Praxis Elementary Education Fundamentals: The 8000 Series (8002–8006)
Praxis Elementary Education Fundamentals is the official name of the 8000 series — five redesigned tests, numbered 8002 through 8006, that ETS first administered on 2026-03-09[6][9]. This page is the hub for the whole family.
The two names describe the same five tests, so this page covers both rather than splitting them into two pages that would say the same things to the same people. If you searched for “Praxis Elementary Education Fundamentals” or for “Praxis 8000 series,” you are in the right place.
What this page gives you: what the family is, what each of the five tests covers with a link to its full guide, why 8006 Teaching Reading exists at all, how the older 5001 and 7001 series relate to the new one, and — the part most sites skip — how to verify which test your own state requires. We do not publish a list of which states have adopted the 8000 series, because we have only verified two.
Learndiag is an independent study tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by ETS. Praxis is a registered trademark of ETS.
What the Praxis 8000 Series Is
ETS redesigned its elementary education certification tests and grouped the replacements into a single family called Elementary Education Fundamentals. The design changes that matter to a candidate are these: there are five separate tests instead of a set of subtests taken together, there is no combined all-in-one option, and a mechanism called Praxis Steps lets you take or retake one content category at a time rather than re-sitting the whole test[6][10].
| Family name | Praxis Elementary Education Fundamentals |
| Series code | 8000 |
| Tests in the family | 8002 · 8003 · 8004 · 8005 · 8006 — five |
| First administration | 2026-03-09[6][9] |
| Score reporting began | 2026-04-17[11] |
| Test fee | $79.00 per test. Bundle prices are listed on state requirements pages: $149.49 for three subjects and $199.52 for four[1][2][3][4][5][7][8] |
| Praxis Steps fee | $39.50 per Step[7] |
| Score scale | 100–200. Qualifying scores are set by each state[7][8] |
| Combined test option | None — each content area is a separate test[6] |
| Praxis Steps availability | September 2026 for 8002–8005, 2027 for 8006. ETS has published more than one window for Steps, so confirm the current date on the official test page[1][2][3][4][5][10] |
| Replaces | The Elementary Education series 5001, 7001, 5901 and 7811[6] |
| Legacy series retirement | 2028-08[6][9] |
What Each of the Five Tests Covers
The four core subject tests are 8002 through 8005. 8006 is a reading pedagogy test and sits alongside them rather than in the same series of content areas. Each has a full guide on its own page, including format, content categories, what is verified about state scores, and a free practice mini test.
| Test | Official name | Time | Questions | Calculator | Full guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8002 | Reading and Language Arts | 100 min | 80 | None | 8002 guide |
| 8003 | Mathematics | 100 min | 68 | On-screen scientific | 8003 guide |
| 8004 | Social Studies | 100 min | 77 | None | 8004 guide |
| 8005 | Science | 90 min | 74 | On-screen scientific | 8005 guide |
| 8006 | Teaching Reading | 100 min | 80 | None | 8006 guide |
8002 Reading and Language Arts — what you actually have to do
Eighty questions over two categories: Reading (42) and Writing, Speaking and Listening (38)[6]. The items measure your own literacy — read a short passage and identify its central idea, choose the sentence with correct subject-verb agreement — not your ability to teach a child to read. If that distinction does not yet feel obvious, it is the single most common source of wrong registrations in this family. Read the 8002 guide, which sets it directly against 8006.
8003 Mathematics — the only test with numeric entry
Sixty-eight questions across Numbers and Operations (28), Algebraic Thinking (20) and Geometry, Measurement and Data (20), with an on-screen scientific calculator provided[2][6]. It is the lowest question count of the five, and it is the only test in the family whose published item types include numeric entry rather than selected-response alone[2]. ETS also advises candidates to get familiar with the on-screen calculator before test day[2]. Read the 8003 guide.
8004 Social Studies — the largest single category in the family
Seventy-seven questions across United States History, Government and Citizenship (33), Geography, Anthropology and Sociology (23) and World History and Economics (21)[3][6]. More than two in five items sit in the first category, which makes the weighting worth planning around. Read the 8004 guide.
