If you’re looking for a NYC international school for your child, you have more and more choices. From Manhattan’s Dwight and the United Nations School, to the French, Italian, and British schools, the last few years have spawned Avenues, Leman Meritas, World Class Learning Academy, International School of Brooklyn and now New York International School.
As Sophia Hollander reports in the Wall Street Journal, NYC international schools may be international in name or community, but not necessarily in their use of the well-known International Baccalaureate curriculum: NYC International Schools Set Own Course. Hollander writes:
The so-called IB program—which was created in the 1960s to educate the children of ex-pat families living in Switzerland—has become one of the fastest-growing educational movements in the U.S., lauded for boosting test scores and improving college-admission rates. In 2014, more than 1,800 IB programs were offered in public and private schools around the country, up from 500 in 2004.
But several newer international schools in New York City have opted not to embrace the program, which they say is expensive and unnecessary for younger grades.
The rise of these international schools is coupled with the rise of for-profit schools, as Leman, NYIS and WCLA are all part of global for-profit educational networks. Avenues, with its NYC international school flagship, plans to build other for-profit sites domestically and abroad. The International Baccalaureate is expensive to offer, which surely impacts these institutions’ decision.
Many international relocating families come to me for help choosing between these schools and established, city schools. For admissions help for your child, contact NYC’s best educational consultant.