanding summary of the chapter but has difficulty remembering specific facts from the chapter.

Which of the following best explains the most likely reason for the students’ varied understanding of the text?

a) The first student is more proficient than the second student at using metacognitive comprehension strategies to make sense of the text.

b) Each student applied different reading comprehension skills when reading the text.

c) The second student is more proficient at reading for literal understanding than for inferential understanding.

d) Each student brought a unique set of prior experiences to the reading of the text.

Answer 62

b) Each student applied different reading comprehension skills when reading the text.

Question 63

Skimming is likely to be the most effective strategy for accomplishing which of the following reading tasks?

a) evaluating the validity of information on an Internet website

b) previewing a chapter in a content-area textbook

c) synthesizing information from various sources for a research report

d) studying specific facts for a content-area exam

Answer 63

b) previewing a chapter in a content-area textbook

Question 64

A third-grade teacher has been conducting a series of ongoing assessments of a student’s oral reading. Shown below is a sentence from a text, followed by a transcription of the student reading the text. The sample is representative of the student’s typical oral reading performance.

Text: Up ahead, Julia saw the overturned boat disappear over the waterfall’s edge.

Student: “Up ahead, Julie saw the overtired boat (pauses reading) overturned boat disappoint over the water’s edge (pauses reading) disappear over the water’s edge.”

Given the information provided, the teacher could best address this student’s needs by providing targeted, evidence-based instruction focused on:

a) developing the ability to self-monitor reading comprehension

b) enhancing oral vocabulary development and use of word-learning strategies

c) improving reading accuracy by attending to all parts of a word

d) promoting the ability to track connected text

Answer 64

c) improving reading accuracy by attending to all parts of a word

Question 65

A third-grade student performs below grade-level expectations in word-reading accuracy on informal assessments. Since the majority of the student’s errors are with multisyllable words, the teacher plans to provide the student with daily explicit instruction for one week on the use of syllable-division strategies for reading multisyllable words. The teacher will then reassess the student at the end of the trial period. The primary benefit of this approach to informal assessment is that it:

a) helps the teacher determine whether the student has the potential for improvement with short-term intervention

b) provides the teacher with nationally normed benchmarks with which to compare the student’s progress

c) provides opportunities to engage a student who is not a skilled reader in authentic reading activities

d) contributes evidence that can be used to diagnose the student’s specific reading disability

Answer 65

a) helps the teacher determine whether the student has the potential for improvement with short-term intervention

Question 66

Considerations of validity in test construction relate most closely to:

a) how a particular examinee’s test performance relates to a preestablished standard

b) whether the test questions effectively measure their specified content

c) how a particular examinee’s test performance compares to the performance of other examinees

d) whether the test results are likely to be repeatable with a similar examinee test group

Answer 66

b) whether the test questions effectively measure their specified content

Question 67

If a standardized test is said to lack reliability, the test:

a) is not measuring what it is supposed to measure

b) has not proven to be useful as an instructional intervention

c) gives fluctuating scores in different administrations

d) has poor predictive value relative to students’ classroom performance

Answer 67

gives fluctuating scores in different administrations

Question 68

A third-grade teacher notes that students’ vocabulary scores on a school-wide standardized achievement test are below the national average and below their performance on the comprehension and decoding subtests.

The type of reading assessment described in the scenario that compares students’ reading performance to the performance of students in a national sample group can best be categorized as:

a) summative

b) norm referenced

c) curriculum based

d) benchmark

Answer 68

b) norm referenced

Question 69

A third-grade teacher notes that students’ vocabulary scores on a school-wide standardized achievement test are below the national average and below their performance on the comprehension and decoding subtests.

In response to students’ performance on the vocabulary measure, the teacher plans to take a more systematic and robust approach to vocabulary instruction. The teacher’s use of the data best underscores the importance of which of the following approaches to reading assessment?

a) conducting both formal and informal reading-related assessments to plan instruction

b) demonstrating knowledge of evidence-based strategies for assessing the major components of reading

c) using results from reading assessments to guide instructional decision making

d) determining students’ current skills with respect to specific state grade-level standards

Answer 69

c) using results from reading assessments to guide instructional decision making

Question 70

A third-grade teacher notes that students’ vocabulary scores on a school-wide standardized achievement test are below the national average and below their performance on the comprehension and decoding subtests.

