SAISD is the city’s only school district offering students at all grade levels the opportunity to earn a prestigious International Baccalaureate (known as IB) education.
The District has the distinction of having nine designated IB World Schools -- Burbank and Jefferson high schools, Harris and Longfellow middle schools, Woodlawn and Fenwick Academies and Briscoe, Huppertz and Woodlawn Hills elementary schools. Between them, the schools provide programmes for students in elementary, middle and high school.
Burbank High School has been a designated IB World School for more than 20 years offering the Diploma Programme and recently earned its second designation for the Middle Years Programme in 2019. In 2017, Woodlawn Academy became authorized as an IB World School offering the Middle Years and Primary Years Programmes. In 2018, Jefferson High School was designated an IB World School for the Diploma Programme and earned its second designation for the Middle Years Programme in 2019. Harris Middle School was designated an IB World School for the Middle Years Programme in 2018; Briscoe Elementary School in 2019 for the Primary Years Programme; Longfellow Middle School in 2020 for the Middle Years Programme; and Huppertz Elementary School, Woodlawn Hills Elementary School and Fenwick Academy in 2021 for the Primary Years Programme.
Both the Burbank and Jefferson feeder patterns offer the only full IB continuum – Primary Years, Middle Years and Diploma programmes – in San Antonio.
SAISD also has one programme in candidacy - Fenwick Academy for the Middle Years Programme.
In order for a school to offer one or more of the IB programmes of education, it must first be approved as a candidate school by the International Baccalaureate Organization, and then must complete the authorization process. The authorization process varies by school and IB programme, but typically takes between two and three years.