PROVIDENCE – Gov. Dan McKee and the Rhode Island Department of Education recently announced the recipients of nearly $3.8 million in Advancing Learning Beyond the 180-Day School Year grant program funding, and Burrillville was one of nine communities to receive extended funding, with a $286,900 award.
The funds are aimed to support Rhode Island communities launch or expand extended learning programming in alignment with the Governor’s Learn365RI initiative.
“Our Learn365RI grants will help us improve student outcomes across the state by empowering communities to offer more high-quality, out-of-school learning opportunities,” said McKee. “By working together with education leaders and city and town representatives, we will ensure our students have the support and resources to recover and excel academically. With these investments in our kids, we are closer to reaching our goal of 1 million hours of additional learning for the students of our state.”
In Burrillville, the funds will help provide a number of STEM related programs, tutoring, and academic support across the community through partnerships with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northern RI, Jesse Smith Memorial Library, Burrillville Prevention Action Coalition, Burrillville Extended Care and Burrillville Public Schools.
“The Learn365RI grants we have awarded are direct investments to expand access to year-round learning opportunities and accelerate learning to get our students back on track,” said Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green. “Through continued collaboration among state, municipal, school, and community leaders, we will ensure our students can thrive and our school communities continue to move forward. I congratulate all the recipients and thank them for their commitment to shifting from 180 days of learning to 365.”
The McKee Administration issued a Request for Proposal for the Advancing Learning Beyond the 180-Day School Year grant program with the long-term goal of improving student learning outcomes and increasing three key metrics: Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment System mathematics and English Language Arts scores; school attendance rates; and Free Application for Federal Student Aid completion rates.
Learn365RI grant funding will support wide-ranging efforts across the state. Other communities to receive extended grants ranging from $50,000 to $400,000 include:
- Central Falls – $394,564
- East Providence – $340,000
- Middletown – $203,445
- Newport – $345,000
- North Kingstown – $305,000
- Pawtucket – $310,000
- Smithfield – $240,000
- South Kingstown – $325,000
Standard $50,000 grant recipients include:
- Bristol
- Coventry
- East Greenwich
- Hopkinton
- Jamestown
- Lincoln
- Little Compton
- New Shoreham
- North Smithfield
- Portsmouth
- Richmond
- Scituate
- Warwick
- West Warwick
- Woonsocket
According to a release on the grants, Barrington, Cranston, Cumberland, Providence, Warren, and Westerly remain eligible to access standard grant funding and will be provided technical assistance and support from RIDE. The agency is hosting support sessions for these communities this week.
An additional $4 million in funding was approved within this year’s state budget and will be made available to provide additional support for extended learning opportunities, according to the release.