8005 Science — the only 90-minute test
Seventy-four questions across Earth and Space Science, Life Science and Physical Science, with an on-screen scientific calculator[4]. Two things make this test different from its siblings. First, 90 minutes rather than 100, which is the tightest pace in the family. Second, the per-domain item counts: ETS does not publish them for 8005, so anyone handing you exact domain numbers is repeating third-party estimates. The 8005 guide also notes that science items lean on data displays and experimental design more heavily than the other subjects do — that is our reading of the items, not an ETS statement. Roughly 10–15% of items integrate science and engineering practices[4][6]. Read the 8005 guide.
8006 Teaching Reading — the pedagogy test
Eighty questions across Foundational Literacy Skills (32), Fluency and Vocabulary (24) and Comprehension and Written Expression (24)[5][6]. The questions ask what you would teach next given a described student, which is a different task from answering content questions. Read the 8006 guide.
We publish no raw-to-scaled conversion for any of the five tests. ETS has not published a conversion table from practice performance to scaled score for the 8000 series, and neither has anyone else. A practice percentage is a practice percentage. Presenting it as a predicted scaled score would be a fabrication, and it is exactly the kind of number people make registration decisions on. What we can tell you is the scale (100–200) and the qualifying scores that specific states have published — never a prediction of your own result[7][8].
Why ETS Added Praxis 8006 Teaching Reading
8006 is the newest and the most misunderstood test in the family, so it is worth explaining on its own.
What ETS says. 8006 replaces Praxis 7002, the previous teaching reading test, in the redesigned family[6]. ETS describes the redesigned tests as incorporating Science of Reading principles and as aligned to the standards of several professional bodies, including ILA, NCSS, C3, NGSS, NSTA and CAEP[6]. The 8006 test itself is built on the five components of reading instruction identified by the National Reading Panel: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension[5][12].
Why a separate test rather than folding it into 8002. 8002 and 8006 look almost identical on paper — both 100 minutes, both 80 selected-response questions, both $79 — and they measure opposite things. 8002 asks whether you can read and write well enough to teach elementary content. 8006 asks whether you can teach a child to read. The two measure different things, which is why a state can require one and not the other[1][5].
What we cannot tell you. We have found no ETS statement explaining why a separate teaching reading test was added to the family at all, as opposed to retaining 7002 outside the redesign. Anything beyond the replacement mapping and the Science of Reading grounding above would be our inference, so we do not state one.
Newest does not mean required. This is the practical point. In both states we have verified, 8006 is not the test used: West Virginia uses Praxis 5205, Teaching Reading: Elementary, for that requirement, and Arkansas does not list 8006 at all[7][8]. A test being new, or being part of the same family as the content test your state adopted, tells you nothing about whether your state adopted it. Verify before registering.
How the 5001, 7001 and 8000 Series Relate
ETS states that the redesigned tests will replace the Elementary Education series 5001, 7001, 5901 and 7811, and lists a retirement date of 2028-08 for the legacy series[6][9].
| Legacy series | What it was | 8000-series counterpart | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Praxis 5001 | Elementary Education: Multiple Subjects, taken as four subtests (5002 Reading and Language Arts, 5003 Mathematics, 5004 Social Studies, 5005 Science)[6] | 8002, 8003, 8004, 8005 — separate standalone tests, with no combined option in the new family[6] | Still administered; ETS lists retirement in 2028-08[6][9] |
| Praxis 7001 family | Elementary Education tests including 7002 Teaching Reading[6] | 8006 Teaching Reading[6] | Still administered; retirement listed as 2028-08[6][9] |
| Praxis 5901 and 7811 | Two further Elementary Education series that ETS names among the ones being replaced[6] | Covered by the Elementary Education Fundamentals family. We publish no per-code mapping for these two — our verified sources give the family-level replacement, not a code-by-code table[6] | Still administered; retirement listed as 2028-08[6][9] |
The retirement date is 2028-08. It is not today. So the honest answer to “has the 8000 series replaced 5001?” is: ETS has published the replacement and the retirement date, and the transition is happening state by state on different schedules. Arkansas is a concrete example — that state’s ETS requirements page accepts 5000-series tests through 2027-08-31 and states that 5000-series and 8000-series scores may be combined during that period, provided each of the four content areas is satisfied by at least one passing test[8].
That is why we do not write that 8000 has superseded 5001, and why we would treat any page that says so without naming a state and an effective date as unreliable. Two codes can both be valid for the same subject in the same state, in the same year, for different candidates. The full comparison — codes, question counts, category renamings and what changed in the redesign — is on Praxis 5001 vs. the 8000 series.