The teacher decides to collect ongoing data related to vocabulary instruction. The teacher records examples of students’ use of new vocabulary during class discussions and has students turn in weekly examples of how they use new words in their writing. The teacher also has students maintain a vocabulary journal in which they develop definitions for new Tier Two and Tier Three vocabulary in their own words, make visual representations of word meanings, and analyze changes to a word’s form and meaning when affixes are added. This approach to informal assessment benefits literacy instruction primarily by allowing the teacher to:

a) monitor various dimensions of students’ vocabulary development across multiple language modes.

b) use anecdotal and theoretical data for tracking students’ vocabulary learning and evaluating their progress

c) monitor students’ learning progress in ways that can be easily quantified and charted

d) use portfolio assessment to evaluate students’ progress in each essential component of reading

Answer 70

a) monitor various dimensions of students’ vocabulary development across multiple language modes.

Question 71

A kindergarten teacher regularly elicits oral retellings of stories children have listened to or read as a way to assess their understanding of narrative text structures. The retell protocol the teacher uses has a child retell the story to a stuffed animal, named Storalee, as the teacher records notes and checks off story components. The teacher starts with the prompt, “Tell our friend Storalee the whole story because she has not heard it before.” The teacher rates each child’s understanding of the text’s characters, setting, events, and relationships according to standards-based rubric descriptors for story elements.

Which of the following components should be included in the story elements rubric to ensure that the assessment will provide information about children’s understanding of the cause-and-effect relationships found in narrative texts?

a) assigning scores for the number of details about events children provide in their responses (e.g., providing who-what-where information about a story event)

b) scoring the use of sequence transition words that children use to connect their retelling (e.g., first, next, after that, finally)

c) creating a list of generic questions to use as prompts to ensure that children’s retellings are as comprehensive as possible

d) identifying evidence of children’s use of conjunctions (e.g., because, so, since) to connect the character’s motivation to actions taken

Answer 71

d) identifying evidence of children’s use of conjunctions (e.g., because, so, since) to connect the character’s motivation to actions taken

Question 72

A kindergarten teacher regularly elicits oral retellings of stories children have listened to or read as a way to assess their understanding of narrative text structures. The retell protocol the teacher uses has a child retell the story to a stuffed animal, named Storalee, as the teacher records notes and checks off story components. The teacher starts with the prompt, “Tell our friend Storalee the whole story because she has not heard it before.” The teacher rates each child’s understanding of the text’s characters, setting, events, and relationships according to standards-based rubric descriptors for story elements.

Which of the following strategies would be most appropriate for the teacher to use to differentiate the retelling assessment for children who are advanced readers?

a) substituting literal comprehension questions for the oral retelling

b) replacing the fictional narrative text with an informational text to summarize, such as a social studies or science text

c) recording the children’s oral retelling so that they can listen to it later

d) asking the children to elaborate on specific story elements, such as characters’ responses to events and challenges

Answer 72

d) asking the children to elaborate on specific story elements, such as characters’ responses to events and challenges

Question 73

When considering how to support students who are at risk for reading difficulties, an elementary school teacher first tries to align an individual student’s profile with one of the following evidence-based reading-difficulty profiles.

Profile 1: The student reads words accurately and efficiently but demonstrates needs in word knowledge and/or comprehension skills.

Profile 2: The student demonstrates needs in decoding and word recognition but has strong word knowledge and comprehension skills.

Profile 3: The student demonstrates needs in decoding and word recognition and also in word knowledge and comprehension skills.

One advantage of the teacher keeping these general profiles in mind when considering whether a student may be at risk for reading difficulties is that it helps the teacher:

a) determine a direction for specific diagnostic probes (e.g., identifying gaps in phonics knowledge using a word-pattern survey).

b) select a comprehensive intervention that systematically addresses all the essential components of reading.

c) ensure that an intervention will take into account the interrelationships between reading, writing, listening, and speaking

d) incorporate principles of standards-based reading instruction into differentiation and intervention strategies

Answer 73

a) determine a direction for specific diagnostic probes (e.g., identifying gaps in phonics knowledge using a word-pattern survey).

