200 R.I. Code R. 200-RICR-20-20-1.3

Current through October 15, 2024

Section 200-RICR-20-20-1.3 - Rhode Island Professional Educator Standards

1.3.1Educator Standards

A. RIDE has established teaching and leadership standards, as well as a code of professional responsibility for educators in Rhode Island.

1. Rhode Island Professional Teaching Standards.

2. Rhode Island Standards for Educational Leadership.

3. Rhode Island Code of Professional Responsibility.

1.3.2Rhode Island Professional Teaching Standards

A. Teachers create learning experiences using a broad base of general knowledge that reflects an understanding of the nature of the communities and world in which we live.

1. Reflect a variety of academic, social, and cultural experiences in their teaching.

2. Use a broad content knowledge base sufficient to create interdisciplinary learning experiences designed to ensure that all students achieve state standards for content and achievement.

3. Exhibit a commitment to learning about the changes in their disciplines and in our world that models a commitment to lifelong learning for students.

4. Facilitate student involvement in the school and wider communities.

B. Teachers have a deep content knowledge base sufficient to create learning experiences that reflect an understanding of central concepts, structures, and tools of inquiry of the disciplines/content areas they teach.

1. Know their discipline/content and understand how knowledge in their discipline is created, organized, and linked to other disciplines and applied beyond the school setting.

2. Design instruction that addresses the core skills, concepts, and ideas of the disciplines/content areas to help all students meet Rhode Island's learning standards.

3. Select appropriate instructional materials and resources (including technological resources) based on their comprehensiveness, accuracy, and usefulness for representing particular ideas and concepts in the discipline/content areas.

4. Engage students in a variety of explanations and multiple representations of concepts, including analogies, metaphors, experiments, demonstrations, and illustrations, that help all students develop conceptual understanding.

5. Represent and use differing viewpoints, theories, and methods of inquiry when teaching concepts and encourage all students to see, question, and interpret concepts from a variety of perspectives.

C. Teachers create instructional opportunities that reflect an understanding of how children learn and develop.

1. Understand how students use their prior knowledge to construct knowledge, acquire skills, develop habits of mind, and acquire positive dispositions toward learning.

2. Design instruction that meets the current cognitive, social, and personal needs of their students.

3. Create age-appropriate lessons and activities that meet the variety of developmental levels of students within a class.

D. Teachers create instructional opportunities that reflect a respect for the diversity of learners and an understanding of how students differ in their approaches to learning.

1. Design instruction that accommodates individual differences in approaches to learning.

2. Use their understanding of students to create connections between the subject matter and student experiences.

3. Seek information about the impact of students' specific challenges to learning or disabilities on classroom performance, and work with specialists to develop alternative instructional strategies to meet the needs of these students where appropriate.

4. Make appropriate accommodations and modifications for individual students who have identified learning differences or needs in an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP), 504 Accommodation Plan, Personal Literacy Plans (PLPs), or other approved school-based individualized learning plans (ILPs).

E. Teachers create instructional opportunities to encourage students' development of critical thinking, problem solving, performance skills, and literacy across content areas.

1. Design lessons that extend beyond factual recall and challenge students to develop higher-level cognitive skills.

2. Pose questions that encourage students to view, analyze, and interpret ideas from multiple perspectives.

3. Make instructional decisions about when to provide information, when to clarify, when to pose a question, and when to let a student struggle to try to solve a problem.

4. Engage students in generating knowledge, testing hypotheses, and exploring methods of inquiry and standards of evidence.

5. Use tasks that engage students in exploration, discovery, and hands-on activities.

F. Teachers create a supportive learning environment that encourages appropriate standards of behavior, positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.

1. Use principles of effective classroom management to establish classrooms in which clear rules and standards of behavior are maintained.

2. Establish a safe, secure, and nurturing learning environment that supports the active engagement of all students.

3. Provide and structure the time necessary to explore important concepts and ideas.

4. Help students establish a classroom environment characterized by mutual respect and intellectual risk-taking.

5. Create learning groups in which all students learn to work collaboratively and independently.

6. Communicate clear expectations for achievement that allow students to take responsibility and advocate for their own learning.

G. Teachers work collaboratively with all school personnel, families, and the broader community to create a professional learning community and environment that supports the improvement of teaching, learning, and student achievement.

1. Work collaboratively with their colleagues to examine teacher practice, student work, and student assessment results with the goal of improving instruction and achievement.

2. Develop relationships with students and their families to support learning.

3. Understand the role of community agencies in supporting schools and work collaboratively with them as appropriate.

H. Teachers use effective communication as the vehicle through which students explore, conjecture, discuss, and investigate new ideas.

