The International School (T.I.S.) is an independent elementary school in Portland, Oregon that educates children to be world citizens. TIS provides true immersion in Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese with native-speaking teachers. Children age 3 through 5th grade become fluent in another language, at home in other cultures, and engaged in math, science, social studies and arts. The International School was founded in 1990 and today educates nearly 400 students.
The International School is an authorized International Baccalaureate (IB) school, teaching children through the IB's inquiry-based Primary Years Programme.
The International School has been designated as an International Spanish Academy, one of only 28 American schools to earn this designation from the Ministry of Education and Science of Spain.[1]
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The International School inspires children to become global citizens by providing a rigorous and comprehensive education within a nurturing, student-centered environment of full immersion in multiple languages and cultures.
The school was founded in 1990 by Doug and Frey Stearns. The school started by offering full Spanish immersion in 1990, full Japanese immersion starting in 1995, and full Chinese immersion starting in 1996. It attracts an ethnically and sociologically diverse student body from across metro Portland. Each year the school provides financial assistance to approximately 20 percent of students. It is the region's only school to offer three languages, exposing children to a variety of cultures with native-speaking teachers.
The International School is independently governed by a board of trustees made up of parents and members of the community. It is a a 501(c)3 organization financed through tuition, contributions and grants.
In 2006, The International School expanded its campus to accommodate steadily increasing demand for its program. A capital campaign attracted donations from 100 percent of the school's parents as well as grants from Meyer Memorial Trust, The James & Marion Miller Foundation, and the Henry L. Hillman Jr. Foundation. The new building was named Stearns Hall, after the school founders.
In 2010, the school became the first elementary school in the state approved to teach the International Baccalaureate program.[2]