Study Guide

Overview and Test Objectives
Field 117–120: Lower Elementary (PK–3) Education¹
Subtests 1–4

Test Overview

Table outlining the test format, number of questions, time, and passing score.

Format	Computer-based test (CBT)
Number of Questions	Subtest 1: Professional Knowledge and Skills: 50 multiple-choice questions Subtest 2: Literacy: 50 multiple-choice questions Subtest 3: Mathematics: 50 multiple-choice questions Subtest 4: Science and Social Studies: 60 multiple-choice questions
Time	Subtest 1: Professional Knowledge and Skills: 1 hour 15 minutes* Subtest 2: Literacy: 1 hour 15 minutes* Subtest 3: Mathematics: 1 hour 30 minutes* Subtest 4: Science and Social Studies: 1 hour 30 minutes*

*Does not include 15-minute CBT tutorial

Test Objectives

Subtest 1: Professional Knowledge and Skills

Subarea		Range of Objectives	Approximate Test Weighting
I1	Learner-Centered Supports	001–003	60%
II2	Professional Knowledge and Strategic Partnerships	004–005	40%

Hover over each subarea for details of subtest content or see table above.

Sub area 1 60%, and Sub area 2 40%.

Subtest 2: Literacy

Subarea		Range of Objectives	Approximate Test Weighting
I1	Literacy in Context	001–004	30%
II2	Literacy Skills–Instruction and Practices	005–010	30%
III3	Literacy Processes–Instruction and Practices	011–014	40%

Hover over each subarea for details of subtest content or see table above.

Sub area 1 30%, Sub area 2 30%, and Sub area 3 40%.

Subtest 3: Mathematics

Subarea		Range of Objectives	Approximate Test Weighting
I1	Mathematics-Specific Teaching Practices	001–004	20%
II2	Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching Grades PK–3: Attribution and Counting and Whole Number Representation	005–012	40%
III3	Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching Grades PK–3: Early Fraction Representation and Whole Number Operation	013–020	40%

Hover over each subarea for details of subtest content or see table above.

Sub area 1 20%, Sub area 2 40%, and Sub area 3 40%.

Subtest 4: Science and Social Studies

Subarea		Range of Objectives	Approximate Test Weighting
I1	Science–Engaging Children in 3-Dimensional Science Learning as Identified in the National Research Council's A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas	001–004	25%
II2	Science–Children's Sense-making and Science Teaching Pedagogy	005–008	25%
III3	Social Studies–Instruction and Practices	009–013	50%

Hover over each subarea for details of subtest content or see table above.

Sub area 1 25%, Sub area 2 25%, and Sub area 3 50%.

Subtest 1: Professional Knowledge and Skills

 

Subarea I1—LEARNER-CENTERED SUPPORTS

Objective 001—The Whole Child

Includes:

• Demonstrate how to support the whole child through knowledge and understanding of young children's characteristics and needs, including multiple interrelated areas of child development and learning, learning processes, and motivation to learn, by using practices that engage and empower young learners.
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the multiple influences on the development and learning of the whole child, including but not limited to: cultural and linguistic context, economic conditions of families, social emotional needs, trauma, health status and disabilities, peer and adult relationships, children's individual and developmental variations, opportunities to play and learn, family and community characteristics, and the influence and impact of technology and the media.
• Demonstrate understanding of common disabilities in children, including etiology, characteristics, and classification, and their implications for early child development and learning.
• Demonstrate the ability to identify signs of emotional distress, toxic stress, child abuse, and/or neglect in young children; follow appropriate procedures for mandated reporting; and utilize skills and strategies for clarifying and communicating sensitive issues with appropriate parties (including but not limited to child abuse, neglect, hygiene, and nutrition) to promote young children's physical and psychological health, safety, and sense of security.

Objective 002—The Learning Environment

Includes:

• Demonstrate the ability to build meaningful learning environments and curricula by focusing on children's characteristics, needs, and interests; linking children's language, culture, and community to early learning; using social interactions during routines and play-based experiences; incorporating technology and integrative approaches to content knowledge; and utilizing incidental teaching opportunities and informal experiences to build children's development in all areas.
• Demonstrate an understanding of methods for implementation of norms and routines and the use of classroom management strategies that support individual and group motivation and behavior among children to generate active engagement in play and learning, self-motivation, and positive social interaction, and to create supportive and dynamic indoor and outdoor learning environments.
• Demonstrate an understanding of methods for individual and group guidance and problem-solving techniques to develop positive and supportive relationships with children; encourage and teach positive social skills and interaction among children; promote positive strategies of conflict resolution; and develop personal self-regulation, motivation, and esteem.
• Demonstrate understanding of the teacher's role as a participant in the development, enactment, and assessment of an Individualized Education Program (IEP I E P ) and 504 5 Oh 4  Plan, including the identification and evaluation process.
• Demonstrate knowledge and use of a variety of strategies to promote full participation of English learners in classrooms (including literacy strategies).

Objective 003—Instructional Practice

Includes:

• Demonstrate knowledge of methods to manage and implement standards-based content instruction to support English learners in accessing the core curriculum as they learn language and academic content.
• Demonstrate understanding of and ability to use ongoing systematic observation, documentation, screening tools, and play-based assessment; other appropriate forms of formative and summative assessment tools; and approaches embedded in assessment-related activities in curriculum and daily routines.
• Demonstrate knowledge and use of a variety of strategies, instructional accommodations, and adaptations of the learning environment, including accommodation of instructional and assessment materials as appropriate to meet children's abilities or disabilities, home language, and culture, to promote the full participation of all children, including those with special needs, in general education classrooms.
• Demonstrate knowledge and application of research-based instructional strategies to support the whole child's learning and development through the visual and performing arts.
• Demonstrate knowledge and application of research-based instructional strategies to support the whole child's learning and development through movement and physical activities.
• Demonstrate knowledge and application of research-based instructional strategies to create opportunities to develop critical knowledge, skills, and behaviors that contribute to lifelong health.

 

Subarea II2—PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

Objective 004—Ethics and Professional Growth

Includes:

• Demonstrate knowledge of and the ability to critically analyze the ethical/professional codes of conduct in education, including the Michigan Code of Educational Ethics.²
• Demonstrate the ability to apply knowledge of legal and ethical guidelines and professional standards related to children and families.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the effects of teachers' professional and personal decisions and actions on children, families, and other professionals in the learning community.
• Demonstrate the ability to identify, analyze, and engage in ongoing professional learning opportunities that strengthen instructional practice and use reflective practices to design, monitor, and adapt instruction as a means for gauging professional growth.

