School Wide Curriculum

The American Community School Beirut offers three types of High School Diploma. The American High School Diploma program prepares students for admission to colleges and universities in the US. The International Baccalaureate Diploma is widely accepted at universities in the US, Canada, and Europe, as well as other universities throughout the world. The Lebanese Baccalaureate Diploma prepares students for the government exams, which would qualify Lebanese students to study and practice law, engineering, and other professions in Lebanon. Each of these three diploma programs has a slightly different course of study, but only in selected grade levels. For the IB Diploma Program, the course of study is differentiated in the last two years of high school. For the Lebanese Baccalaureate, the course of study differs in grades 9 and 12. Otherwise, regardless of their diploma program, students are all exposed to an American curriculum characterized by study of values that include openness, democracy, and creativity, as well as respect for all religions and gender equity.

ACS curricula are based upon the AERO (American Education Reaches Out) curriculum, sponsored by the U.S. State Department Office of Overseas Schools. This curriculum is based on the recommendations of major curriculum organizations in the United States, and adapted by committees of overseas faculty and administrators to the needs of international schools. Over the last 10 years, ACS Faculty representatives have been instrumental in designing, piloting/validating, and implementing this curriculum. Development and revision of this curriculum goes on as teams of teachers attend AERO workshops in Washington DC on an annual basis.

The language of instruction is English in all courses except world languages, of which ACS teaches Arabic and French. As a secular institution accepting all religions and sects, and engaged in promoting tolerance, ACS has no mandatory religious education requirements in the curriculum.