The TExES Exam

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The TExES Exam
PedagogyandProfessional Responsibilities
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The TExES TestTo ensure that each educator has
the prerequisite content and professional
knowledge necessary for an entry-level position
in Texas public schoolsCan be taken on
Computer (CBT) or Paper (PBT)
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The TExES Exam (Content)

• Full-Session TExES Tests
• 5 hours maximum length
• Science 8 12 (120 Scorable, 10 Non-Scorable)
• Mathematics/Science 4 8 (100 S, 10 NS)
• Half-Session TExES Tests
• 2.5 5 hours length
• Mathematics 4 8, Mathematics 8 12 (80 S, 10
  NS)
• Science 4 8 (80 S, 10 NS)
• Computer Science 8 12 (80S, 10 NS)
• Physical Science 8 12, Life Science 8 12 (80
  S, 10 NS)
• Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities (all)

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The TExES Exam (PPR)

• Test Scoring
• 80 scorable items, 10 non-scorable items
• Scaled Score 100 - 300 (240 Passing)
• Criterion-Referenced (not necessarily 70 is
  passing)
• During the Test
• 5 hour sessions
• Calculators
• Math 8-12 bring graphing calculator (memory will
  be wiped!)
• Science 8-12, Math 4-8 Scientific Calculator
  Provided
• Water with sealed lid only during exam
• No cell phones!
• Test Results
• Unofficial on website day of reporting
• Official in 4 weeks

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5 Year Teaching Certificate

• CPE Hours (Continuing Professional Education)
• Must earn 150 hours (30 per year) of CPE to renew
• Conferences and Institutes
• Mentoring
• Distance Learning
• Undergraduate/Graduate Work
• (1hr semester course 15 CPE hours)
• No limit
• Every 5 years
• http//www.sbec.state.tx.us

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Domains on the TExES Exam

• Domain I Designing Instruction and Assessment
  to Promote Student Learning
• - 31 of test -
• Domain II Creating a Positive, Productive
  Classroom Environment
• -15 of test -
• Domain III Implementing Effective, Responsive
  Instruction and Assessment
• - 31 of test -
• Domain IV Fulfilling Professional Roles and
  Responsibilities
• - 23 of test -

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Domain IDesigning Instruction and Assessment to
Promote Learning

• Competency 001
• Understands human development and is flexible
  planning instruction/on-going assessment to
  motivate students
• Competency 002
• Understands diversity and plans equitably
• Competency 003
• Designs instruction/assessment towards goals and
  objectives
• Competency 004
• Plans instruction and assessments based on an
  understanding of factors (internal and external)
  that impact learning

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Domain IICreating a Positive, Productive
Classroom Environment

• Competency 005
• Establishes a physically and emotionally safe and
  productive environment that fosters learning,
  equity and excellence
• Competency 006
• Understands strategies for creating an organized
  and productive learning environment and
  strategies for managing student behavior

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Domain IIIImplementing effective, responsive
instruction and assessment

• Competency 007
• Communicates effectively in varied contexts
  (discussions, explorations, directions, providing
  multiple examples)
• Competency 008
• Engages students in the learning process
• Competency 009
• Uses technology effectively to plan, organize,
  deliver, and evaluate instruction
• Competency 010
• Monitors student progress and provides timely,
  high quality feedback responding flexibly to
  promote learning

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Domain IVFulfilling Professional Roles and
Responsibilities

• Competency 011
• Understands the importance of family involvement
  and interacts/communicates effectively
• Competency 012
• Interacts with other educators and participates
  in various types of professional activities
• Competency 013
• Understands the legal/ethical requirements for
  educators and is knowledgeable of the structure
  of education in Texas

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Now it is time to practice!
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Item Formats

• Single Items
• Clustered Items
• Teacher Decision Set Items

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• Martin accepted a seventh-grade position for his
  first teaching assignment. He learned a lot
  about cognitive development in his teacher
  education program and knows that these students
  likely operate between concrete and formal
  operational thought. What would be the best
  instructional approach for him to follow to
  accommodate learning?