Objective 005—Strategic Partnerships

Includes:

• Demonstrate the ability to promote and provide opportunities to engage families and communities.
• Demonstrate the ability to identify appropriate agencies and other resources in the larger community to support learning and well-being.
• Demonstrate the ability to use a variety of appropriate communication strategies that support and empower families and communities through respectful, reciprocal relationships.
• Demonstrate the ability to engage in positive partnerships with families and other professionals and articulate the value and appropriate use (and potential misuse) of assessment, including screening and referral practices.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of other building and district professionals in the PK–12 school system, including, but not limited to: early childhood specialists, school psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists, speech and language pathologists, physical therapists, school counselors, reading specialists, and bilingual or English as a second language educators.
• Demonstrate the ability to identify specialized personnel in the PK–12 school system and collaborate with them in a system of supports to advance children's learning.

Subtest 2: Literacy

 

Subarea I1—LITERACY IN CONTEXT

Objective 001—Literacy Learning Environments

Includes:

• Demonstrate an understanding of ways to facilitate children's access to a range of developmentally appropriate contemporary and classical digital and print materials of a variety of genres (e.g., informative/explanatory texts, narrative texts, signage including environmental print, poetry) and media (e.g., books, magazines, digital texts, audio text, speech-to-text technologies) for both in-school and out-of-school literacy.
• Demonstrate an understanding of ways to create a variety of organized, safe, and respectful indoor and outdoor learning spaces and opportunities for learning that foster collaborative and meaningful literacy experiences (e.g., class meeting space, small-group area, furniture arrangement, writing center, reading areas, safe/appropriate use of digital technologies).
• Demonstrate an understanding of ways to make accessible and actively use word-learning artifacts (e.g., word walls for content areas, themes, high-frequency words; online dictionaries and thesauruses).
• Demonstrate an understanding of ways to use materials and space to foster literacy inquiry (e.g., class question wall, inquiry notebooks, inquiry table).
• Demonstrate an understanding of ways to provide access to materials for active literacy-enriched play (e.g., readers' theater scripts, plays, puppets, stationery, clipboards with paper or forms).
• Support and guide integration of digital technologies to aid children's literacy and learning across disciplines (e.g., opportunities to create digital artifacts of learning, interactive simulations, digital stories and informational texts, digital presentations).
• Identify and use a variety of flexible grouping strategies that are based on the literacy task and children's specific literacy strengths, needs, prior knowledge, and interests.
• Understand how to teach, model, facilitate, and provide independent practice with opportunities to use literacy for positive social interactions (e.g., solving conflicts, negotiating in collaborative projects).
• Identify and use a range of digital and non-digital tools to support dramatic play for socialization, oral language, writing development, word study, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.

Objective 002—Culturally Responsive Practices in Literacy

Includes:

• Understand the importance of children's use of their first or home language(s) and dialect(s) and development of additional languages and literacies, and design instruction that builds on children's use of their first or home language(s).
• Demonstrate knowledge of ways to select instructional materials, including print and digital texts, that value and reflect the multidimensionality of diversity represented in society and children.
• Demonstrate knowledge of ways to provide access to and intentionally facilitate students' interactions with socially, culturally, and linguistically diverse texts and high-interest, self-selected reading and writing materials with a range of text complexity.
• Demonstrate knowledge of ways to critically analyze texts with children for social and cultural biases by analyzing language and visual representations in print and digital texts and media that perpetuate gender, social class, and racial/ethnic stereotypes.
• Demonstrate knowledge of ways to engage children in the creation and use of visual representations of thinking and learning (e.g., anchor charts; graphic organizers; personal artifacts, such as learning/response journals).

Objective 003—Literacy Curriculum Design and Assessment

Includes:

• Demonstrate an understanding of inherent connections of literacy processes—reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and visually representing—and that the constructs of literacy³ are related in complex ways and are integrated in the service of meaningful reading and writing (e.g., to entertain, to persuade, to inform/explain).
• Demonstrate understanding that all constructs of literacy will be developed throughout prekindergarten and elementary education (e.g., it is appropriate to develop both comprehension and phonological awareness in preschool) by building on their reciprocity, focusing on multiple constructs of literacy simultaneously (e.g., a single lesson could include phonological awareness, concepts of print, and composition).
• Understand that assessment of individual components of literacy is valuable, and demonstrate the ability to administer and interpret the results of multiple informal and formal assessments that examine the processes of reading and writing in their entirety.
• Understand that a child's assessed literacy proficiency, such as reading "level," depends on a number of factors (e.g., background knowledge related to a text's topic, motivation and engagement, features of the literacy task) and may be used to help inform instructional decision-making.
• Select and use research-supported instructional techniques that focus on multiple constructs of literacy development simultaneously (e.g., a single practice could address phonological awareness, concepts of print, and composition), such as literacy-enriched dramatic play, storytelling/story acting, interactive read-aloud, shared reading, interactive writing, guided oral reading, disciplinary writing, and discussion of ideas with print and digital texts across disciplines.
• Demonstrate knowledge of ways to design or adapt and implement literacy curricula that support literacy learning for whole class, small groups, and individual children in reading, writing, and other forms of communication, including all constructs of literacy.
• Demonstrate knowledge of how to observe and describe the impact of language on children's social and academic development and emerging identities as readers and writers, and of how to plan and implement instruction accordingly.
• Identify and value children's multiple ways of communicating, in- and out-of-school discourses, and variations in language expression, and leverage these to provide appropriate literacy instructional practices and social development of individual children.
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of state standards and competencies applicable to literacy learning in grades PK–3.
• Demonstrate knowledge of ways to provide specific, constructive feedback that targets children's most critical needs during the process of reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and visually representing.
• Identify reasonable goals and expectations for children that align with their literacy development.
• Demonstrate knowledge of ways to select texts of varying complexity that align with instructional purposes (e.g., independent practice, study of author's craft and structure, integration of knowledge and ideas).

Objective 004—Motivation and Engagement

Includes:

• Demonstrate an understanding that literacy motivation refers to the beliefs, values, goals, and dispositions that provide energy and direction for behaviors and thoughts of the individual related to literacy and is often conceptualized as intrinsic and extrinsic; and that literacy engagement refers to the cognitive, emotional, and social behaviors in academic or out-of-school settings that enable the individual to participate in literacy learning and gain expertise.
• Demonstrate an understanding that literacy motivation develops through meaningful observations and interactions with families, friends, teachers, and community members, combined with personal experiences, including various opportunities in which a child asks and seeks answers to their own and academic questions across disciplines.
• Demonstrate knowledge of how to assess literacy motivation and engagement through interviews or questionnaires with the child, which may be supplemented by teacher observation of child affect and actions, writing, logs, or academic work that reveals effort, persistence, care, commitment, and accomplishment.
• Demonstrate knowledge of ways to select and use research-supported instructional practices to foster intrinsic literacy motivation, including setting expectations for classroom participation; assuring opportunities for developing self-efficacy through scaffolding, text and task selection, differentiation, goal-setting, and self-monitoring; offering children substantive options, choices, and input into learning activities; and arranging collaborative activities that foster literacy learning through social interactions.
• Apply knowledge of ways to provide a variety of meaningful purposes for academic units and tasks; provide continual encouragement for academic and personal attainment and interests; emphasize the utility, value, and enjoyment of literacy and literacy tasks (e.g., word play, word inquiry, reading of high-interest texts, critical inquiry); and build interpersonal relationships with children that encourage mutual trust and commitment.

