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MTEL Early Childhood Test Breakdown

Knowledge of Childhood Development has two subareas with a total of 30 to 32 questions and counts 25 percent of the final score.

1. Child Development from Prenatal to Early Elementary Years: theories of Piaget, Erikson, Kohlberg, Bronfenbrenner and Vygotsky, importance of cultural identification, individual variations, factors that influence development in various areas of a child’s life, and the importance of play in understanding and learning.
2. Development and Learning for students with Disabilities and other Special Needs: types, characteristics and effects of disabilities, methods to identify and evaluate students with special needs including students exceptionally gifted academically and/or artistically, choosing, making and modifying material and equipment, legal requirements and responsibilities, knowledge of Individualized Education Plans (IEP), 504s, Individualized Family Service Plans (IFSP), and community resources that help children and families.

Knowledge of Children’s Literature and the Writing Process has two subareas with a total of 18 to 20 questions and counts 15 percent of the final score.

1. Genres and Literary Elements and Techniques of children’s literature: 19^th and 20^th century major works and authors, characteristics and themes, rhetorical and literary devices, styles and communication purposes, evaluation criteria, analysis of specific sections of literary works, and reasons to read to children.
2. Principles and concepts of Writing for Different Reasons: knowledge of the steps in the writing process, the elements of sentences and paragraphs, revising and editing, the audience and purpose, formats and genres, and techniques to convey meaning.

NOTE: Candidates for early childhood, elementary and special education will also be evaluated on a separate Foundations for Reading test that includes these areas: theory, research and practice, developing vocabulary, relationship of writing and reading, developing skills for using writing tools, and theories of learning first and second languages.

Core Knowledge in Content has three subareas with a total of 49 to 51 questions and counts 40 percent of the final score.

1. Principles and concepts of Mathematics: terminology, symbols, representations and number properties, standard arithmetic operations and computational techniques, patterns, relations and functions, basic algebra and geometry concepts and operations, collecting and analyzing data, and using math to solve real world problems.
2. History and Social Science: influence of major historical events in Massachusetts, the United States and the world, development of western civilization, influence of science and technology, basic concepts of geography and global features, basic economic and political concepts, local, state and federal government functions, principles and values found in the Declaration of Independence, The United States Constitution and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the responsibilities of US citizens.
3. Science, Technology/Engineering: foundations and principles of scientific thought inquiry, discoveries and innovations, relationship of science and technology and their role in ecological issues, and the basic concepts of the life, physical and earth sciences and how they interact.

MTEL Early Childhood Test Practice Questions