Utah State Board of Education details RISE ELA changes, adds cluster items; writing benchmark field test needs thousands of student essays

Megan Lopez, secondary English language arts assessment specialist at the Utah State Board of Education, told educators in a recorded training that the RISE English language arts (ELA) summative for grades 3–8 will be aligned only to reading standards, include at least one cluster item for every student, and require a standard-setting exercise this summer with scores released in fall 2025.

The change matters because clusters are multipart, stimulus‑based items designed to let students choose an analytical path and provide connected evidence. Staff walking educators through the training test said every student will see three traditional reading passages plus one cluster on the operational summative; training tests and optional benchmarks will be posted on the RISE portal so teachers and students can practice the new item types.

Staff described the testing timeline and scoring rules. The state’s required summative assessment remains the end‑of‑year reading test in grades 3–8 and writing only in grades 5 and 8; benchmarks are optional under state law. The RISE operational field test will run this spring, item development and data review will follow, the standard‑setting meeting is scheduled for summer 2025, and scores will be released in fall 2025 after cut scores are approved. Because cut scores are not yet set, there will be no automatic scaled scores available this spring; staff called this a normal part of transitioning to the revised standards and item types.

Teresa McIntyre, assessment development coordinator, said benchmark materials will be available Feb. 18. Reading benchmarks and cluster reading benchmarks will be scored on a raw‑score basis this year, but writing benchmarks will not receive automatic scoring in 2025 because the state needs a large set of hand‑scored student essays to train an automated scoring engine. “We need 5,000 students per essay to participate in order to have enough essays to train our scoring engine,” McIntyre said. She added the writing benchmark field test will be open Feb. 18 through June 6 and encouraged individual teachers and LEAs to register to participate; a registration survey link was posted in the chat during the webinar.

Presenters walked attendees through the training test interface and cluster examples. Megan Lopez explained clusters as a “choose‑your‑own‑adventure” design: the entry question directs a student to select a focus (for example, which character to analyze), and subsequent items require evidence and reasoning tied to that selection. Staff said clusters typically include five to seven parts, with some parts containing multiple interactions; total interactions usually cap at about 11–12. The training tests are not secure and may be projected in class for practice; benchmarks are secure and must be administered per local LEA guidance.

Staff also introduced updated core guides and performance level descriptors (PLDs) aligned to the 2023 Utah ELA standards, noting the standards review is statutorily required and that several reading and language standards were reorganized. The PLDs will be used during standard setting to help define cut points for proficiency levels. Presenters urged educators to use the academic language of the standards in class so students encounter the same terms on the test.

The webinar ended with links to the RISE portal training tests, core guides, PLDs and the writing benchmark registration survey; presenters said the session will be posted to the board’s assessment YouTube page and offered email contact for follow‑up questions.