Brown commits $10M to city students

PROVIDENCE – About 12,000 middle school and high school students in Providence will receive graphing calculators to assist them in their math and science courses next fall, thanks to an education endowment fund affiliated with Brown University.
A grant of $118,000 from the Fund for the Education of the Children of Providence will pay for the calculators, which display algebraic, graphical and numerical representations of mathematical functions so that students can understand mathematical concepts better and more quickly, fund administrators said.
The fund, which Brown said was inspired in part by a report of the university’s Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice, was created in 2007 to aid local public schools in the form of a $10 million permanent endowment managed by the Corporation of Brown University.
“Brown University feels deep pride in playing a significant role as one of the members of the state’s historic academic community to incrementally help to raise the bar for the growth and quality of Providence public education,” said Artemis A.W. Joukowsky, Brown’s chancellor emeritus and one of four members of the Brown Corporation who oversee the fund.
Brown President Ruth J. Simmons announced the grant, along with Providence Schools Supt. Thomas M. Brady, at Vartan Gregorian Elementary School this morning.
Brady said the calculators will come in handy now that the school district has adopted a new math and science curriculum starting in the fall.
“Brown’s investment in calculators as classroom technology is an important step in equipping our students with the tools to be competitive in math and science,” he said.
Additional grants of $10,000 will be awarded to Vartan Gregorian Elementary School, Roger Williams Middle School and Hope High School to support innovative classroom projects, Brown said.
Allocation of funds is determined by the Brown Corporation with input from Brady. In addition to Joukowsky, members of the Corporation oversight committee include Marie Langlois, O. Rogeriee Thompson, and Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar.
Brown said the Committee of the Fund for the Education of the Children of Providence is accepting grant proposals through June 30, in amounts of up to $10,000. Additional information is available at brown.edu.