PRAXIS Elementary Education Exam

The Praxis Elementary Education exam (0014) is a comprehensive and rigorous assessment for prospective elementary educators. The exam has four major sections, each of which is covered by 30 questions and comprises about one quarter of the exam. The four major sections are:

  • Reading/language arts
  • Mathematics
  • Social studies
  • Science

Half of the reading/language arts section is devoted to foundations of reading. Within this subsection of the Praxis Elementary Education exam (0014), the following subjects are treated:

  • Foundations of literacy and reading development
  • Phonological awareness and phonics
  • Fluency
  • Vocabulary
  • Comprehension
  • Basic elements of fiction and nonfiction texts for children
  • Basic elements of poetry and drama for children
  • Uses of figurative language
  • Uses of resource material

In the language in writing subsection, which comprises 33% of the reading/language arts section, the following subjects are addressed:

  • Components of written language
  • Types of writing
  • Stages of the written process
  • Stages of writing development
  • Sentence types and sentence structure
  • Structures and organization of writing

The third and final subsection of the reading/language arts content area is communication skills, which comprises 17% and includes questions about:

  • Aspects of speaking
  • Listening
  • Roles of speaking
  • Listening and viewing in language acquisition for second-language learners

In the mathematics content area of the Praxis Elementary Education exam (0014), meanwhile, there are four subsections. The number sense and numeration subsection (40% of the content area) includes questions on:

  • Pre-numeration concepts
  • Number systems
  • The four operations and their properties
  • Number theory
  • Solving problems and recognizing the reasonableness of results
  • Making, describing, and exploring numerical patterns and engaging in mathematical investigations

The algebraic concepts subsection (25% of the content area) covers topics such as:

  • Basic algebraic methods and representations
  • Associative, commutative, and distributive properties
  • Additive and multiplicative inverses
  • Special properties of zero and one
  • Equalities and inequalities
  • Appropriate application of formulas

The informal geometry and measurement subsection (20% of the content area) covers:

  • Properties of figures and relationships in two- and three-dimensional objects
  • Transformations
  • Geometric models, and nets
  • Nonstandard, customary, and metric units of measurement

Finally, the data organization and interpretation subsection (15% of the content area) addresses:

  • Visual displays of quantitative information
  • Simple probability and intuitive concepts of chance
  • Fundamental counting techniques
  • Basic descriptive statistics

 

The Praxis Elementary Education exam (0014) was developed by the Educational Testing Service.

 

Last Updated: July 27, 2021