international high school
profile
International at a glance. Overview International High School is an independent, coeducational, college-preparatory school established 36 years ago in the heart of urban San Francisco. A belief in the essential value of diversity is a keystone of our mission, and consequently we attract and serve a richly diverse and varied student population. In addition to a challenging academic program, our school offers a comprehensive Arts program, Inter-scholastic Athletics, Service Learning, and Cultural and Linguistic trips abroad. The high school has a population of 340 students, with 84 students in the graduating class of 2014.
Facility International High School is located in the Hayes Valley neighborhood within blocks of the Conservatory of Music, Opera, San Francisco Ballet, Asian Art Museum, SF Jazz, Symphony, and the San Francisco public library. International shares an 180,000 sq. ft. campus with French American International School and with the Chinese American International School. The facilities also include a gymnasium, five science labs, a library/media center, and a technology lab. The Dennis Gallagher Arts Pavilion opened in 2009. It houses a theater, music recording studio, digital arts/film studio and visual arts spaces.
Academic Programs International offers the full International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB) and the French Baccalaureate programs. The majority of our students pursue the full IB Diploma, while a smaller group undertakes the challenge of the French Bac. Both the IB and the French Bac offer vigorous and demanding academic programs over the course of the last two years of high school: students must study English, a second language, mathematics, a laboratory science, a social science, and either a third language, a second science, economics, or an arts course. In addition, all students take challenging philosophy courses as part of the curriculum. Both programs require diploma candidates to produce an extended piece of personally researched writing in a field of their choice and to participate in service learning, athletic endeavors, and creative activities.
Community International prides itself on the importance of having a diverse, multi-national, and multi-lingual community. Our faculty is recruited from all over the world, and each is a specialist in his/her field. The average number of years of teaching experience is 18, and 77% of the faculty hold masters degrees or higher. There are 20 nationalities represented in our community.
Cultural and Linguistic Trips As an international school, learning about languages and cultures is a key part of our environment. Each year, there are opportunities for students to travel abroad to improve their linguistic skills, participate in service learning, and learn about the cultural aspects of another country. Recent trips have included Nicaragua, France, Taiwan, Senegal, Israel, Jordan, India, Germany and Tahiti.
Arts The Arts are an integral part of life at International. Students are required to take at least two years of arts courses, and can choose to take up to four years. In 2009, the Dudley-Perkins Harley Davidson Garage on Page Street was transformed it into the 21,000 square foot Dennis Gallagher Arts Pavilion. Arts courses include theater, digital film, music, and visual arts. In addition to the Arts classroom courses, the School offers an after-school theater program, an a cappella voice group, and hosts after-school music lessons in piano, violin, guitar, and drums. Each year students put on at least three productions, including a play, musical, and student-directed one-act plays. There are also art shows, concerts, visiting artists and a Spring Arts Festival.
Athletics At International High School, we believe in the education of the whole student—mind, body and heart. Through their participation in competitive sports, our student-athletes learn the importance of commitment, become expert time managers and maximize their potential. Thanks to drive, diligence and determination, they experience growth and accomplishment. International offers eight sports at the Varsity and Junior Varsity levels. The Jaguars participate in the Bay Counties League-West (BCL).
Sports Offered Basketball, Soccer, Tennis, Badminton, Cross-Country, Track and Field, Swimming, Baseball (men only) and Volleyball (women only).
Recent League Championships: Men’s League Baseball: 2011, 2012 | Basketball: 2007-08, 2008-09 | Cross-Country: 2011 | Soccer: 2010 | Track & Field: 2010, 2011 NCS Championships
Women’s League Badminton: 2012, 2013 Teams/Individuals | Basketball: 2007-08, 2008-09, 2011-12, 2012-13 | Soccer: 2010, 2011, 2012 | Track & Field: 2010, 2011, 2012 NCS Championships | Tennis: 2011, 2012, 2013 Teams/Individuals NCS Women’s Singles | Volleyball: 2011
Alumni Scholar Athletes in Action International alumni have continued a tradition of athletic excellence at the following universities in recent years: Stanford University – Basketball, Fencing; Haverford College – Baseball, Cross-Country; Oberlin College – Basketball; Bates College – Cross-Country, Track and Field; Pomona College – Basketball; UC Davis – Track and Field.
Co-Curricular Activities Students can participate in a range of activities and clubs including, but not limited to: Student Council, Yearbook, Model United Nations, the student newspaper, Multicultural Students’ Association, VOICE, Bake for Lives and Kiva. As part of the school’s graduation requirements students must also participate in a minimum of 50 hours of service learning.
