A first-grade teacher gives a student an oral phoneme-deletion task. The student correctly says 'top' when asked to say 'stop' without /s/ and 'lip' when asked to say 'slip' without /s/. When asked to say 'stop' without /t/, however, the student again says 'top.' Which of the following BEST explains this pattern?

Removing the second consonant of an initial blend is harder than removing the first sound

The student has not yet developed the syllable awareness that is needed before any phoneme task

The student must see the letters in 'stop' before attempting oral deletion tasks

The student is applying a rhyming strategy because the words share the rime '-op'

In a first-grade lesson, students use letter tiles to change 'mat' to 'map,' then 'map' to 'mop,' then 'mop' to 'top,' reading each new word aloud. This activity MOST directly develops students' ability to

attend to every letter in a word while decoding and spelling

recognize irregular high-frequency words automatically by sight

identify syllable boundaries in longer multisyllabic words

use illustrations to confirm the meaning of unfamiliar words

During a repeated reading session, a second grader reads the word "though" as "through" and continues reading. Which teacher response is MOST effective?

After the sentence, point to the word, say it correctly, and have the student reread

Prompt the student to look at the illustration and think about what word would make sense there

Allow the error to pass without comment so that the student's reading rate is not interrupted

Record the error on a form and review the full list of missed words with the student next week

After the mill closed, the town slumped against the hillside. Its shutters closed like heavy eyelids, and the main street sighed under the weight of empty storefronts. Use the information above to answer the question. A seventh-grade teacher asks students what the figurative language in the excerpt suggests. Which interpretation is BEST supported?

The town is so neglected and quiet that it seems to be giving up.

The town is experiencing a severe storm that will soon damage it.

The town is crowded with tired workers returning home from jobs.

The town is growing older because it has a long and proud history.

A first-grade teacher wants to know whether each student has mastered the specific letter-sound correspondences taught in the first unit, using a preset standard of 90 percent accuracy. Which type of assessment BEST fits this purpose?

A criterion-referenced test comparing each student's score with the 90 percent standard

A norm-referenced assessment comparing each student's score with a national sample of first graders

A standardized aptitude measure estimating each student's general verbal reasoning ability

A norm-referenced screening reporting percentile ranks for each student in the class

A kindergarten teacher wants to include, at the end of the year, a task that assesses the MOST advanced level of phonemic awareness. Which task should the teacher choose?

'Say cat. Now change /a/ to /u/. What is the new word?'

'Tell me the first sound you hear in the word cat.'

'Listen: /k/ /a/ /t/. What word do these sounds make?'

'Do the words cat and hat rhyme with each other?'

A first-grade student spells 'bell' as BEL, 'miss' as MIS, 'puff' as PUF, and 'back' as BAK. Which instructional focus would BEST address these errors?

spelling patterns for final /f/, /l/, /s/, and /k/ after a short vowel

the short vowel sounds in single-syllable closed words such as cat and pin

the silent-e pattern used to mark long vowel sounds

consonant digraphs such as 'sh,' 'th,' and 'ch'

Measure Result Grade-level passage 68 WCPM, 95% accuracy Isolated grade-level word list 61% accuracy; slow and effortful Sample passage errors "house" for home; "pony" for horse Use the information above to answer the question. A second grader's winter oral reading benchmark is 72 WCPM. Which interpretation of the student's data is MOST accurate?

The student uses sentence context to compensate for weak word recognition and needs decoding instruction

The student's passage reading is close to benchmark, so no additional instruction is needed at this time

The student needs comprehension strategy instruction, because the passage errors preserve meaning

The student needs prosody instruction, because the passage errors reflect difficulty with phrasing

While reading a story aloud, a third-grade teacher pauses and says, "The author says Jada's hands were shaking as she walked onto the stage. I know my hands shake when I'm nervous, so I think Jada is nervous about her performance." The teacher is MOST likely modeling which comprehension strategy?

making an inference by combining text clues with prior knowledge

summarizing the major events that have happened in the story

monitoring for meaning by rereading a confusing sentence

identifying the story's setting using descriptive details

A student's scaled score on a reading screener is 92, and the cut score for being at risk is 90. The technical manual reports a standard error of measurement of 4 points. Which interpretation is MOST appropriate?

The true score may fall on either side of the cut score, so more data are needed.

The student is clearly not at risk, because the obtained score is above the cut score of 90.

The student is clearly at risk, because the obtained score falls within four points of the cut score.

The screener is invalid for this student, because the standard error is larger than two points.

