RICA Questions and Answers Latest
2023 Already Passed
Digraph ✔✔A pair of characters used to write one phoneme (distinct sound) ch, ph, ng, qu, sh, th
Phoneme ✔✔The smallest contrastive unit in the sound of language
Precommuniative Stage ✔✔The child uses letters from the alphabet but shows no knowledge of
letter-sound correspondence
Semiphonetic ✔✔Writing that demonstrates some awareness that letters represent speech
sounds, beginning and/or ending consonant sounds of syllables are represented but medial
vowells are omitted
Phonetics ✔✔A branch of linguistics that comprise the study of sounds
Phonology ✔✔Concerned with the given sounds contribution to the language of the system
Transitional ✔✔Beginning to use visual memory, mayk, maik, make
Etymology ✔✔Is the study of the history of words and how their form and meaning have
changed over time
Phonemic Awareness Assessment ✔✔Have students identify the sound of the middle, beginning,
or end of the word
Rhyming Texts Benefit (Kindergarten) ✔✔Fostering phonological awareness
Difficulty with d and b ✔✔Help student focus on directionality of each letter as student traces it
Alphabetic Principle ✔✔Words are composed of letters that represent sounds, using relationship
between letters and phenomes of an unknown string of letters or to spell
Homophones ✔✔Words that sound the same but have different meaning
Automaticity ✔✔The ability to do things without occupying the mind
Intonations ✔✔Variation of pitch while speaking which is not used to distinguish words
Rythyms ✔✔A timing pattern among syllables
Dipthong ✔✔2 letters that make one sound
Syllabication ✔✔Forming or dividing words into syllables
Context Clues ✔✔Built into sentences with difficult word to help decipher the difficult word
Cross-Cirricular ✔✔Example would be incorporating writing skills into every subject matter
Structural Analysis ✔✔Used for reading complex words in upper grades, a word is divided into
multi-letter parts
Retelling ✔✔After a child reads a story, they retell the story
Web Diagram ✔✔Help students learn to categorize and organize their thinking about a topic
Ultimate RICA Study Tool
CalStateTEACH Questions and Answers
100% Pass
What are the five different *vocabularies a person has?
(competency 10, Domain 4) ✔✔Listening, speaking, writing, sight(reading), and meaning
(reading).
What are the three causes of poor reading comprehension other than lack of fluency?
(competency 10, Domain 4) ✔✔1. Lack of (meaning) vocabulary.
- Lack of academic language.
- Lack of Background knowledge.
Name three criteria to consider when deciding which vocabulary words to teach?
(competency 10, Domain 4) ✔✔1. Frequency - Utility
- Level of knowledge (unknown vs. acquainted.
How do Tier 2 words differ from Tier 3 words?
(competency 10, Domain 4) ✔✔Both are academic language words. Tier 2 words are
nontechnical academic language (e.g. summarize, classify, etc.) that are found across domains.
Tier 3 are technical and domain specific (e.g. protozoa in science).
How to approach vocabulary instruction:
(competency 11, Domain 4) ✔✔1. Direct instruction of target or key words.
- Teach students word-learning strategies: a) context clues b) Morphemic/structural analysis c)
apposition d) cognates e)dictionary skills - Develop word consciousness
- Encourage wide reading.
Research shows that vocabulary instruction should be:
(competency 11, Domain 4) ✔✔1. Developmentally appropriate, - Using definitions that are kid-friendly.
- Provide meaningful examples
Vocabulary lessons should include word definitions and what else?
(competency 11, Domain 4) ✔✔1. Examples of how words are used in context (sentences). - Students should use the words learned in their writing.
3.Students must have repeated exposure:
they need to listen to, speak, read and write new words.
Research has shown that the average student can learn the meaning of how many new words a
week?
(competency 11, Domain 4) ✔✔9 words per week
When are semantic maps used, and what for?
(competency 11, Domain 4) ✔✔When: Pre-reading instruction.
What for: To teach meaning/vocab focusing of a key word/concept and to activate background
knowledge of word.
*very effective
How can you develop Word Consciousness in students?
(competency 11, Domain 4) vocab ✔✔a. word play/teach synonyms and antonyms
b. teach homophones and homographs.
c. Word of the Day! Write big and post; use word in context.
d. Idioms and Puns
e. Poetry – haiku, limerick
f. Etymology – the history or development of words
What are some interventions for struggling readers and students with learning disabilities?
(competency 11, Domain 4) ✔✔Universal Access, providing differentiated instruction:
- Focus on a key skill (phonics, HF sight words, vocabulary, etc.)
- Reteach what is lacking– Differently!(more lessons, slower, different modality)
- Increase number and variety of examples.
- Provide additional practice.
- Use multiple modalities: visual, kinesthetic, tactile.
Interventions for ELs and SELs for reading and vocabulary include:
(competency 11, Domain 4) ✔✔SDAIE strategies like, - Capitalize on skills from L1 and L2 (cognates, letters)
1a. note and teach differences in L1, L2 - modeling, scaffolds.
- Realia; visuals; Concrete examples
- Build knowledge of English morphemes (roots and affixes)
RICA Test Prep Questions and Answers
with Complete Solutions
sound deletion ✔✔The teacher says word, for example, “bill,” has students repeat it, and then
instructs students to repeat the word without the first sound, “ill”.
oral blending ✔✔The teacher says each sound, for example, “/b/, /ɑ/, /l/” and students respond
with the word, “ball.”
phoneme isolation ✔✔recognizing the individual sounds in words, for example, “Tell me the
first sound you hear in the word paste” (/p/)
phoneme substitution ✔✔one can turn a word (such as “cat”) into another (such as “hat”) by
substituting one phoneme (such as /h/) for another (/k/). Phoneme substitution can take place for
initial sounds (cat-hat), middle sounds (cat-cut) or ending sounds (cat-can).
onset ✔✔the part of the syllable that precedes the vowel of the syllable
rime ✔✔the part of a syllable which consists of its vowel and any consonant sounds that come
after it
Elkonin Box ✔✔A strategy for segmenting sounds in a word that involves drawing a box to
represent each sound in a word.
phonemic awareness ✔✔The ability to hear, identify,and manipulate the individual sounds,
phonemes, in oral language.
