There is no utopia. Everywhere has its downside.

I enjoyed my time in Africa, however.

I received $3500 USD, and will get about half that again as a leaving shipping allowance.

mamava wrote:
> I think that above the Tier 1 level are those schools that are considered the "elite."
> The ones that pay very well, have great packages, who demand a lot from their teachers
> and push them hard, but who also have great PD and professional opportunities.
>
>
> The "tier rating" system is not comparable either in that the location of the school
> and the country's government systems can have an impact on how comparable the schools
> on that list really are. At my school, (which is on that list) we pay a level of
> tax that other schools in other countries (I worked at an Asian country on that
> list as well) don't and so our package is much different. Additionally, some of
> the schools on the list, if you check this site's paid forum, will see pretty scathing
> reviews consistently. That would call some into question. Finally, the best school
> in a country is not necessariy a Tier 1 school at the same level as some of the
> others.

I'd agree that you can't compare between regions, which is why I divided the list into regions in the first place. Although to be honest, I don't really place a lot of stock in the reviews on the paid site.

clio wrote:
> I'd be interested to know your methodology in drawing up this list.

1) All of these schools are non-profits.

2) For the region, they tend to have the fewest percentage of host national students (although in Latin America, there are few schools with more international students than host nationals).

3) They tend to have the greatest number of nationalities present at the school.

4) They tend to be relatively established - the newest school on that list opened in the early 1990s.

5) They tend to be backed by an embassy.

6) The salaries tend to be the highest in the region, although some regions (especially Africa) vary quite considerably. There is a general pattern for the Tier 1 school in a region to pay approximately $10,000 more per year than what I would consider the Tier 2 school.

7) They tend to have lower turnover year-on-year.

8) A lot of talk on a lot of barstools with a lot of different teachers.

But really, in the end, it is somewhat subjective.

fine dude wrote:
> I would Tanglin Trust in Singapore to that list.

Good call.

joe30 wrote:
> There's no such thing as a first tier school if that school happens to be
> located in a highly dangerous place such as Zimbabwe or Nigeria.
>
> Same sort of deal with the Indian schools...the location makes it not first
> tier irrespective of the other redeeming qualities of the school.

I didn't weight location when deciding on the quality of the school. Bad locations can have great schools, and great locations can have awful schools.

PsyGuy wrote:
> First, the entire post and list is prohibited on the public forum.

I disagree - similar posts have been accepted in the recent past. And the whole point of creating the member forum was to protect the website from charges of slander, which is hardly the case here. But if moderators would like to remove it, I suppose that is their decision.

> Second, elite tier is more accurate than first tier.

Semantics.

> Third, Its incredibly Amerocentric, its little more than the DOS Assisted School list.

The DOS supports 197 schools - but I only included 64 of them on my list (and 7 are not supported by the DOS). But it isn't random chance that they don't to support Tier 1 schools.

I'm not American, for what that is worth.

> Fourth, I disagree on portions of it, but thats not an issue there has and
> always will be differences.

And I would welcome your input.

A common refrain here is that there is no "Tier 1 Master List". For the sake of debate, I thought I would post my own interpretation of it.

East Asia
China - American International School of Guangzhou
China - International School of Beijing
China - Shanghai American School
China - Western Academy of Beijing
Hong Kong - Hong Kong International School
Japan - The American School in Japan
Japan - Yokohama International School
Taiwan - Taipei American School

Eastern Europe
Bulgaria - Anglo-American School of Sofia
Czech Republic - International School of Prague
Hungary - American International School of Budapest
Poland - American School of Warsaw
Romania - American International School of Bucharest
Russia - Anglo-American School of Moscow
Serbia - International School of Belgrade
Turkey - Istanbul International Community School

Latin America
Argentina - Associacion Escuelas Lincoln
Brazil - Graded School
Chile - International School Nido de Aguilas
Peru - Colegio Franklin Roosevelt