 

Subarea II2—LITERACY SKILLS–INSTRUCTION AND PRACTICES

Objective 005—Print Concepts

Includes:

• Demonstrate an understanding that print concepts, or concepts of print, are foundational knowledge about how print, in general, and books in particular, "work," such as understanding that print carries meaning, that print is authored, and that print is permanent; that graphics and print relate; that print is made up of graphemes, which are associated with phonemes (alphabetic principle), and includes, but is not limited to, knowledge of parts of texts (e.g., front cover, table of contents, diagrams), where to start reading within a text, directionality, return sweep, alphabetic principle, orientation of letters, concept of word, capitalization, and ending punctuation.
• Demonstrate knowledge that concepts of print develop through observation, interactions with others around print, and explicit instruction, noting that some of these concepts are language-specific (e.g., English and Arabic have different directionality), while others are universal.
• Demonstrate knowledge of how to measure concepts of print using observation and assessment tools that engage children in demonstrating the concepts in acts of reading and writing.
• Demonstrate knowledge of research-supported instructional practices to develop concepts of print, such as print-referencing read-alouds, interactive writing, finger-pointing for print to speech match, literacy-enriched dramatic play, and other forums for modeling and explicit instruction.

Objective 006—Phonological Awareness and Phonics

Includes:

• Demonstrate an understanding that phonological awareness is a set of foundational oral language skills that involve conscious awareness of sounds within the speech stream and the segmentation and blending of sounds and has reciprocal relationships with word reading, spelling, and vocabulary.
• Demonstrate an understanding that phonics is a connection between individual and groups of graphemes (letter symbols) and phonemes (letter sounds) that, among other things, allows readers to translate written symbols into meaningful words (decoding), and understand the related terms consonant, vowel, hard c/g, soft c/g, r-controlled vowel, blend, digraph, diphthong, types of syllables, and schwa.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the difference between phonological awareness and the related terms phonology, phonics, phonemic awareness, including the importance of phonological and phonemic awareness in developing strong foundational literacy skills.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the common, yet not rigid, developmental progression of phonological awareness skills, including multiple levels of sounds within words (e.g., syllables, rhyme, onset, rime, initial sounds, other phonemes), expectations by grade level, and the differences among various phonological manipulations, including identifying, matching, blending, segmenting, deleting, and substituting sounds.
• Demonstrate an understanding of methods for using observation, screening, diagnostic and/or assessment tools to inform instruction and engage children in demonstrating phonological and decoding skills in acts of reading and writing, being cognizant of the language(s) and dialect(s) spoken by the child, and demonstrate knowledge of how to decide whether to seek appropriate intervention resources and instructional support from an appropriate specialist.
• Apply knowledge of research-supported instructional strategies, techniques, and targeted interventions to develop phonological awareness, phonics, and decoding skills, by providing explicit instruction, modeling, and scaffolding, fostering awareness of articulatory features, stretching words, playing with words (e.g., alliteration), sorting words by sounds, encouraging invented or estimated spelling based on letter-sound knowledge, and multimodal and multisensory activities with letters and sounds.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the relationship between phonics and decoding, including analyzing letter-sound relationships, and problems with phonics generalizations that are too broad to be accurate.

Objective 007—Spelling and Handwriting

Includes:

• Demonstrate an understanding that spelling is a connection between individual and groups of phonemes (letter sounds) and graphemes (letter symbols) and morphemes (meaning units) that, among other things, allows readers to translate thoughts into written words (encoding). Spelling instruction enables writing and also improves the specific reading skills of decoding and word reading and whose influences include phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, and morphological awareness.
• Demonstrate an understanding that handwriting and spelling develop through a series of common, yet not rigid, stages, with phases within each stage; that stages are variously named (e.g., emergent, letter-name alphabetic, within-word, syllables and affixes, derivational relations); and that spelling development relies particularly on developing phonological awareness, phonics knowledge, morphological knowledge, orthographic knowledge, and vocabulary knowledge.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the use of screening tools and diagnostic assessments to inform instruction, while being cognizant of the language(s) and dialect(s) spoken by the child, such as assessments of alphabet knowledge; knowledge of more complex sound-letter relationships; stage of spelling development; and spelling performance within meaningful writing, recognizing that spelling performance may reveal information about children's phonemic awareness, phonics, morphological, orthographic, and vocabulary knowledge.
• Demonstrate the ability to identify and use engaging and multimodal, research-supported instructional techniques for handwriting (e.g., pencil grip and letter formation) and spelling, including practices that simultaneously address both phonics and spelling, to explicitly teach, model, and provide guided and independent practice with, and provide feedback regarding letter-sound relationships and spelling strategies, involving children in synthesis, analysis, and manipulations of graphemes and morphemes within and across words (e.g., word ladders, word sorting), and provide opportunities for fluent application in meaningful writing.
• Adapt spelling instruction for children with needs in working memory and executive functioning skills, such as attention and processing speed, and demonstrate knowledge of how to decide whether to seek appropriate intervention resources and instructional support from an appropriate specialist.
• Understand that handwriting is formation of letters in written text by hand, the legibility of which affects judgment and communicativeness of writing and the fluency of which affects the quality of written composition. Handwriting develops in the context of graphomotor development more broadly and through a series of common, yet not rigid, stages, which can be assessed by observation.

Objective 008—Word Recognition

Includes:

• Demonstrate an understanding that word recognition is the ability to translate written words into known words within the lexicon; that words may be recognized based on decoding, prediction (for example, through initial letters, syntactic context, and semantic context), analogy, and sight; and that the ultimate goal is to read each word at sight (automatically), but in order to attain this goal with large numbers of words, each word, including high-frequency as well as low-frequency words and words that are not spelled as might be expected, must be fully analyzed graphophonemically and morphophonemically; and understand the related terms high-frequency word, sight word, and decodable.
• Demonstrate an understanding that word recognition develops through experience with words and instruction through a series of common, yet not rigid, stages in overlapping waves, for example in Ehri's (2014) terms, from pre alphabetic to partial alphabetic, to full alphabetic, to consolidated alphabetic, relying particularly on developing phonological and orthographic awareness, phonics knowledge, vocabulary knowledge, and constructing and monitoring for meaning throughout the reading process.
• Demonstrate the ability to identify and use screening tools and diagnostic assessments to inform instruction, such as word reading outside of context, with attention to, but not only to, high-frequency words and word reading in context, with attention to multiple word recognition strategies; and demonstrate knowledge of how to decide whether to conduct assessment of phonological awareness and seek additional assessment and/or instructional support from an appropriate specialist.
• Demonstrate the ability to identify and use engaging and multimodal, research-supported instructional techniques to explicitly teach, model, and provide guided and independent practice with phonology, morphology, and word recognition strategies to develop fluent application in meaningful reading, while being cognizant of each child's experiences, strengths, needs, and interests.