1. Use a variety of communication strategies to engage students in learning.

2. Use a variety of modes of communication to promote learning.

3. Use technological advances in communication, including electronic means of collecting and sharing information, to enrich discourse in the classroom and the school.

4. Emphasize oral and written communication through the instructional use of discussion, listening, and responding to the ideas of others and group interaction.

5. Seek knowledge of and demonstrate sensitivity to the particular communication needs of all students.

I. Teachers use appropriate formal and informal assessment strategies with individuals and groups of students to determine the impact of instruction on learning, to provide feedback, and to plan future instruction.

1. Select and/or design individual and group classroom assessments based on the strengths, limitations, and data provided by the assessment.

2. Identify and consider student and contextual variables that may influence performance so that a student's performance can be validly interpreted.

3. Systematically collect, synthesize, and interpret assessment results from multiple assessments to monitor, improve, and report individual and group achievement.

4. Provide students with opportunities and guidance to evaluate their own work and behavior against defined criteria and use the results of self-assessment to establish individual goals for learning.

5. Use assessment results to provide students with timely, helpful, and accurate feedback on their progress toward achievement goals.

6. Maintain records of student learning and communicate student progress to students, parents/guardians, and other colleagues.

7. Use information from their assessment of students to reflect on their own teaching, to modify their instruction and to help establish professional development goals.

J. Teachers reflect on their practice and assume responsibility for their own professional development by actively seeking and participating in opportunities to learn and grow as professionals.

1. Solicit feedback from students, families, and colleagues to reflect on and improve their own teaching.

2. Explore and evaluate the application of current research, instructional approaches and strategies, including technologies to improve student learning.

3. Take responsibility for their own professional development and improvement of their students' learning by participating in workshops, courses, or other individual and collaborative professional development activities that support their plans for continued development as teachers.

4. Take responsibility for learning about and implementing federal, state, district, and school initiatives to improve teaching and learning.

K. Teachers maintain professional standards guided by legal and ethical principles.

1. Maintain standards that require them to act in the best interests and needs of students.

2. Follow school policy and procedures, respecting the boundaries of their professional responsibilities, when working with students, colleagues, and families.

3. Follow local, state, and federal law pertaining to educational and instructional issues, including regulations related to students', parents'/guardians', and teachers' rights and responsibilities.

4. Interact with students, colleagues, parents, and others in a professional manner that is fair and equitable.

5. Are guided by codes of professional conduct adopted by their professional organizations.

1.3.3Rhode Island Standards for Educational Leaders

A. Standard 1. Mission, Vision, and Core Values - Effective educational leaders collaboratively develop, advocate, and enact a shared mission, vision, and core values of high-quality education and academic success and social and emotional well-being of each student.

1. Effective Leaders:

a. Collaboratively develop a mission for the district/school to promote the academic success and social and emotional well-being of each student.

b. Develop and promote a vision for the district/school, in collaboration with members of the school community, on the successful learning and development of each child and on instructional and organizational practices that promote such practices.

c. Articulate, advocate, and cultivate core values that define the district's/school's culture and stress the imperative of child-centered education; high expectations and student support; equity, inclusiveness, and social justice; openness, caring, and trust; and continuous improvement.

d. Continuously review the district's/school's mission and vision and make adjustments to changing expectations and opportunities for the school, and changing needs and situations of students.

e. Develop a shared understanding of and commitment to the mission, vision, and core values within the district/school and the community.

f. Model and pursue the district's/school's mission, vision, and core values as fundamental in all aspects of leadership.

B. Standard 2. Ethics and Professional Responsibilities - Effective educational leaders act ethically and in accordance with professional standards to promote each student's academic success and social and emotional well-being.

1. Effective Leaders:

a. Act ethically and professionally in personal conduct, relationships with others, decision making, stewardship of the school's resources, and all aspects of school leadership.

b. Act according to and promote the professional traits of integrity, fairness, transparency, trust, collaboration, perseverance, learning, and continuous improvement.

c. Place the needs of children at the center of all educational decision making and accept responsibility for each student's academic and social and emotional success.

d. Safeguard and promote the values of democracy, individual freedom and responsibility, equity, social justice, community, and diversity.

e. Lead with interpersonal and communication skill, social-emotional insight, and understanding of all students' and staff members' backgrounds and cultures.

f. Provide moral direction for the district/school community and promote expected ethical and professional behavior among all staff and district/school community members.

