I don't know anything about the area and the school. The information I got is from web:
National Merit Recognitions:
Class of 2010 Finalists: 8 (13.3% of class)
AP Scholars: 9
AP Scholars with Honor: 2
AP Scholars with Distinction: 5
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The number of national merit finalists per year a school produces is pretty good indication of the quality of education there. In the case of ISS, it has 8 finalists. It is very impressive given the fact that it has only 70 students a year. National merit finalists usually end up in very good schools.
ISS has 5 AP scholars with distinction(5 or more AP classes) for 2010 seniors. These kids will be very competitive in terms of course rigor.
This year, ISS also has two candidates for presidential award program. Usually mean having 800/800 on critical reading/math of SAT.
So it is a pretty impressive school, but very expensive too. Grinity, have you considered Vestavia Hills high school?