Which Test Might Apply to You?
This is the most important question on the page, and it is not one we can answer for you. What we can do is show you which requirement in your paperwork to go look at. The table below maps a situation to the requirement that usually decides it — not to a test we are telling you to register for.
| Your situation | What usually decides it | What to check first |
|---|---|---|
| You need elementary licensure and your state list names a set of content tests | The specific test codes printed in your state’s ETS requirements page — 5000-series, 8000-series, or both | Whether your state lists 8002–8005, 5002–5005, or accepts either one during a transition window[7][8] |
| Your state or program requires a separate teaching reading exam | Which reading test is named: 8006, 7002, 5205, or a test from a different vendor entirely | The exact code and the current list it appears on. Titles overlap across vendors, and the same number can mean different tests[7] |
| You already hold an elementary license and are adding an endorsement | The endorsement requirements, which often name one content test rather than the whole set | Whether the endorsement names a specific code, and whether it is current[7][8] |
| Your educator preparation program sets an exit requirement | The program’s own handbook, which can differ from the state’s current list | Ask the program directly and in writing, and keep the answer[6] |
| You are already registered for a 5000-series test | Your registration is valid. Whether you also need an 8000-series test depends on your state’s transition rules | Arkansas-style mixing rules: which codes may be combined, and until when[8] |
| You are in a state we have not verified | Your state’s page. We have no data for the other 48 states, and we will not guess them | Work through the verification steps in the next section |
What we have verified, and what we have not. Our fact library confirms the status of the 8000 series in exactly two states. In both, the four content tests are the ones in use:
| State | 8002 | 8003 | 8004 | 8005 | 8006 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Virginia[7] | 152 | 152 | 147 | 143 | Not adopted — the state uses Praxis 5205, Teaching Reading: Elementary ($156, qualifying score 159)[7] |
| Arkansas[8] | 137 | 136 | 130 | 126 | Not adopted — not listed on the state’s ETS requirements page[8] |
Numbers in the 8002–8005 columns are state-set qualifying scores, not national pass marks. For the remaining 48 states, adoption status is not verified, and we do not publish adoption claims we have not confirmed against a state agency or an ETS state requirements page — a wrong answer here costs you a test fee and a testing window.
How to Verify Your State’s Adoption Status
We are not going to give you a list of adopting states, and that is a deliberate choice rather than a gap we have not got around to. A list built from aggregator sites and prep-company blogs is wrong often enough to be worse than no list, because you would act on it. What we can hand you is the method, which takes about five minutes and uses the only sources that count.
Step 1 — open your state’s ETS requirements page. The pattern is:
https://praxis.ets.org/state-requirements/<state>-tests.html
State names are written as one word with no hyphen — westvirginia, not west-virginia,
which returns a 404.
Step 2 — search the page for all five codes and for the legacy codes. Search for
8002, 8003, 8004, 8005, 8006, and for the
old codes 5001/5002/5003/5004/5005 and
7002. You are looking for three things: which codes are listed, the qualifying score next to each,
and any effective date or transition note. Both series being listed at once is normal during a
transition[7][8].
Step 3 — look for the two things pages usually get wrong. First, the teaching reading requirement: if it names a code, write down the code, because West Virginia names 5205 rather than 8006[7]. Second, any statement about mixing scores across series, which is the detail that decides whether a 5000-series pass you already have still counts[8].
Step 4 — open the official test page for each code you wrote down. The pattern is
https://praxis.ets.org/test/<code>.html. Confirm the current fee, the test length and question
count, and whether Praxis Steps is available for that code yet. ETS has published more than one window for Steps,
so use the test page rather than a summary[1][2][3][4][5].
Step 5 — if the state page is ambiguous, ask a human and keep the answer. Contact your educator preparation program or your state licensing agency and ask which code applies to your certification pathway. Ask in writing if you can. If the answer disagrees with the state page, get the disagreement resolved before you pay. The fee is $79.00 per test and retake windows are limited.
Write these five things down before you register: the test code, the test title as written on the state page, the qualifying score, the effective or transition date, and the name of the person or page that told you. Those five items are what you will be asked for if something goes wrong later.
For the sake of being explicit, this page does not contain: a list of states that have adopted the 8000 series beyond the two we verified; any qualifying score for the other 48 states; a raw-to-scaled conversion table; a claim that the 8000 series has already replaced the 5000 series in any particular state without that state’s own effective date; or per-domain item counts for 8005, which ETS does not publish. If a competing page gives you one of those without naming an official source and a date, treat it as an estimate[7][8].