Objective 009—Morphology

Includes:

• Demonstrate an understanding that morphology is an oral and written language concept comprising the system by which the smallest units of meaning, called morphemes (bases and affixes), combine to form complex words and that morphological/structural analysis and synthesis are important to both decoding and encoding and are related to vocabulary development and reading comprehension.
• Demonstrate an understanding that much of children's early acquisition of morphology is a natural part of oral language learning; that over time, children learn to analyze the morphemic structure of words for spelling, word reading, and comprehension of written texts, as well as to understand and use academic language, including academic root words; and that children are likely to carry out deliberate analysis of the morphemic composition of words.
• Demonstrate the ability to identify and use word-reading and spelling assessments that include multi-morpheme words and demonstrate knowledge of how to decide whether to seek additional assessment and/or instructional support from an appropriate specialist (e.g., literacy specialist, speech and language pathologist).
• Demonstrate the ability to identify and use engaging and multimodal, research-supported instructional techniques such as providing a language-rich classroom; promoting curiosity about words, word structure, and word meaning, including morphologically complex words in word reading, spelling, and vocabulary lessons from the earliest grades; and explicitly teaching, modeling, and providing guided and independent practice with morphemes, while being cognizant of each child's experiences, strengths, needs, and interests.
• Demonstrate knowledge of methods to engage children in activities that include synthesis, analysis, and manipulations of morphemes within and across words, including application in meaningful reading and writing, and that take into account children's working memory and executive functioning skills, such as attention and processing speed.

Objective 010—Syntax

Includes:

• Demonstrate an understanding that syntax is an oral and written language concept comprising a set of principles that govern phrase and sentence structure; that in English syntax, these principles specify the relation of word order and meaning; that the grammar of the language indicates how words are combined to convey meanings; that understanding syntax involves knowledge of parts of speech (e.g., verb, noun, adverb) and word order (which may vary from children's home language); that phrases and sentences vary in complexity (simple, compound, complex, compound/complex); and that analysis of syntax helps to link structure and meaning.
• Demonstrate an understanding that young children begin to develop an understanding of syntax through listening and speaking in home and school in languages and dialects that may differ by setting; that in oral and written academic texts, children's attention is directed to the relation of word order and sentence structure and meaning; and that children acquire facility in manipulating word order to convey particular meanings or to place emphasis on particular words or ideas.
• Demonstrate an understanding of how to use observational checklists and rubrics for oral and written language samples (including miscue analysis), and demonstrate knowledge of how to decide whether to seek additional assessment and/or instructional support from an appropriate specialist.
• Demonstrate the ability to identify and use research-supported instructional techniques such as modeling, sentence framing, sentence expanding, and sentence combining to provide authentic opportunities during reading and writing to examine how specific syntactic constructions function in texts and children's own writing, while being cognizant of each child's experiences, strengths, needs, and interests.

 

Subarea III3—LITERACY PROCESSES–INSTRUCTION AND PRACTICES

Objective 011—Reading Fluency

Includes:

• Demonstrate an understanding that fluency entails accuracy, automaticity, and prosody; its role in reading development; and reciprocal relationships with, among other constructs, background knowledge, motivation, orthographic knowledge, morphological awareness, word recognition, syntax, and reading comprehension (although strong fluency does not guarantee reading comprehension).
• Demonstrate an understanding that fluency development entails progression in phonological awareness; rapid processing; and aspects of expression, including volume, phrasing, smoothness, and appropriate pace (which will vary based on what is being read, the purpose for reading, and other factors) within and across texts.
• Demonstrate knowledge of methods to assess each dimension of reading fluency (accuracy, automaticity, and prosody), orally and silently (for automaticity); this can best be accomplished by using tasks that also incorporate an evaluation of reading comprehension (e.g., through comprehension questions and dialogic conversations about the reading).
• Demonstrate the ability to identify and use research-supported instructional techniques to build reading fluency, such as repeated reading, partner reading, echo reading, reading while listening to recorded books, and other models of fluent reading, and a large volume of developmentally appropriate silent and/or oral reading, in coordination with techniques that build word knowledge and skills from foundational to fluency.

Objective 012—Vocabulary

Includes:

• Demonstrate an understanding that vocabulary is an oral and written language construct that is central to everyday and academic language, which includes general and discipline-specific vocabulary and involves knowledge of word meanings and the conceptual knowledge that underlies them; that it includes understanding multiple meanings across contexts, figurative language, and morphological structure of words; and that it is central to oral language, academic language, reading comprehension, and written composition.
• Demonstrate an understanding that vocabulary develops through oral and written language exposure, inquiry, experiences, and explicit and implicit instruction (including explicit instruction in word meanings, vocabulary strategies [e.g., looking for a possible synonym in the sentence], and deliberate analysis of the morphemic composition of words), with particular complexity for children whose home language is not the language of instruction.
• Demonstrate the ability to examine children's breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge, recognizing that children may have knowledge of vocabulary not in the language of instruction; assess vocabulary through use of observational checklists and rubrics for oral and written language samples and assessments of vocabulary that have been taught; and demonstrate knowledge of how to decide whether to seek additional assessment and/or instructional support from an appropriate specialist.
• Demonstrate the ability to identify and use research-supported instructional techniques to develop vocabulary, including for children whose home language is not the language of instruction, through a large volume of oral and written language exposure (e.g., through conversation, read-aloud, audio books, silent reading, and inquiry); selecting appropriate words for instruction; providing accessible, explicit explanations of the meaning of words, including, as appropriate, examples and non-examples, visual supports such as video, photo, or props, movement, analogies, and other comparisons; producing the word for children orally; having children repeat the word; providing a visual representation of the word once children are reading conventionally; providing multiple exposures to target words in different contexts over time; explicitly teaching morphology and etymology; and other techniques.

Objective 013—Comprehension

Includes:

• Demonstrate an understanding that comprehension is the ultimate purpose of reading instruction and involves the ability to extract and construct meaning through interaction and involvement with oral, written, and visual language separately or in combination.
• Demonstrate an understanding that comprehension of oral, print, and digital texts develops through the integration of many areas, including language development (e.g., morphological knowledge and awareness, vocabulary depth and breadth), word knowledge development, and, in the case of written language, development in fluency, written textual knowledge, comprehension strategies, metacognition, and attitudes specific to written and visual language (e.g., a disposition to read actively to make sense of text), and working memory and executive functioning skills, such as attention and processing speed.
• Demonstrate an understanding of ways to assess reading comprehension through tasks including questioning, retelling, dialogic conversations, summarizing, and application tasks (e.g., carrying out a procedure while reading a procedural text); demonstrate knowledge of how to decide whether to seek additional assessment and/or instructional support from an appropriate specialist; and recognize that not all reading comprehension difficulties have the same cause nor do they require the same instructional responses.
• Demonstrate the ability to identify and use research-supported instructional techniques to develop comprehension, including instruction in many of the other areas in the literacy strand of the Standards for the Preparation of Teachers of Lower Elementary (PK-3) Education (e.g., phonics, fluency) and daily time for children to read in motivating and engaging contexts for the purposes of building disciplinary knowledge and/or advancing personal interests; comprehension strategy instruction; modeling and guiding children to be metacognitive while reading; instruction in text search, navigation, and evaluation; focused, high-quality discussion of the meanings of text; text structure and feature instruction; and application tasks (e.g., building an argument from textual evidence).
• Demonstrate the ability to select and analyze texts for their affordances and challenges, including for specific disciplinary contexts.