C. Standard 3. Equity and Cultural Responsiveness - Effective educational leaders ensure equity of educational opportunity and culturally responsive practices to promote each student's academic success and social and emotional well-being.

1. Effective Leaders:

a. Act with cultural competence and responsiveness in all interactions, decision making, and practice and ensure that each student, staff member, and school community member is treated fairly, respectfully, and with an understanding of culture and context.

b. Recognize, respect, and employ each student's strengths, diversity, and culture as assets for teaching and learning.

c. Ensure that each student has equitable access to effective teachers, learning opportunities, academic and social support, and other resources necessary for success.

d. Develop student policies and address student behavior in a positive, fair, and unbiased manner.

e. Confront and challenge institutional biases of student marginalization, deficit-based schooling, and low expectations associated with race, socio-economic status, culture and language, gender and sexual orientation, and disability or special status.

f. Prepare students to live productively in and contribute to the diverse cultural contexts of a global society.

g. Consider and address matters of equity and cultural responsiveness in all aspects of leadership.

D. Standard 4. Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment - Effective educational leaders develop and support intellectually rigorous and coherent systems of curriculum, instruction, and assessment to promote each student's academic success and social and emotional well-being.

1. Effective Leaders:

a. Implement coherent systems of curriculum, instruction, and assessment that promote the mission, vision, and core values of the school, embody high expectations for student learning, align with academic standards, and are culturally responsive.

b. Align and focus systems of curriculum, instruction, and assessment within and vertically across grade levels to promote student academic success, love of learning, the identities and habits of learners, and a healthy sense of self.

c. Facilitate instructional practice that is consistent with knowledge of student learning and development, effective pedagogy, and individual student needs.

d. Ensure instructional practices that are intellectually challenging, are authentic to student experiences, recognize student strengths, and are differentiated and personalized.

e. Promote and facilitate the effective use of technology in service of teaching and learning.

f. Develop and utilize multiple valid assessments that are consistent with knowledge of learning and development and technical standards of measurement to monitor student progress and improve instruction.

g. Use assessment data appropriately and with technical limitations to monitor student progress and improve instruction.

E. Standard 5. Community of Care and Support for Students-Effective educational leaders cultivate an inclusive, caring, and supportive school community that promotes the academic success and the social and emotional well-being of each student.

1. Effective Leaders:

a. Build and maintain a safe, caring, and healthy school environment that meets the academic, social emotional, and physical needs of each student.

b. Create and sustain a school environment in which each student is known, accepted and valued, trusted and respected, cared for, and encouraged to be an active and responsible member of the school community.

c. Develop and lead coherent systems of academic and social supports, services, extracurricular activities, and accommodations to meet the range of learning needs of each student.

d. Endorse and foster adult-student, student-peer, and school-community relationships that value and support academic learning and positive social and emotional development.

e. Cultivate and reinforce student engagement and leadership and positive student behavior.

f. Infuse the district's/school's learning environment with the cultures and languages of the community.

F. Standard 6. Professional Capacity of School Personnel - Effective educational leaders, in collaboration with stakeholders, develop the professional capacity and practice of school personnel to promote each student's academic success and well-being.

1. Effective Leaders:

a. Recruit, hire, support, develop, and retain effective and caring teachers and other professional staff and ensure their development into an educationally effective faculty.

b. Plan for and manage staff turnover and succession, providing opportunities for effective induction and mentoring of personnel.

c. Develop teachers' and staff members' professional knowledge, skills, and instructional practice through differentiated opportunities for learning and growth, guided by an understanding of adult professional learning and development of adults as professional and ongoing learners.

d. Deliver actionable feedback about instruction and other professional practice through valid, research-anchored systems of supervision and evaluation to support the development of teachers' and staff members' knowledge, skills, and practice.

e. Empower and motivate teachers and staff to the highest levels of professional practice and to continuous learning and improvement.

f. Develop the leadership capacity, opportunities, and support for teacher leadership and for other professionals in the district.

g. Promote the personal and professional health, well-being, and work-life balance of faculty and staff.

h. Tend to their own learning and effectiveness through reflection, study, and improvement, while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

G. Standard 7. Professional Community for Teachers and Staff - Effective educational leaders foster a professional community of teachers and other professional staff to promote each student's academic success and social and emotional well-being.

