Portland schools win a $500K foundation grant to help with 'postsecondary success'
Courtesy / Portland Public Schools
Lyseth Elementary School is part of Portland Public Schools, which have received a $500,000 grant from the Barr Foundation.
A Boston foundation has awarded the Portland Public Schools $500,000 earmarked to help prepare students for “postsecondary success.”
The Barr Foundation has part of its mission the goal of connecting “all students to success in high school and beyond.”
The three-year award to the Portland schools will bolster the district’s “Planning for Postsecondary Success for All Students” project.
The investment from Barr will allow the district to continue its work of "helping more students graduate prepared and empowered by focusing on the factors that prevent some students from reaching that goal and by providing strong transitions, high expectations, and targeted support for those off track along the way," the school district said in a news release.
Goals for the three-year time span the grant covers:
- The creation of a district “data dashboard” so administrators and teachers can understand the earliest warning signs that a student may be falling off track and needs support.
- The creation of a “Portrait of a Graduate” for each grade-level transition, designed to serve as benchmarks throughout the district for successful student outcomes at the fifth-, eighth- and 12th-grade levels.
- Improve the support for students during transitions between schools, particularly from eighth to ninth grade, by utilizing data to determine where added supports are needed and addressing disparities between some student groups.
With this grant, Barr continues its track record of support for the school district, having provided grants of $150,000 in 2018 and $150,000 in 2019.
“The Portland Public Schools is very grateful to receive this third Barr Foundation award, which allows us to continue with the important Postsecondary Success project work we began three years ago,” Superintendent Xavier Botana said. “This work will help us in achieving the equity goal in our Portland Promise. The more we understand about what students need to be successful at each stage in their education, and which students need extra support to achieve that, that will enable us to better prepare all our students for success in college and career.”
“We are proud to continue our partnership with the Portland Public Schools to support a thoughtful, data-informed transformation of the high school experience,” said Jenny Curtin, Barr’s senior program officer for education. “At Barr, we believe that every student is capable of success in and after high school. Portland’s educators have engaged deeply with issues of equity and outcomes to turn that shared belief into reality for all of their learners.”
Based in Boston, the Barr Foundation has a regional focus. It works in partnership with nonprofits, foundations, the public sector, and civic and business leaders to elevate the arts and creative expression, to advance solutions for climate change, and to connect all students to success in high school and beyond.
The Portland Public Schools is Maine’s largest school district, with 6,500 students, and is also the most diverse; nearly half of the students, 48%, are people of color. About one-third of the district’s students come from homes where languages other than English are spoken — more than 60 languages. Approximately half of PPS students qualify for free or reduced-price school meals.
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