Skip To Main Content
CIS Learning support team provides in-class support to all students

Learning Support

Striving for our full potential

Ensuring that all students are successful is an integral part of the CIS learning experience.  We all come from unique backgrounds and have innate areas of strength and growth.  Our learning support team provides in-class support to all students across our entire campus to challenge and support them to be their best self.  Learning support may include strategies that help a learner push through a particular struggle with her learning, or provide ongoing support and strategies for students with deeper learning issues to become capable and independent learners.  The learning support team also provides ongoing strategies to our classroom teachers to help them provide the additional support some students may need.

Our classroom teachers from PreK-Grade 12 are experienced in providing differentiated experiences to our students to ensure that most learning differences are addressed within regular classroom experiences.  Our Learning Support (LS) Team adds another layer to classroom learning by providing targeted support to students who may need some occasional support as discovered through ongoing assessment;  our LS team also provides additional support to students who need greater oversight or who have identified needs.  Our team continually works with teachers to identify needs and create targeted support for students in need.  Our LS team also works with Individual Education Plans (IEPs) provided by clinical psychologists that have identified specific, mild to moderate learning needs.

In all our work, parents are our partners.  We know that direct and frequent family communication regarding a child’s developmental or learning needs is the best path towards each child becoming independent and able learners.

English as an additional
language (EAL)

Inspiring students to communicate
on the world stage

English is the language of teaching and learning at CIS. This is true across many world stages and professions. We fully support each student to become fluent English communicators regardless of linguistic and cultural background. Our EAL program combines both in-class and specialized English classes to learn English.  Our EAL teachers, one per grade from grades 1-8, provide in-class support each day so that English Language Learners (ELLs) learn side-by-side with native English speakers in the classroom setting.  Student peers are the best teachers for English language learners in terms of “social”, or everyday language.

During World Language classes - French, Hindi, Mandarin, or Spanish - our EAL students attend a small-class English language class with other students from their grade level to further support their English language learning. Our Grade 9-10 English language learners  attend  the IGCSE program to support their language abilities and prepare them for the IB program in grades 11 and 12.

English language teachers work closely with homeroom teachers and subject specialists to support the needs of English language learners. Our elementary and middle school EAL programs use WIDA and its English language development standards to help students practice English in both social and academic settings while keeping in mind the WIDA Can Do Philosophy of paying attention to, and building upon what multilingual learners can do.