Counseling

Guidance Counselors

Benjamin Franklin has two specialist guidance counselors, one for Elementary and Middle Schools and another for High School. Our Guidance Counselors are advocates for students as well as a liaison and resource for faculty and families. The social and emotional development of students has a direct impact on their academic success so our counselors assist students in working toward reaching their fullest academic and personal potentials by monitoring academic progress and fostering the development of social and emotional skills.

College (Academic) Counselor

Our College Counselor guides students in Grades 9-12 in academic planning and the pursuit of career and higher education options. To assist students with making decisions, our Counselor coordinates a Career Day, organizes a College Night, and numerous college visitations. Students are assisted in planning their academic course choices and their advancement is monitored through progress reports. Grade 12 students have a weekly college counseling class in their schedules where they learn about admissions procedures for universities in and outside of Spain and have weekly visits by college representatives from around the world.

For a list of the universities that visited BFIS during the 2006/7 school year click here

Our Counselor also administers the Advanced Placement program, and the PSAT; and helps students investigate, identify and apply to institutions of higher education outside of Spain.

Please click here to read the College Night presentation made by our Spanish Technical Director, Pilar Hernando. The presentation is in Spanish and includes information on Benjamin Franklin's Dual program that alllows students to obtain both and American and Spanish high school diplomas.

Our High School Profile is the information about our High School that accompanies our students´ applications to various colleges and universities around the world.

For more information on the college selection and admissions process, please read the BFIS College Handbook for students and parents:

College Handbook

Optimal Match

Our Optimal Match Program , modeled after the John Hopkins University, is designed for two groups of students:

Our program philosophy reflects one of our belief statements that "Children learn in different rates and in different ways" and our teachers team with the classroom teacher to provide a match for the individual child's needs. The goal is to provide the appropriate challenge or support in the best learning environment that maximizes each child´s academic potential.

Gifted and Talented Program

The Gifted and Talented Program (GATE) is dedicated to meeting the educational and affective needs of high ability students. Providing resources and collaborating with classroom teachers, our GATE coordinator works to see that students are appropriately challenged and fully benefiting from their academic and social-emotional experience at Benjamin Franklin.

The GATE program is operated through a formal and multifaceted referral process that aims to establish an individualized plan for each identified student. Acknowledging the unique environment of our international educational community, the program recognizes that exceptional gifts and talents can be expressed in different ways. As such, the program offers teachers support with high ability learners in the classroom.

English as a Second Language

Benjamin Franklin offers English as a Second Langage for all students in grades 1-10. Students receive small group instruction in English grammar, content vocabulary, reading and listening comprehension, pronunciation and learning strategies. They may also receive language assistance in their regular English and social studies classes in place of or in addition to small group instruction. Each student is re-evaluated on a regular basis to determine when he or she is ready to exit the program. Our monitoring includes a one-year follow up and, if necessary, a request that the student does not enter our high school due to a lack of English proficiency necessary for regular class instruction. The Language Assessment Scales (LAS) are administered to students as needed.

Testing

Benjamin Franklin uses a standardized testing program in order to help each student and his/her parents understand the student's academic achievement as measured against that of other students. This information is also used by teachers to help strengthen students' academic skills. The comparative data provides useful information in evaluating the school programs.

Grade 9 and Grade 10 students take the Tests of Achievement and Proficiency (TAP). All Grade 10 students and all other Grade 11 and 12 students without previous College Board testing are administered the PSAT or Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test. All Grade 11 and 12 students are encouraged to take the Scholastic Achievement Tests (SAT I and SAT II).

Benjamin Franklin is a registered testing center for both PSAT and AP exams.