Test Design and 
Test Framework

Field 201: Middle Grades (5–8) Language Arts

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The test design below describes general test information. The framework that follows is a detailed outline that explains the knowledge and skills that this test measures.

Test Design

Format	Computer-based test (CBT)
Number of Questions	100 multiple-choice questions
Time*	3 hours, 15 minutes
Passing Score	240

*Does not include 15-minute CBT tutorial

Test Framework

Subarea 1—Foundations of Language and Literacy Development

Objective 0001—Apply knowledge of foundations of research-based language and literacy instruction and assessment.

For example:

• Apply the scientific basis of teaching to plan, evaluate, and modify instruction in literacy.
• Apply knowledge of appropriate research to identify and implement instructional practices and strategies that are effective in supporting the literacy development of all students, including analyzing the role of systematic and explicit instruction in the development of literacy skills.
• Apply knowledge of the developmental sequence of language and literacy skills (e.g., stages of reading and spelling development), including age-level or grade-level benchmarks of development for adolescent learners and research and evidence related to the development of language, reading, and writing across the middle grades.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the Illinois Learning Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects (23 Ill. Illinois  Adm. Code 1. Appendix D, State Goals for Learning) and their organization, progressions, and interconnections among the skills; and recognize the influence of students' literacy skills on their performance on discipline-specific assessments.
• Analyze components of a comprehensive English language arts curriculum that develops students' literacy skills and strategies, ensures that instructional goals and objectives are met, and makes connections between the English language arts curriculum and developments in education, culture, and society.
• Analyze the nature and communicative role of various features of language (e.g., semantics, syntax, morphology, pragmatics) in literacy development, and major theories and stages of first- and second-language acquisition, including the role of native language and literacy skills in learning to read and write in a new language.
• Analyze research-based best practices in literacy assessment (e.g., assessing students' interest and engagement in instruction; using assessment data, student work samples, and observations to plan and evaluate instruction; providing feedback to students; communicating the results of assessments appropriately; engaging students in self-assessment; maintaining and using accurate records of students' performance and progress in meeting literacy standards).
• Analyze the needs of diverse learners with respect to literacy development, including understanding the impact of cultural, linguistic, cognitive, academic, physical, social, and emotional differences on students' language and literacy development; and recognize best practices for making English language arts content accessible in appropriate ways to English language learners.
• Analyze research-based best practices that have been demonstrated to be effective in supporting struggling readers and writers, including planning and implementing reading instruction and interventions that differentiate strategies, materials, pace, and levels of text and language complexity to meet the diverse learning needs of each student and that incorporate key components of explicit instruction (e.g., explicit explanation; teacher modeling; guided practice that includes teacher prompting, response, and corrective feedback; independent practice).
• Apply knowledge of how to deliver literacy instruction within a multi-tier system of support to meet the needs of all students, including using data-based decision making to provide appropriate assistance and support for struggling readers and writers; planning and implementing targeted classroom-based interventions to meet students' needs; and collaborating and planning with other professionals to deliver a consistent, sequenced, and supportive instructional program for each student.
• Analyze strategies and routines that contribute to the development of a supportive language and literacy environment (e.g., applying knowledge of principles of motivation and engagement and the use of the "gradual release of responsibility approach" to design learning experiences that build students' self-direction and ownership in their literacy development; establishing classroom routines that promote independence, self-direction, collaboration, and responsibility in literacy learning; building collaborative classroom communities that support and engage all students in reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and visually representing their thoughts and ideas; selecting high-quality texts that match students' needs and educational goals).

Objective 0002—Apply knowledge of foundations of decoding, spelling, and fluency development in the middle grades.