Yopp-Singer Test ✔✔an assessment of phoneme segmentation that determines a reader’s ability
to break a word apart into sounds (not letters)
minimal pairs ✔✔a pair of words that vary by only one phoneme, e.g. cook/book, passed/last.
Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) ✔✔To determine a students independent reading level. An
assessment in which a student reads a selected series of texts that gradually increase in difficulty.
The teacher records errors and assesses comprehension to determine the levels of reading
materials appropriate for the student. The IRI yields three reading levels: Independent,
Instructional and Frustration.
reading levels ✔✔Independent Reading Level: decode 95%, comprehension 90%
RICA Study Guide- w/Scenarios
(2022/2023) (Verified Solutions)
Differentiated instruction ✔✔A variety of techniques used to adapt instruction to the individual
ability levels and learning styles of each student in the classroom
Evidence-based learning objectives ✔✔These describe what students should know or be able to
do following instruction. They should be measurable/observable, attainable, relevant to
instruction, and target the desired level of learning.
3 Primary Components of Reading Assessment ✔✔entry-level assessment, monitoring of student
progress, summative assessment
Scaffolding ✔✔Support given to students during the learning process that is designed to meet the
students’ specific needs and help them achieve their learning goal(s). Ex: additional
resources/manipulatives, graphic organizers, modeling of a task
Sheltered Instruction ✔✔Instructional approach to teaching English language learners that
integrates language and content instruction to promote access to grade-level content and English
language proficiency.
Response to Intervention ✔✔A multi-tier approach use to identify and support students with
learning and behavioral needs by providing interventions at increasing levels of intensity.
IEP ✔✔Individualized Education Program for each public school student who recieves special
education and related services.
Direct Instruction ✔✔Explicit teaching of a skill/concept through presentation/demonstration of
material, structured and guided practice, independent practice, and application.
Reciprocal Teaching ✔✔An instructional strategy that is implemented in the form of dialogue
between teachers and students to facillitate a group effort to bring meaning to a segment of text.
The teacher and students take turns in the role of teacher in leading the dialogue.
Readers Workshop ✔✔Includes instruction on literature or a reading strategy, independent
reading time, and opportunities for students to respond to what they are reading and share their
response with a partner/group
RICA Test Prep Questions and Answers
Already Passed
What are the 3 primary purposes of reading assessment? ✔✔1. Entry Level Assessments – they
are implemented prior to instruction to determine which students have already mastered the skills
that are going to be taught and which posess the prerequisite skills and knowledge.
- Monitoring of Progress Assessments – during the instructional unit, tell which students are
making adequate progress toward the standard. - Summative Assessments – determines which students have achieved the target standard, some
measure student achievement of a single standard, where as others, often given quarterly,
midyear and at the end of the year, measure many standards.
What are some alternative assessments for students with an IEP or Section 504 plan? ✔✔1. Give
Students More Time - Divide the Assessment into smaller units (spread over 2 days).
- Change the mode of delivery (ask the student to tell, rather than write).
- Provide Practice Assessments.
- Provide A Simpler Version of the Assessment (if the student does not read at the 5th gtade
level, give them something that is at a simpler level and note that the standard was not met).
Quality Indicators That Apply to Standardized Assessments ✔✔1. Reliability
B. Validity
C. How to Interpret the Results of Standardized Tests
What Assessments Are Used to Determine Students’ Reading Levels? ✔✔1. Informal Reading
Inventories (IRI)
- Word Recognition Lists
- Graded Reading Passages
What is an Informal Reading Inventory? ✔✔An IRI us a collection of assessments administered
individually to students. For an IRI, one adult gives the assessments to one student. The selection
of the IRI depends on the students reading level.
What are some types of assessments that are included in an Informal Reading Inventory (IRI)?
✔✔1. Word Recognition Lists - Graded Reading Passages
- Reading Interest Survey
- Assessments Measuring Concepts about Print
- Phonemic Awareness Assessments
- Phonics Assessments
- Assessments of Reading Fluency
- Structural Analysis Assessments
- Vocabulary Assessments
- Spelling Tests
What is the purpose of a word recognition list? ✔✔They serve 3 purposes: - to provide a rough guess of the child’s reading level so that whoever is administering the tests
knows where to start on the graded reading passages. - to provide information on the child’s “sight” vocabulary, the words the child can correctly
identify - provide information about the student’s ability to use sound-symbol relationships (phonics) to
decode words. The child’s errors will provide a partial picture of what letters and letter
combinations the child knows and which ones he or she needs to learn.
Which Assessment is the most important part of the IRI? ✔✔The graded reading passages.
What is a miscue analysis? ✔✔Examining a record of a student’s oral reading to identify and
classify errors. ( a student reads aloud a passage and the teacher keeps a detailed record of the
student’s performance).
What are Graphophonemic Errors? ✔✔These errors are related to the sound-symbol
relationships for English, such as reading feather or father. The words sounds alike, but feather
wouldn’t make sense in a sentence where the correct word is father. A child who repeatedly
makes graphophonemic errors is either a) reading word by word and depending too much on
phonics to decode each word b) reading a passage that is too difficult, or they are not using the
meaning of the sentences and paragraphs to decode words (contextual clues).
What are Semantic Errors? ✔✔Semantic Errors are meaning-related errors, such as reading dad
for father. The student has relied too much on the semantic cueing system – and hasn’t used
graphophonemic clues. A child who repeatedly makes semantic errors understands what the are
reading but needs to be taught to use phonics skills to be sure that every word read makes sense
from a graphophonemic sense.
What are common strategies for struggling readers and students with learning disabilities? ✔✔1.
re-teach what is not mastered. Use visual, kinesthetic, and tactile activities.
- Teach things in manageable units.
