Rhode Island Department of Education Releases 2022 Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment System (RICAS) Results

Published on Friday, November 04, 2022

RICAS results show higher participation and significant increase in math proficiency

PROVIDENCE, RI -- The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) today released the final results of the 2022 Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment System (RICAS). The RICAS assessment was administered to students from grades 3 through 8 in March through May. Statewide figures show that in 2022 compared to 2021, there was a 10% increase in participation in both content areas rising to 98%, a significant increase in math proficiency of approximately 7%, and a slight decline in ELA of approximately 2%. The latest results can be viewed online on RIDE’s Assessment Data Portal.

“The 2022 RICAS results show that while a lot of work remains ahead to get our students back up to speed, Rhode Island is on its way to recovery,” said Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green. “We’re encouraged that some districts have returned to their pre-pandemic levels or exceeded them, and that our statewide focus on math instruction and support led to a significant jump in math performance across the state.”

Recognizing the importance of students and families better understanding RICAS scores and how they may be factored in education decision-making, this year RIDE announced that for the first time it will launch informational videos for families specifically tailored for their student. Personalized Individual Student Reports that are expected to be received by districts on November 10 will include a new feature that will allow easy access to individualized, multilingual videos through a QR code. The videos will be available in 10 languages and will provide families greater insight on their child’s performance and allow comparisons to school, district, and state performance.

“With our collective focus on continued learning acceleration across Rhode Island and the guidance of the Learning, Equity & Accelerated Pathways (LEAP) Task Force’s report, we are optimistic that our students will continue to make up ground,” continued Commissioner Infante-Green.  “Rhode Island schools worked diligently to fully return to in-person learning last year, but we know it was not a typical year because COVID-19 still impacted most aspects of education here and across the nation. RIDE will continue to support school leaders to better serve the needs of students and meet the priorities of their communities to help all students recover.”

Math

The RICAS 2022 results show that student performance in ELA and math varied across Rhode Island, but there was a considerable increase in math proficiency with a nearly 7% rise compared to 2021, from 20.1% to 26.9%. This increase was seen regardless of students’ grade level, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and multilingualism. All grade levels demonstrated higher performance in math in comparison to performance in 2021 but are still generally below their 2019 pre-pandemic performance.

​The largest increases in math proficiency were seen in grades 3, 4, and 6 with increases ranging from approximately 2.3% points in grade 7 to 9.9% points in grade 3. This upswing in Rhode Island is counter to the historic decline in math scores seen in the national data released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in late October. When comparing Rhode Island to Massachusetts, both states saw similar increases in math. Overall, while there were gains in Rhode Island, about one fourth of students are proficient in math in grades 3 through 8.​

ELA

For ELA, the results show that proficiency declined across the state by approximately 2% compared to 2021, from 33.2% to 31.1%. As expected, Rhode Island saw lower performance in early grades where there were approximate drops of 3.9% points in grade 3 and 6.4% in grade 4. For these younger students, the pandemic was particularly disruptive to reading and comprehension with the transition to remote learning and quarantining during critical years for learning and development.

When comparing Rhode Island to Massachusetts, Rhode Island saw less of a drop in ELA at 2% than Massachusetts which saw a 5% decrease. Overall, one third of students are proficient in ELA in grades 3 through 8. Further, performance across all grades is still lower than it was pre-pandemic. This decline in ELA is similar to what was seen in national trends.

RIDE also released the results for the Rhode Island Next Generation Science Assessment (NGSA), Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM), and the Rhode Island Assessing Comprehension and Communications in English State-To-State for English Learners (ACCESS) assessments.

NGSA

NGSA is administered in grades 5, 8 and 11 and the recent results show a 12.5% increase in participation. NGSA proficiency scores indicate no significant change from 2021 with a 1.2% decrease from 2021, from 32.1% to 30.9%. Overall, approximately 30% of students were proficient in NGSA.

DLM

The DLM assessments are designed for students with significant cognitive disabilities and are administered in grades 3 through 8 and 11 in ELA, math, and science. From 2021 to 2022, there was an approximate 8% increase in participation overall. The results show that in ELA there was decrease of 4.5% in the percent of students “At Target or Advanced,” in math there was a decrease of 1.9% in students “At Target or Advanced,” and in science, there was an increase of 3.3% in students “At Target or Advanced.”

ACCESS

The ACCESS assessment is administered to MLLs to examine their English-language proficiency (ELP) on a scale of 1 to 6, with 6 being the highest, in four language domains: listening, reading, speaking, and writing. Students with a composite score of 4.8 or higher are considered ready to exit MLL services. ACCESS is developed by the WIDA Consortium, which provides standardized MLL assessments to 41 states and territories. Overall, ACESS participation increased by 7.5% from 2021 and there was an increase in the percentage of students at the “Expanding” and “Bridging” levels.

A report from the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment released last spring indicated that recovering to pre-pandemic levels of student achievement in Rhode Island will require three to five years of accelerated learning. To improve academic performance and accelerate students’ learning RIDE is continuing to follow recommendations included in the Learning, Equity & Accelerated Pathways (LEAP) Task Force’s report which includes expanding access to high-quality extended learning opportunities through the All Course Network (ACN) and working with LEA leaders to review assessment results and focus Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) plans to address areas of greatest need. RIDE continues to support districts in adopting high-quality curriculum materials, and with a focus on accelerating students’ learning the agency recently launched a menu of supports to help schools launch high-impact tutoring programs.