Objective 014—Composition

Includes:

• Demonstrate an understanding that composition is the process of conveying meaning through oral, written (print or digital), and/or visual language, separately or in combination in many types of text (e.g., opinion, informative/explanatory, narrative); that it is important to active citizenship, many professions, and daily life; and that it requires applications of writing conventions to construct clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate for specific tasks, purposes, and audiences across disciplines.
• Demonstrate an understanding that written composition develops through a series of common, yet not rigid, stages, including writing through drawing, writing through scribbling, writing through letter-like forms, writing through letter strings, writing through estimated/invented spelling, and writing through conventional spelling, in a manner that may vary across disciplines, genres, and modes of communication; may be influenced by a child's home language(s) or dialect(s); and integrates many areas, including language development (e.g., morphological knowledge and awareness, vocabulary depth and breadth), word knowledge, textual knowledge, and knowledge of composition strategies, working memory, and attitudes specific to written and visual language.
• Demonstrate an understanding of methods to assess the overall quality of a composition (the effectiveness of a specific piece of writing for a specific purpose and audience), print or digital, through observation, checklists, rubrics, and other tools and of how to use intermediary outcomes toward overall quality of a composition, including writing output, mechanics, vocabulary, sentence structure, organization, ideation, voice, and genre (or text) elements and, if warranted by oral and/or written language difficulties, whether to seek additional assessment and/or instructional support from an appropriate specialist; and that not all composition difficulties have the same cause nor do they require the same instructional responses.
• Demonstrate the ability to identify and use research-supported instructional techniques to develop children's written composition abilities, such as interactive writing (PK to grade 1); daily time for children to write across disciplines in motivating and engaging contexts; instruction in writing processes and strategies, particularly those involving researching, planning, revising, and editing writing in print and digital contexts; opportunities to study models and non-models of and write a variety of texts for a variety of purposes and audiences, with scaffolding and with attention to disciplinary context; and explicit instruction in capitalization, punctuation, sentence construction, keyboarding, word processing, and additional areas addressed in this literacy strand of the Standards for the Preparation of Teachers of Lower Elementary (PK-3) Education (e.g., handwriting, spelling), while being cognizant of each child's experiences, strengths, needs, and interests.

Subtest 3: Mathematics

 

Subarea I1—MATHEMATICS-SPECIFIC TEACHING PRACTICES

Objective 001—Build and draw on relationships with children, caregivers, and communities in ways that support children's mathematics learning.

Includes:

• Use what children say in their mathematical thinking to engage with curiosity, interest, and understanding in ways that build rapport; provide information about children's interests, strengths, and needs; and inform instruction.
• Demonstrate knowledge of ways to communicate with caregivers about mathematics and their child in relation to current standards and the school's curriculum, supporting caregivers in fostering their child's success with mathematics in and out of school.
• Apply knowledge of children, their caregivers, and their communities to identify mathematical learning environments that provide all children, in particular children historically marginalized in mathematics classrooms, with access to significant mathematics and engagement in mathematical activities that are both culturally and instructionally appropriate.
• Demonstrate knowledge of ways to build children's positive mathematical identities, disrupting patterns of marginalization that reinforce inequities and exclusion.

Objective 002—Plan mathematics lessons and sequences of lessons.

Includes:

• Demonstrate knowledge of how to design ways to interest children and to use their resources and affinities to build access and participation, including taking stock of the mathematical capacities children bring to lessons, anticipating common patterns of mathematical thinking, looking for opportunities to include play in mathematics and mathematics in play, and planning for the mathematical participation of particular children.
• Analyze the mathematics content in instructional resources, referencing standards and progression documents to clarify learning goals and to identify connections among mathematical concepts and across grade levels.
• Use methods that promote broad participation in mathematical work (e.g., choosing activities and planning activities that provide children with multiple entry points and ways of being successful), make children's thinking central to the lesson, provide opportunities for play, and give children opportunities to show their thinking and see value in the contributions they make.

Objective 003—Use formative and summative mathematics assessments to gauge children's learning and to make instructional decisions.

Includes:

• Demonstrate knowledge of methods to elicit children's thinking and solution strategies in multiple forms, such as in writing, through speaking, and in drawings; and identify evidence of understanding in children's thinking and strategies and use this information to make in-the-moment instructional decisions.
• Understand the meanings, purposes, and processes of summative and formative assessments in mathematics.
• Interpret assessment data and use this information to select instructional activities that target children's strengths and needs, promote learning, and improve instruction.
• Understand how the language, format, and context of mathematics assessments (and assessment questions) affects children's ability to demonstrate their thinking.
• Distinguish between superficial and deeper evidence about children and attend to key aspects of children's understanding, skill, and engagement, as well as ignore irrelevant aspects.
• Analyze assessment data to plan next steps for instruction, understanding that evidence of children's learning (vs. topic coverage) is necessary for moving on from a topic.

Objective 004—Enact instruction that allows all children to engage with significant mathematics and to develop productive dispositions toward mathematics.

Includes:

• Demonstrate knowledge of ways to support children, in particular children historically marginalized in mathematics classrooms, in identifying themselves as mathematical thinkers and design instruction that helps children to recognize their own and other children's mathematical strengths.
• Demonstrate knowledge of a variety of participation structures and instructional routines, including whole-class, small-group, and independent lesson formats, both play and formal instruction, and a variety of materials, to foster children's talk about mathematics, with particular attention to disrupting patterns of over- and under-participation that reinforce inequities and exclusion.
• Identify classroom organizational routines and strategies that allow children access to mathematical tools and ensure the effective use of manipulatives and resources.
• Identify strategies for creating a classroom culture that values productive struggle, challenging mathematical ideas, constructing mathematical meanings together, and enjoyment of mathematics.

 

Subarea II2—MATHEMATICAL KNOWLEDGE FOR TEACHING GRADES PK–3: ATTRIBUTION AND COUNTING AND WHOLE NUMBER REPRESENTATION

Objective 005—Unpack mathematical content and identify mathematical competence for attribution.