For example:

• Analyze the sound structure of words (e.g., phonemes, syllables), and apply knowledge of phonological awareness and phonemic awareness skills (e.g., segmenting sentences into words and words into syllables; blending syllables; segmenting and blending onsets and rimes; isolating/identifying phonemes in words; segmenting, blending, deleting, adding, and substituting phonemes in words) to support middle grades students' development of effective decoding and spelling.
• Analyze the orthographic-phonological system in English, including letter-sound relationships, phonics elements (e.g., digraphs, blends, diphthongs, r-controlled vowels, different types of vowel teams), and common phonics/spelling patterns and their relationship to pronunciation (e.g., short- and long-vowel words/syllables).
• Apply knowledge of explicit, sequential, and systematic phonics instruction to support middle grades students' development of effective decoding and spelling.
• Apply knowledge of explicit instruction in inflectional endings, uncommon phonics elements and spelling patterns, and high-frequency regular and irregular words (sight words) to support middle grades students' development of effective decoding and spelling.
• Apply knowledge of syllabication and structural analysis (e.g., six common syllable types, root words, derivational affixes) and explicit strategies for promoting middle grades students' effective decoding and spelling of multisyllabic words.
• Analyze the key indicators of fluency (i.e., accuracy, rate, and prosody), the role of automaticity in fluent reading, and the role of fluency in reading comprehension; and apply knowledge of strategies for promoting middle grades students' fluency development to support their reading development.
• Apply knowledge of the appropriate use of texts and effective reading and writing activities to reinforce decoding, spelling, and fluency development for all learners.
• Apply knowledge of the conventions of Standard American English grammar and usage (e.g., irregular plural nouns, past tense of irregular verbs, subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecedent agreement, conjunctions, prepositions, interjections, perfect verb tenses) to support decoding, spelling, and fluency development for all learners.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for differentiating instruction in decoding, spelling, and fluency that are responsive to the strengths and needs of all students, including employing various strategies, materials, pacing, and levels of text and language complexity to meet the diverse needs of learners.
• Apply knowledge of a wide range of developmentally appropriate assessment strategies in decoding, spelling, and fluency development, including how to monitor students' progress in meeting developmental benchmarks; and demonstrate ability in interpreting and using assessment data related to decoding, spelling, and fluency to analyze students' performance and progress and make effective, data-based instructional decisions.

Objective 0003—Apply knowledge of foundations of academic-language and vocabulary development in the middle grades.

For example:

• Analyze the role of academic language (i.e., the vocabulary and language structures used in oral and written academic discourse) in supporting students' understanding of academic concepts, content, skills, and processes and their comprehension of academic texts.
• Apply knowledge of tiers of vocabulary (i.e., Tier One, everyday; Tier Two, general academic; and Tier Three, discipline specific) and criteria for selecting vocabulary for explicit word study (e.g., words central to a unit of study and/or the meaning of a text and likely to be unfamiliar to students, words with high utility across disciplines, words with various meanings in different disciplines).
• Apply knowledge of strategies that support students' ability to determine and/or verify the meaning of unfamiliar words in oral and written academic discourse, including the use of structural analysis, contextual analysis, and reference materials.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for promoting students' understanding of various relationships between words (e.g., synonyms, antonyms, homonyms) and their ability to interpret and use common adages, proverbs, and idioms to enhance their language and vocabulary development and support their reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
• Apply knowledge of a wide variety of strategies for developing and expanding students' depth of understanding and retention of new vocabulary (e.g., using oral and written activities that support students' use of newly acquired vocabulary, utilizing authentic texts to help students develop word consciousness).
• Apply knowledge of strategies for differentiating instruction in academic-language and vocabulary development that are responsive to the strengths and needs of all students, including employing various strategies, materials, pacing, and levels of text and language complexity to meet the diverse needs of learners.
• Apply knowledge of a wide range of developmentally appropriate assessment strategies in academic-language and vocabulary development, including how to monitor students' progress in meeting developmental benchmarks; and demonstrate ability in interpreting and using assessment data related to academic language and vocabulary to analyze students' performance and progress and make effective, data-based instructional decisions.

Objective 0004—Apply knowledge of foundations of reading comprehension development in the middle grades.

