In the past two weeks, a record number of children in Cumberland and surrounding counties packed their book bags and ended summer vacation early. Growing numbers of students in the Cape Fear region are abandoning traditional school calendars for year-round schedules. It's a trend that appears to be gaining support from the central offices down to the classrooms. Administrators say year-round students score better on tests. Teachers say they retain material better.
Parents say their children are happier and learn more.
Frances Baldwin said her two daughters, students at Reid Ross Middle School in Fayetteville, were skeptical about attending school year-round. But when they got into it, they liked it. Enrollment at those schools has grown 20 percent this year to 3,288 students. That echoes a statewide movement that has seen the number of year-round schools in North Carolina grow from three in 1990 to 94 in 1996. State officials say there's not enough information to endorse the new calendar, but they're allowing local systems to try it out.