Includes:

• Identify mathematical affordances in tasks and play situations for noticing, naming, and describing attributes of two- and three-dimensional shapes and spatial relationships, paying attention to the precision of examples.
• Identify opportunities to introduce mathematical language and precision into others' talk and play that draw attention to patterns, features, and compositions of shapes and objects, for instance, suggesting words such as tall, short, or wide when someone says, "my building is big" or asking questions about how many blocks or what shapes were used or about which blocks are on the bottom.
• Recognize and rewrite mathematical tasks involving spatial reasoning, composing and decomposing shapes, equal partitioning, or comparing or analyzing shapes to make the tasks easier or harder, or to include multiple entry points, without undermining the intended mathematical focus—including recognizing the influence on the task when choosing specific side lengths, angles, spatial orientations, and the absence or presence of parallel or perpendicular lines.
• Generate examples and non-examples of shapes (such as triangles, rectangles, and others) that draw attention to defining features and help to build mathematical definitions, namely examples that fit common expectations and ones that do not.

Objective 006—Perform mathematical explanations and support children's mathematical explanations for attribution.

Includes:

• Formulate questions that distinguish whether a number or element of a series fits a pattern or definition.
• Unpack, understand, and develop mathematical justifications using definitions when comparing and analyzing two- and three-dimensional shapes.
• Use clear and precise language to name and describe two- and three-dimensional shapes (e.g., distinguishing between cones and triangles, sides and faces, and sides and edges; recognizing changes in orientation; identifying transformations).
• Compare and contrast different explanations of the methods for generating numerical or geometrical patterns.

Objective 007—Choose, interpret, and talk with representations for attribution.

Includes:

• Identify accurate representations of regular and irregular two- and three-dimensional shapes in a variety of orientations that highlight defining and non-defining attributes.
• Coordinate images, talk, and gestures, such as pointing when comparing and analyzing components of composite two- and three-dimensional shapes.
• Identify multiple representations and make connections among different representations for composite shapes in drawings and other models (e.g., blocks, building materials, other manipulatives).
• Interpret idiosyncratic representations of two- and three-dimensional shapes and recognize their mathematical strengths and weaknesses (e.g., noticing the potential for confusion in using a piece of pie to represent a triangle).

Objective 008—Elicit, interpret, support, and extend others' mathematical thinking for attribution.

Includes:

• Pose mathematically appropriate questions to probe and elicit others' thinking about two- and three-dimensional shapes, including differences among shapes, equally partitioning shapes, and iterating a part to create a whole.
• Interpret, critique, and develop claims about others' thinking, language, and gestures about quantity, shapes, and relationships between two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes.
• Clarify and accurately record others' mathematical thinking as they compare and analyze attributes and two- and three-dimensional shapes.

Objective 009—Unpack mathematical content and identify mathematical competence for counting and whole number representation.

Includes:

• Identify mathematical affordances in tasks and play situations for counting objects and exploring early number concepts (i.e., cardinality, one-to-one correspondence, subitizing, hierarchical inclusion, and conservation of number, as well as counting on and counting back).
• Formulate questions about quantity based on correct or incorrect responses in order to develop or assess thinking around early number concepts when engaging with a set of objects.
• Analyze addition and subtraction tasks for opportunities to address ideas about number, including composing and decomposing, anchor numbers of 5 and 10, and counting all and counting on, and adapt tasks, if necessary, for specific instructional goals.
• Identify the mathematical goals, conditions, and challenges of tasks and play situations designed to address place-value relationships.
• Recognize multiple strategies for composing and decomposing numbers, their dependence on place-value relationships, and connections among these strategies as indicators of mathematical competence.

Objective 010—Perform mathematical explanations and support children's mathematical explanations for counting and whole number representation.

Includes:

• Evaluate the capacity of questions to uncover others' strategies for determining if a count is correct, such as counting on, counting all, or counting back, as objects are added, removed, or combined or using understandings of the base-ten structure.
• Demonstrate knowledge of clear mathematical explanations connecting new terminology (e.g., ones, tens, hundreds) to objects and coordinating different strategies of composing and decomposing, for instance showing that 345 ones is equivalent to 34 tens and 5 ones and to 3 hundreds and 5 tens minus 5 ones with language that correctly and clearly references objects and symbols in meaningful ways.
• Demonstrate knowledge of multiple ways to explain counts, addition, and subtraction based on base-ten number representation, 5s and 10s, convenient decompositions, and counting on or counting back.

Objective 011—Choose, interpret, and talk with representations for counting and whole number representation.

Includes:

• Identify affordances and limitations of representations for iterating units and composing and decomposing numbers.
• Identify affordances and limitations of different representations (e.g., materials, manipulatives, drawings, symbols) for base-ten numbers and addition and subtraction (e.g., groupable, ungroupable, nonproportional) in relation to tasks or play situations and pedagogical goals.
• Accurately interpret and represent connections and mathematical progressions among representations of addition, subtraction, and multiplication (e.g., open number lines, arrays).

Objective 012—Elicit, interpret, support, and extend others' mathematical thinking for counting and whole number representation.

Includes:

• Identify questions to elicit particular ways of thinking about composing and decomposing numbers both less than 10 and greater than 10 when thinking is not transparent.
• Evaluate claims about others' mathematical understanding of counting based on evidence from their performance on counting activities, in particular understandings of quantity, the ability to count on and back by place-value units starting at a number other than 0 or 1, and flexible use of structure in base-ten numbers.
• Demonstrate knowledge of ways to record others' approaches to tasks involving the bundling of groups of 10 into a unit and interpret what is understood about the base-ten number system.
• Demonstrate knowledge of strategies to observe, assess, and identify developing understandings of early number concepts (i.e., cardinality, one-to-one correspondence, subitizing, hierarchical inclusion, and conservation of number, as well as counting on and counting back) and select appropriate follow-up questions.

 

Subarea III3—MATHEMATICAL KNOWLEDGE FOR TEACHING GRADES PK–3: EARLY FRACTION REPRESENTATION AND WHOLE NUMBER OPERATION

Objective 013—Unpack mathematical content and identify mathematical competence for early fraction representation.

Includes:

• Identify questions that meaningfully reveal and challenge understanding of the magnitude of fractions and support flexible ways of comparing and ordering fractions.
• Recognize mathematical competence in others' approaches to and explanations for fraction problems using multiple representations involving different interpretations.
• Identify appropriate descriptions of the mathematical work involved in comparing or combining fractions.

Objective 014—Perform mathematical explanations and support others' mathematical explanations for early fraction representation.

Includes:

• Recognize whether or not an explanation for comparing or combining two or more fractions uses the standard definition of a fraction.
• Identify clear, elaborated explanations, attuned to an audience, of the meaning of a fraction ^a/_ba over b for different interpretations of fractions in different representational environments.
• Interpret and contrast various approaches to compare or combine fractions and determine whether those approaches, use of models, and explanations are mathematically consistent and correct and, if not, how they might be adapted.

