Section 3: Sample Test Items for Elementary and Special Education Teachers

Sample Multiple-Choice Items

1. Use the information below to answer the question that follows.

A second-grade teacher assesses a student's oral reading performance by having the student read aloud
from an appropriate story while the teacher makes notes on a copy of the story. Printed below is an
excerpt from the teacher's record of the student's oral reading.

own
Kate looked up and saw dark clouds. One drop of rain fell on her nose. Then more and more
were
drops of rain fell. Kate's dog Sam did not like storms. "Where are you, Sam?" called Kate.
three
There was a boom of thunder. Kate wanted to go home, but she had to find Sam. Where was
kom
he hiding? "Sam, come here!" called Kate. But Sam did not come. Kate was about to leave

som
when she saw a furry brown tail under some bushes. "Oh, Sam!" cried Kate. "I'm so glad

to see you!"

Key:
deletion short pause cat repetition self-correction
insertion long pause cow substitution

The results of this informal assessment

most clearly suggest that the student
would benefit from instruction to:
A. help the student learn how to use
context clues while reading.
B. improve the student's automatic
recognition of some sight words.
C. prompt the student to self-monitor
comprehension while reading.
D. strengthen the student's phonemic
awareness and phonics skills.

3-4 Virginia Reading Assessment Study Guide

Rev. 02/0610
Section 3: Sample Test Items for Elementary and Special Education Teachers
D. Assess students'
reading skills
2. A third-grade teacher before, during,
plans to have stu-dents and after
work in temporary,
partici-pation in
heterogeneous groups
for reading projects. As the group
the students collaborate project.
on an assigned reading-
related project, every
member of the group
will have a role to play.
Clear behavioral and
instructional guidelines
and goals will be
communicated to each
group before the
students begin working.
Which of the following
additional steps would
best promote the
effectiveness of this
approach to flexible
grouping?
A. Identify activities
for individual
students to engage
in independently if
they finish
assigned reading
before other
members of the
group.
B. Assign leadership
responsibilities to
the students in each
group who are the
most proficient
readers.
C. Plan alternative
activities for
students with
reading
difficulties
rather than
requiring them
to participate in
the group
projects.
 A. distinguish main
3. Students in a fourth- ideas from sup-
grade class play a game porting details
in which two students sit when listening
in chairs facing each
or speaking.
other. One student can
see a bulletin board on B. expand their
which the teacher listening and
displays a picture of an
object. The student must speaking
describe the object vocabularies.
without identifying it.
Based on this C. understand the
description, the partner importance of
tries to guess what the precise word
object is. Then the choice in clear
partners switch places;
oral
the teacher displays
another picture, and the communication.
process is repeated. This D. gain skill in the
activity is most likely to
use of expressive
promote students' literacy
development by helping oral language.
students:

Virginia Reading Assessment Study Guide

Rev. 02/0610
3-5
Section 3: Sample Test Items for Elementary and Special Education Teachers

5. At the beginning of the

4. A first-grade student school year, a
demonstrates some kindergarten teacher
phonological awareness observes a child
but has difficulty "pretend reading" a
segmenting words into book in the inde-
phonemes. Which of the pendent reading area
following questions is of the classroom. The
likely to be most difficult child turns the pages in
for the student to answer? sequence, looking at
the illustrations and
A. Which two quietly telling a story
words begin but not referring to the
printed text. The
with the same
teacher could best
sound: man, interpret this behavior
sat, sick? as an indication that
the child:
B. Listen to the word
parts, then say the A. has developed an
whole word: ta . . . understanding of
bleWhat's the some concepts of
word? print.
C. Which word does B. lacks letter-
not rhyme: cat, recognition skills.
sat, pig? C. has well-
D. Listen to this word: developed oral
sat. How many compre-hension.
sounds do you hear?

D.

lacks
phonemi
c
awarene
ss.
3-6 Virginia Reading Assessment Study Guide
Rev. 02/0610
Section 3: Sample Test Items for Elementary and Special Education Teachers

7. A kindergarten student
6. Decodable texts are enjoys listening and
useful to include in responding to stories the
materials for early teacher reads aloud. The
reading programs student participates
enthusias-tically in
primarily because such
prereading
texts: conversations, enjoys
A. promote making predictions, and
makes personal
automatic connections with literary
recognition of characters. However, the
student often exhibits
many high-
confusion about what
frequency sight actually happened in the
words. story. Which of the
following instructional
B. give children strategies is likely to be
practice most effective in
applying strengthening the
phonic student's comprehension
of stories that are read
associations
aloud?
that already
have been A. asking the student
taught. direct compre-
hension questions
C. address high-
immediately after
interest topics reading a story
that motivate B. encouraging the
children to student to listen
read. to stories on
D. introduce tape that the
children to teacher already
phonics has read aloud
generalizations C. having the student
that they can draw pictures of
use to decode characters from the
unfamiliar stories and share
words. the pictures with
the class
D. helping the student
use a story map or
flannel board to
retell stories that
the teacher has
read aloud
Virginia Reading Assessment Study Guide
Rev. 02/0610
3-7
Section 3: Sample Test Items for Elementary and Special Education Teachers

Use the information below to answer the two questions that follow.