AEPA Foundations of Reading (NT890 / 190)

Free AEPA Foundations of Reading Practice Questions

10 sample questions for the AEPA Foundations of Reading (NT890 / 190), with the correct answer and an explanation for each. No account needed. Try each one before you open the answer.

Sections covered on the exam: The Foundations of Reading Development, The Development of Reading Comprehension, Reading Assessment and Instruction.

Question 1 · The Foundations of Reading Development
A first-grade teacher gives a student an oral phoneme-deletion task. The student correctly says 'top' when asked to say 'stop' without /s/ and 'lip' when asked to say 'slip' without /s/. When asked to say 'stop' without /t/, however, the student again says 'top.' Which of the following BEST explains this pattern?
- A.The student has not yet developed the syllable awareness that is needed before any phoneme task
- B.The student must see the letters in 'stop' before attempting oral deletion tasks
- C.The student is applying a rhyming strategy because the words share the rime '-op'
- D.Removing the second consonant of an initial blend is harder than removing the first sound
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Removing the second consonant of an initial blend is harder than removing the first sound
Deleting a phoneme from inside a consonant cluster requires the student to separate two co-articulated sounds, which is a later-developing skill than deleting an initial phoneme. The student's success with initial deletion rules out a lack of basic syllable awareness, and oral deletion tasks do not require seeing letters, although letters can later support the skill.
Question 2 · The Foundations of Reading Development
In a first-grade lesson, students use letter tiles to change 'mat' to 'map,' then 'map' to 'mop,' then 'mop' to 'top,' reading each new word aloud. This activity MOST directly develops students' ability to
- A.attend to every letter in a word while decoding and spelling
- B.recognize irregular high-frequency words automatically by sight
- C.identify syllable boundaries in longer multisyllabic words
- D.use illustrations to confirm the meaning of unfamiliar words
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. attend to every letter in a word while decoding and spelling
Word chaining changes one grapheme at a time in different positions (final, medial, initial), forcing students to look at and process each letter rather than guessing from the first letter. All the words are regular CVC words, so the activity does not target irregular words or syllabication.
Question 3 · Reading Assessment and Instruction
During a repeated reading session, a second grader reads the word "though" as "through" and continues reading. Which teacher response is MOST effective?
- A.Prompt the student to look at the illustration and think about what word would make sense there
- B.Allow the error to pass without comment so that the student's reading rate is not interrupted
- C.Record the error on a form and review the full list of missed words with the student next week
- D.After the sentence, point to the word, say it correctly, and have the student reread
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. After the sentence, point to the word, say it correctly, and have the student reread
Immediate, explicit corrective feedback followed by rereading the sentence lets the student practice the word correctly in context and is a feature of effective repeated reading. Prompting the student to use the illustration encourages guessing instead of attention to the letters. Ignoring the error lets it become habitual, and delaying feedback for a week reduces its effect.
Question 4 · The Development of Reading Comprehension
After the mill closed, the town slumped against the hillside. Its shutters closed like heavy eyelids, and the main street sighed under the weight of empty storefronts.
Use the information above to answer the question. A seventh-grade teacher asks students what the figurative language in the excerpt suggests. Which interpretation is BEST supported?
- A.The town is experiencing a severe storm that will soon damage it.
- B.The town is so neglected and quiet that it seems to be giving up.
- C.The town is crowded with tired workers returning home from jobs.
- D.The town is growing older because it has a long and proud history.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. The town is so neglected and quiet that it seems to be giving up.
The personification (the town "slumped," "sighed," shutters "closed like heavy eyelids") gives the town the qualities of an exhausted person, suggesting decline and neglect. The interpretation about a proud history is tempting because it connects to age, but the language conveys weariness, not pride. Nothing in the excerpt indicates a storm or crowds of workers.
Question 5 · Reading Assessment and Instruction
A first-grade teacher wants to know whether each student has mastered the specific letter-sound correspondences taught in the first unit, using a preset standard of 90 percent accuracy. Which type of assessment BEST fits this purpose?
- A.A norm-referenced assessment comparing each student's score with a national sample of first graders
- B.A criterion-referenced test comparing each student's score with the 90 percent standard
- C.A standardized aptitude measure estimating each student's general verbal reasoning ability
- D.A norm-referenced screening reporting percentile ranks for each student in the class
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. A criterion-referenced test comparing each student's score with the 90 percent standard
The teacher wants to compare each student with a fixed standard of mastery on specific taught content, which is the defining feature of a criterion-referenced assessment. Norm-referenced measures, including screeners reporting percentile ranks, compare a student with peers and do not show whether a particular skill has been mastered.
