Beginning with the 2025 summative assessments, RISE ELA and math question items will be presented to students in a cluster format, similar to the RISE Science assessment. Cluster questions will appear in summative assessments for all grade levels in both content areas. Beginning Feb. 18, cluster questions will also be available on the RISE Benchmarks for both ELA and math.
For RISE ELA, students will be presented with reading passages and will be required to answer several sections or clusters of questions that are both related to the passages and to each other. For example, a student will be asked to identify a main idea from the story in one question. Then another question will ask students to select sentences from the passage that support their answer to the first question. In addition, students will be presented with a variety of question types, including multiple choice, multi-selection, sentence selections, drop-down menus, tables, timelines, etc.
Similarly for RISE math, students will be presented with a math task accompanied by several sections or clusters of questions. Question items may be multiple choice, multi-select, drop-down menus, inputting numbers or equations, drag and drop, graphing/plotting, etc.
For a sample of how question items will work, please refer to the Training Tests on the RISE Portal. Please see these step-by-step instructions for accessing the Training Tests.
Teachers are strongly encouraged to set apart some instructional time to allow students to practice this new question format by using the Training Tests in the RISE Portal. Teachers are also encouraged to administer the RISE Benchmarks to students. There are several benefits to administering the RISE Benchmarks, besides just practicing how to use the testing platform:
- RISE Benchmarks typically take less than 20 minutes to administer.
- Teachers can preview the question items in the Benchmark Previewing module on the RISE Portal, making it easier to include the benchmarks as part of the instructional process.
- Teachers may view individual student results, results by question item, and aggregated results in the RISE reporting suite on the RISE Portal.
- Teachers will have evidence of how students perform on individual standards at the rigor level of the RISE summative assessment.
For questions about the RISE assessment, please contact Ben Jameson or Kassidy Towery in Assessment, Research & Accountability.