California Commission on Teacher
TSET ECITCARP • ACIR
RICA✦
✦
SUB 1
Credentialing
Reading Instruction Competence Assessment · Subtest 1 Practice Test
CA CTC
ENSURING EXCELLENCE IN READING INSTRUCTION
RICA — Subtest 1 Practice Test
W O R D A N A LYS I S · F LU E N C Y · P H O N I CS · S P E L L I N G · P H O N E M I C A W A R E N E SS · SY L L A B I C AT I O N
ORGANIZATION California Commission on Teacher EXAM TYPE RICA Subtest 1 Practice Test
Credentialing (CTC)
ACADEMIC YEAR TOTAL QUESTIONS 25 Questions
SUBJECT AREAS Word Analysis · Fluency · Phonics · FORMAT Multiple Choice — Select the Single Best
Spelling Answer
PR ACTICE TEST INSTRUCTIONS
▸ Select the single best answer for each question based on RICA Subtest 1 content specifications.
▸ Content covers: decodable texts, fluency intervention strategies, phonemic awareness (rhyming, segmentation), phonics (vowel
patterns, consonant confusion, silent-e), spelling instruction, syllabication, concepts about print (Big Books), invented spelling,
independent reading, English Learner fluency support, phonics program evaluation, and the five-finger rule for book selection.
▸ Key instructional strategies: Elkonin boxes, word sorts, Readers' Theatre, shared reading, decodable text practice, phrase-cued
reading, and systematic/explicit phonics instruction.
SECTION I — WORD ANALYSIS, FLUENCY & INSTRUCTIONAL Questions 1 –
STRATEGIES 25
1. What is the instructional advantage of using decodable texts with beginning readers?
A. Decodable texts provide abundant practice with previously taught phonic elements and sight words.
B. Decodable texts can provide beginning readers with a controlled vocabulary that will enable them to read more
books.
C. Books with controlled vocabulary are predictable and can be used as literature in a reading program.
D. Decodable texts allow the school to accumulate more books in primary classrooms.
CORRECT ANSWER A — Decodable texts provide abundant practice with previously taught phonic elements and sight
words.
RATIONALE DECODABLE TEXTS provide ABUNDANT PRACTICE with previously taught phonic elements and sight words —
they are specifically designed so most words can be sounded out using skills already taught. For a struggling
fluency student, the teacher should MODEL reading with expression, provide decodable text, and encourage
WHISPER READING and REREADING to develop automaticity and appropriate phrasing. For a fifth grader
reading 80 WCPM, the teacher would be LEAST likely to begin systematic instruction in phonological
awareness — that skill should be mastered by fifth grade; the focus should be on automaticity and prosody.
TSET ECITCARP • ACIR
RICA✦
✦
SUB 1
Credentialing
Reading Instruction Competence Assessment · Subtest 1 Practice Test
CA CTC
ENSURING EXCELLENCE IN READING INSTRUCTION
RICA — Subtest 1 Practice Test
W O R D A N A LYS I S · F LU E N C Y · P H O N I CS · S P E L L I N G · P H O N E M I C A W A R E N E SS · SY L L A B I C AT I O N
ORGANIZATION California Commission on Teacher EXAM TYPE RICA Subtest 1 Practice Test
Credentialing (CTC)
ACADEMIC YEAR TOTAL QUESTIONS 25 Questions
SUBJECT AREAS Word Analysis · Fluency · Phonics · FORMAT Multiple Choice — Select the Single Best
Spelling Answer
PR ACTICE TEST INSTRUCTIONS
▸ Select the single best answer for each question based on RICA Subtest 1 content specifications.
▸ Content covers: decodable texts, fluency intervention strategies, phonemic awareness (rhyming, segmentation), phonics (vowel
patterns, consonant confusion, silent-e), spelling instruction, syllabication, concepts about print (Big Books), invented spelling,
independent reading, English Learner fluency support, phonics program evaluation, and the five-finger rule for book selection.
▸ Key instructional strategies: Elkonin boxes, word sorts, Readers' Theatre, shared reading, decodable text practice, phrase-cued
reading, and systematic/explicit phonics instruction.
SECTION I — WORD ANALYSIS, FLUENCY & INSTRUCTIONAL Questions 1 –
STRATEGIES 25
1. What is the instructional advantage of using decodable texts with beginning readers?
A. Decodable texts provide abundant practice with previously taught phonic elements and sight words.
B. Decodable texts can provide beginning readers with a controlled vocabulary that will enable them to read more
books.
C. Books with controlled vocabulary are predictable and can be used as literature in a reading program.
D. Decodable texts allow the school to accumulate more books in primary classrooms.
CORRECT ANSWER A — Decodable texts provide abundant practice with previously taught phonic elements and sight
words.
RATIONALE DECODABLE TEXTS provide ABUNDANT PRACTICE with previously taught phonic elements and sight words —
they are specifically designed so most words can be sounded out using skills already taught. For a struggling
fluency student, the teacher should MODEL reading with expression, provide decodable text, and encourage
WHISPER READING and REREADING to develop automaticity and appropriate phrasing. For a fifth grader
reading 80 WCPM, the teacher would be LEAST likely to begin systematic instruction in phonological
awareness — that skill should be mastered by fifth grade; the focus should be on automaticity and prosody.
