Official State of Rhode Island website

Governor Dan McKee RI 2030 Plan Charting a Course for the Future of the Ocean State

Expanding Year-Round Out-Of-School Learning Opportunities

Learn 365 RI. Every Home. Every Day. Learning Matters.
  • Launched the Learn365RI initiative to expand learning opportunities beyond the traditional 180-day school year and add 1 million hours of learning time across Rhode Island. Through this initiative, state, municipal, school, business, and community leaders are working toward three main goals: (1) improving English Language Arts (ELA) and math RICAS scores, (2) increasing FAFSA completion rates, and (3) reducing chronic absenteeism. Learn365RI programs have included school vacation learning camps, after-school tutoring programs, and attendance incentives— all in support of Governor McKee’s goal: “In every home, every day, learning matters.”
    • Entered into Learn365RI Municipal Compacts with 38 out of 39 Rhode Island communities who committed to expanding high-quality, year-round learning for students. The state distributed nearly $3.8 million in Advancing Learning Beyond the 180-Day School Year grants to support these endeavors. 
    • Directed $81.7 million in federal funds to help municipalities create Community Learning Centers. These centers will help foster a culture of continuous learning and contribute to the goals of adding 1 million hours of learning time per year across our state to improve educational outcomes, support workforce development efforts to increase per capita income, and encourage healthy living. The learning centers will be completed by October 31, 2026. 
    • Awarded 21 grants to municipalities, totaling nearly $4 million in federal funds, for school districts to enhance educational programming by fostering new or expanding partnerships between local education agencies (LEAs) and community-based organizations to provide after-school learning and enrichment opportunities for students in alignment with the report and recommendations of the Learning, Equity and Accelerated Pathways (LEAP) Task Force. 
    • Continued investment in the Learn365RI initiative in the FY 2025 enacted budget, providing an additional $5 million for municipal grants that support high-quality, out-of- school time programming, with an emphasis on critical skill development. Of this sum, $3 million will go toward a competitive grant application with a focus on mathematics, and $2 million will go toward startup grants to proposed Community Learning Centers. 
  • Championed an unprecedented statewide strategy to address chronic absenteeism. The Attendance Matters RI campaign is an all-hands-on-deck initiative that emphasizes the importance of daily attendance, highlights the consequences of chronic absenteeism, and energizes students, families, and educators to promote good attendance. To help identify chronic absenteeism, the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) has released new and improved data tools that track and illuminate trends to assist schools, districts, and municipal leaders statewide to develop and launch targeted interventions. 
    • Created a public website, the Student Attendance Leaderboard, that displays up- to-date absenteeism data for every Rhode Island public school. Rhode Island is the first and only state in the nation to have an online attendance board that updates daily. 
    • Reduced Rhode Island’s chronic absenteeism rate to 24.7 percent in 2023-2024, the lowest it has been since the onset of the pandemic—equaling 244,375 fewer absences than the previous school year and totaling over 1.3 million more learning hours. 
    • Lowered chronic absenteeism in 89 percent of the state’s 64 school districts from the previous year and 82 percent in Rhode Island schools. 
    • Grew Attendance Matters RI beyond the traditional stakeholders, partnering with local businesses to encourage and reward student attendance through incentives and special events. As part of this initiative, RIDE also established a Chronic Absenteeism Working Group, made up of a diverse body of partners from various sectors, including but not limited to education, health, government, business, law enforcement, and community organizations. 
  • Launched the FAFSA Support Ambassador Grant Program to provide important application assistance during the summer months, helping students navigate the financial aid process and pave the way for their success in higher education. 
    • Continued to position Rhode Island as one of the top completers of the application, ranking 7th in submissions per the United States Department of Education and 12th in completions per the National College Attainment Network in 2024. 
  • Continued to shrink the RICAS/MCAS performance gap with Massachusetts. Compared to 2020-2021 RICAS results, 2023-2024 scores closed the ELA performance gap by 34.4 percent and the math performance gap by 18.8 percent. 
  • Announced $5 million in funding for instructional coaching in mathematics and ELA; the funding is part of the FY 2025 budget. These funds will cover the hiring of 26 full- time and 9 part-time coaches for a total of 35 instructional coaches across 24 LEAs.