Teachers in North Carolina and France are already benefiting from a new partnership between the N.C. Department of Public Instruction and a French regional school district that aims to foster educational activities to support teaching and learning of the respective languages and cultures.

Under a mutual agreement, or Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), educators in North Carolina and France will develop a range of joint activities that will also:

• Promote a better knowledge and understanding of both educational systems
• Provide professional growth opportunities to teachers of North Carolina and the Académie de Reims
• Establish collaboration between teachers and encourage their teaming through projects

The new international arrangement with the Académie de Reims in France is part of DPI’s Global Education work that also includes agreements with other partners around the world, including Jiangsu Province in China and the Kingdom of Spain.

During the summer, State Superintendent Mark Johnson and the State Board of Education chairman, Eric Davis, signed the MOU, along with the Conseiller Cultural of the Embassy of France, Gaëtan Bruel, and the Rectrice de l’Académie de Reims, Agnès Walch Mention-Rigau.

Several school and teacher partnerships have already been established, and secondary teachers from North Carolina and France have begun working on virtual projects that their students can do together in various classes, including Career & Technical Education (Health Sciences and Marketing), Chemistry, French, and Theatre Arts.

These North Carolina high schools and districts are involved, along with their partner institutions in the Académie de Reims, either lycées (high schools) or collèges (middle schools):

• Mooresville High School (Mooresville Graded School District) and Collège Charles Bruneau in Vireux-Wallerand, France
• Pisgah High School (Haywood County Schools) and Lycée Bouchardon in Chaumont, France
• Rocky Mount High School (Nash County Public Schools) and Lycée Bouchardon in Chaumont, France; Lycée Monge and and Lycée Sévigné in Charleville-Mézières, France; and Lycée Libergier in Reims, France
• Watauga High School (Watauga County Schools) and Lycée Franklin Roosevelt in Reims, France

Please look for a call soon for additional applications to form school and teacher partnerships.

Details about all of North Carolina’s MOUs are posted on the International Agreements page of the NCDPI website in the Global Education section at http://bit.ly/NCGlobalEd.

Questions about the MOU with France can be sent to NCDPI Global Education at ncglobaleducation@dpi.nc.gov.