Grading and Evaluation Because we are a small, intensely rigorous academic environment where nearly all graduates go on to four-year colleges or universities, and because many of the grade distinctions between students are too slight to be significant, we no longer rank our students individually. In 2013, 83% of our students were awarded the full IB Diploma and 100% of students were awarded the French Bac Diploma, ?? of them with honors. Of the 26 grade nine students in the French section, 100% passed the Brevet exam, 23 with honors.
Curriculum In grades 9 and 10 students take an all-honors foundation program which prepares them for the rigors of the International Baccalaureate (IB) or French Baccalaureate. All students take: English, Mathematics, Biology, Physics/Chemistry, History, a modern language, two years of arts courses, and physical education. In grades 11 and 12 students pursue one of two Baccalaureate options: the IB or the French Baccalaureate. For more information on the IB program, please visit their website: www.ibo.org
International Baccalaureate Offerings Students select one course from each group with three classes at a Higher Level and three classes at a Standard Level. They must also complete a Theory of Knowledge course, write an Extended Essay, and complete 150 hours in service, action and creative activities.
Group 1: Language and Literature
Group 4: Experimental Sciences
English, French, Chinese, Russian*, and Vietnamese* * with external tutors
Chemistry, Biology (available in French), Physics or Environmental Systems and Societies
Group 2: Language Acquisition
Group 5: Mathematics
French, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, English or German
Mathematical Studies | Mathematics Standard Level Mathematics Higher Level
Group 3: Individuals and Societies History (available in French), Geography (available in French), Business and Management*, Information Technology in a Global Society*, Psychology*, Philosophy* * online classes
Group 6: Arts or Electives Visual Arts, Film, Music, Theatre, Economics, Chemistry, a Third Language, Business and Management*, Information Technology in a Global Society*, Psychology*, Philosophy*
Highlights of the IB Curriculum A Sampling of Courses Extended Essay –
IB Diploma students write a 4000 word independent research paper conforming to international academic conventions. Students are free to choose their own research question and are guided by a mentor teacher.
Theory of Knowledge – TOK is the conceptual center of the IB program. This interdisciplinary seminar class explores how we know what we know through the lenses of language, sense perception, reason and emotion. Areas of Knowledge investigated include: mathematics, science, history, ethics and esthetics.
Geography – Through geography we seek to understand the differences in patterns of human distribution, interrelationships between human society and the physical world, people’s use of the Earth in time and space, and how these differences are related to people’s cultures and economies. The questions “where?”, “why?” and “how?” are central. The first of these introduces the issues of location and spatial choice; the latter two signify that modern geography is not content merely to describe but seeks to explain. Beyond these questions, geographers also ask “what if?” as a means of seeking alternatives and giving the subject an applied dimension that can assist decision makers in planning and developing at a variety of geographical scales.
Environmental Systems and Societies – Through field and laboratory investigations
and a systems perspective, this course aims to provide students with a coherent perspective of the complex interrelationships between environmental sciences and global social and political factors. ESS enables students to adopt an informed personal response to a wide range of pressing environmental issues.
French Baccalaureate Offerings Bac ES (Economics and Social Sciences) – This Baccalaureate emphasizes economics, social and political sciences. Students specialize in advanced economics/social sciences, mathematics and language.
Bac S (Science and Mathematics) – This Baccalaureate is intended for the more scientifically focused students. Students specialize in advanced mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology These baccalaureates are also taken with the International Option (OIB).
Highlights of the French Bac Curriculum Philosophy – This course is not only a study of ideas but also aims to prepare students to build powerful written argumentation to defend a point of view. Students read major works of Western philosophy by both ancient and modern thinkers. Class discussions and writing assignments encourage students to relate philosophical issues to literature and art and to the human and natural sciences.
Travaux Personnels Encadrés (TPE) – TPE is a small group project which allows students to choose their own topics and follow their interest within broad themes provided by the French Ministry of Education. Students are required to cover the perspectives of two different disciplines and can submit multimedia to support their topics. The grade is based on the students’ involvement in the project, their final production and an oral presentation.