Objective 015—Choose, interpret, and talk with representations for early fraction representation.

Includes:

• Identify affordances and limitations of different materials, manipulatives, and drawings as representations of fractions.
• Demonstrate knowledge of ways to use appropriate representations, including geometric and linear models, for supporting the solving of tasks involving fraction quantities.
• Demonstrate knowledge of ways to use unmarked or partially marked number lines to interpret and compare fractions, attending carefully to the unit interval as the conventional whole, the role of unit fractions and iteration, and estimation of magnitudes.

Objective 016—Elicit, interpret, support, and extend others' mathematical thinking for early fraction representation.

Includes:

• Recognize questions to elicit particular ways of thinking about comparing or combining two or more fractions when that thinking is not transparent.
• Evaluate claims about mathematical understanding based on evidence from performance on comparing or combining fractions.
• Demonstrate knowledge of ways to clarify and record others' approaches to solving tasks involving comparing or combining fractions.
• Identify correct and incorrect reasoning about comparing or combining fractions, including reasoning about the fractions' magnitude and formulating counter-speculations for that reasoning.
• Identify which key aspects of a given fraction interpretation are present or absent in others' talk or work (for instance, noticing when a child's explanation shifts from a part-whole interpretation to a part-of-a-set interpretation).

Objective 017—Unpack mathematical content and identify mathematical competence for whole number operations.

Includes:

• Recognize and analyze potential goals and conditions and identify mathematical affordances in tasks and play situations and sequences of tasks that can be solved by direct modeling; counting; derived facts; operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division; or approaches that integrate these.
• Identify mathematical affordances in questions that can be asked regarding composition and decomposition and their role in representing numbers with drawings or materials, for example, when using ten frames or base-ten blocks, asking, "What number is this? Show me 7. Show me 7 in a different way. How might we show 1000 with this drawing or material?"
• Identify an appropriate narrative of the mathematical work to be done to solve a problem involving any of the four operations, or that is being done or has been done to solve it.
• Recognize and analyze differences in the mathematics content for math tasks for any of the four operations when wording, context, or structures are modified.
• Recognize multiple approaches to mathematics tasks involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, including geometric interpretations of each and connections among them.

Objective 018—Perform mathematical explanations and support children's mathematical explanations for whole number operations.

Includes:

• Compare and contrast tasks modeled by the same computation, for instance, identifying which involve the same and which involve different meanings of the operations and evaluating descriptions of those differences and explanations of why the computation correctly models both.
• Recognize the difference between explanations that describe computational procedures with and without explicit mathematical connections to the place-value meanings and to the meaning of operations.
• Sequence portions of elaborated explanations that could be used to unpack the structure of and mathematically justify algorithms.
• Interpret and contrast alternative or novel approaches to computations, determining whether approaches, use of models, and explanations are mathematically consistent and correct and, if not, how they might be adapted to be.

Objective 019—Choose, interpret, and talk with representations for whole number operations.

Includes:

• Recognize whether or not drawings and their implied use accurately model identified operations, including whether drawings (e.g., geometric interpretations) are consistent with specific meanings of operations.
• Recognize affordances and limitations of different representations for modeling composing and decomposing numbers as well as operations (e.g., ten frames, bundling sticks, base-ten blocks, arithmetic rack, money, arrays, number lines, area models), for instance, ways in which units are visible or not in groups of units and distinctions between grouping and trading models.
• Select and justify the use of materials, drawings, and symbols to model a variety of computational strategies based on place value, properties of operations, or relationships between operations, for instance, reasoning about addition and subtraction as reverse operations or division as repeated subtraction, and contrast and connect solutions that use different representations.
• Apply knowledge of ways to use materials, drawings, and symbols to model child-constructed and conventional algorithms, attending carefully to language, making connections among representations, matching the steps in each representation, and coordinating the talk with the use of the representations when explaining solutions to the problems.

Objective 020—Elicit, interpret, support, and extend others' mathematical thinking for whole number operations.

Includes:

• Evaluate claims about mathematical understanding based on evidence from performance on computational tasks, addressing issues of conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and adaptive reasoning.
• Recognize which among a set of partially expressed ideas about the solution to a task involving whole numbers and operations is most appropriate to a given mathematical focus, such as an interpretation of subtraction as comparison or the role of place value in computational algorithms.
• Demonstrate knowledge of ways to clarify and record others' approaches to solving whole-number tasks involving operations.
• Demonstrate knowledge of ways to examine the meaning of operations and method for solving a computational task as exemplified in others' talk or work, and then apply the approach on different tasks.

Subtest 4: Science and Social Studies

 

Subarea I1—SCIENCE–ENGAGING CHILDREN IN 3-DIMENSIONAL SCIENCE LEARNING AS IDENTIFIED IN THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL'S A FRAMEWORK FOR K-12 SCIENCE EDUCATION: PRACTICES, CROSSCUTTING CONCEPTS, AND CORE IDEAS⁴

Objective 001—Scientific Phenomena

Includes:

• Articulate the role of scientific phenomena in 3-dimensional science teaching and learning.
• Identify, evaluate, and use productive scientific phenomena for children's scientific learning, including everyday observations of the world (e.g., a puddle disappearing over time).

Objective 002—Engaging Children in Science and Engineering Practices

Includes:

• Articulate the nature and importance of scientific and engineering practices, giving priority at the PK–3 grade band to the practices of asking questions and defining problems, planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, and constructing explanations and designing solutions.
• Identify grade-appropriate elements of scientific and engineering practices, including developing and using models and engaging in argument from evidence.

Objective 003—Engaging Children in Developing and Using Disciplinary Core Ideas

Includes:

• Demonstrate understanding of and articulate the importance of life, earth, and physical science disciplinary core ideas consistent with grades K–3 found in the Michigan K–12 Standards for Science⁵ and Early Childhood Standards of Quality for Prekindergarten.⁶
• Identify grade-appropriate elements of the disciplinary core ideas within instructional materials.

Objective 004—Engaging Children in Developing and Using Crosscutting Concepts

Includes:

• Articulate the nature of the crosscutting concepts and relate them to 3-dimensional learning (giving priority to patterns, cause and effect, and systems and systems models).
• Identify grade-appropriate elements of crosscutting concepts within instructional materials.

 

Subarea II2—SCIENCE–CHILDREN'S SENSE-MAKING AND SCIENCE TEACHING PEDAGOGY

Objective 005—Selecting and Modifying Instructional Materials for 3-Dimensional Learning

Includes:

• Select and modify instructional materials to create learning environments that engage children in using the disciplinary core ideas and science and engineering practices to explore, describe, and explain phenomena.
• Demonstrate knowledge of connections between science and other discipline areas (e.g., engagement in measurement, analysis, and the crosscutting concept of patterns within science learning; writing to explain science understanding).

