PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island students in grades 3-8 lag well behind their counterparts in Massachusetts in math and English language arts, according to results of the Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment System released on Nov. 29.
RICAS is the state’s administration of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. The 2017-18 school year was the first for RICAS implementation.
Rhode Island scored 17 percentage points lower than Massachusetts in ELA and 20 percentage points lower in mathematics, according to the R.I. Department of Education.
In Rhode Island, proficiency in English language arts was 40 percent for grade 3, 38 percent for grade 4, 37 percent for grade 5, 34 percent for grade 6, 24 percent for grade 7 and 28 percent for grade 8. Proficiency in math was 35 percent for grade 3, 27 percent for grade 4, 27 percent for grade 5, 25 percent for grade 6, 27 percent for grade 7 and 23 percent for grade 8.
