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International Small Cap Growth Portfolio

International Small Cap Growth Portfolio

Investment Objective

The investment objective of the International Small Cap Growth Portfolio (the “Portfolio”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the International Small Cap Growth Portfolio.

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment):

Shareholder Fees	International Small Cap Growth Portfolio Institutional Class USD ($)
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)	none

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses	International Small Cap Growth Portfolio Institutional Class	[1]
Management Fee	0.48%
Other Expenses	0.10%	[2]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	0.58%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement	0.02%	[3]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement	0.56%

EXAMPLE

This Example is meant to help you compare the cost of investing in the International Small Cap Growth Portfolio with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. The costs for the Portfolio reflect the net expenses of the Portfolio that result from the contractual expense waiver in the first year only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:

Expense Example	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
International Small Cap Growth Portfolio | Institutional Class | USD ($)	57	184	322	724

Expense Example, No Redemption	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
International Small Cap Growth Portfolio | Institutional Class | USD ($)	57	184	322	724

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

A mutual fund generally pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when mutual fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual FundOperating Expenses or in the Example, affect the International Small Cap Growth Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio’s portfolio turnover rate was 34% of the average value of its investment portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The International Small Cap Growth Portfolio, using a market capitalization weighted approach, purchases securities of small, non-U.S. companies in countries with developed markets that the Advisor determines to have high profitability and relative prices compared to other non-U.S. small cap companies at the time of purchase. A company’s market capitalization is the number of its shares outstanding times its price per share. In general, the higher the relative market capitalization of a small company within an eligible country, the greater its representation in the Portfolio. The Advisor may also adjust the representation in the Portfolio of an eligible company, or exclude a company, after considering such factors as free float, momentum, trading strategies, liquidity, relative price, profitability, investment characteristics, and other factors that the Advisor determines to be appropriate. Securities are considered higher relative price (growth) stocks primarily because a company’s shares have a high price in relation to their book value (a “price to book ratio”) when compared with other non-U.S. small cap companies. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios, as well as economic conditions and developments in the issuer’s industry. In assessing profitability, the Advisor considers different ratios, such as that of earnings or profits from operations relative to book value or assets. In assessing a company’s investment characteristics, the Advisor considers ratios such as recent changes in assets divided by total assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price, profitability, or investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time.

The International Small Cap Growth Portfolio intends to purchase securities of non-U.S. small cap companies that are eligible based on their relative price and expected profitability and are associated with developed market countries that the Advisor has designated as approved markets. As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in securities of small companies in the particular markets in which it invests. The Advisor determines the maximum market capitalization of a small company with respect to each country in which the Portfolio invests. In the countries or regions authorized for investment, the Advisor first ranks eligible companies listed on selected exchanges based on the companies’ market capitalizations. The Advisor then determines the universe of eligible stocks by defining the maximum market capitalization of a small company that may be purchased by the Portfolio with respect to each country or region. Based on market capitalization data as of December 31, 2020, for the Portfolio, the market capitalization of a small company in any country in which the Portfolio invests would be below $8,678 million. This threshold will vary by country or region. For example, based on market capitalization data as of December 31, 2020, the Advisor would consider a small company in Switzerland to have a market capitalization below $8,678 million, a small company in Norway to have a market capitalization below $3,070 million, and a small company in Japan to have a market capitalization below $2,302 million. These thresholds will change due to market conditions.

The International Small Cap Growth Portfolio may gain exposure to companies associated with approved markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country. The Portfolio also may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for foreign and U.S. equity securities and indices, to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio.

The International Small Cap Growth Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.

Principal Risks

Because the value of your investment in the International Small Cap Growth Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money. An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The following is a description of principal risks of investing in the Portfolio.

Equity Market Risk: Even a long-term investment approach cannot guarantee a profit. Economic, market, political, and issuer-specific conditions and events will cause the value of equity securities, and the Portfolio that owns them, to rise or fall. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.

Growth Investment Risk: Growth stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause the Portfolio to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

Profitability Investment Risk: High relative profitability stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause the Portfolio to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Foreign securities prices may decline or fluctuate because of: (a) economic or political actions of foreign governments, and/or (b) less regulated or liquid securities markets. Investors holding these securities may also be exposed to foreign currency risk (the possibility that foreign currency will fluctuate in value against the U.S. dollar or that a foreign government will convert, or be forced to convert, its currency to another currency, changing its value against the U.S. dollar). The Portfolio does not hedge foreign currency risk.

