PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Department of Education on Wednesday released its latest Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment System exam results, which show year-to-year improved student proficiency in both math and English language arts in grades 3 through 8. Some figures are either nearing or exceeding proficiency levels that were last seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.
R.I. Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green in a Tuesday session with reporters said the new RICAS scores give the state “optimism for the future,” and to not just return to pre-pandemic levels “but do better.” But Infante-Green acknowledged there is still “a lot of work to do” to achieve high academic performances across all schools in the Ocean State.
Internal Controls & Audits: Keys to a Resilient Hospitality Business
In the fast-paced world of hospitality, where operations run 24 hours a day, 365 days…
Learn More
According to the overall statewide math results, student proficiency (meeting and exceeding expectations) on the RICAS – which was conducted in April – rose to 29.6% in 2023, an increase of 2.7 percentage points from the previous academic year. Additionally, that proficiency level is 9.5 percentage points higher than what it was in 2021.
Regarding specific districts, students in Jamestown (64.9%), East Greenwich (62.1%), Barrington (62%) and Glocester (62%) had the highest levels of meeting and exceeding expectations in math of all districts in the state. Six school districts – Cumberland, South Kingstown, Providence, Warwick, Cranston and Burrillville – had RICAS math scores that were “significantly higher” than the previous year.
Infante-Green said math was an area the state “has consistently struggled with” in student proficiency and invested “a lot of time” to get those student outcomes improved. When asked by Providence Business News what the state has invested to improve math outcomes, Infante-Green said some districts purchased “math coaches” to help students improve in math, although she didn’t identify which ones.
English language arts proficiency improved slightly statewide to 33.1% this year from 31.1% in 2022, falling just short of the 33.2% proficiency in 2021 and about 6 percentage points below pre-pandemic levels in 2019, according to the data.
Infante-Green said ELA coaches were also hired by some districts and almost all districts purchased ELA curricula that “has some components” to assist multilingual students to be better educated in English language arts. She said RIDE has been working closely with districts in moving the multilingual student population along, but it takes “more resources” to work with this particular population.
Infante-Green also said the state is “the closest it has ever been” with Massachusetts in academic performance and the “gaps are closing.”
However, the education commissioner acknowledged that the state’s schools continue to be plagued by challenges created or exacerbated by the pandemic. Urban districts continue to be among the lowest-performing across the state on the RICAS in both math and ELA, including Providence despite its year-to-year improvement.
Another challenge is chronic absenteeism, and the RICAS results note it. The RICAS data Infante-Green presented showed an 18.8-percentage-point gap in ELA proficiency between students who regularly attend school (37.4%) and those who are chronically absent (18.6%). The gap in math was worse, with a 20-percentage-point difference in proficiency between students who are in school all the time and those who are not.
“I cannot stress enough that we have to get the kids in the classroom,” Infante-Green said. “It has to take a whole-state approach [to make the positive change]. We’re hoping that the Learn365RI initiative will help. But we have to keep investing in our schools and the [student] population.”
The education commissioner remains concerned that just a third of all students across Rhode Island are proficient in math and ELA, and said the state is still not where it should be academically.
But with positive momentum showing some life, it will take additional funding, and possibly more from the state level, for such momentum to continue. Infante-Green said the state’s share of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund monies provided to states for COVID-19 recovery will run out next year.
Infante-Green said it is her hope that the R.I. General Assembly can offer additional financial assistance through budgeting to keep the positive momentum in the classroom going across Rhode Island, especially further helping districts that are still struggling. But the challenge in getting more financial help from the General Assembly, she said, is the budget is “one pot of money” and state education is in a long line of other entities seeking such needs.
“We don’t want to lose this momentum,” she said. “We want to keep moving forward. We want our education system to be the best it can be in the nation. We’re trending in that right direction. We know the General Assembly has an interest in our education system moving forward.”
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
For the sake of our children, Infante-Green, McKee and Diossa (the former CF mayor who did nothing to improve CF schools while in office) should all be removed from office.
Instead of trying to increase his own State pension, Diossa should be trying to figure out how the Treasurer’s Office can help RI public school students.