2/7/2008 - CMS Encourages Study Abroad

Now easier for students to earn credits overseas that count toward GPA

by Peter Smolowitz
The County Leader

Recent changes make it easier for students at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina (abbreviated CMS) to study abroad during the school year instead of summer, district leaders said Wednesday.

The foreign exchange programs can now be used for graduation projects and grades from overseas schools will count toward CMS grade point averages. It’s also easier for students to earn credits from schools in another country.

“It gives you a completely different outlook,” said Lucy Emerson, a Myers Park senior who spent her sophomore year in Italy and traveled to Egypt last summer.

The changes come as part of the 100-day plan Superintendent Peter Gorman unveiled shortly after arriving in Charlotte in 2006. But a tight budget could delay his push to add foreign-language instruction in elementary schools this August.

District leaders are working on their proposed spending plan, due in March. Besides the money, they’re also weighing how to make time for the additional lessons in an already packed day.

In addition to the traditional emphasis on math and reading, for instance, Gorman’s plan recently added 45 minutes of science instruction three times a week for elementary school students.

“We can figure out how to make it work,” said CMS spokeswoman Nora Carr. “It’s more of a budget consideration.”

Several years ago, former superintendent Eric Smith upset many parents by cutting foreign language programs from some elementary schools.

Sharon Walker said she helped coordinate a volunteer program to continue teaching Spanish when her fifth-grader was in kindergarten and first grade. Each student absorbed the lessons, learning their numbers and colors, she said.

Now Walker, a high school counselor, sees freshmen struggle because they are just starting to learn another language.

“Kids feel awkward, it is difficult,” Walker said. “We really miss the boat if we don’t start earlier.”

Republished with permission.