ISI is both a community resource and a community treasure
Our 17-year journey has been an exciting and successful one for our
students, their families, their employers and the Indianapolis
community.
ISI is one of only seven like schools across the country,
joining schools in New York, Washington, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas and
San Francisco in offering an integrated International Baccalaureate
curriculum that is fully transferable to the very best schools in the
centers of commerce and capitals around the globe.
ISI gives central Indiana a truly competitive advantage in
recruiting companies who want to expand to a city where commerce knows
no borders.
With that focus in mind, we have aligned the education we offer with the priorities of our community.
Two years ago we recruited David Garner a world class educator from
one of Europe’s high tech centers to lead our school. He increased the
rigor of our academic program. Recognizing the important role the life
sciences play in our community, he instituted a curriculum where our
students receive the credits necessary to receive an Indiana HONORS
diploma in science by the end of grade 10. As a result, every student
spends their final two years studying college-level and advanced
science.
Despite the fact that we are the only school in the state where all
students must take the full diploma, ISI’s pass rate is one of the
highest in the United States and one which places it amongst the most
elite schools in the world.
We have had only seven graduating classes but we have students
studying at Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Cornell and MIT as well as
Indiana, Purdue, DePauw, Wabash and the best schools Indiana and the
Midwest has to offer. Additionally, we have students studying at the
top schools in the UK including Cambridge.
Last year our elementary school initiated a Mandarin Chinese and
English immersion program that has been recognized by the Chinese
government as a Confucius classroom. The Mandarin program has been
expanded to the Upper School in recognition of the ever expanding role
that China is playing in the world economy and the cultural
understanding that is needed for our students to succeed.
One of the greatest misconceptions about ISI is that we are a
language school. Students need no prior language experience to enter
our programs at any grade level and we offer a full complement of
English language courses particularly in the High School. But the
vast majority of students who complete our entire curriculum graduate
with a Bilingual IB Diploma, which is a rarity in the United States and
widely respected worldwide.