Children’s Museum of Atlanta announces it has been selected to receive a $210,306 grant from The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) through its Museums for America special initiative. This initiative supports projects that will aid in strengthening the Museum to benefit Atlanta by providing high-quality, inclusive learning experiences, maximizing resources to address community needs through partnerships and collaborations and by preserving and providing access to the collections entrusted to their care. This is the second time the Museum has been selected for this grant. Working hand in hand with Georgia State University, the Museum will make way for curriculum specific virtual education for underserved students in the Atlanta area.

“Here at the Children’s Museum of Atlanta, we do everything in our power to continue building upon service and learning elements for our visitors,” said Executive Director Edwin Link. “We are extremely grateful The Institute of Museum and Library Services selected us to receive these funds, which will help our organization continue fostering relationships with the community and our partners.”

The Museum will collaborate with Georgia State University to provide preschool, Pre-K, kindergarten and special needs students from rural and urban Title I public school systems with curriculum-directed virtual learning opportunities. Teachers and Museum education staff will receive training on approaches to facilitate and provide digital literacy lessons to students and how to assess students’ academic progress. University research professors will work with Museum team members to develop and implement a research based pre- and post-assessment program to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual programming on students’ learning outcomes. The results from these evaluations create an assessment tool that the Museum will share with other institutions in the state and nationwide. This project will address the digital divide by creating an innovative, play-based curriculum for virtual learning that will improve language and literacy skills for all types of students.