North Carolina boasts a growing network of global-studies magnet schools, a prominent university center that sponsors training on international issues and study trips abroad for thousands of teachers, an innovative recruitment program to attract teachers from around the globe, and a popular former governor who has championed the cause of bringing a world focus to the school curriculum. However, despite agreement among business leaders, educators, and policymakers about the importance of teaching global knowledge, experts say the movement to infuse international education into the curriculum is hitting resistance at the state, district, and school levels. Proponents of international studies have thus broached the subject delicately, choosing to build grassroots support before pushing state-level initiatives. Activists in several states have taken care to frame their arguments in ways that will attract the most support. Beyond the expanded economy, advocates argue that building students' world knowledge would enrich the curriculum, engage students, improve school performance, and help children deal with the increasingly diverse communities in which they live. While there are signs that awareness of the need for international studies in schools is growing, progress has been slow. Expanding the curriculum to tackle such deficiencies is difficult, especially in view of the pressures mounting for schools to increase attention to reading and mathematics instruction due to state testing demands and the accountability measures under the federal No Child Left Behind law. Many teachers say they have little time to attend to all the material inherent in a well-rounded academic program. These concerns have prompted international studies advocates to take an integrated approach in crafting their recommendations.The North Carolina advisory board has called for "infusing international content into existing programs, rather than introducing a new subject to compete with existing priorities." Efforts in other states have also called for substantive changes throughout the curriculum.