The Texas Examination of Educator Standards (TExES) Mathematics/Science 4-8 test is designed for prospective educators in grades four to eight to demonstrate their mastery of the skills and knowledge they must possess as an entry-level educator.
It assesses whether the applicant has the requisites based on a series of questions framed around educator standards in the field. The questions are divided into broad areas of content referred to as Domains. Each Domain has its own set of Competencies to further define this content. The TExES Mathematics/Science 4-8 exam is a computer-administered test (CAT) that contains 11 Domains, each with their respective Competencies:
Domain I: Number Concepts
This Domain covers the following Competencies to ensure that the entry-level educator understands:
- The structure of number systems, the development of a sense of quantity and the relationship between quantity and symbolic representations
- Number operations and computational algorithms
- Ideas of number theory and uses numbers to model and solve problems within and outside of mathematics
Domain II: Patterns and Algebra
This Domain covers the following Competencies to ensure that the entry-level educator understands and uses:
- Mathematical reasoning to identify, extend and analyze patterns and understands the relationships among variables, expressions, equations, inequalities, relations and functions
- Linear functions to model and solve problems
- Nonlinear functions and relations to model and solve problems
- The conceptual foundations of calculus related to topics in the middle school mathematics
Domain III: Geometry and Measurement
This Domain covers the following Competencies to ensure that the entry-level educator understands:
- Measurement as a process
- The geometric relationships and axiomatic structure of Euclidean geometry
- Analyzes the properties of two- and three-dimensional figures
- Transformational geometry and relates algebra to geometry and trigonometry using the Cartesian coordinate system
Domain IV: Probability and Statistics
This Domain covers the following Competencies to ensure that the entry-level educator understands:
- How to use graphical and numerical techniques to explore data, characterize patterns and describe departures from patterns
- Understands the theory of probability
- The relationship among probability theory, sampling and statistical inference, and how statistical inference is used in making and evaluating predictions
Domain V: Mathematical Processes and Perspectives
This Domain covers the following Competencies to ensure that the entry-level educator understands:
- Mathematical reasoning and problem solving
- Mathematical connections within and outside of mathematics and how to communicate mathematical ideas and concepts
Domain VI: Mathematical Learning, Instruction and Assessment
This Domain covers the following Competencies to ensure that the entry-level educator understands:
- How children learn and develop mathematical skills, procedures and concepts
- How to plan, organize and implement instruction using knowledge of students, subject matter and statewide curriculum (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills [TEKS]) to teach all students to use mathematics
- Assessment and uses a variety of formal and informal assessment techniques to monitor and guide mathematics instruction and to evaluate student progress
Domain VII: Scientific Inquiry and Processes
This Domain covers the following Competencies to ensure that the entry-level educator understands:
- How to manage learning activities to ensure the safety of all students
- The correct use of tools, materials, equipment and technologies
- The process of scientific inquiry and the history and nature of science
- How science impacts the daily lives of students and interacts with and influences personal and societal decisions
- The unifying concepts and processes that are common to all sciences
Domain VIII: Physical Science
This Domain covers the following Competencies to ensure that the entry-level educator understands:
- Forces and motion and their relationships
- Physical properties of and changes in matter
- Chemical properties of and changes in matter
- Energy and interactions between matter and energy
- Energy transformations and the conservation of matter and energy
Domain IX: Life Science
This Domain covers the following Competencies to ensure that the entry-level educator understands:
- The structure and function of living things
- Reproduction and the mechanisms of heredity
- Adaptations of organisms and the theory of evolution
- Regulatory mechanisms and behavior
- The relationships between organisms and the environment
Domain X: Earth and Space Science
This Domain covers the following Competencies to ensure that the entry-level educator understands:
- The structure and function of Earth systems
- Cycles in Earth systems
- The role of energy in weather and climate
- The characteristics of the solar system and the universe
- The history of the Earth system
Domain XI: Science Learning, Instruction and Assessment
This Domain covers the following Competencies to ensure that the entry-level educator understands:
- Theoretical and practical knowledge about teaching science and about how students learn science
- The process of scientific inquiry and its role in science instruction
- The varied and appropriate assessments and assessment practices to monitor science learning laboratory, field and classroom settings
Scoring
For the exam, you are given five hours to complete 120 multiple-choice questions. The TExES Mathematics/Science 4-8 exam is scored on a scale of 100 to 300, with a minimum passing score of 240 required for certification. Score results are available by 5PM Central time on the score reporting date. For sample questions, try our Mathematics/Science 4-8 Subject Practice Test.
Registration Information
In order to register to take the TExES Mathematics/Science 4-8 test, you will first need to receive approval to test. Then, you can register either online, over the phone or by mail.