It is easily the best school I have ever taught at. The teachers are very dedicated to getting the best out of the students who are really nice to work with. The school is brand new and the facilities are excellent. [matty]

The British International School is expanding quickly, and adding classes to keep up with the enrollment demands. [MPV]

Best Overall on Puxi side (for their Puxi Campus). Most beautiful campus (for their Pudong Campus)
There is a reason why this is the most difficult school to get into. They have a large waiting list because this school is the nearest thing you can get to a well-rounded, American curriculum. The management and facilities are top-notch. With a sprawling campus, SAS feels like a unique American retreat isolated from the rest of China - not unlike the gated communities for expats in the middle east. If you want your child to emulate the exact same lifestyle as he/she had in your home country (especially USA) and price is not an issue, then this is your first choice.
Drawbacks : price (USD20,000), distance from city center, long waiting lists, "wild" upperclassment. [jys390]

For us SAS has been and still is the answer. Even though the school looks huge. There are three seperate buildings, so extually 3 schools. Very well organised. Great facilities. Also the Pudong campus is great. Our oldest goes there at the moment.[ Evie]

Value for your monies with lots of activities and beautiful and functional spaces in such a hugh campus. [bliss]

Best U.S. school [nicklar]

Though the curriculum and activities are similar to the US, the student population is extremely diverse with only around 25% American passport holders (and many of these are children of foreign born parents - including quite a few with Shanghai born parents!!). I feel that my children are getting the same type of diversity that they would get at many of the other international schools - not an isolated gated school at all. [tnmom]

Best British school [nicklar]

Good [bliss]

One of the most popular[MPV]

Best value school.
A even mix of experienced and young, well-educated admin and staff (Yale, Stanford, Northwestern, UPenn, Cornell, Oxford, Harvard), small class sizes and the lowest price among schools using British or American curriculum (around USD6000, including 'management' fees). Has a unique bilingual structure with a completely American and completely Chinese curriculum under one roof (each student chooses one, but not both). Short waiting lists and a more sheltered social life. 2006 Middle/High School principal was Dean of Foreign Language department at Phillips Academy. *Finally, it has an award-winning student newspaper, the only true newspaper among int'l schools in Shanghai (okay, that's my bias: I was the faculty advisor!).
Drawbacks: distance from city center, functional but sparce, spartan campus and facilities. limited activities and electives. No academic tradition for colleges (first graduating class will be in 2006). Chinese-style cafeteria foods and small student population often has high schoolers in constant complaint. High faculty turnover rate. Sheltered student social life. Only accredited in China as of now (Chinese govt ceased giving new int'l school licenses in 2002) [jys390]

The teachers at SMIC are great.. they are dedicated, committed and come from top schools in the USA, Yale, Cornell, Harvard etc... [chiedog]

They have kindergarten to high school. The fees are less expensive than SAS, SHS, Concordia, Yew Chung, Chang Ning....at only USD4000+/year.
School is very conservative, e.g. a Moral Office was established last year to watch the conducts of the kids. Kids are very well-behaved, and as the size of class is small, there are very close links among all the kids. [#1VoIPFan]

The environment's great and the student teacher relationships are pretty good too. [nataku2212](nataku2212 is student there)

Best value [nicklar]

Rego is Chinese-owned and hence has good Mandarin programs if that's what you're looking for [nicklar]

I would avoid Shanghai Rego at all costs. My son went there for a while and while he looked forward to going to school at his old school, he hated SRIS. Every morning it would be "I don't want to go to school, I don't like this school"! - every mother's nightmare. The school is completely incompetent when it comes to working with parents, they take a very negative approach to discipline and the after school activities are of very low quality - they might as well just let the kids go home earlier.[treehouse]

Shanghai Community International Schools is expanding quickly, and adding classes to keep up with the enrollment demands. [MPV]

We settled on SCIS in the end, and things are fine. We like it. [heyhunts]

They have teacher who is not good command in English but teaching math and so students suffered, maybe few such teachers [bliss]

Best Overal on Pudong side
A great management team with that creates a positive, structured curriculum. Much smaller than SAS, the school has a excellent facilities, and the entire campus (a beautiful, quaint office-building architecture) is hooked up to wireless Internet (all students are required to purchase a laptop for classes). It is a Lutheran based school, so there is more moral structure for the students (student uniforms, strong values educations). Smaller class sizes also help individualize learning. Also based upon an American curriculum, they offer nearly all the standard electives and college counseling as SAS Puxi.
Drawbacks: Price: USD21,000, distance from city center, a relatively new school with a limited tradition of academic excellence for colleges (not that they aren't building one) [jys390]

I am a teacher at Yew Chung. The school cannot compare to SAS when it comes to the campus, however, I think our strong point is our dedicated staff. The facilities might not be the best, yet there is a positive atmosphere amongst students and staff.
Yew Chung offers a lot in terms of art, theatre and music, which I know is well known. Yet, from what I have seen, the school also provides a challenging curriculum in academics such as science, history, mathematics, etc.
I find the students and the staff to be very positive and yet serious about education as well. [peacefulstar]

Best Location: Yew Chung International School (YCIS) Gubei Campus [jys390]

Unfriendly principle, poor admin staff. Unattentive to problems from top down, gathered from my past one year personal experience. Mostly Asians with mix of small number of many diff countries, boast students from 40+ countries. School activities: Popular ones hard to get in and end up no extra activities for many students. School orchestra have a good support with annual oversea trips. They used to be good but not any more, some parents I talked to want to make move after spend 1-3 years there. [bliss]

Not balanced enough in terms of nationalities, level of english poor [heyhunts]

Yew Chung is Chinese-owned and hence has good Mandarin programs if that's what you're looking for [nicklar]

Maybe I'm awful, but I am under the impression that they are ALL seriously overpriced ripoffs. Full of nouveau-riche brats whose ayis have cleaned up for them their whole lives...I wouldn't let my kids near any of the international schools.[lioralourie]

I think the larger issue is that for nearly all the int'l school students in Shanghai, they lead a privileged, expat life devoid of any meaningful interaction with locals, apart from those who do menial labor around them. The only way to avoid this is to send the child directly to a local school; otherwise the supercilious attitudes adopted by most expat kids will remain. [jys390]

In my experience (helping many families relocate to Shanghai) there is no "best" school as they all have strengths which match what families are looking for.
I've seen parents make successful and unsuccessful school choices at nearly all of the International schools, and the reasons vary tremendously. Smaller class sizes in places like SMIC or SCIS could be a huge benefit for a student with special needs, while the SAS's organized activities can become an integral part in some other children's happiness. Some parents view the challenge of a fully immersed bilingual Chinese education as an important process for their children, others feel that a child's education should stay on its own curriculum track without any confusing readjustments.
As a real estate leasing and relocation agent, I should also throw in that its a good idea to be familiar with the office location of the working expat(s), and communicate it to your agent. This enables you to choose a community and a school that are all relatively commutable for your family. I mentioned this in a previous post, but I do feel for the expat kids who are sitting in school busses in traffic jams for over three hours per day. [MPV]

High School Recommendation
Online Poll: The best international school in Shanghai
Excellent and INEXPENSIVE school
Yew Chung international school in Shanghai