1. Effective Leaders:

a. Support a workplace culture that is open, productive, caring, and trusting.

b. Develop a culture for professional staff that promotes the improvement of practice through research and effective professional learning and promotes high levels of student learning.

c. Empower and entrust teachers and staff with collective responsibility for meeting the academic, social, emotional, and physical needs of each student, pursuant to the mission, vision, and core values of the district/school.

d. Establish and sustain a professional culture of engagement and commitment to shared vision, goals, and objectives pertaining to the education of the whole child; high expectations for professional work; ethical and equitable practice; trust and open communication; collaboration, collective efficacy, and continuous individual and organizational learning and improvement.

e. Ensure mutual accountability among teachers and other professional staff for each student's success and the effectiveness of the school as a whole.

f. Design and implement job-embedded and other opportunities for professional learning collaboratively with faculty and staff.

g. Provide opportunities for collaborative examination of practice, collegial feedback, and collective learning.

h. Enable faculty-initiated improvement of programs and practices.

H. Standard 8. Meaningful Engagement of Families and Community - Effective educational leaders engage families and the community in meaningful, reciprocal, and mutually beneficial ways to promote each student's academic success and well-being.

1. Effective Leaders:

a. Are approachable, accessible, and welcoming to families and members of the community.

b. Create and sustain positive, collaborative, and productive relationships with families and the community for the benefit of students.

c. Engage in regular and open two-way communication with families and the community about the district/school, students, needs, problems, challenges, and accomplishments.

d. Maintain a presence in the community to understand its strengths and needs, develop productive relationships, and engage its resources for the district/school.

e. Create means for the school community to partner with families to support student learning in and out of school.

f. Understand, value, and employ the community's cultural, intellectual, and political resources to promote student learning and school empowerment.

g. Openly advocate for the district and school, and for the importance of education and student needs and priorities with families and the community.

h. Build and sustain productive partnerships with public and private sectors to promote school improvement and student earning.

I. Standard 9. Operations and Management - Effective educational leaders manage school operations and resources to promote each student's academic success and well-being.

1. Effective Leaders:

a. Institute, manage, and monitor operations and administrative systems that promote the mission and vision of the district/school.

b. Strategically manage staff resources, assigning and scheduling educators and staff to roles and responsibilities that optimize their professional capacity to address each student's learning needs.

c. Acquire and manage fiscal, physical environment, and other resources to support curriculum, instruction, and assessment; student learning; professional capacity; and family and community engagement.

d. Act responsibly and in an ethical manner with the district's/school's monetary and nonmonetary resources, engaging in effective budgeting, spending, and accounting practices.

e. Protect teachers' and other staff members' work and learning from disruption and create an environment where students are able to learn.

f. Employ systems to improve the quality and efficiency of operations and management.

g. Develop and maintain data and communication systems to deliver actionable information for classroom and school improvement.

h. Know, comply with, and help the district/school community understand local, state, and federal laws, rights, policies, and regulations so as to promote student success.

i. Develop productive professional relationships with the district office staff, school staff, and the School Board so as to promote effective transitions and student success.

j. Develop and administer systems for fair and equitable management of conflict among students, faculty and staff, leaders, families, and community.

k. Manage governance processes and internal and external politics toward achieving the district's/school's mission and vision.

J. Standard 10. School Improvement - Effective educational leaders act as agents of continuous improvement to promote each student's academic success and well-being.

1. Effective Leaders:

a. Continuously seek to make school more effective for each student, teachers and staff, families, and the community.

b. Use methods of continuous improvement to achieve the vision, fulfill the mission, and promote the core values of the school.

c. Prepare the district/school and community for improvement, promoting readiness, an imperative for improvement, instilling mutual commitment and accountability, and developing the knowledge, skills, and motivation to succeed in improvement.

d. Employ situationally appropriate strategies for improvement, including transformational and incremental, adaptive approaches and attention to different phases of implementation.

e. Assess and develop the capacity of staff to determine the value and applicability of emerging educational trends and the findings of research for the school and its improvement.

f. Adopt a system's perspective and promote coherence among improvement efforts and all aspects of the district/school organization, programs, and services.

g. Develop technically appropriate systems of data collection, management, analysis, and use, connecting as needed to the district office and external partners for support in planning, implementation, monitoring, feedback, and evaluation.

h. Manage uncertainty, risk, competing initiatives, and politics of change with courage, resilience, and perseverance. Openly communicate the need for the process of and outcomes of improvement efforts.

i. Develop and promote systems of shared leadership among teachers and staff for inquiry, experimentation, innovation, and initiating and implementing improvement.

1.3.4Rhode Island Code of Professional Responsibility

A. Section 1. Responsibility to Students

1. Rhode Island educators' first commitment is to ensure that all students achieve at the high levels needed to lead fulfilling and productive lives, to succeed in academic and employment settings, and to contribute to society.

