PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island has received a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to improve literacy, the R.I. Department of Education announced Wednesday.
The grant, a five-year Comprehensive Literacy State Development grant, will be used to help communities and local education agencies in strengthening literacy development and instruction from birth to grade 12, RIDE said.
“All students need a strong start, and this grant will help ensure that strong start, while providing continuous literacy supports throughout their educational journey,” stated Gov. Gina M. Raimondo Wednesday.
A majority of the funds will be distributed through sub-grant awards to local education agencies, including professional learning opportunities for teachers and principals. Funds will also be used to increase family engagement to increase literacy improvement at home.
“Statewide, only 36% of Rhode Island students are proficient in English language arts. In other words, the majority of students cannot read on grade level. When you look at differently abled students or multilingual learners, the numbers are even lower. We’re talking about single digits in some schools,” said Angélica Infante-Green, commissioner of elementary and secondary education, in a statement. “We can and we must do better, and this grant is going to help us do that for tens of thousands of students.”
