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Project LIFT Plans To Cut Extra Days At Two Schools

David T. Foster, III
/
The Charlotte Observer
Students at Thomasboro Academy

Two Project LIFT schools tried something of an experiment a few years ago. They added extra days to the school calendar to help students learn, but those will likely be cut next year. 

Leaders of Project LIFT have used philanthropic dollars to try several new things at CMS schools on the city's west side where students struggle most. They hoped adding 19 days at Druid Hills and Thomasboro k-8 schools would make a difference.  But four years later that doesn't appear to be the case, at least as far as test scores. 

"Ideas that do not yield results are pruned away to route resources to what is working to help students achieve," says Project LIFT Superintendent Denise Watts.

Those two schools will remain on year-round calendars like Bruns and Byers k8 schools.  Watts says several shorter breaks throughout the year appear to reduce summer-learning loss. 

The CMS school board will vote on Tuesday on whether to cut the additional days.

Project LIFT's public-private partnership was supposed to end this year, but its board decided to stretch its money to include a sixth year.   

Lisa Worf traded the Midwest for Charlotte in 2006 to take a job at WFAE. She worked with public TV in Detroit and taught English in Austria before making her way to radio. Lisa graduated from University of Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in English.