Founded by Dr. Hind Louali, Sonia Louali, and Mohammed Louali, Ecole Jean-Jacques Rousseau is the French School of Austin and offers Texas students access to a comprehensive bilingual curriculum modeled after that required in France. Emphasizing fluency and the “joy of learning,” teachers at Ecole Jean-Jacques Rousseau engage closely with children and families in tailoring instruction to individual needs.

A focus of the small-classroom program is on ensuring that students are able to attain their full academic potentials. The precise nature of the French system and its sequence of teaching tasks means that students are encouraged to actively participate in learning from the preschool and early elementary school levels. In addition to preparation for an International Baccalaureate, students are tested through American standardized exams each year. This ensures that they are fully capable of transferring into any middle school or high school program past grade eight.

Classes at the school have a maximum of 15 students, who are organized into ability-based groups and work their way up to higher levels as proficiency is reached. At the core of the school-wide pedagogy is the Gardner Multiple Intelligence Theory, which emphasizes the importance of self-direction and intrinsic motivation in enabling advanced learning.