PPSD Awards More Than $350,000 to Directly Fund Teacher Ideas with Classroom Boost Grants
PROVIDENCE, RI – In a series of surprise classroom visits this week, Providence Public Schools awarded teachers more than $350,000 through 30 Classroom Boost Grants designed to support the school district’s transformation. Earlier this spring, individual teachers or teams of up to five teachers were invited to apply for funding to encourage deeper learning in a subject area, honor cultural diversity in the classroom and/or embed social emotional learning into the school day.
Funded Classroom Boost Grants range from $2,100 to $25,000 and include:
· Math instruction that uses baseball—and a trip to a Fenway game.
· A vending machine for books to incentivize student reading.
· An outdoor classroom that puts renewable energy and pre-engineering into action.
· Field trips to introduce newcomers to the U.S. and their local community.
See here for a full list of awardees. In order to receive funding, all proposals were required to show a direct tie to the community-designed Turnaround Action Plan for the district, and grantees must report impact metrics over the next year.
“Teachers know their students’ interests and needs best and we’re excited that with the support of these Classroom Boost Grants they’ll be able to provide Providence students enriching and unforgettable learning experiences,” said Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green.
“While we had originally set aside $250,000 in ESSER funds for Classroom Boost Grants, we were so impressed with the exciting ideas our teachers had submitted that we allocated more funding to support this initiative,” said Providence Public Schools Interim Superintendent Javier Montanez.
In fact, the district has decided to offer a second round of Classroom Boost Grants this summer for interested teachers. Round two grants are due August 25. Those teachers whose grants were not funded or only partially funded in the first round are encouraged to work with administration and resubmit for round two.
The Classroom Boost Grants are part of the PPSD Cares initiative, which collaborates with other district offices to provide unique supports and services to students, families and schools. To learn more, visit Providenceschools.org/ppsdcares.
