April 5, 2012
"Teaching is one of the hardest jobs in America ... A great teacher can change the course of a young person’s life..."
Get to Know Project L.I.F.T.
Teach For America – Charlotte is excited to work with Project L.I.F.T. (Leadership and Investment for Transformation) and the West Charlotte community. Project L.I.F.T. is a ground-breaking philanthropic initiative composed of leaders from Charlotte’s largest community and family foundations. They share our belief that the achievement gap separating thousands of minority and low-income students from their peers in Charlotte is unacceptable.
Project L.I.F.T. has raised nearly $55 million in private funding for its five-year program focusing on talent, time, technology, and community support. Project L.I.F.T.’s robust plan for educational improvements includes working towards “enhanced teacher and school leadership quality, more time spent on task (including extended day, out of school time, and pre-kindergarten programs), access to technology, and policy changes that will allow school leadership more freedom.”
Teach For America’s partnership with Project L.I.F.T. includes placing corps members in Project L.I.F.T. schools, recruiting Teach For America alumni to L.I.F.T., and collaborating on professional development, talent recruitment, teacher selection, and research and accountability. Teach For America is committed to working with L.I.F.T. and the West Charlotte community to empower students across West Charlotte to reach their full potential.
Region Timeline
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Dorothy Counts, age 15, is the first African American student to attend Harding University High. Following days of jeering and abuse, Dorothy’s parents pull her out of school. Dorothy’s story makes local and national headlines. The embarrassment pushes Charlotte’s business leaders to put the city on a path towards racial tolerance.
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Residents of Charlotte and Mecklenburg Counties vote to combine two separate districts, Charlotte City and Mecklenburg County, into one—forming the second largest school system in North Carolina and the 20th largest school system in the U.S.
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Parents Vera and Darius Swann bring a suit against Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to allow their son to attend the primarily all-white school nearest to his house. The suit makes it all the way up to the Supreme Court in 1971. As a result, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools becomes the first school district to implement court-ordered busing to achieve desegregation.
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Charlotte parents, frustrated that their children cannot attend schools in their neighborhoods, move to eliminate busing. In 2000, the ruling to end court-ordered busing will be upheld.
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With the adoption of new assignment policies, most schools reflect de facto racial segregation as many neighborhoods are predominantly white or predominantly African American. Additionally, as more Hispanic families move to the east side of Charlotte, schools in this area are increasingly reflective of the booming Latin American community as well.
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Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools wins the prestigious Broad Prize for Urban Education in recognition of district progress in simultaneously increasing achievement and closing the achievement gap. Despite this honor, the Charlotte community recognizes there is still much to be done for Charlotte’s students.
Overheard
I don't always think of myself as a corps member. Instead I see myself first as a teacher. One who creates lessons, grade papers, and has good and bad days. The feeling you get when your students are successful makes it all worthwhile.
Charlotte Corps 2010
Press
March 28, 2012
"Building recent testing improvement, from 30% in math and reading three years ago to 60%, Harris is establishing a culture of high expectations..."
December 6, 2011
"Olympic High English II and III students in Teach for America teacher Rene Arnold’s classes tackled what she dubbed the “Audacious Goal Challenge” at the beginning of the school year..."