- Provide concrete examples
RICA Exam Questions and Answers
Graded A+
A 6th grader who is advanced in most areas of reading has difficulty completing assigned
reading selections. He appears motivated when he begins reading, but he has difficulty keeping
his attention on the task at hand. Which of the following would be his teacher’s best INITIAL
strategy for addressing this difficulty? ✔✔breaking down the student’s reading assignments into
small steps and helping him learn to monitor his own attention and progress. Competency 1
When creating lesson plans to promote specific reading skills, a teacher should make sure that:
✔✔the targeted reading skills relate to an appropriate instructional progression ans reflect
students’ needs. Competency 1
An early elementary teacher could most effectively support at-home reading by:
✔✔recommending books that parents/guardians would likely enjoy reading with their children.
(Competency 1)
A 6th grade teacher wants to ensure that the classroom reading environment supports contentarea learning for the English Learners in the class. Which of the following strategies is likely to
be most effective in addressing this objective? ✔✔making avalible in the classroom content-area
texts at various levels that supplement and reinforce the information presented in students’
textbooks Competency 1
Of the following questions, which would be most important for a teacher to consider when
interpreting the results of a reading assessment for a particular student? ✔✔How do these
findings relate to the student’s performance on other recently administered reading assessments?
(Competency 2)
A 4th grade class includes 2 students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). When
planning classroom entry-level and progress-monitoring assessments for theses students, the
teacher should: ✔✔consult each students’ IEP to determine any specific testing accommodations
required for that students. (Competency 2)
A middle school teacher is preparing the class to take the 6th grade California Standards Test
(CST) in English-language arts. The teacher believes that a student in the class with a Section
504 Plan would perform significantly better on the assessment if she were allowed to have
frequent supervised breaks within sections of the test. Which of the following guidelines would
be most important for the teacher to follow to ensure that arrangements for this student during
the test are appropriate? ✔✔providing the student with this testing accomodation only if it is
specified in her Section 504 Plan (Competency 2)
Midway through the year, a 2nd grade teacher convenes a student success team to plan additional
support for a student who is performing somewhat below grade-level standards in reading. Other
members of the team include the student and her parents, another teacher who works closely with
the student, and a school administrator. In the context of developing an improvement plan for the
student, which of the following pieces of information would be most important for the teacher to
communicate to the success team? ✔✔a description of the student’s assessed strengths and
weaknesses that could serve as a foundation for addressing her needs (Competency 2)
A kindergarten teacher plays the following game with stuetns. The teacher says, “Guess whose
name I’m going to say now?” The teacher then says the initial sound of a student’s name (e.g.,
/m/ for Mariko), and the children try to guess the name. This activity is likely to promote the
reading development of students primarily by helping them: ✔✔recognize that a spoken word is
made up of sounds. (Competency 3)
Which of the following informal assessments would be most appropriate to use to assess an
individual student’s phonemic awareness? ✔✔asking the student to identify the sound at the
beginning, middle, or end of a spoken word (e.g., “What sound do you hear at the end of
STEP?”) (Competency 3)
A kindergarten teacher is preparing a student for a phonemic awareness assessment.
Subtest 1 RICA Questions and Answers
100% Pass
Informal Reading Inventory (IRI)
is a collection of assessments administered individually to students. Determines reading level.
Types of IRI
Word Recognition Lists
Graded Reading Passages
Reading Interest Survey
Assessments measuring concepts about print
Phonemic Awareness
Assessments on Reading Fluency
Structural Analysis
Vocabulary Assessment
word recognition list
10 words for each list; determines reading level, info. on sight vocabulary, and info. about
students’ ability to use phonics to decode words.
Graded Reading Passages
most important part of IRI. K-8th grade. students read aloud and measure miscue analysis,
graphophonemic errors, semantic errors, syntactic errors.
Miscue Analysis
A strategy for categorizing and analyzing a student’s oral reading errors.
Graphophonemic Error
an error related to the sound-symbol relationships for English. e.g. “reading feather for father”
Tells teacher that child is relying too much on phonics to read words or reading a passage too
difficult for them.
Semantic errors
meaning-related error. understands what is being read, but needs phonics skills to not make
errors. “reading dad for father”
syntatic error
error is made in the same part of speech as the correct word. Example: reading into for through.
If student makes an error, that means student needs to pay more attention to phonics.
How to define frustration, instructional, and independent reading levels
after reading aloud, he or she is then asked to answer comprehenson questions for the passage.
Teacher reads the questions and child responds orally.
Retelling
the form of measuring comprehension with having a child list characters, places, and events in
the passage in their own words.
Independent reading level
the highest grade-level passage for which the student reads aloud 95% or more of words
correctly and answers 90% or more of the comprehension questions correctly
RICA EXAM Key Terms Latest 2023
Rated A
affix ✔✔a syllable added to the beginning (prefix) or end (suffix) of a word to change the word’s
meaning (e.g., il- in illiterate and al- in national).
alphabetic principle ✔✔The assumption underlying alphabetical language systems that each
sound has corresponding graphic representation (or letter).
antonyms ✔✔words with opposite meanings (e.g., good-bad).
applying ✔✔the 5th stage of the reading process, in which readers go beyond the text to use
what they have learned in another literacy experience, often by making aproject or reading
another book.
background knowledge ✔✔a student’s knowledge or previous experiences about a topic.
aesthetic reading ✔✔reading for pleasure
basal readers ✔✔reading textbooks that are leveled according to grade.
basal reading program ✔✔a collection of student textbooks, workbooks, teacher’s manuals, and
other materials and resources for reading instruction used in kindergarten through sixth grade.
big books ✔✔enlarged versions of picture books that teachers read with children, usually in the
primary grades.
blend ✔✔to combine the sounds represented by letters to pronounce a word.
bound morpheme ✔✔a morphene that is not a word and cannot stand along (e.g., -s, tri-).
closed syllable ✔✔a syllable ending in a consonant sound (e.g. make, duck). They create a long
vowel sound in the next syllable.
cluster ✔✔a spiderlike diagram used to collect and organize ideas after reading or before
wiriting; also called a map or a web.
comprehension ✔✔the process of constructing meaning using both the author’s text and th
ereader’s background knowledge for a specific purpose. There are three levels: literal, inferential
and evaluative.
concepts about print (CAP) ✔✔basic understandings about the way print works, including the
direction of print (return sweeping), spacing, punctuation, letters and words, print carries
meaning, book orientation. Implicit teaching: reading aloud, shared book experience, big books,
LEA, environmental print, print-rich environment. Explicit: letter recognition, associating names
and things with letters, singing the alphabet, ABC books, upper and lower case letter writing,
tactile and kinesthetic methods.
consonant ✔✔a speech sound characterized by friction or stoppage of the airflow as it passes
through the vocal tract; usually any letter except a,e,i,o, and u.
consonant digraph ✔✔to adjacent consonants that represent a sound not represented by either
consonant alone (e.g., th-this, ch-chin, sh-wash, ph-telephone).
content-area reading ✔✔reading in social studies, science, and other areas of the curriculum.
