The RIDE Early Learning team is thrilled to share with you the official release of the 2023 RI Early Learning and Development Standards (RIELDS). Beginning in the Fall of 2021, RIDE engaged stakeholders in a process to review the 2013 RIELDS. Feedback was gathered through virtual and in-person sessions, statewide surveys, and email at the onset and completion of the project. Based on the feedback, RIDE made necessary revisions in an effort to continue to align with the latest research on child development and learning, strengthen developmentally appropriate practices for learning, and support standards-aligned curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The 2023 RIELDS received endorsement from the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education on January 24, 2023.
Digital Copies (PDF) of the Standards Guide, Poster, and Family Brochure: https://rields.com/.
Print Copies are available for pick up at one of our distribution events. Complete this form to request printed standards materials for you & your program for pick-up: https://forms.gle/pFcZWFKtWVuT8gfx6.
Below are some highlights of the 2023 RIELDS:
- Expert review and revision of all domains, components, standards and examples for relevance, developmental appropriateness, and alignment.
- Rewrote the Science and Social Studies domains
- Revised Literacy & Language standards and examples for greater alignment with science of reading and structured literacy research and expectations
- Added age ranges for each milestone to reflect different ages and pages of development that children may reach at certain milestones (e.g., 0-9 months)
- Conducted a universal design review to ensure standards and examples are representative of all children
- Changed RIELDS terminology to better represent what is being conveyed (e.g., Learning Goal à Standard)
What are your next steps?
- Kindergarten Alignment Guidance (click here!): RIDE developed an updated guidance document that shows alignment between the 48-60 month standards and examples with Rhode Island’s Kindergarten and 1st Grade standards in ELA/Literacy, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies.
- Early Learning Curriculum Framework: Coming soon! This upcoming document (not published yet) will provide guidance to teachers, education coordinators, administrators, PD/TA providers, higher education on how to utilize the RIELDS to implement high quality curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Content from the Framework will be built into the content of the RIELDS PD Courses.
- RIELDS PD Revision: RIDE is currently making revisions to the content of all 7 RIELDS Professional Development Course offerings with an anticipated launch of new coursework in August, 2023. If you are currently enrolled in a course, have no fear, RIDE will host some informational “RIELDS update” sessions that will provide you with a summary of the changes we made to the RIELDS, the PD course content, and the Early Learning Curriculum Frameworks (see below).
- RIELDS and Curriculum Frameworks informational sessions: Coming soon! RIDE will host informational sessions on the 2023 RIELDS update and the launch of the Early Learning Curriculum Framework. Date is currently TBD but we will send out emails once this is scheduled.
RIDE would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all that shared their feedback on the RIELDS at any point during the revision process. Stay tuned for some of the resources and informational sessions to come.
