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(Salisbury_NC, May 29, 2009) Administrators with the Rowan-Salisbury School System announce a new international program to begin next year at Jesse Carson High School. Carson High teachers will be instructing and students will be learning in conjunction with other teachers and students from China.

School Superintendent Dr. Judy Grissom, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Dr. Rebecca Smith, and Carson High School Principal Henry Kluttz began meeting and making preliminary plans to implement the international program with China earlier during this current school year. In compliance with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, students will be learning along with their China counterparts through the elective social studies course on Eastern Asia and through contemporary studies focusing on current events in China. In addition, students may be accessing and learning the Mandarin Chinese language made possible by the NC Virtual Public School, an online program through the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. "With the current focus of our world economy so closely linked to China, it is more important than ever for our students to have the best understanding about China and the impact this country has on our entire world economy," says Dr. Grissom. "Our students are our future leaders and they must be educated and prepared to work in a globally competitive world."

Thanks to the Blanche and Julian Robertson Family Foundation, Inc. grant and other grant sources, preparations and training are now in full swing. Last week, Mr. Kluttz along with Carson High Assistant Principal and China Partnership Coordinator Kelly Withers and representatives from other schools across the state, attended a two-day orientation for the China partnership. The NC delegation is part of the "2009 Chinese Bridge Delegation" comprised of approximately 400 school representatives from across the United States who will visit China at the end of the month. The purpose of this weeklong education tour is threefold:

To deepen the understanding of China
To bring China into the classroom via language, culture, and a global understanding of the US relationship with China and how this affects the global economy
To make valuable contacts with international leaders and the US

Since the trip to China is jointly funded through the Hanban/Confucius Institute Headquarters, the Center for International Understanding (part of the University of North Carolina system), the College Board and through the generosity of the Robertson Foundation, no local tax dollars were needed to fund the trip to China.

The US Delegation will leave for China on June 22 and return to the United States on June 30.

The eight-day trip to China, which includes two days of travel time, follows an intensely structured schedule in order to allow the US Delegation enough time to learn and gather as much information as possible to take back to their schools. In addition to visiting primary and secondary schools in China, Kluttz and Withers will have an opportunity to spend two days with Carson's partner high school, Jiangsu Qingjiang, located in the town of Huai'An in the Province of Jiangsu. Jiangsu Qingjiang enrolls a population of 7,000 students. There will be 26 representatives from 12 different schools in NC who will be visiting China schools in this same Province. While in China, the US Delegation will tour historic sites, including Beijing, the capital of China, and attend a number of cultural events and lectures.

Mr. Kluttz plans to follow through with suggestions provided during the orientation in Raleigh and participate with China in an exchange of gifts. Some of the items Kluttz plans to take to China from Carson will be:

A banner depicting the Carson High School name in Chinese characters and in the US alphabet
A DVD illustrating activities, news, and events, along with pictures of Carson students.
A Proclamation from the China Grove Mayor and Council members supporting Carson High School's partnership with China

In addition, Administrators with Carson High School and Jiangsu Qungjiang High School will sign a Memorandum of Understanding agreeing to work together educationally and collaboratively in an effort for students to learn through maintaining communications with each other.

Plans on implementing the international program with China at Carson are still in the creation stages of determining how the program will unfold in the classroom. Kluttz states: "It is an evolving process to see how far we can go. A lot of things could happen." Administrators are looking at different ideas to implement the program, such as:

Exchange of communications between the teachers at Carson and Jiangsu
Establish pen pals between the students at both high schools
Visit from counterparts in China who will visit Carson
Visits from Carson students to China for several weeks or for a semester of study
Live and delayed broadcasts between US and China students (working with the 12-hour time difference between the countries

According to Kluttz, the first step is to open the door for a relationship with China. During post World War II, China was closed off to the rest of the world. China now welcomes western industry and manufacturing. "I never thought that during my working career I would see the day when schools would be having contact or communications with China." Kluttz says. "This is so exciting for me that we will be actually teaching and learning with China."

In 2006, the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education planned the direction for Dr. Grissom to lead the school system by declaring the importance of developing a curriculum that would enable students to become competitive in a world that is constantly changing. This new international curriculum at Carson is just one program to help students creatively develop an understanding of the world economic picture. "We are plowing new ground and visiting new places by introducing this pilot program at Carson," says School Board Chair Dr. Jim Emerson. "It is exciting to know that our students will be working and learning first hand with other students in China, and that our teachers and administrators will be communicating first hand with China, instead of relying on older methods of teaching through textbooks. This opens up a whole new dimension of learning for our students."