International School of Indiana

The International School of Indiana (ISI), located in Indianapolis, Indiana, offers an experience to students not easily found in the United States, and certainly not in the Midwest. ISI is Indiana’s only IB World School to offer access to certified full-continuum International Baccalaureate (IB) programming and language immersion programs in French, Spanish, and Mandarin, for all enrolled students from pre-elementary through grade 12. ISI is a reflection of the families, foundations, corporations, and government partners that share a vision of cultural inclusion and global mindedness in Indiana.

The idea of establishing an international school in Indianapolis dates to 1991 when a group of business, government, and community leaders in Indiana studied what was needed to be competitive in a global economy. A task force, funded by a grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc. and directed by the Indiana Humanities Council, recognized that the United States was part of a world community linked by economic, social, cultural, and civic concerns. The report offered several recommendations for how Indiana could be globally competitive and globally attractive, and it led to the creation of ISI.

Founded in 1994 as a nonprofit, secular, coeducational independent school with an emphasis on global learning and foreign language, ISI opened with 38 students, preschool age through grade 3. As the students grew, so did the school, with grade levels added each year and expanded language tracks. In 2004, 8 students were the first to graduate from the ISI High School. Graduating classes now average about 40 students, and enrollment typically totals 550 students in preschool through grade 12.

Since the school’s founding, the faculty have consisted of international educators, who are from, and have worked, around the world. Their experiences support the cultural fluency of ISI students. The French, Spanish, and Mandarin teachers are all native speakers, and most ISI teachers speak at least two languages.

While ISI has become a home to many central Indiana families who value education from a global perspective, it remains committed to its founding purpose of serving international families, both those temporarily residing in Indiana and those who anticipate an overseas assignment. ISI also offers a Homestay Program for International Students, which is a rarity among U.S. secondary-education institutions. International students are matched with local families to provide a residence for the students during the 10 months of the academic year. Fifty nationalities or more will typically be represented in the ISI school community.

Offering parents a distinctive educational program for their children, one combining a demanding curriculum with foreign language fluency, cultural awareness, and an appreciation for diversity has been central to ISI since its beginning. The International Baccalaureate, known for its academic rigor and highly respected by colleges and universities, was first authorized at ISI in 2002 with the Diploma Program. By 2011, the school received authorization to provide the comprehensive IB curriculum for all its students with the addition of the Primary Years and Middle Years programs. Each program builds upon the other, culminating in interested, knowledgeable, and caring young people motivated to succeed and make a difference in the world, or as is said at ISI, “Ready for the World Stage.”

In 2020, after more than a decade of operating from two locations, ISI broke ground on a new facility to unite the school community on the North Michigan Road campus. The new Chen Family Lower School will house ISI pre-elementary and elementary students, who have previously been located at the secondary campus, referred to as 49^th Street. The project to build the lower school is the culmination of the ONE ISI Capital Campaign to unify the school on the North Michigan Road Campus and will help to cement the location as the permanent home of the school. Both the Henry B. Blackwell building and the Kathryn and Sidney Taurel building are already located on the site and house the Middle School, High School, administrative offices, and athletics program.