Student Assessment

Standards, Instruction, and Student Assessment

Information found at Rhode Island Department of Education web site:
http://www.ridoe.net

The goal of all our work is to improve student performance and help all students meet or exceed a high level of performance.  Standards, instruction, and assessment intertwine to provide a system that ensures a strong education for our students.

Rhode Island has developed frameworks and guides that identify the standards upon which districts develop curricula for their schools.  The content standards define what students need to know and be able to do.  The frameworks also address teaching practices, the evaluation of student work, partnerships with parents and communities, professional development, and other issues on teaching and learning. 

Instruction -- what happens in the classroom between teachers and students -- is the core of teaching and learning.  Teachers must understand standards-based teaching and learning and be well trained to use assessment data and student work to improve their instructional practices. 

The state assessment program, closely linked to the state frameworks, requires state testing of all public school students in designated grades in English language arts, mathematics, and health.  The results of those  tests are used by schools and districts to see how their students are performing according to the state performance standards and to develop strategies to close low performance gaps.  These tests are essential to hold schools accountable in their responsibility to educate their students. All three of these deeply interconnected foundations of education reform -- standards, instruction, and student assessment -- are essential to meet our state and national goals.