5 Insights Into the RICAS Testing Results - See All The Rankings

GoLocalProv News Team

5 Insights Into the RICAS Testing Results - See All The Rankings

RI Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green PHOTO: LPR
State officials are trying to put the best spin on the RICAS scores released on Wednesday, but Rhode Island continues to lag its own pre-pandemic scores -- a 14% decrease in English Language Arts (ELA) and a 1% drop in math.

The RICAS scores increased slightly over last year’s abysmal results by 2% in ELA and 2.7% in Math.

“Rhode Island is committed to improving student outcomes and the latest RICAS results show that with our focus on accelerating learning statewide, we are on the right track,” said Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green. 

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SEE ALL THE DISTRICT RESULTS BELOW

 

Here are five takeaways:

1. Providence schools, under state control for the past three years, saw ELA results show little improvement in the past year. The number of students "not meeting expectations" or "partially meeting expectations" in 2021-2022 was 86.9% combined. In 2022-2023, the number was 84.9%. The math RICAS score saw a similar minor improvement.

 

2. Central Falls School District has been under state control for 30 years, and it reported that 92.9% of students are "not meeting expectations" or "partially meeting expectations." They reported no math scores.

According to RIDE, the three possible reasons why that occurs are the following: 

Data is suppressed to ensure confidentiality because the minimum reporting size requirement (10 students) is not met.

Data is suppressed to ensure confidentiality because greater than 95% of students did not meet expectations.

Data is suppressed to ensure confidentiality because greater than 95% of students met or exceeded expectations.

 

3. Newport's scores were equally poor. The combined "not meeting expectations" or "partially meeting expectations" are 87.8% for ELA and 88% for math.

 

4. Johnston's Mayor Joseph Polisena Jr. recently turned down additional funding and refused to join Governor Dan McKee's 365RI initiative. He saw his district's score decrease for math -- the RICAS math score for 2021-2022 fell from 78.3%, "not meeting expectations" or "partially meeting expectations" to 79.1%. The ELA scores remained nearly the same.

 

5. Charter school performances ranged dramatically; Kingston Hill Academy was one of the best performing in the state, and Nuestro Mundo Public Charter was an underperformer.

“The 2023 RICAS results show that Rhode Island schools continue to move in the right direction as we work to improve achievement and meet our 2030 goals with our Learn365RI initiative,” said McKee. “Our students can perform at high levels, and we must stay the course and make sure our school communities have the support and resources to thrive. I thank the teachers, school leaders, and families who have worked hard to ensure students recover academically and are on paths to success.”   

SEE ALL THE DISTRICT RESULTS BELOW

First published: October 18, 2023 8:02 AM

Updated: October 18, 2023 11:23 AM


RICAS Scores for Each School District 2022-2023

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