Objective 006—Children's Scientific Sense-making

Includes:

• Demonstrate understanding of how children make sense of scientific phenomena, ideas, experiences, and data and what scientific sense-making looks like in individuals (e.g., speaking, writing, visually representing, enacting) and in whole-class interactions (e.g., speaking, listening).
• Identify instances of sense-making and elicit children's ideas, in individual, small-group, and whole-class interactions, that embrace the complexity and iterative nature of sense-making and move beyond indicating whether the ideas are correct vs. incorrect, accurate vs. misconceptions.

Objective 007—Pedagogical Strategies that Support Culturally Relevant Sense-making in 3-Dimensional Learning

Includes:

• Demonstrate knowledge of research-based pedagogical strategies that support children's sense-making in grade-level-appropriate and culturally appropriate ways. This includes leveraging children's prior experiences and knowledge, varying activity structures, and using talk and group work for science (e.g., to elicit children's thinking, cultural and community connections, and curiosity when making sense of phenomena).
• Identify, modify, and/or design lessons and lesson sequences and/or assessments to create learning environments that provide opportunities for iterative children's sense-making and explanation building through classroom talk, written words, diagrams, and/or movement.
• Demonstrate knowledge of ways to create an inclusive linguistic culture that leverages individual interactions, small-group work, and provides opportunities for conversation (e.g., elaborating and building on their own and others' ideas) for the purpose of engaging children in sense-making through 3-dimensional learning (e.g., partner talk, asking for clarification, asking for evidence and reasoning, asking for others to agree/disagree, asking for contributions to build on one another).
• Identify, create, or modify formative and summative science assessments (diagrammatic, linguistic) that address 3-dimensional learning and reveal children's current sense-making.
• Recognize and assess children's ideas, life experiences, and learning beyond the technical scientific language by evaluating samples of children's work and classroom interactions to determine the nature and depth of children's sense-making and leverage ongoing changes in children's learning to adjust instruction.

Objective 008—Equity and Access

Includes:

• Identify children's and communities' interests, experiences, and resources as assets to their science learning and use these assets to select phenomena, modify or design lessons, and build on during instruction.
• Develop strategies for creating a classroom culture that values productive struggle, challenging science ideas, constructing science meaning together, and enjoying science.

 

Subarea III3—SOCIAL STUDIES–INSTRUCTION AND PRACTICES

Objective 009—Civic Engagement

Includes:

• Demonstrate understanding of methods for developing students' responsibility and skills for public discourse, decision making, citizen involvement, and participation in community issues by using representational tools and data to interpret, analyze, and create structured discourse that communicates reasoned positions relative to public issues.
• Demonstrate understanding of methods for teaching organizational skills for clearly stating a problem as a public policy issue, analyzing various perspectives, and generating and evaluating possible alternative resolutions.
• Demonstrate understanding of methods for teaching communication skills to generate a reasoned position on a public issue in order to act constructively to further the public good.

Objective 010—History

Includes:

• Demonstrate understanding of methods for teaching history as an organizing framework to develop a sense of time and chronology, using events from personal experiences and expanding into the events of larger communities and countries.
• Demonstrate understanding of methods for teaching historical thinking that consists of understanding and evaluating change and continuity over time, and make appropriate use of historical evidence in answering questions and developing arguments about the past.
• Demonstrate understanding of methods for teaching historical thinking to understand the past in the local community, Michigan, and the United States, as detailed for grades PreK–3 in the Michigan K–12 Standards for Social Studies⁷ and the Early Childhood Standards of Quality for Prekindergarten⁸ for social studies.

Objective 011—Geography

Includes:

• Demonstrate understanding of methods for teaching geography as an organizing framework to identify and interpret the geographic environment using representational tools, spatial perspective, and concepts that explain human needs and wants and their relationship to their environment.
• Demonstrate understanding of methods for teaching geographic reasoning that consists of using spatial and environmental perspectives, skills in asking and answering questions, and being able to apply geographic representations.
• Demonstrate understanding of methods for teaching geographic reasoning to understand the geography of the local community, Michigan, the United States, and the world, as detailed for grades PreK–3 in the Michigan K–12 Standards for Social Studies and the Early Childhood Standards of Quality for Prekindergarten for social studies.

Objective 012—Civics and Government

Includes:

• Demonstrate understanding of methods for teaching civics and government as an organizing framework for understanding productive civic engagement, the development of individual rights and societal structures, and relationships between these dynamic forces.
• Demonstrate understanding of methods for teaching civic reasoning that consists of conceptual foundations of governments; applying civic virtues and principles of American constitutional democracy; and explaining important rights and how, when, and where American citizens demonstrate their responsibilities by participating in government.
• Demonstrate understanding of methods for teaching civic reasoning to understand the government and political processes at the local, state, federal, and global levels as detailed for grades PreK–3 in the Michigan K–12 Standards for Social Studies and the Early Childhood Standards of Quality for Prekindergarten for social studies.

Objective 013—Economics

Includes:

• Demonstrate understanding of methods for teaching economics as an organizing framework for the study of the interaction of individual wants, goods, services, and the resulting exchanges in a structured society.
• Demonstrate understanding of methods for teaching an economic way of thinking to identify, analyze, and evaluate the causes and consequences of individual economic decisions and public policy (e.g., all choice involves cost, individuals make economic choices, people respond to incentives in predictable ways, individuals participate in economic systems, all decisions have consequences that lie in the future, trade and labor create wealth).
• Demonstrate understanding of methods for teaching an economic way of thinking to understand economic activities as detailed for grades PreK–3 in the Michigan K–12 Standards for Social Studies and the Early Childhood Standards of Quality for Prekindergarten for social studies.

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footnote ¹ For additional information and background on the content of the Test Framework and for key vocabulary in this document, refer to the Michigan Department of Education's Standards for the Preparation of Teachers of Lower Elementary (PK–3) Education, available at https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/Lower_Elementary_PK-3_Education_Preparation_Standards_649824_7.pdf .

footnote ² The Michigan Code of Educational Ethics can be accessed here: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/Code_of_Ethics_653130_7.pdf

footnote ³ i.e., the components identified in Objectives 005–014

footnote ⁴ A Framework for K–12 Science Education can be accessed here: https://www.nap.edu/catalog/13165/a-framework-for-k-12-science-education-practices-crosscutting-concepts

footnote ⁵ The Michigan K–12 Standards for Science can be accessed here: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/K-12_Science_Performance_Expectations_v5_496901_7.pdf

footnote ⁶ The Early Childhood Standards of Quality for Prekindergarten can be accessed here: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/ECSQ_OK_Approved_422339_7.pdf

footnote ⁷ The Michigan K–12 Standards for Social Studies can be accessed here: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/Final_Social_Studies_Standards_Document_655968_7.pdf

footnote ⁸ The Early Childhood Standards of Quality for Prekindergarten can be accessed here: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/ECSQ_OK_Approved_422339_7.pdf

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