Think globally. Belong unreservedly.
Middle School, done with intention.
GRADES 6–8
IB MYP World School
French · English · Spanish
Critical thinking for future global leaders.
A Message from our Head of School
Dear Families,
Every parent I speak with wants the same thing for their middle schooler: a school that actually sees them. Not just as a student, but as a person, with a particular way of thinking, a particular set of strengths, and a particular future that is theirs alone to build.
At Austin International School, that is not an aspiration. It is the design of our program. Our small class sizes mean your child will be known here. Our IB Middle Years Programme means they will be challenged here, not just to learn content, but to think deeply, question confidently, and communicate across languages and cultures with genuine fluency.
We serve families who believe middle school matters. Families who understand that the habits formed during these years how a student approaches difficulty, how they collaborate, how they carry themselves in the world are habits that last We build those habits here, every day, across three languages and sixty-plus nationalities.
I invite you to visit. Walk our campus. Sit with our teachers. Watch what happens in a room where students are genuinely engaged. I think you will recognize something here that is worth choosing for your child: thinking globally, belonging reservedly, and a Middle School designed mindfully
Ariane Baer-Harper, M Ed Head of School
Austin International School, IB World School
OUR CURRICULUM
An education built with intention and held to the highest standards.
At AIS, the curriculum is not a collection of subjects but a coherent, deeply considered approach to learning, designed to develop the whole student across three languages, eight subject areas, and a framework trusted by families in more than 100 countries.
Three independent accreditations reflect the depth of that commitment. Each one represents a standard we chose to meet, and continue to meet, year after year.
ACCREDITED BY
French Ministry of Education
One of very few schools in Texas recognized by the French government for the quality and integrity of its French immersion program. Our curriculum meets French national standards, taught here in Austin.
THE IB BY THE NUMBERS
ISAS — Independent Schools Association of the Southwest
Full accreditation recognizing academic depth, institutional health, and an ongoing commitment to improvement, providing an independent measure of the quality of the whole school.
1.3X 350+
more likely to take AP or IB exams in high school
US universities award credit for IB results
IB MYP — International Baccalaureate® Middle Years Programme
Authorized for the Middle Years Programme, one of the most globally respected frameworks for students aged 11 to 16, recognized by universities and high schools worldwide.
6,000 22%
IB World Schools in 100+ countries
higher than the average acceptance rate for college
Independent research across multiple countries has found that MYP students score significantly higher on critical thinking assessments than non-IB peers, achieve higher GPAs, and graduate from university at greater rates. The framework prepares students not for the next test or the next school, but for the way the world works
Sources: IB Outcomes Research, 2024 · Independent Schools Assessment (ISA) · IB Facts and Figures, 2025
Critical thinking for future global leaders.
IB MYP FRAMEWORK
Where students learn to think critically and see the world from multiple perspectives.
The IB Middle Years Programme is not a curriculum It is a way of approaching the world. At AIS, students do not simply receive knowledge. They question it, connect it across disciplines, and learn to sit comfortably with complexity.
As an IB World School authorized for the Middle Years Programme, AIS delivers one of the most globally respected academic frameworks available to middle school students The IB MYP does not ask students to memorize It asks them to understand, to connect ideas across subjects, to think critically, and to engage with questions that do not have easy answers.
By the time an AIS student completes grade 8, they have learned how to learn. They approach new challenges as opportunities, they ask better questions, and they have done all of this in three languages
A FEW OF THE THINGS YOUR CHILD WILL CARRY WITH THEM
How to work through something hard without giving up
How and when to ask the hard questions
How to own their learning instead of waiting to be told what to do
How to walk into a room full of people from different backgrounds and feel completely at home
Prepared for the academic demands of high school and beyond
Critical thinking for future global leaders.
THREE LANGUAGES
French.English.Spanish.
Wedon’tteachlanguages.Welearnthroughthem.
French,English,andSpanisharenotsubjectsonatimetableatAIS.Theyare themediumthroughwhicheverythingelseislearned:science,history, literature,mathematics.Studentsmovebetweenlanguagesthewaythey movebetweenideas,naturally,confidently,andwithoutthinkingtwice.
French,English,andSpanisharewovenintodailyinstructionacrossevery subjectandeverygradeStudentsmovebetweenlanguagesnaturally,the waychildrendowhentheyliveinsidealanguageratherthanstudyingitfrom theoutside.Bygrade8,fluencyisnotagoalstudentsareworkingtoward.Itis somethingtheyalreadyhave.