• Use as many manipulatives as possible while
  focusing on activities that lead learners to more
  abstract content.
• Always use cooperative grouping to allow learners
  to share concepts.
• Offer tutoring each morning before school to
  assist those who are struggling.
• Dont worry about learners at the higher levels
  focus on the average learner in order to assure
  that all students have some opportunity to grow.

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And the answer is

• Use as many manipulatives as possible while
  focusing on activities that lead learners to more
  abstract content.

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Item Formats

• Single Items
• Clustered Items
• Teacher Decision Set Items

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

• A group of Texas teachers is attending a
  district seminar on the Educators Code of
  Ethics. The purpose of the seminar is to help
  teachers better understand how the Code of Ethics
  applies to the practice of teaching in Texas
  schools and to provide an opportunity for
  teachers to share and discuss their concerns
  about how the code applies to their everyday
  activities in the schools. After reviewing the
  basic ethical principles stated in the Educators
  Code of Ethics, seminar participants discuss
  situations that are relevant to the Code of
  Ethics.

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• administering a teacher-made test several days
  prior to the actual administration of the TAKS to
  ones class
• answering specific student questions about how to
  answer TAKS questions during the actual
  administration of the test
• reviewing with ones class the directions for the
  different sections of the TAKS to prepare them
  for the actual administration
• preparing students for the TAKS in advance by
  presenting lessons that focus on specific
  objectives measured by the test

• At one point during the seminar, the discussion
  turns to the subject of how teachers should
  proceed before and during the administration of
  the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills
  (TAKS). Which of the following teacher practices
  would be considered unethical?

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And the answer is

• answering specific student questions about how to
  answer TAKS questions during the actual
  administration of the test

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• During the discussion, one of the participants
  raises the topic of teachers use of school
  property at home. Several teachers state their
  opinion that it is ethically permissible to
  borrow school equipment (e.g., computer,
  videotape recorders) for home use. The teachers
  opinion is correct only if it is understood that
  the borrower

• intends to return the equipment eventually
• believes the equipment is not currently needed at
  school
• uses the equipment for authorized school business
  only
• repairs any damage he or she may do to the
  equipment

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And the answer is

• uses the equipment for authorized school business
  only

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Item Formats

• Single Items
• Clustered Items
• Teacher Decision Set Items

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• Does my instruction reflect a consistent and
  coherent educational philosophy?
• Do my students have opportunities to participate
  in varied types of learning experiences?
• Do my lessons promote all students intellectual
  involvement and active engagement in learning?
• Have I put mechanisms in place to ensure ongoing
  individual accountability in regard to student
  learning?

• Which of the following questions would be most
  important to consider for a teacher who wishes to
  evaluate classroom climate?

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And the answer is

• Do my lessons promote all students intellectual
  involvement and active engagement in learning?

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• A person of this age may have more concern with
  the present than any thought of the future.
• This student may be having financial problems at
  home, and the single mom may be asking the
  student to help out.
• This student is likely still operating at the
  concrete operational stage, and thus has
  difficulty reasoning through complex problems.
• Students at this age typically place more focus
  on parents than school, and thus may be following
  a parents model of dropping out of school.

• Carolyn is concerned about one of her tenth-grade
  students who missed school more and more
  frequently. When Carolyn expressed her concern,
  the student told her that school had no value for
  her so she was working part time. What
  developmental knowledge does Carolyn need for
  understanding this students perspective?

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And the answer is

• A person of this age may have more concern with
  the present than any thought of the future.

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• A senior high teacher requires students in his
  science class to prepare multimedia presentations
  as a culminating project in their third unit. He
  is concerned that students may focus more on how
  the presentation looks rather than on the content
  of the concepts to be presented. What procedure
  should he use to guide students as they begin the
  work on their presentation?

