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Anson County Schools wins SparkNC grant and expands high-dosage tutoring and strategic planning
Summary
District leaders announced a SparkNC grant to establish a Spark Lab aligned with CTE pathways and reported expansion of high-dosage tutoring (25–30 minutes, multiple days per week) in select schools; the grant will cover portions of staff and materials but not all facility or ongoing staffing costs.
The Anson County Board of Education on March 4 heard that the district received a SparkNC grant to establish a Spark Lab that will connect students to industry partners and enhance career pathways.
Dr. Tharp, the district's executive director for curriculum and instruction, said the Spark Lab will support high-tech and other pathways — "AI, cyber security, and advanced tech" — but can also be applied to local industries such as finance and insurance. The grant will fund materials and portions of personnel costs but "will not cover all of what our needs are," Dr. Tharp said; district leaders said they expect the grant to be supplemented by existing CTE programs and local resources.
The board also discussed the district's high-dosage tutoring initiative, intended as a second dose of instruction for targeted students. District staff described tutoring as roughly 25–30 minutes per session, with a goal of three to five days per week; the district is deploying a mix of existing staff time and outside tutors to meet the need. A district presenter said smaller group sizes produce better growth; "If you put two people in that group the growth rate drops down to 1.2," a staff member said when describing research-based group-size impacts.
Why it matters: the Spark grant provides new industry partnerships and targeted learning opportunities that administrators say will increase student interest in career and technical fields; the tutoring expansion aims to accelerate achievement but requires sustained staff and funding commitments. Board members asked whether early-college students would have access (answer: yes) and whether the Spark Lab must operate outside school hours (answer: primarily during the school day but some outside-hours activity is likely). The board asked administration to return with implementation details, anticipated costs beyond grant coverage, and timing for student access.