Thisisnotincidental.Languageisoneofthemostpowerfulcognitivetoolsa personcancarry.Ourgraduatesentertheirnextschoolabletocommunicate withafarwidersliceoftheworldthantheirpeers,andwiththemental flexibilitythatcomesfromthinkinginmorethanoneway.
HowlanguageworksatAIS:
Coresubjectstaughtinthelanguageofinstructionforeachtrack
Languageartstaughtinallthreelanguagesacrossgradelevels
Languagesintegratedintoscience,humanities,andthearts notisolated
Languageacquisitionforstudentsenteringwithnopriorbackgroundis systematicandwell-supported
LANGUAGE TRACKS
Every family comes from somewhere different. Every student arrives somewhere exceptional.
AIS serves families from across the linguistic spectrum, from deeply multilingual households to families for whom English is the only language at home. Both tracks deliver the same IB MYP education and the same trilingual outcome The path there looks different The destination does not
Immersion Track
For families with French at home or prior French-language schooling.
Core subjects taught in French. English and Spanish fully integrated. Students maintain and deepen fluency they have already begun building.
English Track
For families and students with no prior French language.
Core instruction in English. French and Spanish built systematically over time.
COMMUNITY + SEL
In a community small enough to truly know them.
Middle school is the stage of childhood where being known matters most. It is when identity is being formed, when confidence is fragile, and when the adults in a student's life either see them clearly or miss them entirely.
AIS does the opposite of scaling up. Small class sizes mean every student is known here, not by ID number, but by name, by learning style, by what makes them light up and what makes them shut down Teachers here are advisors and advocates who notice when something is off before a student has to say a word.
Social-emotional learning at AIS is built into the culture of the school, into how we run advisory, into how we handle conflict, and into how we talk about growth and failure. Students leave AIS academically prepared and personally ready for what comes next.
SIXTY NATIONALITIES. ONE COMMUNITY.
Cultural fluency cannot be taught in a unit. It is built through proximity, through daily life shared across differences, through the ordinary moments that add up to an extraordinary understanding of the world At AIS, that understanding begins on the first day of school.
WHATSMALLANDGLOBALLOOKLIKE INPRACTICE:
Challengingstudentstostudy multipleperspectives
Afacultyadvisoryprogramwhere everystudenthasanadultintheir corner
Classmatesfrommorethansixty countries,andthefriendshipsthat comewithit
UNITEDWeek(Understanding Nations,IndigenousTraditions, Ethnicity,andDiversity),anannual eventwhereeveryclassstudiesa differentcountry,thenopensits doorstothewholeschoolandto families.Oneweek.Thewhole worldinonebuilding.
Critical thinking for future global leaders.
ATHLETICS + ARTS
Where students compete, create, and discover what they are capable of.
What happens outside the classroom shapes a middle schooler as much as what happens inside it. At AIS, students step onto the court, the stage, and the studio with the same intention they bring to their academics They learn to compete with composure, collaborate under pressure, and represent something larger than themselves.
ATHLETICS
AIS competes in the TBN League across five sports: cross country, volleyball, basketball, tennis, and track and field. Our teams field competitive rosters at both Division 1 and Division 2 levels, and our students consistently finish at the top of the standings.
nd
1 & 2 Place st
Basketball and Volleyball in District 1 & 2
Finished Top 3
Boys and girls basketball. Qualified to attend two consecutive years at Nationals in Chicago
Our cross country, tennis, and track and field athletes round out the program with strong individual placements and recognized performances at league competitions.
Critical thinking for future global leaders.
ATHLETICS + ARTS + ARTS
THE ARTS
The creative life of the school is as serious as its academic one. Students explore performance, music, and visual art as part of who they are, not as electives squeezed into a margin
Theater. Students perform in all three languages, with a particular concentration in Spanish, building confidence on stage alongside fluency in voice.
Music. Instruction includes string ensemble and keyboard, giving students the foundations of musicianship and the experience of performing as part of a larger whole.
Visual Art. Studio work runs throughout the m
WHAT THIS BUILDS
Competition and creative expression teach what classrooms cannot. Showing up when you do not feel like it. Recovering from a setback with your head up. Trusting a teammate, an ensemble, or a cast to do their part so you can do yours These are the habits AIS students carry into high school, and well beyond
Critical thinking for future global leaders.
STEM + SERVICE STEM
Where students take what they know and put it to work.
The work that matters most at AIS happens at the point where classroom learning meets the world. Students do not just study how things function. They build, test, deliver, and revise They take responsibility for outcomes that affect real people, and they learn what it feels like to do something well because someone else is depending on it.