For example:

• Analyze text features that may impede students' reading comprehension (e.g., author's assumption of prior knowledge, use of unusual key vocabulary, dialogue, complexity of sentences, subtlety of relationships between characters or ideas, complexity of text structure and tone, use of literary devices, use of data) and additional factors that can affect struggling readers' comprehension (e.g., weak decoding skills, lack of reading fluency, limited academic-language proficiency).
• Apply knowledge of research-based best practices to facilitate students' reading comprehension, including using scaffolding and close reading to enable students to understand and learn from a challenging text; introducing texts efficiently while providing a clear purpose for reading, without revealing information students can learn from reading the text; providing explicit instruction in note-taking and text annotation; using text-dependent questions; and guiding text-based discussions.
• Apply knowledge of strategies students can use to promote their own reading comprehension (e.g., visualizing, monitoring, questioning, summarizing, synthesizing, making inferences, evaluating), and apply knowledge of effective, research-based instruction in comprehension strategies.
• Analyze the role of oral language and writing in developing and supporting reading comprehension, and apply knowledge of effective oral language and writing activities to facilitate, enhance, and extend students' reading comprehension.
• Apply knowledge of quantitative tools and measures for evaluating text complexity (e.g., text readability measures), qualitative dimensions of text complexity (e.g., author's purpose, levels of meaning, clarity, background knowledge demands), reader variables (e.g., motivation, prior knowledge and/or experiences), and task variables (e.g., purpose and complexity of the task) when matching readers to a text and/or a reading task and when selecting texts appropriate for supporting students' learning goals.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for differentiating instruction in reading comprehension that are responsive to the strengths and needs of all students, including employing various strategies, materials, pacing, and levels of text and language complexity to meet the diverse needs of learners.
• Apply knowledge of a wide range of developmentally appropriate assessment strategies in reading comprehension development, including how to monitor students' progress in meeting developmental benchmarks; and demonstrate ability in interpreting and using assessment data related to reading comprehension to analyze students' performance and progress and make effective, data-based instructional decisions.

 

Subarea 2—Reading Literary and Informational Texts

Objective 0005—Apply knowledge of principles, skills, and approaches for developing comprehension and analysis of literary texts.

For example:

• Apply knowledge of the characteristics of various genres and forms of literary texts and of strategies for teaching students to recognize literary elements and devices across literary genres.
• Apply knowledge of organizational text structures, literary devices and elements (e.g., figurative language, sound devices), and rhetorical features (e.g., exaggeration, allusion) commonly used in literary texts.
• Apply knowledge of how to analyze a modern work of literature and determine how it draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious texts, including how the material is redefined and reinterpreted.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for guiding the reading of multiple texts across similar themes to compare the approaches taken by the authors and how the structures contribute to meaning and style.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for guiding close reading, discussions, and written analysis that require students to identify the key ideas and details of a literary text; to analyze the craft and structure, including the tone and meaning of words; and to critically evaluate the text.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for enhancing comprehension of literary texts (e.g., setting a purpose for reading, predicting, sequencing, connecting, visualizing, monitoring, questioning, summarizing, synthesizing, making inferences, evaluating) and for promoting students' successful use of comprehension strategies.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for selecting literary works that address the interests, backgrounds, and learning needs of each student and for using culturally responsive texts to promote students' understanding of their lives and society.
• Apply knowledge of differentiated instruction and appropriate assessment strategies in comprehension and analysis of literary texts that are responsive to the prior language experience, strengths, and needs of all students, including employing various strategies, materials, pacing, and levels of text and language complexity to meet the diverse needs of learners.
• Apply knowledge of a wide range of developmentally appropriate assessment strategies in comprehension and analysis of literary texts, including how to monitor students' performance and progress in meeting developmental benchmarks; and demonstrate ability in interpreting and using assessment data to analyze students' performance and make effective, data-based instructional decisions.

Objective 0006—Apply knowledge of principles, skills, and approaches for developing comprehension and analysis of informational texts.

For example:

