Chinese American International School
Chinese American International School is an independent preschool through Grade 8 co-educational Chinese-English dual language immersion school located in San Francisco, California. Preschool is full immersion, Kindergarten through Grade 5 are alternating days in conducted in Chinese. The school was the first in the United States to have Mandarin immersion education.
CAIS also offers international travel programs for current students, faculty, and staff. The school organizes trips to Taipei and Guilin in the fifth, seventh, and eighth grades.
History
In 1981, San Francisco Supervisor Carol Ruth Silver searched unsuccessfully for a Mandarin-English school where she could enroll her adopted Taiwanese son. She decided to start her own with the help of district attorney Mimi Luk, Justice Harry Low, Bernard Ivaldi, Maurice Tseng, Yvon d'Argence. In 1997 CAIS moved into its campus at 150 Oak St, the former Caltrans headquarters, in partnership with the French American International School.CAIS has received national recognition for its program. In 1987 the US Department of Education designated CAIS the "national prototype for Chinese language education in elementary schools." In 2004, CAIS was awarded the Goldman Sachs Prize for Excellence in International Education.
In 2021, CAIS secured the former property of Mercy High School for $40 million, which has now become the new location of the campus.