The Nora School Accreditation & Recertification Process 2025

The Nora School was first accredited by the Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges in 1994, when it was then called the Washington Ethical High School, and located in the Washington Ethical Society building, on 16th Street in Washington DC. 

The Nora School has been re-accredited several times since then, with the most recent coming in 2019.

We are now undergoing this process for full re-accreditation in the spring of 2026. Here are some highlights of that process:

  • 03/08/2024 - First all-staff in-service to discuss MSA

  • 08/2024 to 04/2025 - Surveys sent to various constituents

  • 04/17/2024 - Self-study committees formed, meet for first time

  • 02/11/2025 - Self Studies Completed

  • 03/05/2025 - Technical Review approved by MSA

  • 05/01/2025 - First Draft of Report and Action Plan issued for review by Board and Staff

  • 10/10/2025 - Final Draft of complete report made available to visiting committee

  • 11/09/2025 to 11/12/2025 - Visiting Committee Arrives for Site Visit

  • 11/12/2025 - Site visit ends with initial report - We are pleased to report that the visiting committee, in their oral report to the school, indicated that they will recommend to MSA that The Nora School be re-accredited.

  • TBD - Re-accreditation Issued

  • 2028 - Mid-term report

  • 2031 - Begin process for 2033 re-accreditation


The Self-Study Objectives

An integral part of the reaccreditation process is to formulate an Action Plan, or a Plan for Growth and Improvement, which comes directly from the self-study. This plan includes a series of concrete objectives, which in turn gives rise to a series of discrete action steps. We have crafted three such objectives, outlined here.

Portfolio Objective

Since the early 2010's, The Nora School has been asking graduating seniors to present portfolios of their work, intended to show their readiness for post-secondary school life. The senior portfolio gives the staff significant insights into how effective our overall program realizes the aims depicted in our foundational documents. Considering the portfolio presentations as indicative of our goals, we work backwards from there to see how our academic and social curricula support students through their time at Nora in producing a successful final presentation. In essence, we feel that the quality of the senior portfolio presentations tells us how well we are doing in our mission.

Stated Objective:
By 2032, The Nora School will have in place an overarching curriculum design that will  ensure 95% of graduating students have mastered basic skill levels in academics as found in:

  • Written language expression

  • Oral language expression

  • Data analysis

  • Research

 Additionally, 95% of graduating students will develop skills in other areas, including:

  • Social Justice

  • Wellness, including

  • Self-knowledge and advocacy

  • Social Responsibility  

  • Artistic expression

  • Foreign cultures

  • Historical Contexts

Math Objective

Math skills are critical skills: they include analysis, critical thinking, logic and attention to detail, all skills which our students will need in many areas of their lives. While the MAP reports are encouraging, we feel we can and want to do better. 

Our students come to us from a wide variety of educational backgrounds and abilities, so while total achievement is nice, what we want to focus on is individual growth, as this meets students where they are and instills in them self-confidence and a desire for lifelong learning as they witness themselves improve.

This data can also help individual teachers tailor their lesson plans and pedagogical approaches in ways that support greater success in math, the senior portfolios and ultimately, in life for all our students.

Stated Objective:
By 2032, improve student growth in their individual math performance by incorporating data-driven responses to student learning and support strategies. The effectiveness of this plan will be measured by:

  • Growth Metric: 67% of The Nora School students will score in the 60th percentile or higher for growth on the annual Math MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) assessment, based on spring-to-spring comparisons. (Baseline: 31% in 2023-2024.)

  • Senior Portfolio Presentations: 90% of student presentations on their math and data analysis skills will be deemed of “high quality,” as measured by their ability to meet the technical requirement of their presented assignments. (Baseline to be determined in 2026.)

  • Targeted Intervention Evaluation (Overtime): Continue to monitor, improve and hone targeted intervention techniques and implementation during the 30-minute overtime sessions, regarding improving student math growth.

Language Skills Objective

As with Math skills, Reading and Language skills are critical for our students, and we plan on approaching this task in ways similar to the ways described in Math Objective, above. 

Stated Objective:
By 2032, improve student growth in their individual Reading and Language Usage performance by incorporating data-driven responses to student learning and support strategies. The effectiveness of this plan will be measured by:

  • Growth Metric: 67% of The Nora School students will score in the 60th percentile or higher for growth on the annual Reading and Language Usage MAP assessment, based on spring-to-spring comparisons. (Baseline: 27% are in Reading and 32% are in Language Usage in 2023-2024.)

  • Senior Portfolio Presentations: 90% of student presentations on their Research Papers and Oral Presentations will be deemed of “high quality” as measured by their ability to meet the technical requirements of their presented assignments and to demonstrate appropriate and professional presentation and public speaking skills. (Baseline to be determined in 2026.)

  • Targeted Intervention Evaluation (Overtime): Continue to monitor, improve and hone targeted intervention techniques and implementation during the 30-minute overtime sessions, regarding improving student reading and language usage growth.