Depositary receipts are generally subject to the same risks as the foreign securities that they evidence or into which they may be converted. In addition, the underlying issuers of certain depositary receipts, particularly unsponsored or unregistered depositary receipts, are under no obligation to distribute shareholder communications to the holders of such receipts, or to pass through to them any voting rights with respect to the deposited securities. Depositary receipts that are not sponsored by the issuer may be less liquid and there may be less readily available public information about the issuer.

Small Company Risk: Securities of small companies are often less liquid than those of large companies and this could make it difficult to sell a small company security at a desired time or price. As a result, small company stocks may fluctuate relatively more in price. In general, smaller capitalization companies are also more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business or economic developments and they may have more limited resources.

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as futures, and options thereon, and foreign currency forward contracts, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. When the Portfolio uses derivatives, the Portfolio will be directly exposed to the risks of those derivatives. Derivative instruments are subject to a number of risks including counterparty, settlement, liquidity, interest rate, market, credit and management risks, as well as the risk of improper valuation. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index, and the Portfolio could lose more than the principal amount invested.

Securities Lending Risk: Securities lending involves the risk that the borrower may fail to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. As a result, the Portfolio may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. The Portfolio could also lose money if it does not recover the securities and/or the value of the collateral falls, including the value of investments made with cash collateral. Securities lending also may have certain adverse tax consequences.

Operational Risk: Operational risks include human error, changes in personnel, system changes, faults in communication, and failures in systems, technology, or processes. Various operational events or circumstances are outside the Advisor’s control, including instances at third parties. The Portfolio and the Advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address these risks.

Cyber Security Risk: The Portfolio’s and its service providers’ use of internet, technology and information systems may expose the Portfolio to potential risks linked to cyber security breaches of those technological or

information systems. Cyber security breaches, amongst other things, could allow an unauthorized party to gain access to proprietary information, customer data, or fund assets, or cause the Portfolio and/or its service providers to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality.

Performance

The bar chart and table immediately following illustrate the variability of the International Small Cap Growth Portfolio’s returns and are meant to provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio. The bar chart shows the changes in the Portfolio’s performance from year to year. The table illustrates how annualized one year, five year and since inception returns, both before and after taxes, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not an indication of future results. Updated performance information for the Portfolio can be obtained by visiting http://us.dimensional.com.

The after-tax returns presented in the table for the International Small Cap Growth Portfolio are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown in the table. In addition, the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold shares of the Portfolio through tax-advantaged arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

International Small Cap Growth Portfolio Institutional Class Shares—Total Returns

January 2013-December 2020
Highest Quarter 25.47% (4/20–6/20)	Lowest Quarter -28.42% (1/20–3/20)

Annualized Returns (%) Periods ending December 31, 2020

Average Annual Total Returns - International Small Cap Growth Portfolio	1 Year	5 Years	Since Inception	Inception Date
Institutional Class	16.41%	10.38%	10.37%	Dec. 20, 2012
Institutional Class | Return After Taxes on Distributions	16.17%	9.64%	9.65%	Dec. 20, 2012
Institutional Class | Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Portfolio Shares	10.01%	8.15%	8.30%	Dec. 20, 2012
MSCI World ex USA Small Cap Growth Index (net dividends) (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes on sales)	22.93%	11.88%	10.66%

[1] The “Management Fee” and “Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses” have been adjusted to reflect the decrease in the management fee payable by the Portfolio from 0.50% to 0.48% effective February 28, 2020.

[2] “Other Expenses” include “Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses,” which were less than 0.01% of the average net assets of the Portfolio. Since the “Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses” are not directly borne by the Portfolio, they are not reflected in the Portfolio’s financial statements, and therefore, the amounts listed in “Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses” will differ from those presented in the Financial Highlights.

[3] Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the “Advisor”) has agreed to waive certain fees and in certain instances, assume certain expenses of the Portfolio. The Amended and Restated Fee Waiver Agreement for the Portfolio will remain in effect through February 28, 2022, and may only be terminated by the Fund’s Board of Directors prior to that date. Under certain circumstances, the Advisor retains the right to seek reimbursement for any fees previously waived and/or expenses previously assumed up to thirty-six months after such fee waiver and/or expense assumption.