• Apply knowledge of the characteristics of various genres and forms of informational texts; the role, perspective, and purpose of text in specific disciplines; and strategies for assisting students with recognizing text features that are common to specific disciplines.
• Apply knowledge of organizational text structures (e.g., sequential, causal, comparative) and strategies for providing instruction in analyzing the organizational structure of texts and in considering how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of a text relate to each other and the whole.
• Apply knowledge of literary elements and devices (e.g., figurative language) and rhetorical features (e.g., analogy, allusion) used in informational texts and of strategies for teaching students to recognize literary elements and devices across forms of informational text.
• Apply knowledge of graphic features (e.g., tables, charts, illustrations, tables of contents, captions, headings, indexes) and of strategies for promoting students' ability to interpret graphic features and to analyze their relationship to an informational text.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for promoting students' ability to trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, distinguish claims that are supported by reasons and evidence from claims that are unsupported, and recognize and acknowledge counterclaims.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for clarifying and solidifying comprehension of informational texts (e.g., setting a purpose for reading, previewing, predicting, sequencing, connecting, visualizing, monitoring, questioning, taking notes, summarizing, synthesizing, identifying the main idea and supporting details, making inferences, evaluating) and for promoting students' successful use of comprehension strategies.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for promoting students' ability to construct high-level, text-dependent questions.
• Apply knowledge of principles for providing instruction and opportunities for students to analyze how the content, style, and tone of a text are used to indicate point of view, perspective, purpose, fact, opinion, speculation, and audience.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for guiding students' reading of multiple texts and for promoting students' ability to comparatively analyze and evaluate information and to synthesize information from multiple texts into a coherent understanding of a topic.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for guiding close reading, discussions, and written analysis that require students to identify the key ideas and details of an informational text; to analyze the craft and structure, including the tone and meaning of words; and to critically evaluate the text.
• Apply knowledge of principles for selecting informational texts that address the interests, backgrounds, and learning needs of each student and for using culturally responsive texts to promote students' understanding of their lives and society.
• Apply knowledge of how adolescents read and make meaning through interaction with media environments and of strategies for using a variety of technologies to support disciplinary literacy instruction throughout the middle grades.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for differentiating instruction in comprehension and analysis of informational texts that are responsive to the prior language experience, strengths, and needs of all students, including employing various strategies, materials, pacing, and levels of text and language complexity to meet the diverse needs of learners.
• Apply knowledge of a wide range of developmentally appropriate assessment strategies in comprehension and analysis of informational texts, including how to monitor students' performance and progress in meeting developmental benchmarks; and demonstrate ability in interpreting and using assessment data to analyze students' performance and make effective, data-based instructional decisions.

Objective 0007—Apply knowledge of literature and literary nonfiction.

For example:

• Apply knowledge of characteristics, elements, and features of a range of U.S. U S  and global literary works that represent a broad historical and contemporary spectrum and the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.
• Apply knowledge of characteristics, elements, and features of a range of literary works from a variety of genres and cultures, including adventure stories, historical fiction, mysteries, myths, science fiction, realistic fiction, allegories, parodies, satire, and graphic novels.
• Apply knowledge of characteristics, elements, and features of a range of works of poetry (e.g., narrative poems, lyrical poems, free verse, spoken word, sonnets, odes, ballads, epics).
• Apply knowledge of characteristics, elements, and features of a range of works of drama, including one-act and multi-act plays, both written and performed.
• Apply knowledge of characteristics, elements, and features of a range of works of literary nonfiction, including subgenres of exposition, argument, and functional text (e.g., essays; speeches; opinion pieces; biographies; memoirs; journalism; historical, scientific, technical, or economic accounts written for a broad audience).

 

Subarea 3—Writing and Research

Objective 0008—Apply knowledge of writing development and the writing process.

For example:

• Apply knowledge of strategies for providing students with opportunities to write routinely for authentic purposes in multiple forms and genres and to understand the power and importance of writing throughout their lives.
• Apply principles for providing effective instruction in producing clear, coherent writing with organization, development, substance, and style that are appropriate to a given task, purpose, and audience.
• Apply principles for providing feedback to guide students' revisions of written work and for using conferencing to motivate and scaffold students' development throughout the writing process.
• Apply knowledge of conventions of Standard American English capitalization, punctuation, spelling, grammar, and usage (e.g., irregular plural nouns, past tense of irregular verbs, subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecedent agreement, conjunctions, prepositions, interjections, perfect verb tenses) and of principles for providing instruction in the appropriate use of conventions of Standard American English in writing.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for using sentence combining as a method to embed words, phrases, and clauses in a variety of grammatically appropriate forms of sentence structures.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for using technology to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for differentiating instruction in writing development and the writing process that are responsive to the prior language experience, strengths, and needs of all students, including employing various strategies, materials, pacing, and levels of text and language complexity to meet the diverse needs of learners.
• Apply knowledge of a wide range of developmentally appropriate assessment strategies in writing development and the writing process, including how to monitor students' performance and progress in meeting developmental benchmarks; and demonstrate ability in interpreting and using assessment data to analyze students' performance and make effective, data-based instructional decisions.

