PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Department of Education was awarded a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to expand work-based learning opportunities in computer science, RIDE announced Thursday.
The grant is an Education Innovation and Research grant and is expected to expand services for more than 1,000 students in Rhode Island.
The project will take place over five years and will result in the creation of computer science pathways in 20 Rhode Island schools. Student experiences will culminate in an Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles course offered to students in the 11th grade.
The use of the funds will include a research partnership to improve Gov. Gina M. Raimondo’s Computer Science for Rhode Island initiative, also known as CS4RI. The Education Development Center will partner with RIDE to look at the impact of the project on student engagement, performance on the AP test and student interest in careers in computer science.
“Over the next decade, computer science careers are expected to grow by 16%. That means Rhode Island students will have more opportunities to compete for good-paying jobs,” said Raimondo in a statement. “When students have work-based and advanced learning opportunities while they’re still in school, they are more likely to excel when they enter the workforce. We need to continue to align what students learn in the classroom with the skills they need to succeed in a 21st-century economy, and this grant will help us do just that.”
