ABOUT

Carolina International School is a North Carolina public charter school offering an innovative college preparatory education to grades K-8 in 2005-6. CIS is adding one grade each year to become a full K-12 system. We have 20 students per class, two classes at each grade level. In 2005 we had more than 400 students on our wait list (Download this page as a PDF file.)

Innovative programs

• Project-oriented thematic study with inquiry-based instruction
• International emphasis, with Sister Cities around the world
• Environmental studies on our 36-acre site with forest and wetlands
• Individual learning emphasis for each student
• Character education core values: Respect, Responsibility, Solutions, Service

Mission

The mission of Carolina International School is to nurture students’ natural curiosity and joy of learning while they achieve academic excellence through a challenging, interdisciplinary, international curriculum.

Our students, parents, teachers, and staff will create a stimulating learning community that develops:

• critical and compassionate thinkers
• confident and open-minded communicators
• resourceful and responsible citizens and leaders of our local and global communities.

Academic program

The academic program at Carolina International School is designed to balance academic achievement and holistic student development. Students should be challenged and engaged in the learning process, while also gaining exposure to a wide range of subjects and experiences: the arts, physical activity, and community service.

It is our goal and responsibility to discover and develop the unique gifts of every child, and astound them with what they can achieve. We make every attempt to differentiate curriculum and instruction to meet each child’s needs.

Curriculum

The North Carolina Standard Course of Study provides the core of the CIS academic program. This curriculum guide describes what students should know and be able to do in each subject area in each grade level. The standards represent the collective wisdom of North Carolina’s outstanding public school educators, along with national subject area associations. Teachers at CIS will apply the NC Standard Course of Study framework in age-appropriate, sequential instruction along with other curriculum innovations that allow for integrated and individualized instruction.

The CIS curriculum includes the study of the arts, English/language arts, computer technology, healthful living/physical education, mathematics, science, social studies, Spanish, and Chinese. Reading, Writing, and Math Labs devote special attention to these fundamental skills. International perspectives and environmental awareness are brought to each of these subject areas to help foster understanding among young people around the world and stewardship of our natural resources, enabling future generations to live more peacefully and productively.

Character Education Program: Four Core Values

The CIS character education program is, in essence, the culture and life of our school. We will develop caring and compassionate students and citizens who embody those character traits most respected in every culture. Hence character development at CIS is immersed in every interaction and learning experience as a continual school-wide process, not just an isolated program. The program includes a service-learning component and actively involves parents and community leaders.

These are the values that form the core of daily relationships and interactions in our school:

International Education at Carolina International School

In the education of citizens, our schools cannot ignore the increasing interdependence and diversity of the world. Our own economic and political well-being is inextricably bound up in the well-being of the world. We must educate citizens to cope with the reality that events across vast oceans can and do significantly influence what happens at home.

“Knowledge of people distant from us in time and space is not only instructive but imperative since we are thoroughly dependent on other people. All our technological advances make the world an even smaller place, in which the power of the individual for good or evil is immensely increased. More than ever, societies of the future will be dependent upon caring, responsible citizens who are willing and able to think and act individually and collectively and who recognize that all people share more commonalities than differences.”

“Rationale for Social Studies in the School Curriculum” in the North Carolina Standard Course of Study (1997)

International education is essential to prepare US citizens of the 21st century. Not only is our world increasingly interconnected and interdependent; our local communities are growing in multicultural diversity. Our students must develop a broad awareness of other cultures and the differences that distinguish them. But they must simultaneously acquire a deep understanding of all that we share in common as human beings and occupants of a single planet.

At Carolina International School, international education is interwoven throughout the curriculum and life of the school. As described above, it is embedded in the NC Standard Course of Study and is infused into every discipline: art and language arts, mathematics and music, science, social studies, and even physical education. Here are examples of some of our international programs:

The Sister Cities-Country Connections

CIS is collaborating with the Charlotte and Concord Sister City Programs to align each of our grades with one of these international cities—for the duration of the students’ years at CIS. This will enable our students to develop sustained relationships with their peers in other countries through pen pal and Internet correspondence and through visiting delegations from these countries.

Kindergarten Costa Rica	Grade 1 India	Grade 2 Baoding, China	Grade 3 Limoges, France
Grade 4 Krefeld, Germany	Grade 5 Kumasi, Ghana	Grade 6 Krefeld, Germany	Grade 7 Kumasi, Ghana
Grade 8 Arequipa, Peru	Grade 9 Voronezh, Russia	Grade 10 Killarney, Ireland

International Guests and Programs

Carolina International School has hosted international guests from countries around the globe, including Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Botswana, Cameroon, Columbia, Ghana, India, Laos, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Malaysia, Mexico, Montenegro, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, and more. Several of these visits were in collaboration with Charlotte’s International House and the US Department of State and its Embassies worldwide. The world is coming to CIS students.

Two teachers from Uganda, Stella Kajumba and Edvina Kyosaba, represented the UNITE program (Uganda and North Carolina International Teaching for the Environment) as part of our teacher exchange program each year.

UNITE has many goals:

• To educate NC teachers and students about the culture, climate, beauty and diversity of Uganda
• To provide tools for Ugandan teachers to educate their students about conservation education
• To provide opportunities for students of Uganda to establish relationships with students in North Carolina via pen pals and eventually e-mail

Ismael Mintah of the Charlotte Eagles professional soccer team. Mr. Mintah, a former NCAA All-American from Ghana, shared a soccer demonstration and information about his home, the Sister Country for our class of 2013.		Charlotte Checkers professional hockey players Eddie Pershin (Russia) and Juris Stals (Latvia) described their hockey careers and their home countries. Voronezh, Russia, is the Sister City for our class of 2011.
		Carolina International School is also the first charter school to be a Partner with World View, the prestigious center in Chapel Hill that provides international education programs, seminars, workshops, and travel experiences for K-12 educators statewide. In this photo Dr. Beall, CIS Founder, is signing the official Partner agreement with World View Director Dr. Robert Phay.

 

 

Environmental Education at CIS

Our 36-acre campus provides an outdoor classroom for various cross-curriculum integrated activities that promote environmental awareness and stewardship. CIS teachers draw on international programs like Project Wild, Project Wet, Project Learning Tree, Project Food, Land and People, and GLOBE to provide hands-on activities and real-life resources for our students. These programs are aligned with the NC Standard Course of Study to enrich learning in all subject areas.

Teachers and students work together on environmental service projects to cultivate respect, learn responsibility, develop solutions, and offer service while having fun learning. Creating outdoor classrooms and interpretive trails, composting, recycling, and organic gardening are just a few of the projects we will implement at CIS. We strive to help students think globally and act locally to make the world a better place in which to live.

Facility Planning

The Carolina International School is located on a 36-acre campus with forest and wetlands. We are currently housed in modular classrooms. Our goal is to construct “high performance” buildings that conserve natural resources through day lighted classrooms, water catchment systems, and other features.

Research on day lighted classrooms shows a 15% improvement in academic performance, along with the reduced cost of lighting and cooling.

And in typical school buildings, 80% of the water is used for flushing toilets. By gathering rainwater in cisterns, that water can be used for this purpose, reducing both runoff and expenses.

We are developing a site master plan to include “high performance” classrooms for K-12, athletic facilities, outdoor classrooms, and more. We want our buildings to be as healthy as our students, to serve as laboratories for sustainable design, and to model good stewardship of our natural resources.

 

Charter Application

Our revised charter application (click here to download) was submitted to the NC Charter School Office on May 13, 2004. It is describes the Carolina International School educational program, governance, and financial plans.