Founded by the Dominican Sisters in 1957 with classes opening in 1960, DIS has operated continuously on the same institutional mission for more than six decades. The school wears its Catholic character prominently. Its D'TORCH framework runs as an explicit thread through student formation from Kindergarten through Grade 12, shaping how students are expected to treat each other, approach their work, and engage with the wider community.
Alongside that values framework, DIS delivers a demanding American curriculum with 15 Advanced Placement subjects, AP Capstone, and WASC accreditation. Academic standards are intentionally rigorous. The combination is the school's distinctive proposition: character and faith formation treated as core educational outcomes, not extras, layered under a program that prepares students for competitive university admission.
Families considering DIS are typically drawn by both elements together. Those seeking an academically serious international school without the values framework will find DIS's character explicit rather than incidental. Those seeking a faith-aligned school without the academic load will find DIS demanding.
In our work with DIS families, the pattern we see most often is similar to the one we see with KCIS families. Students arrive at DIS from a range of prior schooling backgrounds, including Taiwanese bilingual systems, other international schools, and homeschool settings. Once inside DIS, the academic environment is fully English and the pace is quick.
The jump into that environment can be significant. Academic vocabulary across subjects, the structure of essays and lab reports, reading at grade level, and participating in class discussion are all skills students build, not ones they arrive with. Students whose conversational English is strong can still struggle with academic English, which is a distinct skill.
Most of our work with DIS students sits here. We teach academic English through the subjects themselves, building vocabulary and writing fluency in the context of biology, history, and literature. We also give targeted instruction in the academic writing formats DIS students encounter across their courses. The goal is that English stops being a barrier to learning and becomes the tool it is meant to be.
Dominican International School was established in 1957 and opened to students on March 28, 1960, founded by the Sisters of the Congregation of the Religious Missionaries of St. Dominic. The Dominican order has a centuries-long tradition of education internationally, and DIS was established as part of the order's mission to serve international communities in Taiwan through Catholic education.
The school's founding intent was to provide an English-medium Catholic education for the international community in Taipei, with academic rigor and formation of character as joint priorities. That dual purpose remains core to the school's operation today. Religious education, chapel life, and service learning are not peripheral programs at DIS but integrated into the school's weekly rhythm and expected of all students regardless of their personal faith background.
The school's educational framework rests on the Four Pillars of Dominican Life, which are prayer, study, community, and service. These are the broader Dominican tradition. At DIS specifically, these pillars are expressed through the school's own acronym: D'TORCH, which stands for the five core values the school expects students to embody as Truthful, Organized, Reflective, Courageous, and Helpful. D'TORCH is also the organizing principle of the school's House System, in which every student is assigned to one of five mixed-grade houses for the entirety of their time at DIS.
DIS runs an American curriculum from Kindergarten through Grade 12, with Advanced Placement available in Grades 11 and 12 and the AP Capstone Diploma pathway for students who complete AP Seminar, AP Research, and four additional AP exams. Mandarin is taught as an additional language across the program. Religious education is integrated at all grade levels.
The standard path leads to an American high school diploma with AP courses taken in Grades 11 and 12 based on student choice and academic readiness.
Students who complete AP Seminar, AP Research, and four additional AP exams earn the AP Capstone Diploma, a College Board credential recognized by US universities.
Graduation requirements include subject coverage across English, mathematics, sciences, social studies, world language, and religious education.
DIS publishes selected academic outcomes on its school website and in admissions materials. Subject-level AP breakdowns and recent SAT or ACT averages are not routinely published by the school. Results described here reflect DIS's published summary framing and documentary evidence from the school profile.
DIS students sit AP examinations across the school's 15 AP subject catalog, with AP Capstone (AP Seminar plus AP Research) offered as a structured diploma pathway for academically strong students. The school reports that graduates are well prepared for competitive university admission, supported by both the academic program and the personalized pastoral environment of a smaller school.
Because DIS is notably smaller than TAS, Fuhsing BD, or KCIS Xiugang, the publication of AP performance data tends to be presented at the school level rather than by individual subject cohort. For granular AP performance or recent SAT and ACT averages, DIS directs prospective families to request the most recent school profile from the admissions office during the application process.
The school's AP Scholar recognition program highlights students who achieve the qualifying combination of AP scores set by the College Board, and DIS recognizes these students internally as part of its academic honors structure.
Most international schools lead with their matriculation list. The Ivy counts. The acceptance percentages. The named institutions. DIS takes a different view. University destination is part of what a DIS graduate carries forward, but it is not the measure.
Graduates of DIS complete twelve years of formation under a framework that treats character, faith, and community alongside academic achievement. This is how the school measures success, and it is how DIS students describe their own experience looking back. Many DIS alumni cite the relationships, the pastoral environment, and the sense of being known as what they remember most from their school years, not the university they moved on to.
DIS graduates do go on to a diverse set of universities. US research universities and liberal arts colleges, Asia-Pacific universities particularly in Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, Canadian universities, and selected European destinations. But the graduating class profile is richer than a list of institutions implies. Specific destinations for any given cohort are best requested directly from the DIS admissions office.
DIS uses a holistic admissions review rather than a standardized external entrance test. Assessment combines academic records, interviews, and internal placement testing where relevant. DIS is generally accessible to international families and to local families who meet foreign passport requirements, which reflects the school's original purpose of serving the international community.
What we observe in the families we have helped navigate DIS, alongside what is publicly known about the school. A useful filter before committing to the application and a community-scale American international school.
The DIS families we work with most are students adapting to the academic English environment of a fully English, rigorous American school. Our approach is built around that specific challenge, and around the particular character of the DIS learning environment.
The Taipei guide, school-by-school coverage, and two Harland Review editorials families often read alongside DIS.
A consultation with our Student Coordinator clarifies which part of the DIS journey matters most for your family right now, whether that is academic English readiness, AP subject support, or navigating the Upper School years. We start by listening.