N.C. to Open Four International-Studies Schools

Eight districts in North Carolina will share four new high schools focused on international studies, as the state expands its drive to prepare students for the global marketplace, Gov. Michael F. Easley has announced.

The schools—part of the state’s New Schools Project for improving secondary education, financed by an $11 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—will eventually enroll about 400 students each. They will be housed at existing high schools, but follow a small-schools model. The districts will share $185,000 in planning grants and are scheduled to open the new programs in the 2006-07 school year.

“We’re excited that this is an important enough issue to offer the opportunity for schools dedicated to international studies,” said Millie Ravenel, the director of the Center for International Understanding at the...