RICA Test Dates

The Reading Instruction Competence Assessment (RICA) was developed as a partial method of addressing California’s Student Reading Initiative. Because of this, it is designed to test a teacher’s ability to instruct students in reading and literary interpretation. There are five main domains that describe the areas of knowledge and expertise on the test:

Planning, organizing, and managing reading instruction based on ongoing assessment
Word analysis
Fluency
Vocabulary, academic language, and background knowledge
Comprehension

Teaching candidates may select one of two different avenues to fulfilling the requirement, either a written examination or a video performance assessment.

The RICA Written Examination

The written examination can be taken year-round, by appointment. Scores will be released within 30 days after you've taken the test.

Registering by mail requires that materials be postmarked prior to the deadline and that all necessary materials (find instructions and checklists for mail-in registration here) be included.

Instructions for online registration, as well as links to registration forms, etc., are on the RICA website.

The RICA Video Performance Assessment

Submission Deadline	Score Report Date
March 22, 2013	April 12, 2013

RICA Test Practice Questions

1. Which of the following is NOT a likely culprit when a student has trouble with pronouncing printed words?

a. Inferential evaluation

b. Sight vocabulary

c. Phonetic analysis

d. Spelling

2. In which type of journal does the student’s entry receive an answer from another classmate or the teacher?

a. Double-entry journal

b. Reader response journal

c. Dialogue journal

d. Personal journal

3. Which of the following is NOT one of the guidelines for reading instruction in California?

a. Instruction should be the same for all students

b. Instruction should be determined by ongoing assessment

c. Instruction should be balanced

d. Instruction should be comprehensive

4. Darren, a fourth-grader, is silently reading his social studies textbook. As he reaches the end of each paragraph, he takes a moment to consider whether he has fully understood what he just read. If the answer is no, he rereads the previous section. Which of the following reading strategies is Darren using?

a. Reading for information

b. Self-correction

c. Stop and think

d. Retelling

5. Mrs. Navarro asks her students to write a sentence using as many words starting with the letter b as possible. What literary skill is Mrs. Navarro teaching to her students?

a. Assonance

b. Idiom

c. Personification

d. Alliteration

RICA Practice Test Answers

by Alanna Traylor
Last Updated: 05/30/2013

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