Anatolian High School (Turkish: Anadolu Lisesi) refers to public or state high schools in Turkey that admit their students based on the nation-wide High School Entrance score.
Anatolian high schools were established as an alternative to expensive private schools teaching in foreign languages and were modeled after the grammar schools. Some of the Anatolian high schools are newly established while other prestigious public schools were added to this category.
Originally six Maarif Koleji, followed by major Anatolian Schools, were established in major cities in Turkey. The Anatolian Schools admitted students based on an academic test administered at the end of grade 5. The schools offered a year of foreign language education as a preparatory year followed by foreign-language medium of instruction seven years of middle and high school grades. Several private schools followed the Anatolian School model particularly as an alternative to foreign-based American, French and German schools. Kadikoy Anadolu Lisesi, HASAL, Besiktas Anadolu Lisesi are amongst the most popular of 83 Anatolian Schools that prepare students to universities at home and abroad. There is also one Anatolian School in Baku, Azerbaijan and one in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
Currently, many of the Anatolian high schools' teaching language is either English, German, or French. Other regular high schools in Turkey teach in Turkish; foreign languages are only taught as elective courses.