Question 74

When considering how to support students who are at risk for reading difficulties, an elementary school teacher first tries to align an individual student’s profile with one of the following evidence-based reading-difficulty profiles.

Profile 1: The student reads words accurately and efficiently but demonstrates needs in word knowledge and/or comprehension skills.

Profile 2: The student demonstrates needs in decoding and word recognition but has strong word knowledge and comprehension skills.

Profile 3: The student demonstrates needs in decoding and word recognition and also in word knowledge and comprehension skills.

The teacher is planning progress monitoring for students whose reading performance fits one of the three profiles and who will be receiving differentiated instruction or an intervention to address their identified needs. Which of the following guidelines would be most important for the teacher to follow when planning progress-monitoring for this purpose?

a) monitoring students’ weak skills as well as their strong skills with the same frequency

b) using standardized, norm-referenced assessment instruments

c) selecting assessment instruments or techniques that will show even small improvements

d) emphasizing group-administered assessments over individual assessments

Answer 74

c) selecting assessment instruments or techniques that will show even small improvements

Question 75

Which of the following strategies for differentiating collaborative text-based discussions for the students with language-expression challenges would best enhance their participation in the text-based discussions and their overall language development?

a) having the students discuss texts with each other instead of in a larger group

b) pairing the students with an advanced reader who can model appropriate responses to questions

c) asking the students key-detail questions that have the answers right in the text

d) providing the students with relevant sentence or language frames to scaffold their responses

Answer 75

d) providing the students with relevant sentence or language frames to scaffold their responses

Question 76

According to evidence-based practices, which of the following resources in a first-grade classroom best supports phonics instruction as a major component of reading instruction?

a) decodable texts tied directly to the instructional scope and sequence of skills

b) leveled texts considered to be at students’ most accessible reading level

c) predictable-patterned texts that are well supported by pictures

d) themed alphabet books that accurately represent letter-sound relationships

Answer 76

a) decodable texts tied directly to the instructional scope and sequence of skills

Question 77

A teacher is planning reading instruction for a small group of students who exhibit the following characteristics.

• The students can point accurately to words in predictable texts after listening to and following the teacher reading aloud and tracking the text several times using a big book format.
• The students can identify the beginning and final sounds of simple threephoneme words presented orally and can sometimes identify a word’s medial sound.
• The students have developed sound-symbols associations for the majority of consonant sounds and some vowel sounds.
• The students can read several high-frequency words in simple texts.
• The students can spell words with an accurate beginning consonant sound and sometimes an accurate final consonant sound.

Given these characteristics, the students are most likely beginning to transition to which of the following phases of word reading?

a) partial alphabetic

b) full alphabet

c) consolidated alphabetic

d) consolidated grapho-syllabic

Answer 77

a) partial alphabetic

Question 78

Early in the school year, a fifth-grade teacher analyzes the results of a developmental spelling survey to identify students’ strengths and needs as spellers. Using this information, the teacher plans whole-group instruction for spelling elements and patterns the majority of students need to learn (e.g., fifth-grade-level prefixes and suffixes). However, some students have not yet mastered earlier spelling elements or patterns, while other students are ready to learn elements that are beyond the scope of the fifth-grade spelling curriculum. Which of the following approaches to spelling instruction would best address this diversity of skills?

a) expanding the number of spelling elements addressed in whole-group instruction

b) creating individual spelling lists for each student in the class

c) providing differentiated spelling homework to the students who vary from the norm

d) planning differentiated instruction using flexible grouping

Answer 78

d) planning differentiated instruction using flexible grouping

Question 79

A second-grade teacher works several times a week with a Tier 2 intervention group. At the beginning of the intervention, all the students in the group had strengths in oral reading fluency and challenges in text comprehension. As instruction proceeds, which of the following actions best aligns with key principles of a Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) model of instruction?

a) providing reading materials written at the most accessible level for the students

b) adjusting instruction for individual students according to their responses to the intervention

c) changing materials and resources frequently according to students’ interests

d) following a scripted intervention program verbatim with the students from beginning to end