Question 6 · The Foundations of Reading Development
A kindergarten teacher wants to include, at the end of the year, a task that assesses the MOST advanced level of phonemic awareness. Which task should the teacher choose?
- A.'Say cat. Now change /a/ to /u/. What is the new word?'
- B.'Tell me the first sound you hear in the word cat.'
- C.'Listen: /k/ /a/ /t/. What word do these sounds make?'
- D.'Do the words cat and hat rhyme with each other?'
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. 'Say cat. Now change /a/ to /u/. What is the new word?'
Phoneme substitution requires the student to segment the word, isolate a medial phoneme, replace it, and blend the result, making it one of the most complex phonemic awareness tasks. Initial-phoneme isolation and phoneme blending develop earlier, and rhyme recognition is a larger-unit phonological skill rather than a phonemic one.
Question 7 · The Development of Reading Comprehension
A first-grade student spells 'bell' as BEL, 'miss' as MIS, 'puff' as PUF, and 'back' as BAK. Which instructional focus would BEST address these errors?
- A.the short vowel sounds in single-syllable closed words such as cat and pin
- B.the silent-e pattern used to mark long vowel sounds
- C.spelling patterns for final /f/, /l/, /s/, and /k/ after a short vowel
- D.consonant digraphs such as 'sh,' 'th,' and 'ch'
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. spelling patterns for final /f/, /l/, /s/, and /k/ after a short vowel
The student hears every sound and spells the short vowels correctly but does not know that final 'f,' 'l,' and 's' are usually doubled after a short vowel in a one-syllable word and that /k/ after a short vowel is spelled 'ck.' Short vowels are already correct, and silent-e and the 'sh'/'th'/'ch' digraphs are not involved in these words.
Question 8 · Reading Assessment and Instruction
Measure Result
Grade-level passage 68 WCPM, 95% accuracy
Isolated grade-level word list 61% accuracy; slow and effortful
Sample passage errors "house" for home; "pony" for horse
Use the information above to answer the question. A second grader's winter oral reading benchmark is 72 WCPM. Which interpretation of the student's data is MOST accurate?
- A.The student's passage reading is close to benchmark, so no additional instruction is needed at this time
- B.The student uses sentence context to compensate for weak word recognition and needs decoding instruction
- C.The student needs comprehension strategy instruction, because the passage errors preserve meaning
- D.The student needs prosody instruction, because the passage errors reflect difficulty with phrasing
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. The student uses sentence context to compensate for weak word recognition and needs decoding instruction
Low accuracy on an isolated word list, combined with meaning-based substitutions in connected text, shows that the student's passage score is propped up by context while word recognition remains weak. Concluding that no instruction is needed is tempting because the passage score is near benchmark, but that score masks the problem. The errors are word-recognition errors, not comprehension or phrasing problems.
Question 9 · The Development of Reading Comprehension
While reading a story aloud, a third-grade teacher pauses and says, "The author says Jada's hands were shaking as she walked onto the stage. I know my hands shake when I'm nervous, so I think Jada is nervous about her performance." The teacher is MOST likely modeling which comprehension strategy?
- A.summarizing the major events that have happened in the story
- B.monitoring for meaning by rereading a confusing sentence
- C.identifying the story's setting using descriptive details
- D.making an inference by combining text clues with prior knowledge
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. making an inference by combining text clues with prior knowledge
In this think-aloud, the teacher states a text clue (shaking hands), connects it to personal knowledge, and draws a conclusion not stated in the text, which is making an inference. Monitoring for meaning is tempting because think-alouds often model it, but the teacher does not express confusion or reread. The teacher neither summarizes events nor describes the setting.
Question 10 · Reading Assessment and Instruction
A student's scaled score on a reading screener is 92, and the cut score for being at risk is 90. The technical manual reports a standard error of measurement of 4 points. Which interpretation is MOST appropriate?
- A.The student is clearly not at risk, because the obtained score is above the cut score of 90.
- B.The student is clearly at risk, because the obtained score falls within four points of the cut score.
- C.The screener is invalid for this student, because the standard error is larger than two points.
- D.The true score may fall on either side of the cut score, so more data are needed.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. The true score may fall on either side of the cut score, so more data are needed.
Every score contains measurement error; with a standard error of 4, the student's true score likely falls between about 88 and 96 (plus or minus one standard error), a band that crosses the cut score of 90. Treating 92 as clearly above or below the cut ignores that error, and a standard error of measurement describes score precision rather than proving a test invalid.

Measure	Result
Grade-level passage	68 WCPM, 95% accuracy
Isolated grade-level word list	61% accuracy; slow and effortful
Sample passage errors	"house" for home; "pony" for horse

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