Subtest 1 RICA Questions and Answers
100% Pass
What is phonemic awareness? ✔✔The ability to identify, hear, and work with the smallest units
of sound known as phonemes.
NOT the same as phonological awareness, but a sub-category of phonological awareness.
Ex: phonemic awareness is narrow, and deals only with phonemes and manipulating the
individual sounds of words
- blending /c/, /a/, and /t/ are the individual sounds that make up to form the word “cat”.
- segmenting individual phonemes
What is phonological awareness? ✔✔Includes the phonemic awareness ability, and it also
includes the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate larger units of sound such as rimes and
onsets.
Ex: segmenting compound words
How do students demonstrate that they have phonemic awareness? ✔✔- Oral blending and
segmentation
- Counting phonemes
- Comparing word lengths
- Sound manipulation: adding and deleting
- Rhyming and songs
- Onset-rime
Relationship between - Phonemic Awareness + Phonics? ✔✔The ability to identify the sounds in words leads the
ability to identify written words.
identify words orally —> identify written words
Relationship between
- Phonemic Awareness + Sounds? ✔✔Identifying individual sounds leads to blending these
sounds in a word.
3 ways to provide universal access for Phonological Awareness? ✔✔- Focus on mastery of key
skills to support reading foundation, such as segmenting and oral blending. - Pre-teach and re-teach skills, during differentiated instruction.
- Provide additional practice using hands-on methods for phoneme counting and segmenting.
3 ways to differentiate Phonological Awareness for Special Needs ✔✔- mastery of key skills - pre-teach and re-teach skills
** additional practice using various methods - multi-sensory, visuals, tactile, auditory, kinesthetic
3 ways to differentiate Phonological Awareness for ELLs ✔✔* Pre-teach phonemes not in
primary language.
- Use correct sequence of phoneme instruction in order to prevent confusion of sounds.
- Differentiate instruction for letters that are similar in sound.
3 ways to differentiate Phonological Awareness for Advanced Learners ✔✔* Increase pace of
phonemic awareness. - Blend phonemic awareness and phonics lessons.
- Incorporate reading of simple texts and phonetic writing.
What is print awareness? ✔✔Students understand that oral language can be written, then read.
Name the 3 concepts about print ✔✔- recognizing the directionality of print
RICA Written Exam (Practice Test) 100%
Verified
A sixth grader who is advanced in most areas of reading has difficulty completing assigned
reading selections. He appears motivated when he begins reading, but he has difficulty keeping
his attention on the task at hand. Which of the following would be his teacher’s best initial
strategy for addressing this difficulty? ✔✔breaking down the student’s reading assignments into
small steps and helping him learn to monitor his own attention
When creating lesson plans to promote specific reading skills, a teacher should make sure that:
✔✔the targeted reading skills relate to an appropiate instructional progression and reflect
students’ needs
An early elementary teacher could most effectively support at-home reading by:
✔✔recommending books that parents/guardians would likely enjoy reading with their children
A sixth-grade teacher wants to ensure that the classroom reading environment supports contentarea learning for the English Learners in the class. Which of the following strategies is likely to
be most effective in addressing this objective? ✔✔making available in the classroom contentarea texts at various levels that supplement and reinforce the information presented in students’
textbooks
Of the following questions, which would be most important for a teacher to consider when
interpreting the results of a reading assessment for a particular student? a. How did the student’s
performance on this assessment compare with that of the student’s classmates? b. Are these
findings sufficient to assign a grade to the student’s performance? c. How do these findings relate
to the student’s performance on other recently administered reading assessments? d. Do these
findings provide information about the student’s ranking in regard to national norms of reading
achievement? ✔✔c. How do these findings relate to the student’s performance on other recently
administered reading assessments.
A fourth-grade class includes two students with IEPs. When planning classroom entry-level and
progress-monitoring assessments for these students, the teacher should: ✔✔consult each
student’s IEP to determine any specific testing accommodations required for that student.
A middle school teacher is preparing for the class to take the 6th grade CST in ELA. The teacher
believes that a student in the class with a Section 504 Plan would perform significantly better on
the assessment if she were allowed to have frequent supervised breaks within sections of the test.
Which of the following guidelines would be most important for the teacher to follow to ensure
that arrangements for this student during the test are appropiate? ✔✔providing the student with
this testing accommodation only if it is specified in her Section 504 Plan
RICA Questions and Answers Already
Passed
Chapter One ✔✔Chapter One
Plan instruction with goal of… ✔✔every student meeting content standards of California Board
of Education.
Standard ✔✔What a child should know and be able to do at each grade level.
Instructional program in reading and language arts should be… ✔✔balanced and comprehensive
Balanced instructional program ✔✔strategic selection of what skills should be taught given a
child’s level of reading development.
Comprehensive reading program ✔✔all grade level standards can be covered. Does not
overemphasize one area of reading development.
Comprehensive instructional program ✔✔teacher works on helping students achieve all grade
level standards. Many opportunities for students to read and write.
Parts of reading instructin ✔✔a.) word analysis, fluency, and systematic vocab development, b.)
reading comprehension, c.) literary response and analysis, d.) writing strategies and writing
applications, e.) speaking applications, f.) listening and speaking strategies, and g.) speaking
applications.
Direct, explicit instruction ✔✔teacher-directed and have clearly stated objectives, which is to
teach a student a specific reading skill or strategy. Students should ahve chance to use
skills/strategies in variety of way
Skill ✔✔something a reader does automatically or with automaticity
Strategy ✔✔something a reader consciously chooses to implement
Two dimensions of systematic teaching ✔✔1.) teacher knows precisely what skills/strategies
each student should master and 2.) results of assessment drive instructional planning (struggling
students get additional lessons)
Goals of systematic teaching ✔✔to prevent reading difficulties in lower/younger grades.