MENA
Egypt - Cairo American College
Israel - Walworth Barbour American International School
Jordan - American Community School, Amman
Oman - The American International School of Muscat
Qatar - American School of Doha
Saudi Arabia - American International School - Riyadh
UAE - American Community School of Abu Dhabi
UAE - American School of Dubai

South Asia
Bangladesh - American International School Dhaka
India - American Embassy School, New Delhi
India - American International School Chennai
India - American School of Bombay
Nepal - Lincoln School Kathmandu
Pakistan - International School of Islamabad
Sri Lanka - Overseas School of Colombo

South-East Asia
Indonesia - Jakarta Intercultural School
Malaysia - International School of Kuala Lumpur
Philippines - International School Manila
Singapore - Singapore American School
Singapore - UWCSEA
Thailand - International School Bangkok
Thailand - NIST International School
Thailand - Bangkok Patana School
Vietnam - UNIS Hanoi

Sub-Saharan Africa
Angola - Luanda International School
Ethiopia - International Community School of Addis Ababa
Ghana - Lincoln Community School, Accra
Kenya - International School of Kenya
Nigeria - American International School of Lagos
Senegal - International School of Dakar
South Africa - American International School of Johannesburg
Tanzania - International School of Tanganyika
Zambia - American International School of Lusaka
Zimbabwe - Harare International School

Western Europe
Austria - American International School, Vienna
Austria - Vienna International School
Belgium - International School of Brussels
Denmark - Copenhagen International School
France - American School of Paris
Germany - Frankfurt International School
Germany - International School of Hamburg
Germany - Munich International School
Italy - American Overseas School of Rome
Luxembourg - International School of Luxembourg
Netherlands - American School of the Hague
Netherlands - International School of Amsterdam
Spain - American School of Madrid
Switzerland - Inter-Community School of Zurich
Switzerland - International School of Basel
Switzerland - International School of Geneva
Switzerland - International School of Lausanne
Switzerland - Zurich International School
UK - TASIS

When it comes to methodology, I valued the following things:
*Non-profit vs. for-profit
*What percent of the student body is host nationals (with a lower percentage being better)
*Total number of nationalities among students
*Salary (relative to other schools in the region) and benefits package
*Curriculum (I'm particularly fond of the British curriculum)
*Size (the school needs to be large enough to offer a relatively balanced DP/senior program)
*Reputation (dozens of bar stool debates).

Thoughts? Opinions? Omissions?

They are a red flag, honestly.

Any school that feels the need to advertise probably doesn't have actual benefits to offer.

@chilligringa.

I'm happy for you, honestly.

However, I've always been of the opinion that nowhere is utopia. Whether that is something related to the country (pollution, cost of living, taxes, safety, infrastructure and traffic, weather), the school (workload, pay, students, administrators) or personal - everywhere has its problem, and eventually the mystery box of another school/region seems more appealing than another year of the same.

That is just me though. I work at a great school full of great teachers and amazing students - but I know that it won't be forever.

Because every city and every school has an expiry date.

A lot of people don't like the tier system, but honestly I feel there are some pretty intuitive groupings.

Tier 1 consists of non-profit schools that cater primarily towards international students rather than host nationals.

Tier 2 consists of schools that have a single wart: they might be for-profit (but the upper echelon of for-profit schools), they might have too many host national students to be considered 'real' international schools, they might be extremely small, there might be problems between management and teachers, it is a boarding school, etc.

Tier 3 consists of the vast majority of schools - for-profit schools for host national students. There is a wide range of quality here from kind of-sort of ok to absolutely putrid.

As the tier gets higher, the salary/housing/benefits tend to get better, relative to that particular region.

YMMV

I always do both. If you're going to take the time to write a cover letter, you might as well make sure that they read it.

I think the golden rule is to attend to the best fair you can get into. Bangkok -> London -> Everything else.

The number of postings on search seem about the same as most years.