Answer 79

b) adjusting instruction for individual students according to their responses to the intervention

Question 80

Which of the following statements describes the most important reason for a fourth-grade teacher to assign a variety of high-quality trade books as a component of reading instruction?

a) he themes typical of children’s literature tend to reinforce students’ development of literal comprehension skills.

b) Reading across genres contributes to students’ developing understanding of the structures and features of different texts.

c) Simplified syntax and controlled vocabulary provide necessary scaffolding for students who are not skilled readers.

d) Reading diverse texts promotes students’ development of phonological and phonemic awareness skills

Answer 80

b) Reading across genres contributes to students’ developing understanding of the structures and features of different texts.

Question 81

A fifth-grade class silently reads an informational text. In subsequent informal assessments, several students are able to read the text orally with fluency, but they demonstrate poor overall comprehension of the text. The teacher could most appropriately address these students’ needs by adjusting future instruction in which of the following ways?

a) using informational texts that are written at the students’ independent reading level

b) providing the students with explicit instruction in grade-level-appropriate test-taking strategies

c) introducing a text’s key vocabulary and supporting the students in close reading of key passages

d) emphasizing reading skill-building activities that focus primarily on narrative texts

Answer 81

c) introducing a text’s key vocabulary and supporting the students in close reading of key passages

Question 82

A fifth-grade teacher is planning a literature study focused on how various elements of an author’s craft are used to convey a poem’s theme. The class includes students with a wide range of reading and language skills, including several advanced readers.

Over the course of the unit, the class reads and analyzes the themes of several, increasingly complex, grade-level poems. Near the end of the unit, the teacher will have students practice literary analysis skills on an unfamiliar grade-level poem. According to evidence-based best practices, which of the following differentiation strategies would be most appropriate for the teacher to use with advanced readers during this lesson?

a) having advanced readers work independently at their own pace while other students work in small, heterogeneous groups to analyze a poem

b) having all students work in small heterogeneous groups to analyze a poem, with advanced readers assigned a leadership role

c) having all students work in small, homogeneous groups to analyze a poem at an appropriate level of complexity for the group

d) having students work independently to analyze a poem, and having students who complete their work early analyze a second poem

Answer 82

c) having all students work in small, homogeneous groups to analyze a poem at an appropriate level of complexity for the group

Question 83

A third-grade class includes students with delays in foundational reading skills. Two students also have delays in language expression and comprehension. The teacher is considering ways to best support the students’ reading development. The teacher would also like to provide appropriate supports for the students during the planned biweekly whole-class close-reading routine, in which the teacher will engage the students in reading and rereading a variety of complex literary and informational passages.

The teacher wants to support the students with literacy delays in developing selfconfidence and self-efficacy as readers. Which of the following strategies would be most appropriate for this purpose?

a) instructing the students explicitly in how to use various word-reading and comprehension-repair strategies to solve reading challenges

b) requiring the students to engage in more independent reading in the classroom and at home

c) evaluating texts that will be used in reading instruction with the students for text complexity to ensure that the texts are always easily accessible

d) balancing the students’ exposure to authentic literary and informational texts in a diversity of genres

Answer 83

a) instructing the students explicitly in how to use various word-reading and comprehension-repair strategies to solve reading challenges

Question 84

Which of the following guidelines for planning effective reading instruction for these students best addresses the evidence-based recommendation that foundational reading skills should be taught in conjunction with building a foundation for reading comprehension?

a) providing sufficient time for the students to engage in sustained silent reading with selfselected texts in class to practice new skills and strategies independently

b) using decodable texts to promote the students’ ability to read a text with fluency while also selecting complex, grade-level texts for read alouds and text analysis

c) utilizing state standards from lower grade levels in order to address gaps in the students’ reading skills and accommodate their limited reading comprehension

d) focusing more on modeling oral reading of texts with adequate expression to facilitate the students’ comprehension than on developing their decoding or fluency skills

Answer 84

b) using decodable texts to promote the students’ ability to read a text with fluency while also selecting complex, grade-level texts for read alouds and text analysis