2. Rhode Island educators shall:

a. Respect the inherent dignity and worth of each student.

b. Act upon the belief that all students can learn.

c. Establish high expectations and provide instruction that challenges all students.

d. Recognize the differences among students and provide the appropriate educational supports and instructional differentiation responsive to individual needs.

e. Address the uniqueness of each student and endeavor to maximize learning through personalization of the educational experience for each student.

f. Promote the right and responsibility of students to explore ideas, to develop skills, and to acquire knowledge necessary to be contributing members of society.

g. Endeavor to present facts and provide access to all points of view without deliberate distortion, bias, or personal prejudice.

h. Assure that their classrooms are environments characterized by respect for and equal opportunity for all students, regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, language, gender, religion, economic status, disability, or sexual orientation.

i. Promote the development of character and civic responsibility in their students.

j. Maintain confidentiality of all student information and dispense that information only when required by professional practice or state or federal law.

k. Maintain a professional relationship with students at all times, both in and outside the classroom.

B. Section 2. Responsibility to Self

1. Rhode Island educators are committed to establishing high professional standards for their practice and striving to meet these standards through their individual performance.

2. Rhode Island educators shall:

a. Assume responsibility and accountability for their performance and continually strive to demonstrate proficiency and currency in both subject matter knowledge and teaching skills.

b. Develop personal and professional goals with attention to professional standards, student achievement, and school district initiatives and implement a course of professional development to support attaining the goals.

c. Actively engage in professional learning communities and seek feedback in order to improve their performance.

d. Examine their practice on a regular basis to expand their knowledge base, broaden their skills, and incorporate new ideas.

e. Pursue only those educational positions or assignments for which they have the appropriate educational certification and credentials and for which they have appropriate professional qualification.

f. Strive to exercise the highest level of professional judgment.

g. Refrain from using institutional or professional privileges for personal advantage.

C. Section 3. Responsibility to Colleagues and the Profession

1. Rhode Island educators are committed to work with school and district colleagues and as members of professional communities to establish and implement initiatives that will further student learning.

2. Rhode Island educators shall:

a. Work effectively with other professionals on curriculum development, instructional initiatives, assessment programs, and professional development.

b. Assume responsibility for working with colleagues to assure their school meets local and state educational objectives.

c. Encourage and support staffing decisions that are made based on the best interests of students.

d. Collaborate with others to improve student learning.

e. Support colleagues in developing and maintaining a work environment that allows all educators to maintain their individual professional integrity free of pressure to act in ways that are not in the best interests of students.

f. Encourage the participation of teachers in the process of educational decision making.

g. Encourage promising candidates who are interested in education to learn about the opportunities and the challenges of a career in education and support those who pursue careers through informal induction into the profession as they develop the competence and qualifications to become effective educators.

h. Maintain integrity regarding the acceptance of any gratuity, gift or other compensation that might impair or influence professional decisions or actions.

D. Section 4. R esponsibility to Parents, Families, and the Community

1. Rhode Island educators are committed to collaborate with parents, families, and communities to offer a quality education to all students.

2. Rhode Island educators shall:

a. Make concerted efforts to communicate with parents and families in a way that shares all information necessary to become meaningful partners in the child's education.

b. Endeavor to understand and respect the values and traditions of the diverse cultures represented in their community and in their classrooms.

c. Endeavor to assure equal educational opportunities for all children in the community.

d. Cooperate with community agencies that provide resources and services to support students.

e. Maintain a positive and active relationship with students' parents/guardians, families, and other members of the community.

f. Distinguish between their personal opinion and official policies of the school or educational organization when communicating with parents/guardians, families, and the community.

E. Section 5. Responsibility to the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education

1. Rhode Island educators demonstrate a commitment to Rhode Island standards for educator quality through certification requirements and support for the implementation of state initiatives within their districts.

2. Rhode Island educators shall:

a. Provide accurate, truthful, and complete information to RIDE concerning all certification matters.

b. Recognize that meeting certification requirements is a pre-condition to any contractual agreement for a position that requires certification in Rhode Island schools.

c. Engage in ongoing appropriate professional development for all certificates they intend to maintain.

d. Accept only those assignments for which they are professionally qualified and hold appropriate certification unless the educator and the district have agreed to the assignment and the district has secured prior approval from RIDE.

e. Develop an understanding of state initiatives and support the implementation of these initiatives within their schools and districts.

f. Maintain the security of standardized testing materials that comprise state assessment programs.

g. Further the mission, policies, and regulations of the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education.

200 R.I. Code R. 200-RICR-20-20-1.3

Adopted effective 1/7/2019
Amended effective 9/24/2020