GREENFIELD — Greenfield-Central schools recently received two major grants from the Indiana Department of Education, one for reading and the other for robotics.
Last week, the school system was awarded a $405,000 Science of Reading grant from the IDOE’s Literacy Center.
The system was also awarded a $43,000 robotics grant to support its school robotics programs.
Devon Marine, the corporation’s Elementary Curriculum Director, said the latter grant will enable those schools with robotics programs — the high school, junior high school and Maxwell Intermediate School — to purchase materials to expand their programs.
The grant was focused on the upper level schools, he said, since Greenfield-Central’s elementary schools don’t yet have robotics programs.
The Science of Reading grant, however, focuses on the elementary schools.
Robin LeClaire, the corporation’s Director of Student Services, said the grant will enable the school system to buy curriculum materials and improve professional services.
Greenfield-Central was among 72 recipients to win the competitive literacy grant, which is designed to support state-accredited schools that serve students in kindergarten through third grade, and whose educators are driven to teach in line with Indiana’s Priorities for Early Literacy.
Those priorities, listed on the IDOE website, states that literacy is a “fundamental part of the human experience” which “empowers individuals to learn and self-advocate.”
LeClaire said the sizeable literacy grant will help the school district grow literacy skills in its youngest learners.
“We’re looking forward to meeting the goal that the state has set for us for 95% of students passing I-READ by 2027,” she said, referring to a third grade reading assessment. “We’re hoping to hit that 95% passing percentage prior to the state’s expectation of 2027.”
