IAS’ primary objective is to bring together good students and good teachers. It seeks students who are able to benefit from the challenge of a broad and thorough education, and, teachers who are highly professional, caring, and committed to maximizing the potential of each student as a whole being through the sharing of their individual field of expertise. IAS strives to maintain small classes in order to foster a close relationship between faculty and students while promoting the independent exploration, decision making, information processing and communication that is essential for survival in the challenging world of today. We strive to meet the individual needs of each student. In order to further the goal of developing all aspects of the individual student, IAS focuses on achieving a good balance between academic, physical, and extracurricular programs, and providing for cultural development and involvement of the student in community service. In carrying out the academic aspects of its program, the IAS objective is to develop fundamental intellectual skills which make possible critical thinking and independent judgment. It stresses the ability to communicate as an aid to clear thinking, strives to stimulate the development of curiosity and imagination, and, offers opportunities in the arts to develop the student’s aesthetic sense. In physical education, IAS emphasizes healthy physical development and the value of teamwork, group loyalty, sportsmanship, and the cultivation of control under pressure. In extracurricular activities, the School seeks to provide a diversity of stimulating programs to furnish students with healthy diversion and opportunities for widening their horizons. Woven through all of IAS’ endeavors is the objective of developing character. The School seeks to teach students from an early age the meaning and importance of self-discipline, personal integrity, respect for the rights of others, and an appreciation of traditional values, including the ability to work with others and a sense of social responsibility. The IAS Honor System strives to reinforce the development of character through student participation and personal assumption of responsibility in all phases of school life.
Since education is an enterprise that should be shared between school and parents, IAS seeks to encourage good communication with parents, their participation in school activities, and their understanding of the interdependence of school and home responsibilities. IAS seeks to serve the daily needs of students in a concerned way, monitor their curriculum at all stages of their educational careers, and aid them in making decisions that will lead to appropriate college choices. To furnish its faculty the best possible tools, IAS seeks to provide modern, efficient, and stimulating physical facilities
— classrooms, libraries, laboratories, computer facilities, and playing fields — and to maintain them in good order. To continue to meet its objective of providing a broad and thorough education to students able to accept the challenge, IAS recognizes that it must adapt to change. It aims to review critically and periodically its curriculum, methods, and facilities and to remain open, flexible, and responsive.