4115 RI Professional Teaching Standards
Middletown
Policy
Policies
Middletown Public Schools No. 4115
Rhode Island Professional Teaching Standards
Rhode Island Professional Teaching Standards
PREAMBLE
The Rhode Island Professional Teaching Standards (RIPTS) define what every teacher should know
and be able to do. They present an ambitious, yet achievable, vision of quality teaching, serving as a resource for aligning educators, policymakers, preparation programs, professional organizations, and the public around shared expectations for teaching excellence in Rhode Island.
Each standard is accompanied by descriptors that clarify its intent without implying any hierarchy or priority. References to “all students” genuinely encompass the diversity of student backgrounds, abilities, languages, and experiences, including Multilingual Learners and differently-abled students.
The RIPTS guide continuous professional growth and embody the expectation that educators are lifelong learners. While the standards outline essential knowledge and skills, they are not performance benchmarks; determining performance levels and assessments are tasks outside of the standards themselves.
Educator preparation programs in Rhode Island use the RIPTS to structure curriculum and assessments to ensure new teachers meet these expectations. The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) evaluates preparation programs and ties certification and recertification processes to meaningful professional learning aligned with the RIPTS and local educator needs.
School districts, unions, and administrators rely on the RIPTS to develop mentoring, induction, coaching, professional learning, and evaluation systems that support teacher development throughout their careers. The strength of the RIPTS lies in their ability to foster shared understanding and build systems that make high-quality teaching the standard.
For the RIPTS to succeed, educators must be provided with the necessary time, resources, and training. Stakeholders at every level—state, local, higher education, and professional associations—must collaborate to create supportive conditions and hold themselves accountable for enabling teachers to meet these standards.
Importantly, the RIPTS must not be misused as checklist-style assessments that reduce their holistic vision. Instead, they should drive meaningful dialogue about quality teaching, guide the development of effective support systems, and encourage shared professional responsibility.
RIDE urges Rhode Island’s educational community to embrace the RIPTS as a foundation for defining, supporting, and sustaining high-quality teaching across the state.
Standard 1: 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.
Teachers…
• Reflect a variety of academic, social, and cultural experiences in their teaching
• Use a broad content knowledge base sufficient to create interdisciplinary learning experiences designed so that all students achieve state standards
• Exhibit a commitment to learning about the changes in their disciplines and in our world that models a commitment to lifelong learning for students
• Facilitate student involvement in the school and wider communities
Standard 2: Teachers have deep content knowledge sufficient to create learning experiences that reflect an understanding of central concepts, structures, language, and tools of inquiry of the disciplines/content areas they teach.
Teachers...
• Know their discipline/content areas and understand how knowledge in their discipline/content area is created, organized, linked to other disciplines, and applied beyond the school setting
• Implement instruction that addresses the core skills, concepts, and ideas of the disciplines/content areas so that all students meet Rhode Island learning standards
• Internalize curriculum to determine instructional moves to meet students’ needs and help them meet Rhode Island’s learning standards
• Select appropriate supplemental instructional materials and resources (including technological resources) based on student need, comprehensiveness, accuracy, and usefulness for representing ideas and concepts in the discipline/content areas
• Facilitate student language to support students’ content knowledge
• Engage students in active learning utilizing a variety of explanations and multiple representations of concepts, including analogies, metaphors, experiments, demonstrations, and illustrations, that help all students develop conceptual understanding
• 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
Standards 3: Teachers create instructional opportunities that reflect an understanding of how students develop and learn.
Teachers...
• Implement instruction to engage students to build on their prior knowledge, acquire skills, develop habits of mind, and strengthen positive dispositions as they take ownership of and construct new learning
• Provide grade-level content instruction that meets the academic, linguistic, cognitive, social, and personal needs of all students
• Utilize technology to enhance student learning and development
Standard 4: 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.
Teachers...
• Design grade-level instruction and create scaffolds for individual differences (e.g., stage of development, English language acquisition, cultural background, learning differences) in approaches to learning
• Use understanding of students (e.g., language proficiency, individual interests, prior learning, cultural background, native language, experiences) to create connections between the subject matter and student experiences
• 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 all students where appropriate
• Implement appropriate accommodations and modifications for individual students who have identified learning differences or needs in an Individualized Educational Program (IEP), 504 Accommodation Plan, Personal Literacy Plans (PLP), or other approved school-based individualized learning plans (ILP)
• Draw on the cultural and language assets of Multilinguals and Multilingual Learners to engage them in rigorous academic instruction and discourse
• Integrate academic language and content and provide ongoing assessment and feedback for all students
Standard 5: Teachers create instructional opportunities to facilitate all students’ development of critical thinking, problem solving, performance skills, and literacy across content areas.