Prevention of remediation.
Early intervention programs ✔✔focus on youngest readers who are having difficulties at the
earliest possible opportunity.
Differentiated Instruction ✔✔meet individual differences. struggling students, ELLs, and
advanced students. Small group lessons. Different strategies for different groups of students.
Different resources and materials for different groups of students.
Long-term Goals ✔✔For school year. Organized for each month. Teacher plans time to cover all
standards. Goal achieved through several lessons with small number of learning objectives.
Short-tern goals ✔✔Brief period. Week or two. Ex: have students compare and contrast elements
of two or more stories. Teachers must use evidence to prove learning objectives met. Paper/Pen
and observations acceptable evidence.
Key factors in differentiated reading instruction ✔✔consider: students’ knowledge and skills,
prerequisite knowledge and skills, pacing of instruction, complexity of skills/content to be
presented, and scaffolds.
Flexible grouping ✔✔groups formed to teach one skill and then disbanded once particular goal is
met.
Homogeneous grouping ✔✔Children in group have same ability
Basal reading programs ✔✔CA state board of education (SBE) reading, ELA program. Feature
teacher’s manual, student text (basal reader), student workbooks, supplemental books, CDs with
additional resources, and assessment resources. Must have programs for struggling readers,
advanced readers, and ELLs.
Benchmark, strategic, and intensive groups ✔✔benchmark = small difficulty; strategic = 1 or 2
years behind. special lessons required for students; intensive groups = more than two years
behind. special resources. highest level of differentiation. slower paced lessons. more
manageable chunks of instruction.
RICA Study Guide Questions and
Answers Graded A
Accuracy ✔✔reading words without mistakes
Syllabic analysis ✔✔the process of dividing words into pronounceable units that contain a
vowel-like sound. Students recognize the word by putting together their knowledge of each of
the word’s syllables.
Miscue analysis ✔✔Examining a record of a student’s oral reading to identify and classify errors.
Graphophonemic Errors ✔✔These errors are related to the sound-symbol relationships for
English, such as reading feather or father.
Semantic Errors ✔✔meaning-related errors, such as reading dad for father.
Syntactic Errors ✔✔the error is the same part of speech as the correct word. Ex. reading into for
through
Systematic Instruction ✔✔when the teacher knows what skills to teach (defined by content
standards) and assessment drives the instruction.
Explicit Instruction ✔✔involves directing student attention toward specific learning in a highly
structured environment. It is teaching that is focused on producing specific learning outcomes.
Automaticity ✔✔the ability to do things without having to think about them at a conscious level
Fluency ✔✔Fluent reading is reading at an appropriate pace with appropriate expression.
Morphology ✔✔the identification, analysis, and description of the structure of a given language’s
morphemes and other linguistic units, such as root words, affixes, parts of speech, intonations
and stresses, and implied context
Apposition ✔✔grammatical construction, in which two elements, usually noun phrases are
placed side by side, with one element serving to identify the other
Opin Sentences ✔✔fill in the blank
Literal Comprehension ✔✔identifying facts directly from a passage/reading (e.g., main idea,
stated facts, sequence of events, characters in the story). Answers are “in the book”
Inferential Comprehension ✔✔determining what the text means (e.g., generalizations, cause and
effect relationships, future predictions, unstated main idea). Answers are “in your head”
Evaluative Comprehension ✔✔what the text tells us about the world outside the story. The
reader makes judgements about what he or she has read. Ex. recognizing instances of bias,
distinguishing facts and opinions, judging a texts content, analyzing themes, etc.
Types of sight words ✔✔1. High frequency
- Irregular spelling
- Content-area words (from social studies and science; larvae, pupa, 3-5th grade).
Independent reading level ✔✔Books and stories at this level can be read and understood by the
child without assistance by the teacher. The student must read aloud 95% words correctly and
90% or more comprehension questions correctly.
RICA subtest 3 questions and answers
(2022/2023) (verified answers)
The purpose of implementing informal assessments after teaching a new concept during wholegroup instruction is to:The purpose of implementing informal assessments after teaching a new
concept during whole-group instruction is to: ✔✔maintain accurate records for planning flexible
groups that meet identified needs for students.
After conducting classroom visits, the principal has requested that the learning objectives are
identified by teachers in daily lesson plans. It is important for teachers to identify learning
objectives because: ✔✔it helps the planning of instruction to be aligned with state standards.
Which area of instruction is not required to provide students with a balanced comprehensive
reading program, according to the California (RLA) Framework? ✔✔Foreign language
A second-grade student assessed below grade level for fluency but is able to decode words in
isolation and scores above grade level for reading comprehension. The student needs direct
instruction in the area of: ✔✔pacing during fluency instruction
An indicator that the teacher needs to decrease the pacing of instruction for her students in
reading comprehension is: ✔✔data from a monitoring assessment.
In order to organize flexible, differentiated reading interventions after analysis of assessment
data, according to the California (RLA) Framework a teacher will group students into
intervention tiers, labeled as: ✔✔benchmark, strategic, intensive.
A teacher has completed a whole group lesson on a grammar topic. She has assigned the students
five sample questions to complete while she walks around the room and provides feedback and
corrections to their work. This instructional component is an example of: ✔✔structured and
guided practice.
An important factor a teacher needs to incorporate into the presentation phase of their
instructional delivery is: ✔✔explicit modeling of the strategies necessary to master the concepts.
After conducting an interest survey for reading, a fourth-grade teacher has assessed that many of
her students are not reading independently at home. In order to motivate her students to
participate in independent reading, she should: ✔✔evaluate the survey to find out the types of
books her students are interested in and conduct a daily read aloud.
RICA STUDY GUIDE PART 1 Already
Passed
The primary formats for phonemic awareness are: ✔✔oral blending and segmentation
The assessments that is used in order to determine accurate reading levels for expository texts
are: ✔✔CLOZE tests
The purpose of an entry-level assessment is to determine ✔✔long term planning for the
organization of small groups, determine the selection of appropriate instructional tools, create a
comprehensive learning environment, and aligning student needs to CA State Standards.