STE M + DESIGN
In our dedicated STEM lab, students learn the discipline of designing something that works. They study the problem, build the prototype, test what fails, and refine until the result holds up to real use.
In one recent project, middle schoolers partnered with our Maternelle teachers to identify what their youngest students were learning, and what kinds of toys might support that learning The middle schoolers researched developmental needs, designed solutions, built the toys themselves, and delivered them to the Maternelle classrooms. The work was demanding in the way real design is demanding: it had a real user, a real purpose, and a real deadline.
This is what STEM looks like at AIS. Not coding for its own sake, but the application of careful thinking to problems that matter
Critical thinking for future global leaders.
STEM + SERVICE
Where students take what they know and put it to work.
SERVICE LEARNING
Service is built into the structure of the IB Middle Years Programme at AIS, not added to it. Every middle school student is required to engage in service learning, and the work culminates in the MYP Community Project, the cornerstone of 8th grade.
The Community Project asks students to identify a need in their community, design a response, and follow it through to completion. It is the IB Learner Profile in action, asking students to think critically, act with compassion, and engage with lives different from their own.
What students take from these experiences extends well beyond the project itself They learn empathy as a discipline rather than a sentiment They learn that meaningful change requires careful thinking, sustained attention, and a willingness to listen first. They learn what it means to be internationally minded in a way that has nothing to do with travel, and everything to do with how they show up for the people around them.
THE JOURNEY
At AIS, learning does not stay in the classroom.
From the first overnight trip in 4th grade to two weeks living with a host family in 8th, students move through a sequence of experiences that build independence, deepen language, and connect everything they have been learning to the wider world
West Texas
In 4th grade, students spend five days in West Texas, visiting the McDonald Observatory, exploring regional landscapes, and spending their first nights away from home. For many, it is the first time they discover what they are capable of when no one is doing it for them.
France Exchange
In 5th grade, students spend two weeks in France and attend local schools. The French they have been building for years becomes something different when they need it to ask for directions, navigate a market, or make a friend Language stops being a subject and starts being a life.
Critical thinking for future global leaders.
Outdoor School
Every 6th grade class begins the year at Outdoor School. Before the first assignment, before the first test, students spend time together outside the classroom, building the trust and familiarity that makes everything else possible. Middle school starts here.
Spanish Immersion
In their final year, students travel to Spain or another Spanish-speaking country for two weeks. Host families. Local schools. Real life in Spanish. By the time they come home, the language belongs to them in a way that only immersion can produce.
WHERE AIS GRADUATES GO
The next chapter starts here.
Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA). Austin's flagship academic magnet and consistently among the highest ranked public high schools in Texas. Admission is competitive, based on test scores, previous accomplishments, and teacher recommendations. AIS graduates arrive already practiced at questioning, connecting, and staying with a hard problem.
Anderson High School IB Programme. For families who want the IB to continue uninterrupted, Anderson offers a full International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme within Austin ISD. Students move from the Middle Years Programme into the Diploma Programme already fluent in its habits of mind.
St. Stephen's Episcopal School. One of the region's most respected independent secondary schools, with a long international tradition and a day and boarding program. A natural step for families seeking a globally minded independent setting through grade 12.
Graduates also continue to Westlake High School, McCallum Fine Arts Academy, Westwood High School's IB Programme, and independent schools including Regents School of Austin, St. Andrew's Episcopal School, and Headwaters School, which carries the IB through the Diploma Programme.
The pattern matters more than any single name. AIS graduates are admitted across the full spectrum of Austin's strongest programs because critical thinking and genuine multilingual fluency travel well.
Critical thinking for future global leaders.
PARENT VOICES
In the words of AIS families.
AIS has been more than a school for our two kids over the past 11 years It is where they grew up, where caring educators helped raise them, where they learned to be global thinkers, and where community defined itself. We thought we were signing up for two foreign languages What we got
Turman Family, Class of 2023 and 2026
"There was something really special about AIS: small, intimate classes, a true multilingual education, and a student body drawn from all over the world. Growing up alongside that kind of diversity shapes who these kids become. They leave more mature, more community-aware,and more conscientious than they would anywhere else."
Patrick B, father of an eighth grade graduate, Class of 2023
AUSTIN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
WEBSITE was academic rigor and kids who speak three languages at native proficiency. We got best friendships, sisterhood, brotherhood, laughter, life-long connections, and the joy of watching our kids push limits we did not know they had. AIS is everything a parent hopes for, and somehow we got even more.
Critical thinking for future global leaders.