Teachers...
• Prepare for and deliver lessons that extend beyond factual recall and challenge students to
develop higher-level cognitive skills
• Pose questions that encourage students to view, analyze, and interpret ideas from multiple
perspectives
• Make instructional decisions about when to provide information, when to clarify, when to
pose a question, and when to let a student engage in productive struggle to solve a problem
• Engage students in generating knowledge, testing hypotheses, and exploring methods of inquiry and standards of evidence
• Engage students in exploration, discovery, and hands-on activities
Standard 6: Teachers create a supportive learning environment that encourages appropriate
positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
Teachers...
• Use principles of effective classroom management to establish clear classroom norms and expectations
• Establish a safe, secure, and nurturing learning environment that supports the active engagement of all students
• Provide and structure the time necessary to explore important concepts and ideas
• Facilitate a classroom environment characterized by mutual respect, intellectual risk-taking, and opportunities to develop skills in self-regulation
• Create learning environments in which all students learn to work collaboratively and independently
• Communicate clear expectations that allow all students to take responsibility and advocate for their own learning
• Apply knowledge of social-emotional learning to lessons and interactions with students to create a classroom environment of respect and rapport that promotes a positive culture for learning in which students are actively engaging and taking pride in their work
• Utilize culturally responsive pedagogy to effectively deliver instruction to engage and connect students to learning
Standard 7: 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.
Teachers...
• Work collaboratively with colleagues to examine teacher practice, student learning, and assessment to improve instruction and student outcomes
• Develop and foster partnerships with students and their families to support learning
• Understand the role of community agencies in supporting schools and work collaboratively with them as appropriate
• Incorporate social-emotional learning into their instruction and interactions with students
• Utilize culturally responsive practices during all interactions with students and families
• Engage in a multi-tiered system of support process to identify, support, and monitor student needs and progress
Standard 8: Teachers use effective communication as the vehicle through which students
explore, hypothesize, discuss, and investigate new ideas.
Teachers...
• Use a variety of communication strategies (e.g., listening, restating ideas, questioning, offering counter arguments, modeling) to engage students in learning
• Use a variety of modes of communication to promote student learning
• Use technological advances in communication to enrich discourse in the classroom and the school
• Emphasize oral and written communication through the instructional use of discussion, listening and responding to the ideas of others, student discourse, and group interaction
• Seek knowledge of and demonstrate sensitivity to the communication needs of all students and families
Standard 9: Teachers use appropriate formal and informal assessment strategies with individuals and groups of students to determine the impact of instruction on learning, provide
feedback, and plan future instruction.
Teachers...
• Select and/or design individual and group classroom assessments based on their strengths, limitations, and data provided
• Identify student and contextual variables that may influence performance so that a student’s performance can be validly interpreted
• Systematically collect, synthesize, and interpret multiple data points to monitor, improve, and report growth and achievement
• Provide students with opportunities and guidance to evaluate their own work and behavior utilizing defined criteria to establish individual learning goals
• Provide students with timely and actionable feedback on their progress toward goals
• Maintain records of student learning and communicate student progress with students, families/guardians, and colleagues
• Use student assessment data to reflect on own teaching, to inform instruction, and to construct professional development learning goals
Standard 10: Teachers reflect on their practice and assume responsibility for their own professional learning by actively seeking and participating in opportunities to learn and grow
as professionals.
Teachers...
• Utilize feedback from students, families, and colleagues, including building leaders, to reflect on and improve their own teaching
• Explore and evaluate the application of current research, instructional approaches and strategies, including technologies, to improve student learning
• Participate in and implement learning from workshops, courses, or other individual and collaborative professional learning activities that support their plans for continued development
• Take responsibility for learning about and implementing federal, state, district, and school initiatives to improve teaching and learning
Standard 11: Teachers maintain professional standards guided by legal and ethical principles.
Teachers...
• Maintain standards that require them to act in the best interests and needs of students
• Follow district/school policies and procedures, respecting the boundaries of their professional responsibilities, when working with students, colleagues, and families
• Follow local, state, and federal law pertaining to educational and instructional issues, including regulations related to students’, families’/guardians’, and teachers’ rights and responsibilities
• Interact with students, colleagues, families, and others in a professional manner that is fair and equitable
• Are guided by codes of professional conduct adopted by their professional organizations
• Use, store, and share data appropriately
Rhode Island Department of Education - Effective June 2025
*(This was formerly Policy #4120) *
1st Reading – February 11, 2010
2nd Reading – March 18, 2010
Review - April 16, 2026
3 Year Review Due - April 2029