The purpose of implementing informal assessments after teaching a new concept during wholegroup instruction is to: ✔✔maintain accurate records for planning flexible groups that meet
identified needs for students.
An example of a phonemic awareness assessment is: ✔✔word sort
The foundational skills necessary for a student to achieve automatic word recognition are:
✔✔phonemic awareness, phonics instruction, and reading words in context
Explicit phonics instruction consists of: ✔✔sound by sound decoding
A direct lesson that would support spelling development for a 5th grade class is: ✔✔morphology
lessons that focus on affixes and roots, using word webs
Identify the group of high frequency words with irregular spellings: ✔✔they, put, was
An important skill to teach English Learners during sight word instruction is: ✔✔meaning of
words
An example of an orthographic rule is: ✔✔when a root word ends in a silent e, drop the e when
adding a suffix beginning with a vowel. Keep the e before a suffix beginning with a consonant.
A “vowel team” in syllabication rules can be defined as: ✔✔a syllable with a vowel sound that
uses a vowel combination.
The foundational skills that directly support students with automaticity in reading fluency are:
✔✔phonemic awareness, word analysis, sight word recognition
RICA subtest 2 Questions and Answers
with Certified Solutions
An example of a reading comprehension statement written in academic language is: ✔✔I am
going to visualize what is happening in the selection.
Before reading the story, Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come, the teacher brought in realia
(pencils, scissors, crayons, glue, paper) to support her students with vocabulary that will be
encountered in the story and discussed the characteristics. This vocabulary lesson will allow
students to: ✔✔develop background knowledge to support comprehension of new information.
A vocabulary strategy that supports early vocabulary development for students is: ✔✔classifying
and categorizing words.
The “Matthew Effect”, which relates to vocabulary, can be explained as: ✔✔a term used by a
psychologist that describes how readers acquire large vocabularies by reading extensively, which
widens the gap of knowledge between them and the students who read less.
During independent reading of an expository text about dinosaurs, the students in a second-grade
class had difficulty with the vocabulary words “prehistoric ooze”. Which of the following is the
best strategy to support students’ understanding of the complex vocabulary? ✔✔Before reading,
introduce the meaning of target vocabulary and explain words one at a time using studentfriendly explanations.
According to research, most students learn vocabulary indirectly. An example of indirect
vocabulary learning is: ✔✔students learn word meanings from listening to adults read to them
and engage in conversations about new words encountered in the texts.
In order to determine the vocabulary for direct instruction prior to reading a text, the teacher
needs to consider: ✔✔the tier levels of academic vocabulary encountered in the text.
It is important for a teacher to explicitly teach tier three vocabulary to elementary students for all
of the following reasons except: ✔✔to promote word consciousness and an enthusiasm for
words.
Prior to teaching a lesson on mammals, a third-grade teacher displayed the following graphic
organizer on the board:
This graphic organizer will support the student in developing: ✔✔word learning strategies.
A fifth-grade teacher designs the following vocabulary lesson for her students:
RICA Subtest 3 – Case Study (Felicia)
Graded A
Felicia strengths (4th grade)
- reading
- like reading fiction
- literal comprehension
Felicia weakness (4th grade) - inferential comprehension
- skipped portions of text not understood
- does not do well with content reading (expository)
- does not go back to re-read text to develop understanding or comprehension
- reads slowly – fluency issue
- multi syllabic words
Felicia needs (grade) - inferential comprehension
- fluency rate
- multi-syllabic words
Fluency Rate
Number of words read per minute
fluency accuracy
Read words correctly.
-Understand phonic patters/spelling/ syllabication
Fluency – Prosody
Students read with expression
-Understand what they are reading so they can be expressive. (?,!)
inferential comprehension stratgies
- activity where students make an observation / possible inference – whole class activity / small
group - use anchor chart to organize student predictions / drawing conclusion
- do a picture walk before reading / make predictions
- have students do fill in blank activity where they fill in the conclusions, predictions, into
sentence frames - draw conclusion graphic organizer (think SPIRE)
Fluency Strategies - Use texts at independent level
- Use repeated reading
- Review targeted phonics instruction (SPIRE)
RICA domain 3: fluency Latest 2023
(8) THE KEY INDICATORS OF READING FLUENCY ✔✔-accuracy
-rate
-prosody
(8) accuracy ✔✔-fluent readers pronounce words correctly when reading orally
-this involves the application of their phonics skills, sight word knowledge, structural analysis
skills, syllabic analysis skills, and orthographic knowledge
(8) rate ✔✔-fluent readers read a text at an appropriate rate of speed, neither too fast nor too
slow
-1st component: being able to quickly decode words
-2nd component: speedily read phrases and sentences
-not all texts should be read at the same rate (e.g. instructions for how to assemble a bicycle
should be read slower than a piece of fiction)
(8) prosody ✔✔-to read with appropriate “expression”
-includes emphasis of certain words, variation in pitch (intonation), and pausing (punctuation)
-reflects the reader’s understanding of the structure of sentences, punctuation, and, to a large
extent, the author’s purpose
(8) THE ROLE OF FLUENCY IN ALL STAGES OF READING DEVELOPMENT ✔✔goal is
automaticity (swift and accurate reading at all levels of reading development:
-1st is the challenge of accurate and swift letter naming
-then, the goal becomes fluency with single-syllable words with regular letter-sound
correspondences and high-frequency sight words
-as children grow, they should read multisyllabic words swiftly and accurately, using their
structural analysis skills, syllabic analysis skills, and orthographic knowledge
-oldest elementary school students must meet the challenge of achieving automaticity with the
most difficult words to identify, words with irregular spellings and content-area words, esp. those
from the sciences
*failure to achieve fluency at any stage will make it more difficult to become fluent at
subsequent stages
(8) INTERRELATIONSHIPS AMONG FLUENCY AND WORD ANALYSIS SKILLS,
BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE, AND COMPREHENSION ✔✔-fluent reading is essential for
comprehension
RICA Subtest 2 Questions and Answers
Already Passed
sight vocabulary ✔✔Words you can recognize and correctly pronounce
meaning vocabulary ✔✔words you understand when reading silently.
