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Providence Schools Forward

Future-Ready Schools:

Efficient District Systems

A school building and the systems that support it send a powerful message about what a community believes its children deserve.

Across Providence, a historic investment in school facilities is replacing and renovating buildings that were once failing with spaces designed for how today’s students learn: flexible, technology-ready, welcoming, and built to support the whole child. These schools are being reimagined not only as places for learning, but as centers of community life where students, families, and neighborhoods can gather, connect, and thrive. By 2030, every student in the district will attend a new or fully renovated school.

A map of Providence showing locations

School Improvements

Providence Public Schools (PPSD) is leading one of the most significant school modernization efforts in Rhode Island’s history, transforming aging facilities into safe, modern, and inspiring learning environments. RIDE has worked in close collaboration with PPSD to invest $1 billion in school facilities, with the goal that by 2030 every PPSD student will have access to a new or like-new school. These schools feature updated classrooms, science and arts spaces, modern technology, enhanced security, and flexible learning environments that support collaboration and innovation.

Learning Spaces

PPSD is redesigning school spaces to reflect the way students learn best. Schools are being thoughtfully designed with flexible learning environments that support collaboration, creativity, hands-on exploration, and personalized instruction. New spaces include dedicated areas for science, technology, the arts, small-group learning, and student support services, giving educators greater opportunities to engage students in more meaningful ways.

Two students sit at a table in a classroom. One is looking at a laptop. A teacher is standing over their shoulder.
A male student sits at a laptop smiling and holding heaphones. A female student sits to his left and looks at his laptop screen.

Technology Infrastructure

PPSD modernized its technology infrastructure to ensure every school is equipped for 21st-century teaching and learning. Through major investments in connectivity, devices, and building upgrades, the district has created technology-ready learning environments across its schools. New and renovated facilities include robust wireless networks, modern classroom technology, and upgraded security systems, giving students and educators reliable access to the digital tools they need to learn, collaborate, and succeed.

Clean Water Access

As part of the intervention, PPSD has made student health and well-being a priority by ensuring that every school has access to clean, safe drinking water. The district installed modern water bottle filling stations throughout its schools and invested in infrastructure improvements to address long-standing facility challenges. These efforts provide students and staff with reliable access to fresh drinking water throughout the day.

Quote from the Johns Hopkins report on PPSD, “Students here wanted my [review team member’s] magic wand to fix the ‘crumbling floors;’ they wanted locks on the bathroom stalls; they said that ‘sometimes the water is brown.’” Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy Providence Public School District in Review June 2019
A group of adults clapping at the entrance of a school. A student high fives an adult.

Modernized Systems

PPSD has modernized its operational systems to make services more efficient, transparent, and responsive. Improvements include paperless student registration, streamlined procurement and purchasing processes, strengthened family support systems, and integrated data and technology platforms that improve decision-making and service delivery. Together, these have reduced administrative burdens, increased access for families, and helped ensure that schools receive the resources and support they need to focus on student success.

Stable, Predictable Funding

PPSD has built a stronger foundation for long-term success by redesigning its budgeting system and securing increased support from city and state partners. Through student-based budgeting, resources are allocated based on student needs, giving principals greater flexibility to invest where they can have the greatest impact. Combined with increased local investment and strategic use of state and federal funding, this approach has helped create a more sustainable financial foundation to support continued improvement for students and schools.

WPRI article on a laptop entitled "Providence to pay $15M in school funding fight settlement"

Explore Other Focus Areas

A female student is seated at a table with a notebook in front of her. A female educator is leaned over the notebook and writing on it.

Excellence in Learning:
Thriving Students

A male teacher and a female teacher are sitting at a table with their laptops open in front of them. The female teacher is turned and smiling at the male teacher while he smiles and looks at something off camera.

Inspirational Educators:
World Class Talent

Engaged Community