Two widely repeated claims are simply false and are worth naming. One: that the 8000 series uses a 100–300 scale with a 240 passing score. Every qualifying score we have verified sits between 126 and 152 on a 100–200 scale, and the 100–300 figure contradicts the official state pages[7][8]. Two: that there is one national passing score. There is not. Any page that gives you a single cut score without naming a state is guessing[7][8].
Free Practice and Diagnostic Entry Points
Each test in the family has a free 30-question practice mini test on this site, written to the content categories ETS publishes and accompanied by a per-question explanation. They are original Learndiag items, not official ETS items, and the guides and practice banks are separate pages:
| Test | Guide | Free 30-question practice |
|---|---|---|
| 8002 Reading and Language Arts | Guide | Practice test |
| 8003 Mathematics | Guide | Practice test |
| 8004 Social Studies | Guide | Practice test |
| 8005 Science | Guide | Practice test |
| 8006 Teaching Reading | Guide | Practice test |
Not sure which test you should be preparing for at all? Start with the free Learndiag diagnostic. It is built around the 5001 series rather than the 8000 series, and it will show you where you actually stand by subject area. If your state has moved to the 8000 series, use that result as a subject-level map and then work through the corresponding 8000-series guide above — the content areas overlap heavily, and the differences that matter are structural rather than topical.
One caution about practice scores. A practice percentage tells you how you did on that set of questions. It does not convert to a scaled score, and no conversion table exists for this series. Use practice to decide what to study next, not to predict whether you passed[7][8].
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Praxis 8000 series?
The Praxis 8000 series is ETS’s redesigned Elementary Education Fundamentals family: five tests numbered 8002 through 8006. It replaces the older Elementary Education series (5001, 7001, 5901 and 7811), which ETS lists as retiring in 2028-08. The first administration was 2026-03-09 and each test costs $79.00. The family has five separate tests rather than one combined elementary exam, and 8006 Teaching Reading is a reading pedagogy test rather than a content test.
What are the 8000-series test codes?
8002 Reading and Language Arts (100 minutes, 80 questions), 8003 Mathematics (100 minutes, 68 questions, on-screen scientific calculator), 8004 Social Studies (100 minutes, 77 questions), 8005 Science (90 minutes, 74 questions, on-screen scientific calculator), and 8006 Teaching Reading (100 minutes, 80 questions). Every test page is at https://praxis.ets.org/test/<code>.html.
Has the 8000 series already replaced Praxis 5001?
Not as a blanket statement, and we do not publish one. ETS states that the redesigned tests will replace the Elementary Education series 5001, 7001, 5901 and 7811, and lists a retirement date of 2028-08. But adoption is decided by each state, and the transition windows differ. Arkansas, for example, accepts 5000-series tests through 2027-08-31 and allows 5000-series and 8000-series scores to be combined during that period, provided each content area is satisfied by at least one passing test. Whether 8000 has replaced 5001 for you depends on your state and your certification pathway. Confirm it with your state licensing agency before you register.
What is the difference between Praxis 8002 and Praxis 8006?
They are both 100 minutes, 80 selected-response questions and $79, which is exactly why they get confused. 8002 measures your own reading, writing, speaking and listening. 8006 measures whether you can teach reading: it is built on Science of Reading principles and the five components of reading instruction. They are separate requirements, not substitutes, and a state can adopt one without the other. In both states we have verified, 8002 is used and 8006 is not.
Which states require the 8000 series?
We have verified two states. West Virginia lists 8002, 8003, 8004 and 8005 with qualifying scores of 152, 152, 147 and 143. Arkansas lists the same four with qualifying scores of 137, 136, 130 and 126. Adoption status in the other 48 states is not verified, and we do not publish unverified adoption claims. Check https://praxis.ets.org/state-requirements/<yourstate>-tests.html before registering.
What is the passing score for the 8000 series?
There is no national passing score. Each state sets its own qualifying score. Every qualifying score we have verified sits between 126 and 152 on a 100–200 scale. Claims that the series uses a 100–300 scale with a 240 passing score contradict the official ETS state requirements pages and are wrong.
Do I have to take all five 8000-series tests?
