$332K in Multilingual Learner Success Grants awarded to 10 local educational agencies

R.I. EDUCATION COMMISSIONER Angélica Infante-Green along with other education and state leaders Wednesday announced 10 local educational agencies received a total of $332,899 in Multilingual Learner Success Grants. PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

PROVIDENCE – Ten local educational agencies received a total of $332,899 in Multilingual Learner Success Grants to support high-quality instruction and family engagement, state and and educational leaders announced Wednesday.

“The learning disruption of the pandemic had a severe impact on students that have historically been underserved such as multilingual learners,” said Gov. Daniel J. McKee, who has proposed to increase multilingual learner success funding to $7.8 million in his fiscal year 2024 budget. “It is our duty to ensure that these students have the support and resources needed to get ahead – and we’re doing this by investing directly into our school communities with high-impact MLL Success Grants and a proposed increase in the MLL categorical.”

To be eligible for the grants, local educational agencies need to be committed to either building the capacity of families of multilingual learners to serve on school and district improvement teams, developing or enhancing a classroom walkthrough system, professional learning and a collaborative instruction planning system.

Rhode Island is home to about 24,000 current and former multilingual learning students who speak over 100 languages and comprise 16% of the total student population, according to the release.

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“Multilingual learners who live across Rhode Island will benefit from the investments we’re making with RIDE’s MLL Success Grants and proposing as part of Governor McKee’s RI Ready Budget,” said Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green. “In our efforts to accelerate learning statewide to improve student outcomes, we have to ensure that students most in need are not forgotten.”

Local educational agencies earning grants include:

  • International Charter School, $18,141 to enhance instructional coherence with newly adopted high-quality curricula. ICS will amplify existing partner language arts materials for its Spanish and Portuguese strands.
  • Johnston public schools, $35,108 to expand its MLL growth-focused fellowship at the middle and high schools to educators who are speakers of other languages so language and content teachers can work alongside one another to support MLLs’ educational outcomes.
  • Lincoln public schools, $21,322 to help design and implement a structured walkthrough protocol for English language arts at the middle school that builds on curriculum-embedded walkthrough tools and centers priority practices for MLLs, scaling to other content areas if successful.
  • Newport public schools, $22,446, to host wellness fairs and work with the Rhode Island Community Food Bank to bring multilingual marketplaces to Newport in partnership with the Newport Community School.
  • Nuestro Mundo, $37,899, to offer professional learning on translanguaging to dual-language educators as well as structured opportunities for collaborative planning – all designed to enhance students’ biliteracy development in partnership faculty from the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College, Nuestro Mundo and Providence public schools.
  • Pawtucket public schools, $19,150 to incorporate MLL “look-fors,” which are specific indicators of effective teaching and learning that can be observed during a classroom visit, into its classroom walkthrough protocols at Shea and Tolman high schools, conducting observations and leverage data to provide targeted coaching and professional learning on effective instructional practices for MLL with URI faculty.
  • Paul Cuffee School, $31,700, to expand its collaborative planning structures to three teams across all three schools, in addition to designing and implementing a student discourse walkthrough protocol to refine schoolwide instruction.
  • Providence Public School District, $50,000, to develop a professional learning series on MLLs for community-based organizations serving Providence youth, as well as a parent leadership network across 12 schools with the aim of elevating multilingual families’ voices to senior leadership.
  • Smithfield public schools, $47,630, to build educators’ capacity to implement evidence-based practices for MLLs through job-embedded coaching and structured collaborative planning time, drawing on practices from its summer MLL professional learning academy.
  • Woonsocket, $24,379, in partnership with URI faculty, to incorporate MLL “look-fors” into its classroom walkthrough protocols at Hamilton Elementary School and Villa Nova Middle School, conducting observations and leverage data to provide targeted coaching and professional learning on effective instructional practices for MLLs.

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