To comprehend a text, a reader must have adequately developed ✔✔- meaning vocabulary
- academic language knowledge
- background knowledge
Tiers of Academic Vocabulary ✔✔1) words most children will know without instruction (rain,
water)
2) more difficult and appear in several contexts across two or more areas of study (climate,
nautical)
3) most difficult as they are only used in one area of study (unicellular, amoeba)
Nontechnical Academic Language ✔✔academic words that run across disciplines. (identify,
summarize, classify, define)
Morpheme ✔✔in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning (walk and ed); may be a
word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)
good vocabuarly instruction ✔✔- repeated exposure
- provide definitions
- provide examples of how target words are used in sentences and paragraphs
magic # of vocab words to teach children per week ✔✔9
Contextual Redefinition ✔✔use of context surrounding the target word and cooperate learning.
Small group – teacher shows word and students independently write definition. In groups,
students write second definitions with partners. Discussion on word, third definition of the word.
Teacher selects most accurate definition of the students’.
semantic maps ✔✔Word maps. Diagrams. Activate prior knowledge to find meaning of target
word. Target word in center, and satellite bubbles appear around word and students place
characteristics or examples in the bubbles.
RICA subtest 3 questions and answers
graded A+
Phonological Awareness
C3: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness ✔✔Knowledge that oral English is composed of
smaller units
Phonemic Awareness
C3: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness ✔✔The ability to hear, identify,and manipulate the
individual sounds, phonemes, in oral language.
Phonics
C3: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness ✔✔the study of the sounds of the letters of the
alphabet
Alphabetic Principle
C3: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness ✔✔States that speech sounds are represented by
letters
Phonemes
C3: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness ✔✔The smallest unit of speech
Grapheme
C3: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness ✔✔The English letters that represent phoneme
ex. bat, the phoneme is /b/ the grapheme is b.
ex. duck, the phoneme /k/ the grapheme is ck.
Onset and Rime
C3: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness ✔✔In a syllable, the onset is the initial consonant or
consonants, and the rime is the vowel and any consonants that follow it (e.g., the word sat, the
onset is “s” and the rime is “at”. In the word flip, the onset is “fl” and the rime is “ip”).
Phonograms
C3: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness ✔✔rimes that have the same spelling. word families.
(cat, bat, sat)
The role of phonological awareness in reading development
RICA Test Prep Questions and Answers
100% Pass
What are the 3 primary purposes of reading assessment? ✔✔1. Entry Level Assessments – they
are implemented prior to instruction to determine which students have already mastered the skills
that are going to be taught and which posess the prerequisite skills and knowledge.
- Monitoring of Progress Assessments – during the instructional unit, tell which students are
making adequate progress toward the standard. - Summative Assessments – determines which students have achieved the target standard, some
measure student achievement of a single standard, where as others, often given quarterly,
midyear and at the end of the year, measure many standards.
What are some alternative assessments for students with an IEP or Section 504 plan? ✔✔1. Give
Students More Time - Divide the Assessment into smaller units (spread over 2 days).
- Change the mode of delivery (ask the student to tell, rather than write).
- Provide Practice Assessments.
- Provide A Simpler Version of the Assessment (if the student does not read at the 5th gtade
level, give them something that is at a simpler level and note that the standard was not met).
Quality Indicators That Apply to Standardized Assessments ✔✔1. Reliability
B. Validity
C. How to Interpret the Results of Standardized Tests
What Assessments Are Used to Determine Students’ Reading Levels? ✔✔1. Informal Reading
Inventories (IRI)
- Word Recognition Lists
- Graded Reading Passages
What is an Informal Reading Inventory? ✔✔An IRI us a collection of assessments administered
individually to students. For an IRI, one adult gives the assessments to one student. The selection
of the IRI depends on the students reading level.
What are some types of assessments that are included in an Informal Reading Inventory (IRI)?
✔✔1. Word Recognition Lists - Graded Reading Passages
- Reading Interest Survey
- Assessments Measuring Concepts about Print
- Phonemic Awareness Assessments
- Phonics Assessments
- Assessments of Reading Fluency
- Structural Analysis Assessments
- Vocabulary Assessments
- Spelling Tests
What is the purpose of a word recognition list? ✔✔They serve 3 purposes: - to provide a rough guess of the child’s reading level so that whoever is administering the tests
knows where to start on the graded reading passages. - to provide information on the child’s “sight” vocabulary, the words the child can correctly
identify - provide information about the student’s ability to use sound-symbol relationships (phonics) to
decode words. The child’s errors will provide a partial picture of what letters and letter
combinations the child knows and which ones he or she needs to learn.
Which Assessment is the most important part of the IRI? ✔✔The graded reading passages.
What is a miscue analysis? ✔✔Examining a record of a student’s oral reading to identify and
classify errors. ( a student reads aloud a passage and the teacher keeps a detailed record of the
student’s performance).
What are Graphophonemic Errors? ✔✔These errors are related to the sound-symbol
relationships for English, such as reading feather or father. The words sounds alike, but feather
wouldn’t make sense in a sentence where the correct word is father. A child who repeatedly
makes graphophonemic errors is either a) reading word by word and depending too much on
phonics to decode each word b) reading a passage that is too difficult, or they are not using the
meaning of the sentences and paragraphs to decode words (contextual clues).
What are Semantic Errors? ✔✔Semantic Errors are meaning-related errors, such as reading dad
for father. The student has relied too much on the semantic cueing system – and hasn’t used
graphophonemic clues. A child who repeatedly makes semantic errors understands what the are
reading but needs to be taught to use phonics skills to be sure that every word read makes sense
from a graphophonemic sense.
What are common strategies for struggling readers and students with learning disabilities? ✔✔1.
re-teach what is not mastered. Use visual, kinesthetic, and tactile activities.
- Teach things in manageable units.
- Provide concrete examples
RICA TEST QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
ALREADY PASSED
Which area of instruction is not required to provide students with a balanced, comprehensive
reading program, according to the California (RLA) Framework?