Objective 0009—Apply knowledge of principles, skills, and approaches for instruction in writing in multiple forms and genres.

For example:

• Apply principles for providing effective instruction in writing arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant, credible, and sufficient evidence.
• Apply principles for providing effective instruction in creating texts that introduce an opinion on a topic, support the opinion with information and reasons based on facts and details, use appropriate transitional devices, and conclude with a statement that supports the opinion.
• Apply principles for providing effective instruction in writing informative and explanatory texts that examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for engaging students in using writing to develop an understanding of content-area concepts and skills, including strategies for instructing students in the forms and functions of general-academic and discipline-specific writing.
• Apply principles for providing effective instruction in developing narrative texts based on real or imagined experiences or events that introduce a narrator and/or characters; use dialogue, description, and pacing to develop and organize a sequence of events; use concrete language, sensory details, and transitional devices; and have a conclusion that follows from experiences and/or events described in the text.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for engaging students in writing across a range of creative forms and genres, including culturally diverse narrative traditions.

Objective 0010—Apply knowledge of principles, skills, and approaches for instruction in conducting research.

For example:

• Apply knowledge of strategies for conducting research using evidence drawn from multiple sources, including how to select and develop topics and how to gather and synthesize information from a variety of sources.
• Apply knowledge of principles, skills, and approaches for providing effective instruction in strategies for conducting research projects using evidence drawn from multiple sources.
• Apply knowledge of how to conduct online searches (i.e., assessing the credibility and accuracy of sources) and of strategies for helping students navigate online sources, including critically evaluating information available online by addressing sources, audience, purpose, and currency.
• Apply knowledge of techniques for paraphrasing, summarizing, quoting from, and citing sources while maintaining accuracy and avoiding plagiarism and of strategies for helping students use these techniques.

 

Subarea 4—Speaking, Listening, and Viewing

Objective 0011—Apply knowledge of principles and approaches for developing speaking skills and presentation skills.

For example:

• Apply knowledge of strategies for engaging students in a variety of oral language activities (e.g., participating in whole- and small-group collaborative discussions, asking questions, reporting on a topic, recounting experiences).
• Apply knowledge of principles for providing effective instruction in using conventions of Standard American English, appropriate eye contact, voice projection, and enunciation in formal presentations and in adjusting speech to a variety of audiences and purposes.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for instructing students in presenting ideas and information using facts and relevant details to support main ideas and using visual displays, media, and orientation technology appropriate to the purpose and audience.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for differentiating instruction in speaking and presenting that are responsive to the prior language experience, strengths, and needs of all students, including employing various strategies, materials, pacing, and levels of text and language complexity to meet the diverse needs of learners.
• Apply knowledge of a wide range of developmentally appropriate assessment strategies in speaking and presenting, including how to monitor students' performance and progress in meeting developmental benchmarks; and demonstrate ability in interpreting and using assessment data to analyze students' performance and make effective, data-based instructional decisions.

Objective 0012—Apply knowledge of principles and approaches for developing listening and viewing skills.

For example:

• Apply knowledge of types of listening (e.g., active, critical, selective) and of strategies for teaching students to listen actively and critically in order to understand, evaluate, and respond to a speaker's message.
• Apply knowledge of how developing adolescents interpret visual texts and make meaning through interaction with media environments.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for engaging students in critical analysis of different media and communication technologies and their effects on students' learning.
• Apply knowledge of strategies for differentiating instruction in listening and viewing that are responsive to the prior language experience, strengths, and needs of all students, including employing various strategies, materials, pacing, and levels of text and language complexity to meet the diverse needs of learners.
• Apply knowledge of a wide range of developmentally appropriate assessment strategies in listening and viewing, including how to monitor students' performance and progress in meeting developmental benchmarks; and demonstrate ability in interpreting and using assessment data to analyze students' performance and make effective, data-based instructional decisions.

 

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