NYSTCE Multi-Subject: Middle Childhood (Grades 5-9), Part One: Literacy and English Language Arts (231) Practice Tests

Competency 0001 makes up about 30% of the 231 score. It covers: language and literacy development; knowledge of english language arts.

• Language and literacy development: Language processing in proficient reading and writing: phonological, orthographic, semantic, syntactic and discourse; Components and stages of reading and language development (phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, oral language, spelling, written expression); Individual variation and its causes, including specific reading difficulties and cognitive, environmental, cultural and linguistic factors; Screening, diagnostic and progress-monitoring assessment; explicit, systematic instruction; Decoding and encoding: phonemes, grapheme-phoneme links, spelling patterns, irregular words, six syllable types; Morphology (inflections, affixes, Greek and Latin roots), semantic relationships and syntax
• Knowledge of English language arts: Characteristics of children's, adolescent and young-adult literature: stories, drama and poetry across cultures and periods; Literary nonfiction: exposition, argument and functional text, including digital sources; Visual literacy and effective viewing across media; Effective writing of opinion pieces and arguments, informative/explanatory texts and narratives: rhetorical, stylistic and organizational features; Academic discussion and elements of effective oral presentations; How language functions in different contexts and differs across varieties of English

Competency 0002 makes up about 30% of the 231 score. It covers: print concepts and phonological awareness; phonics, word recognition and fluency; language knowledge and vocabulary; text complexity and comprehension.

• Print concepts and phonological awareness: Factors affecting print concepts and phonological awareness; Why they matter for later reading; The developmental continuum of phonological and phonemic awareness; Grade 5 to 9 print-concept standards; Phonological awareness with words, syllables and onset-rime blending; Phonemic awareness, including phoneme segmentation
• Phonics, word recognition and fluency: Factors affecting decoding and fluency; The alphabetic principle and the link between decoding and encoding; Fluency development, automaticity and key indicators; Phonics and syllabication from VC/CVC words to multisyllabic words; Structural analysis: inflectional endings, common prefixes and suffixes; Automaticity with high-frequency and irregular sight words; Fluency standards: accuracy, rate, expression
• Language knowledge and vocabulary: Factors affecting grammar, usage, capitalization, punctuation and spelling; Factors affecting vocabulary: oral language, content knowledge, wide reading; Grade 5 to 9 conventions and vocabulary standards; Data-driven instruction in grammar, usage, mechanics, spelling and language variety; Word study and word consciousness: Tier Two and Tier Three words, figurative language, word relationships, word nuance; Independent word-learning strategies: structural analysis, context clues, reference resources
• Text complexity and comprehension: Factors affecting comprehension: vocabulary, background knowledge, decoding, fluency; Content-rich, text-rich classrooms, independent reading and daily read-alouds; Academic conversations and cognitively complex questions answered with text evidence; Listening comprehension instruction; Quantitative and qualitative measures of text complexity; Matching readers and tasks to texts and selecting texts that fit learning goals; Assessing listening and reading comprehension and planning interventions

Competency 0003 makes up about 10% of the 231 score. It covers: reading literature and informational text; writing; speaking and listening.

• Reading literature and informational text: Grade 5 to 9 reading standards; Assessing and teaching key ideas and details; Teaching craft and structure; Teaching integration, analysis and evaluation of ideas across texts; Building independent strategies: predicting, verifying, visualizing, connecting; Teaching responses to literature
• Writing: Grade 5 to 9 writing standards; Concrete experiences and a text-rich environment for writing; Teaching opinion, argument, informative and narrative writing with text evidence; Teaching writing processes, research and knowledge presentation; Digital tools for research and multimedia composition
• Speaking and listening: Grade 5 to 9 speaking and listening standards; Expression through songs, drama, illustrations and technology; The role of oral language in early literacy; A collegial classroom that values diversity and involves families and communities; Oral, nonverbal and listening skills for collaborative conversation; Presenting ideas to different audiences and evaluating diverse media

Competency 0004 makes up about 30% of the 231 score and is the constructed-response item. It covers: constructed response.

• Constructed response: Analyze and interpret one student's literacy assessment results; Select relevant evidence from multiple sources and reason soundly from it; Select and describe effective strategies to address needs or build strengths in reading, writing, listening, speaking, language or vocabulary; Discuss how well the chosen strategies are working