RICAS Assessments

2018 was the first year of the new Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment System (RICAS) in grade 3-8 in English Language Arts and mathematics.

Below are important documents and other resources that will help LEAs and educators learn about and prepare for RICAS.

For additional resources for the RICAS assessment, please visit the RICAS Resource Center.

The English Language Arts Test Design (pdf) document and PowerPoint (ppt) describe the design of the RICAS ELA tests. Test design documents were updated 11.14.19 to reflect new test blueprints.

Calibrating Expectations Support Materials

Please note there are no new released items for the 2023-24 RICAS ELA or mathematics administrations. Reference these materials for items released in previous years.

ELA Rubrics

The rubrics below will be used to assess the various types of students writing for the RICAS assessment (2018 to present).

Student Work

  • RICAS Sample Student Work can be found at www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/student/2021
  • Writing Standards in Action Project provides samples of student work that demonstrates grade-level expectations. The samples are annotated by educators to support student instruction in writing by showing how student writing meets or exceeds the standard. These writing samples are another source of student writing to help calibrate student expectations by grade level. The Massachusetts' Curriculum Frameworks documents refer to the Writing Standards in Action Project samples.

Assessment Resources

Please note there are no new released items for the 2023-24 RICAS ELA or mathematics administrations. Reference these materials for items released in previous years.

The Mathematics Test Design document and PowerPoint describe the design of the RICAS mathematics tests.

Student Work Resources

Calibrating Expectations Using Student Work Samples

Mathematics Test Design and Fact Sheet by Grade

The documents below describe the RICAS test designs for Mathematics grades 3 – 8. They also include information on item types, calculator use, and links to RICAS resources.

RICAS Mathematics Achievement Level Descriptors (Updated March 2022)

The achievement level descriptors are summaries of the knowledge and skills students demonstrate for the different levels of proficiency on RICAS.

Technical Skills for Students (pdf) outlines the skills students should be familiar with in order to navigate and use TestNav confidently. Please ensure that students have time to use these skills on the practice tests before testing begins.

RICAS Calculator Policy (pdf)

Below is a chart, by grade level, of the calculator types available to students on session 2 only of the RICAS mathematics tests for the computer- and paper-based tests. Please keep in mind that:

  • Any 7th or 8th grade student may use one of the handheld calculators listed below instead of the calculators embedded in TestNav (no accommodation is necessary). However, at a minimum, 7th and 8th grade students should have sole access to a 5-function calculator.
  • Non-calculator sessions of any RICAS mathematics tests: unless a student has the accommodation SA4: Calculation device or other mathematics tool for the non-calculator session of the mathematics test*, no calculators are provided in TestNav and no handheld calculators should be made available.

GRADE

CALCULATORS PROVIDED IN TESTNAV

ALLOWABLE HANDHELD CALCULATORS (CBA AND PBA)
3 Non-calculator Non-calculator
4 Non-calculator Non-calculator
5 Non-calculator Non-calculator
6 Non-calculator Non-calculator
7 TN8 5-function

TN8 scientific		 5-function

Scientific

Graphing
8 TN8 scientific

TI graphing

DESMOS graphing		 5-function

Scientific

Graphing

*This accommodation is a Special Access accommodation. The student must meet specific criteria in order to receive this accommodation. See the RISAP Accommodations and Accessibility Manual for more information (click on the Accommodations tab on this web page).