Students in a sixth- grade class are working in small groups to create word maps. The teacher assigns
each group a word, and students begin drafting a word map by brainstorming different meanings of the
word. Members of the group then use a dictionary to verify their ideas and add more meanings to the
map. Each group presents its map to the class for further discussion. The groups then reconvene to com-
pose a sentence to illustrate each meaning in the word map. The groups take turns reading aloud their
sentences and discussing them with the class. Shown below is one group's completed word map.

root beer plant root

root: to cheer
word root

root
tooth root root: to dig

root cellar
square root
root of problem

9. When students read aloud and discuss the

8. This approach to creating word maps is sentences they composed, the teacher
most likely to promote students' reading guides the class to identify the selected
development in which of the following word's part of speech in each sentence (e.g.,
ways? whether root is being used as a noun, a
A. prompting students to make verb, or an adjective). This part of
the discussion is most likely to promote
effective use of varied reference
students' vocabulary knowledge and
materials to improve their under- skills by:
standing of texts
A. helping students distinguish the
B. enhancing students' skill in iden-
connotative meanings of words.
tifying key words as a strategy to
improve reading comprehension B. enhancing students' understanding
of the semantic and syntactic
C. helping students identify and inter-
functions of words.
pret words with multiple meanings
that the students encounter in their C. motivating students to recognize and
reading avoid errors in grammar or usage.
D. improving students' reading fluency D. reinforcing students' skill in
by reinforcing their automatic word applying structural analysis as a
recognition word-identification strategy.

3-8 Virginia Reading Assessment Study Guide

Rev. 02/0610
 Section 3: Sample Test Items for Elementary and Special Education Teachers

Use the information below to answer the two questions that follow.

Students in a fourth -grade class participate regularly in Readers Theatre performances. The teacher
begins by selecting a story at an appropriate level of difficulty and converting it to a script. The teacher
models an expressive reading of the story on which the script is based. After discussing the story with
students, the teacher offers a minilesson on how to make a story "come alive" through expressive
reading of a Readers Theatre script.
The teacher then distributes a copy of the script to each student in the group. The students practice
reading aloud the script independently or with a partner. Then they rehearse the script as a group, reading
their assigned roles and responding to coaching from the teacher. In subsequent rehearsals, the students
switch roles, until every student has had a chance to perform each role at least once. Over the course of
the week, the students rehearse the performance by reading the script aloud at least 12 times. The day
before the performance, students rehearse their final roles. The performance, which requires no costumes
or props, is presented to an audience of classmates, family members, school staff, or other groups of
students.
11. The teacher wants to promote
10. Which of the following statements students' skill in writing for
entertainment and creative
best describes the most important
expression. Which of the following
benefit of this approach to Readers
writing activities related
Theatre? to Readers Theatre would be
A. Readers Theatre enhances most appropriate for this
students' reading comprehension purpose?
and fluency by motivating A. providing students with oppor-
students to identify and analyze tunities to write in their
varied text structures. journals about what they
B. Readers Theatre motivates learned by partici-pating in the
students to read independently Readers Theatre performances
by exposing them to varied B. helping students work in small
genres and encour-aging them groups to write their own story
to broaden their selec-tion or rewrite a favorite story as a
criteria. script to perform for Readers
C. Readers Theatre improves Theatre
students' reading fluency by C. giving students samples of
providing an authentic, reviews by theatre critics to use
motivating context for repeated as models for writing their own
oral readings. critical reviews of the Readers
D. Readers Theatre provides a Theatre performances
motivating context for students D. having students work in small
to practice applying a variety of groups to prepare written
word-analysis strategies while programs for audience members
reading. who attend Readers Theatre
performances
Virginia Reading Assessment Study Guide
Rev. 02/0610
3-9
Section 3: Sample Test Items for Elementary and Special Education Teachers

Use the information below to answer the two questions that follow.

Students in a fourth-grade class are using reading materials in the classroom library to conduct research
on animals. Each student selects an animal to research and takes notes on a graphic organizer prepared
by the teacher. Before reading, students write in the first column of the graphic organizer questions they
have about the selected animal. Students then conduct their research by reading at least two sources that
provide information about the animal. As they read, students take notes in the second column of the
graphic organizer, recording information to answer each question in the first column. Shown below is an
excerpt from one student's partially completed graphic organizer.

Name: Karen
Research Topic: Anteaters

My Questions Answers I Found By Reading

What do anteaters
look like?

Where do
anteaters live?

How do the
anteaters catch the
ants to eat them?

3-10 Virginia Reading Assessment Study Guide

Rev. 02/0610
Section 3: Sample Test Items for Elementary and Special Education Teachers

13. Which of the

12. Using the graphic following additional
organizer is likely to activities using the
promote the students' graphic organizer
comprehension of would best promote
nonfiction texts students' ability to
primarily by helping synthesize and
the students: communicate
A. set a purpose for research findings?
reading. A. Students copy
the information
B. distinguish
recorded in the
main ideas graphic
from organizer into a
supporting formal outline
of their research
details. findings.
C. recognize logical B. Students transfer
patterns.
the information in
D. link prior the graphic
organizer to a
knowledge
semantic map to
to new illustrate their
information research findings.
. C. Students give an
oral presentation
to share their
research by
reading aloud the
notes they have
recorded in the
graphic
organizer.
D. Students prepare
a research report
by converting
the information
in each row of
the graphic
organizer to a
written
paragraph.
Virginia Reading Assessment Study Guide 3-11
Rev. 02/0610
Section 3: Sample Test Items for Elementary and Special Education Teachers

14. Use the child's writing sample below to answer the question that follows.

I NO MI CAT R
HP T C ME
("I know my cats are happy to see me.")

This writing sample best supports which of the following conclusions about the child's
literacy development?
A. The child is a prephonetic speller who has not yet developed a basic understanding of the
alphabetic principle.
B. The child has weak phonemic awareness skills and most likely relies on recall of sight
words when reading and writing.
C. The child has strong beginning phonics skills but lacks understanding of word boundaries
and other concepts of print.
D. The child demonstrates knowledge of basic phonetic principles but sometimes
substitutes letter names for letter sounds when spelling.

3-12 Virginia Reading Assessment Study Guide

Rev. 02/0610