Lilly Endowment gives over $44 million to seven public school districts. (Re: Development).

The Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. has awarded $44.3 million in grants to seven public school districts in the Indianapolis metropolitan area. The schools will use the funds to improve the quality of education for 110,000 students. The new grants follow a similar initiative for private

The $44.3 million in grants will help Marion County to address such problems as high dropout and poverty rates, rapid growth, poor parental involvement, and declining standardized test scores. District officials also plan to improve academic performance by forming preschools to better prepare children for school; by providing intensive staff development for teachers and administrators; by launching literacy initiatives and integrating technology into school curricula; and by personalizing education plans for individual students.

"These proposals were the result of intensive discussion and planning in these school districts," said Sara Cobb, vice president for education at the Endowment. "We were pleased to see that these discussions and public meetings drew participants from a broad range of perspectives. It is obvious that the success of their students is uppermost in their minds and how to achieve that success is their number one concern."