SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced a $12.5 million dollar expansion of the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Effective School Program during a visit to the Rosa Duarte Public Elementary School in the Dominican Republic.

This new five-year $12.5 million dollar increase in the USAID Effective School Program will allow an additional 450 public schools to access a full range of programming in reading, writing, math, and school administration. This project is fully supported by the Ministry of Education and will be implemented by USAID partner Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM).

Free-of-charge photos of the event are available at http://www.usaid.gov/press/mediaadvisories/2009/ma090417.html with photo credit given to USAID/U.S. Embassy Santo Domingo, Rene Taveras.