A. Word Analysis
B. Writing Strategies & Applications
C. Reading Comprehension
D. Foreign Language ✔✔D. Foreign Language
- An indicator that the teacher needs to decrease the pacing of instruction for her students in
reading comprehension is:
A. Mastery of the standards
B. Attention deficits
C. Data from a monitoring assessment
D. Inability to answer a verbal prompt related to comprehension ✔✔C. Data from a monitoring
assessment - A teacher has provided his students with effective instructional delivery for a reading lesson in
cause and effect. How can he determine that his students are able to complete a task on the
concept independently and apply what has been learned:
A. Provide a short informal quiz on the concept, while monitoring the room to make
observations and provide feedback.
B. Have students work in groups to complete a worksheet on cause and effect.
C. Have students complete a journal entry on the meaning of cause and effect and provide
examples.
D. Meet with individual students and ask their interpretation of cause and effect and how it is
used in daily life. ✔✔A. Provide a short informal quiz on the concept, while monitoring the
room to make observations and provide feedback. - After conducting an Interest Survey for reading, a fourth grade teacher has assessed that many
of her students are not reading independently at home. In order to motivate her students to
participate in independent reading, she should:
A. Meet with their parents and have them monitor their child’s independent reading.
B. Buy each child their favorite book.
C. Evaluate the survey to find out the types of books her students are interested in and conduct a
daily read aloud.
D. Have each student share his or her favorite book with the class. ✔✔C. Evaluate the survey to
find out the types of books her students are interested in and conduct a daily read aloud.
- In order for administrators and/or reading coaches to determine the focus for professional
development, they need to:
A. Summarize and analyze data.
B. Analyze past agendas to see what has not been covered during the current year.
C. Send out a survey asking teachers to rank their favorite to least favorite professional
developments.
D. Ask the school district. ✔✔A. Summarize and analyze data. - A summative assessment is implemented:
A. Throughout instruction to determine progress in understanding content.
B. Before instruction to determine the type of instruction that needs to be implemented for
students to understand new content.
C. Sporadically, to ensure that students are paying attention during instruction.
D. After instruction of concepts to determine mastery of content. ✔✔D. After instruction of
concepts to determine mastery of content.
- Standardized assessments for students with special needs are used to:
A. Compare their reading levels with students at grade level.
B. Motivate students to try harder.
C. Support the teacher in designing activities with scaffolds aligned to the state standards.
D. Support the teacher in justifying why students are unable to meet the criteria of the state
standards. ✔✔C. Support the teacher in designing activities with scaffolds aligned to the state
standards. - Standardized assessments for reading are valid if they are used to measure:
RICA Practice Test Questions and
Answers with Certified Solutions
The purpose of implementing informal assessments after teaching a new concept during wholegroup instruction is to:
A. maintain accurate records for planning flexible groups that meet identified needs for students.
B. collect data for grading and report cards.
C. maintain accurate records for discussion with district personnel.
D. organize seating arrangements to maintain peer groups alignment. ✔✔A. maintain accurate
records for planning flexible groups that meet identified needs for students.
A second grade student assessed below grade level for fluency, but is able to decode words in
isolation and scores above grade level for reading comprehension. The student needs direct
instruction in the area of:
A. phonemic awareness
B. literal comprehension
C. pacing during fluency instruction
D. accuracy during fluency instruction ✔✔C. pacing during fluency instruction
A teacher has completed a whole group lesson on a grammar topic. She has assigned the students
to complete five sample questions while she walks around the room and provides feedback and
corrections to their work. This instructional component is an example of:
A. orientation
B. presentation
C. structured and guided practice
D. independent practice and application ✔✔C. structured and guided practice
A third grade teacher uses the results of a Cloze Assessment in order to provide support to her
students with independent reading. This assessment plays an effective role because:
A. It motivates the students to read faster.
B. It determines the students’ interest level for a book.
C. It provides for more reading opportunities .
D. It determines the appropriate independent reading level for the students. ✔✔D. It determines
the appropriate independent reading level for the students.
A kindergarten teacher assesses her student with a mid-year assessment and he is still unable to
recognize all upper and lowercase letters, isolate sounds in CVC words, or produce rhyming
words for targeted words. She has provided small group instruction, individual instruction, and
has held a conference with the parents to provide additional support in the home. What is the
next step the teacher should take to ensure the student can obtain progress in these areas?
A. Ask the principal to retain the student, due to lack of understanding grade level concepts.
B. Meet with a school-based team, consisting of administrators, support personnel, select
teachers, and reading coach to determine various strategies that can be used to support the
student with mastering grade appropriate skills.
C. Transfer student to a different teacher that may have better strategies for teaching the student.
D. Provide homework packets that the parents can use at home to reinforce learning because the
teacher has done all that she can do. ✔✔B. Meet with a school-based team, consisting of
administrators, support personnel, select teachers, and reading coach to determine various
strategies that can be used to support the student with mastering grade appropriate skills.
The purpose of an entry-level assessment is to determine:
A. long term planning for the organization of small groups, determine the selection of
appropriate instructional tools, create a comprehensive learning environment, and aligning
student needs to CA State Standards.
B. if the students mastered all of the grade level standards in the previous year.
C. student retention of information over the summer.
D. long term groupings for small group and individual instruction. ✔✔A. long term planning for
the organization of small groups, determine the selection of appropriate instructional tools, create
a comprehensive learning environment, and aligning student needs to CA State Standards.
Prior to administering a standardized test to a student with a learning disability, it is imperative
that the teacher thoroughly reads the student’s IEP to determine:
A. if the wording of the test needs to be modified.
B. if the student is capable of taking the test.
C. if the student should take an assessment that is at their instructional level.
D. the modifications that must be implemented during the testing period. ✔✔D. the
modifications that must be implemented during the testing period.
In the beginning of the year, a fourth grade teacher received the standardized test result for his
class. The data displayed that 72% of his students scored below basic in the area of reading
comprehension. The most effective step the teacher should take before implementing instruction
is:
A. have a meeting with the previous teachers of his students to determine what skills were
taught and what problems they encountered when teaching their class.