On November 29th, the RI Department of Education released the results the RI Comprehensive Assessment System (RICAS), administered to students in grades 3 through 8 in April. RICAS replaces PARCC and measures the same skills and standards. Students, however, are expected to perform at higher levels to achieve proficiency, resulting in a significant decrease in the percentage of students meeting and exceeding expectations throughout the state. Below are the results of the PARCC ‘17 and RICAS ‘18 assessments for Smithfield and the state.
District and (State)
Percentages of Students Meeting and Exceeding Expectations
PARCC 2017 | RICAS 2018 | |
ELA | 54(39) | 52(33) |
Math | 45(32) | 30(27) |
Student growth percentiles (SGPs) were calculated to better communicate student progress. SGPs describe a student’s growth compared to her “academic peers,” students in the same grade level who scored similarly on PARCC. For example, an SGP of 45 tells us that a student scored higher than 45 percent of her peers on RICAS. The table at right depicts the percentage of Smithfield students in each growth range.
Student Growth: Grades 4-8*
Low (<35 SGP) | Typical (35-69 SGP) | High (>69 SGP) | |
ELA | 27% | 35.5% | 37.5% |
Math | 22.5% | 34.8% | 42.7% |
*Students in grade 3 do not have growth percentiles; they did not take a state assessment in 2017.
The focus for instructional improvements this year is expected to result in a higher percentage of students meeting and exceeding expectations on the next RICAS assessment. Teachers have participated in several days of professional development using the Collins Writing approach. In addition, the district instituted common writing assessments, which allow teachers to gauge their students’ progress and determine focus areas for instruction.
Individual student score reports will be sent home during the month of December. Parents should focus on growth in addition to achievement in order to get a full picture of their child’s progress.