College Matriculation: 2009 to 2013 Agnes Scott College (2) Amherst College American University (1) Bard College (4) Barnard College (4) Bates College (1) Bennington College (1) Boston University (10) Bowdoin College (1) Brown University (3) California Institute of the Arts Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo (2) Carleton College (3) Carnegie Mellon University (3) Chapman University (1) Claremont McKenna College Clark University (4) Colgate University College of the Holy Cross (1) Colorado College (2) Columbia University (4) The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science & Art Cornell University (5) Concordia University (Canada) (3) Dartmouth College Davidson College (1) DePaul University Duke University (1) Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne (Switzerland) (4) Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (2) Emerson College (2) Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandizing - Los Angeles (1) Fordham University (3) Georgetown University (3) Georgia Institute of Technology (1) Harvard University (4) Haverford College (3) Hult International Business School (UK) (1)
Humboldt State University (1) Ithaca College (1) Johns Hopkins University (1) Kings College London (UK) (1) Knox College (1) Lawrence University Lewis & Clark College (5) Loyola Marymount University (3) Loyola University–New Orleans (2) Manhattan College Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1) McGill University (Canada) (16) Merritt College Middlebury College (2) Mills College (1) Mount Holyoke College (1) New York University (11) Northeastern University Northwestern University (4) Oberlin College (8) Oberlin Conservatory of Music (1) Occidental College (5) Parsons School of Design, New School University (2) Parsons School of Design, Paris (1) Pennsylvania State University (1) Pitzer College Portland State University (1) Pomona College (1) Princeton University (2) Quest University (Canada) (1) Reed College (2) Rhode Island School of Design (1) Rice University (1) San Francisco State University (3) Sarah Lawrence College (2) School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2) Scripps College (1) Seattle University (2)
University of San Diego (2) University of San Francisco (3) University of Southern California (9) University of Texas - Austin (2) University of the Incarnate Word (1) University of the Pacific (1) University of Washington (4) University of Wisconsin, Madison Vassar College (2) Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Wake Forest University Washington University in St. Louis (1) Wellesley College (1) Wesleyan University (3) Whitman College (1) Whittier College (1) Xavier University (1)
Sierra Nevada College (1) Simmons College (1) Skidmore College (5) Smith College (2) St. Lawrence University (1) Stanford University (5) Syracuse University (2) The Evergreen State College (1) The George Washington University (3) Tufts University (2) Tulane University (2) Université Laval (Canada) (1) Universités Françaises: Sciences Po, Paris (4) University of Arizona (1) University of Bristol (UK) (1) University of British Columbia (Canada) (4) University of California: Berkeley (18) Davis (15) Irvine (5) Los Angeles (7) Merced (2) Riverside (2) San Diego (4) Santa Barbara (10) Santa Cruz (21) University of Cambridge (UK) (1) University of Chicago (4) University of Colorado at Boulder (2) University of Edinburgh (UK) (3) University of Hawaii at Hilo (1) University of Michigan (2) University of Oregon (5) University of Oxford (UK) (1) University of Pennsylvania (2) University of Redlands (1)
Grade Point Averages
Class of 2013
Class of 2012
Class of 2011
Class of 2010
Class of 2009
1st Quintile
4.19 – 4.02
4.24 – 4.01
4.25 – 4.01
4.22 – 4.07
4.22 – 4.09
2nd Quintile
4.01 – 3.81
3.99 – 3.83
4.00 – 3.89
4.06 – 3.88
4.08 – 3.91
3rd Quintile
3.8 – 3.65
3.83 – 3.56
3.88 – 3.63
3.87 – 3.62
3.90 – 3.68
4th Quintile
3.64 – 3.37
3.53 – 3.33
3.62 – 3.37
3.61 – 3.33
3.67 – 3.26
5th Quintile
3.36 – 2.78
3.32 – 2.87
3.36 – 2.58
3.32 – 2.90
3.25 – 2.75
Median
3.76
3.70
3.75
3.75
3.91
SAT Reasoning*
* These figures include many students whose first language is not English.
Class of 2013
63 Seniors tested CR Math WR
Class of 2012
76 Seniors tested CR
Math
WR
Class of 2011
Class of 2010
77 Seniors tested
65 Seniors tested
CR Math WR
CR Math WR
Class of 2009
61 Seniors tested CR
Math WR
800-700
11
12
10
14
15
16
17
19
26
15
8
15
17
9
17
690-600
33
28
27
27
27
29
37
31
32
30
37
29
22
32
24
590-500
14
18
20
32
26
22
18
23
16
17
16
19
20
16
18
490-400
5
5
6
3
8
9
5
4
4
3
4
2
2
4
2
Mean
614 615 614
631 633 645
690 650 660
660 623 640
641 633 638
Experience the world.
INTERNATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL | LYCÉE INTERNATIONAL FRANCO-AMÉRICAIN
OFFICE OF ADMISSION 150 OAK STREET, SAN FRANCISCO CA 94102 | 415-558-2084 | www.internationalsf.org