No. The 8000 series has no combined test option, but that does not mean you sit all five. Which tests you need is set by your state licensing agency or your educator preparation program, and many pathways require only some of them or none at all. The relevant question is which test codes appear in your state’s requirements, not how many tests exist in the family.
Can I retake a single content category?
Praxis Steps is the mechanism for taking or retaking one content category at a time. ETS’s test pages give September 2026 for 8002–8005 and 2027 for 8006, though ETS has published more than one window for Steps, so confirm the current date on the official page. Availability also depends on whether your state has adopted the test, so check your state requirements page as well.
Is this page official?
No. Learndiag is an independent study tool, not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by ETS. Praxis is a registered trademark of ETS. Every factual claim on this page is traced to a numbered source at the bottom of the page, with the date we last checked it.
Official Sources
Every factual claim above traces to one of these. Verification dates are shown because ETS updates test pages and state requirement pages without notice.
| # | Source | Link | Last verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ETS official test page, Praxis 8002 — length, question count, calculator policy, fee | link | 2026-09-03 |
| 2 | ETS official test page, Praxis 8003 — length, question count, calculator policy, item types, fee | link | 2026-09-03 |
| 3 | ETS official test page, Praxis 8004 — length, question count, calculator policy, fee | link | 2026-09-03 |
| 4 | ETS official test page, Praxis 8005 — length, question count, calculator policy, science and engineering practices | link | 2026-09-03 |
| 5 | ETS official test page, Praxis 8006 — length, question count, Science of Reading grounding | link | 2026-09-03 |
| 6 | ETS, The new Praxis Elementary Education Fundamentals tests (V5, © 2025) — family structure, the replacement of 5001 / 7001 / 5901 / 7811, the absence of a combined test option, per-category item counts for 8002–8004 and 8006, standard alignment. Note: the 8005 content-domain section is truncated in our archived copy, which is why this page publishes no per-domain counts for 8005. Archived: docs/sources/ets-elementary-education-fundamentals-brochure-V5-2025.pdf | link | 2026-09-15 (URL live, PDF byte-identical to our archive) |
| 7 | ETS state requirements, West Virginia — 8002/8003/8004/8005 qualifying scores 152/152/147/143, Praxis 5205 used for teaching reading, Steps pricing | link | 2026-09-03 |
| 8 | ETS state requirements, Arkansas — 8002/8003/8004/8005 qualifying scores 137/136/130/126, 5000-series acceptance through 2027-08-31, the mixed-score rule, 8006 not listed | link | 2026-09-03 |
| 9 | ETS early adoption pricing and key dates — first administration 2026-03-09, standard pricing from 2026-06-01, legacy series retirement 2028-08 | link | 2026-09-03 |
| 10 | ETS Praxis Steps hub — what Steps is, and how category-level testing is enabled | link | 2026-09-03 |
| 11 | Learndiag official facts library, 8000 series — the consolidated fact set this page is built from, itself sourced to 1–10 | content-infra/official-facts-8000-series.json | 2026-09-03 |
| 12 | National Reading Panel, Teaching Children to Read (2000) — the five components of reading instruction. Public-domain U.S. government report referenced by ETS source 6; the five components themselves are general professional knowledge, not an ETS specification. | No single canonical URL; the report is distributed by the U.S. government | 2026-09-03 |
Notes on source limitations — read these before relying on the page:
- ETS publishes more than one launch window for Praxis Steps. Different ETS documents have said Spring 2026, Summer 2026 and September 2026 for the 8002–8005 Steps rollout, and 2027 for 8006. This page uses the test-page figure, September 2026, because it is the most specific. The inconsistency is ETS’s, not a transcription error.
- Source 6 has now been located publicly. ETS’s own Praxis Steps hub links the PDF, and the live file is byte-identical to the copy we archived. We still keep the archive, because partner-distributed documents move.
- Source 12 is not an ETS document. The National Reading Panel’s five components are foundational reading research that ETS references. Attributing them to ETS as a blueprint would be inaccurate.
- 48 states remain unverified. This is a deliberate gap, not an oversight. Only West Virginia and Arkansas are confirmed, and only for the four content tests.
- The practice banks are drafted, not human-reviewed. The 8002–8006 mini tests are original items written to the published category definitions. They are not ETS items and have not been through independent fact-checking. Treat them as practice, and tell us if one of them is wrong — we correct errors and note the correction.