The Lycee Francais de Chicago is a private coeducational day school, offering a dual French and English curriculum from Pre-K through 12th grade. The Lycée is founded on the French National Curriculum as defined by the French Ministry of Education and complemented by a strong English language arts program.
History
The private school was founded in 1995 by a group of French and American parents, with backing from French businesses and the support of the Consul General of France in Chicago. The Lycée is accredited by the French Ministry of Education and is listed on the official directory of the French Schools in Foreign Countries as part of the AEFE French worldwide network which includes over 450 schools outside France. The school is also registered with the Illinois Board of Education and accredited by the Independent School Association of Central States (ISACS). The Lycée Français de Chicago opened with 134 students. Today the school has over 700 students representing more than 30 nationalities, including French, American, Russian, Turkish, Pakistani, Canadian, English, Serbian, Haitian, Chinese, Polish, and many more.
Campus
In 2015, the Lycée moved to a brand new campus designed by STL Architects on the corner of Damen and Wilson Avenues in Chicago.
Curriculum
The school has a structural curriculum mandated by the French Ministry of Education and an English curriculum developed using guidelines from the National Council of Teachers of English and the State of Illinois.
The program conforms to the French system. It is broken down into subdivisions that roughly correspond to those in the American school system: pre-kindergarten, junior kindergarten and kindergarten, elementary school (1st through 5th grades), middle school (6 through 9th grades), and high school (10th through 12th grades).
The program from pre-K through 5th grade is divided into cycles: cycle 1 (pre-kindergarten, junior kindergarten and kindergarten), cycle 2 (1st and 2nd grade) and cycle 3 (3rd through 5th grade).
Middle school (collège) comprises grade 6 through 9. Instruction is structured according to subjects: French, English, mathematics, history, geography, civics, biology, technology, art, music and physical education. Beginning in grade 7 students also study physics and in both grade 6 and grade 8 they study an additional foreign language.
Grades 10, 11 and 12 define high school in the French system and those 3 years are known as lycée. During the lycée years students choose a track with emphasis on different courses: track L (literature), ES (economics and social sciences) or S (sciences).
The lycée years, as well as the curriculum as a whole, prepare the students for the French general Baccalaureate examination and the international option of the French Baccalaureate. With the Baccalaureate degree, students of the Lycée Français de Chicago can enter selective American or European schools, colleges, or universities.
The Lycee also offers a course of study leading to the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme for English-speaking students entering the 9th and 10th grade.
See also
American schools in France:
External links
 French international schools in the United States and Canada |
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 United States | | PreK/K-12 schools | |
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- Santa Rosa French-American Charter School
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 Canada | | PreK/K-12 schools | |
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- École Française Internationale de Vancouver
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