PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island After School Plus Alliance will embark on a pilot program this fall to study how high school students can receive credit for afterschool projects, including internships and research.

The program is being financed by grants totaling $110,000 from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Two high schools from urban school districts will each receive $15,000 to plan the programs, working in conjunction with the Rhode Island Department of Education, and one of those schools will be eligible for an $80,000 grant to implement the program.

Each high school will study ways in which students can receive credit for afterschool projects that will count toward graduation. A student who is interested in the fine arts, for example, might get credit for taking an afterschool arts program at a local college, while another teenager might spend time interning at a local ad agency.

“We want to expand when, where and how students learn in order to make learning more engaging,” said Sarah Cahill, executive director of the Rhode Island After School Plus Alliance. “We need to rethink how children learn. We know that the school day is limited in what it can do.”

Students throughout the state, but especially in urban areas, need a chance to extend the traditional school day to engage in learning beyond the borders of high school, said Peter McWalters, state commissioner of elementary and secondary education.

“Through this partnership with the Alliance,” McWalters said, “we will develop opportunities for more students to earn their high school diplomas and to succeed in college and in work.”

“We hope this investment will lead to improved outcomes for those who need it most,” said Nicholas Donohue, president and chief executive officer of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, “and that these creative approaches will broaden our notion of what effective schooling looks like.”

The deadline for schools to apply for the program grants is July 31; they will be awarded in September. Eligible to apply are urban schools with a high concentration of disadvantaged students.

For more information, call Cahill at (401) 331-2869 or go to www.afterschoolri.org.

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