The International High School Eric Nadelstern, Principal The International High School, a multicultural alternative educational environment for recent arrivals, serves students with varying degrees of limited English proficiency. The mission of the International High School is to enable each of its students to develop the linguistic, cognitive and cultural skills necessary for success in high school, college and beyond. In an increasingly interdependent world, fluency in a language other than English must be viewed as a resource for the student, the school and the society. Language skills are most efficiently learned in context and emerge most naturally in purposeful, language-rich, interdisciplinary study. The most successful educational programs are those that emphasize high expectations coupled with effective support systems.
Individuals learn best from each other in heterogeneous collaborative groupings.
Career-oriented internships facilitate language acquisition as well as contribute a significant service to the community. The most effective instruction takes place when teachers actively participate in the school decision-making process, including instructional program design, curriculum development and materials selection. The success of thematically based, interdisciplinary programs has prompted the faculty of the International High School to reorganize the curriculum of the entire school around interdisciplinary, thematic study. Currently, six teams of teachers have each developed thematically based courses of study. Students choose one of these themes that last for the entire school year.