We offer the following as a primer for getting started, along with phone numbers and Web sites to use for getting more specific details about individual schools. Talk to the principal, teachers and other parents. Look at test scores and other statistics, but use them only as one factor among others when making your decision. Scores don't always tell the whole story. Start gathering information early.
Most schools fill their enrollment rosters in late winter and early spring.
Wake and Durham county school systems both offer magnet schools as an alternative to traditional programs, with specialized focuses on the arts, sciences or other subject areas. Magnet schools often allow students to select from elective courses not available at other schools. The Wake school system operates more than two dozen magnet schools, including several new programs opening this fall. Two existing elementary schools, Farmington Woods and Millbrook, will launch a curriculum geared toward the International Baccalaureate, a challenging high school diploma program that will be offered at Daniels Middle School and two Wake high schools, Broughton and Enloe. N.C. State University's Centennial Campus with strong links to the university.