• Ask students to balance their planning time
  between ideas for presenting the concepts and for
  designing the presentation.
• Require students to draw a concept map after they
  design their presentation style and set up the
  slides for the presentation.
• In partnership with students, design a rubric
  that will define the importance both content and
  design features.
• Explain to students that they must have more
  focus on the content than the presentation
  design.

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And the answer is

• In partnership with students, design a rubric
  that will define the importance both content and
  design features.

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• The assessment should focus on the defined
  learning goals and be carefully aligned with the
  instructional components previously taught.
• Use only multiple-choice questions and ensure
  that they are written at various levels of
  cognition to assess all levels of learning.
• Always include close-ended and open-ended items
  on all assessments so students have an
  opportunity to use their opinions about what they
  have learned.
• Design assessments that will result in a normal
  distribution of scores.

• What is a major guideline when developing any
  assessment of learning?

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And the answer is

• The assessment should focus on the defined
  learning goals and be carefully aligned with the
  instructional components previously taught.

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Item Formats

• Single Items
• Clustered Items
• Teacher Decision Set Items

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Use the information below to answer the question
that follows.

• Ms. De La Cruz, a high school teacher, has
  found that including open-ended writing in her
  physics class has improved student comprehension,
  and so she has students use learning journals on
  a regular basis in addition to their experimental
  lab notebooks. Following a recent unit called
  Physics in our Daily Life, she selected these
  reflection questions for students to address in
  their learning journals

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• What are three things you learned from todays
  lab on pendulums?
• How is the information in the video we saw on
  Galileo related to the observations he made in
  church as he watched the lights swing?
• How was your investigation related to a typical
  event that occurs in your own life?

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• These reflection questions best demonstrate the
  teachers use of a learning journal to implement
  which learning principle?

• Knowledge of how a student learns reinforces that
  students ability to learn.
• Actively processing relationships between
  information in context reinforces learning.
• Meaningful learning occurs from the
  self-motivated acquisition of knowledge and
  skills.
• The formulating of generalizations by students
  enhances their learning of the content.

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And the answer is

• Actively processing relationships between
  information in context reinforces learning.

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Item Formats

• Single Items
• Clustered Items
• Teacher Decision Set Items

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• Allow students some choice in topics and in the
  procedures they will use to complete their
  research.
• Break the project into subtasks and provide
  students with assistance in planning and
  accomplishing these subtasks as needed.
• Emphasize to students the need to follow
  processes and procedures as they work on their
  projects.
• Pair lower-achieving with higher-achieving
  students and allow these partnerships flexibility
  in determining how the project should be done.

• A teacher planning to implement a major project
  with a mixed-ability group also wants to promote
  resiliency in the students. Which approach will
  be most effective in helping the teacher achieve
  this goal?

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And the answer is

• Break the project into subtasks and provide
  students with assistance in planning and
  accomplishing these subtasks as needed.

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• A high school principal believes teachers and
  parents/guardians should be partners working
  together to ensure the best possible education
  for students. He shares this philosophy with his
  teachers as they prepare to begin a new school
  year. Because his teachers agree, what would be
  the best information for the teachers to share
  with their students families at the beginning of
  the year to help create this partnership?

• Teachers should discuss with the families the
  expectations for student academic performance and
  how by working together they can guide students
  towards success.
• Teachers should inform the families about the
  instructional resources available to students and
  the major projects required during the coming
  school year.
• Teachers should compare the relationship between
  scores from teacher-made tests the school will
  use during the year and those from state-required
  tests.
• Teachers should inform families about the
  development levels and traits of secondary
  students and how these produce behaviors
  different from those of middle school students.

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And the answer is

• Teachers should discuss with the families the
  expectations for student academic performance and
  how by working together they can guide students
  towards success.

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More Practice?

• TExES ResourcesScroll down to the listing of
  manuals by test name.