The Rhode Island Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education and the State Legislature place a major emphasis on the critical importance of literacy proficiency for all students.  This commitment, on the part of the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (RIDE) and the State of Rhode Island, requires districts to focus intensely on PreK-12 Literacy curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

Literacy instruction should reflect confirmed scientific research about literacy development, intervention, and the prevention of reading difficulties.  It should be designed to meet individual student needs by being accessible, flexible, and engaging.  This instruction incorporates strategies, methods, and resources that ensure literacy success for all through use of best practice about how students best develop literacy, and how successful programs work to ensure that virtually every student attains proficiency.

In addition, literacy instruction is required beyond the primary years to include a focus on literacy acquisition through grade 12.  The belief that students need literacy instruction only in the early grades is being reshaped by the research that literacy learning is an on-going process.  Most students refine and rethink their reading preferences during the middle and high school years.  They become increasingly more sophisticated readers of informational text and establish their own foundation for lifelong reading habits.  Therefore, all content area teachers must provide and reinforce instruction of literacy skills and strategies that are effective in their subject area.

Rhode Island currently has the following literacy initiatives and policies in place to assist LEAs:

• All Rhode Island school districts are expected to utilize this 2005 Rhode Island PreK-12 Literacy Policy to serve as the foundation for their literacy efforts, to use proven practices, and to maintain congruence among and across curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
• Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) and Grade Span Expectations (GSEs) have been developed in Reading and Written and Oral Communication to define what students should know and be able to for curriculum, instruction and assessment purposes.  In order to ensure alignment with Grade Level Expectations (GLEs), Grade Span Expectations (GSEs), and research based practices, all districts need to develop/revise their curriculum, instruction, and assessment periodically to meet these needs.
• A Personal Literacy Plan (PLP) is a plan of action used to accelerate a student’s learning in order to move toward grade level reading proficiency.  Personal Literacy Plan Guidelines have been developed to assist educators in this endeavor.
• The Rhode Island Reading First Program’s purpose is to ensure that all children learn to read well by the end of third grade.  Quite simply, Reading First focuses on what works. The program supports proven methods of early reading instruction in classrooms.

Other literacy reports and resources:

• Literacy Resources for Teachers from the Rhode Island Statewide Curriculum Web Site
• RISWC: Literacy Resources for Students from the Rhode Island Statewide Curriculum Web Site
• RISWC: Literacy Resources for Families from the Rhode Island Statewide Curriculum Web Site
• Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI): REL-NEI's recently published report about states' efforts to improve adolescent literacy highlights Rhode Island’s adolescent literacy policies and practices.  The mission of REL-NEI is to help PreK-16 educators at the state, district, and school levels increase their use of scientifically based evidence to make decisions that lead to improved student achievement and reduced performance gaps among student groups.  REL-NEI serves Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.