French Immersion Schools in Baltimore

In Baltimore, French immersion means Baltimore International Academy: two charter schools that share a name, each with its own lottery. Charter schools are free public schools run by their own nonprofit boards. BIA East is in Frankford, in northeast Baltimore; BIA West is across town in Rognel Heights, in west Baltimore. Both are open to any child who lives in Baltimore City, but not to those in the surrounding Baltimore County, a separate school system.

Each family chooses the language its child learns in: French is one of five at BIA East, with Spanish, Chinese, Arabic and Russian, and one of three at BIA West, with Spanish and Chinese. In kindergarten and 1st grade, children learn to read and write only in that language; English reading starts in 2nd grade. Both teach an American curriculum, through the International Baccalaureate’s Primary Years Program in the elementary grades, and both hold the French government’s LabelFrancÉducation.

The lotteries are in February, for the following fall. BIA East takes new students only in kindergarten and 1st grade, and teaches in French through 8th grade. BIA West also takes them in 6th grade, but French there stops after 5th grade: its middle school offers immersion in Spanish only. Around Washington, the free programs take only their own residents, but for the French national curriculum a Baltimore family can choose Rochambeau, a private school in Bethesda, about 30 miles away.

You can also see every French school in Maryland. Spot a school we’ve missed, or a detail that’s out of date? Tell us.