Sora’s curriculum
Empowering your student
with innovative academics
Overview
Our curriculum is designed to meet the needs and goals of all students, while delivering a program that is empowering, engaging, rigorous, and relevant. Our approach is founded on inquiry-based and interdisciplinary learning to give students the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills through engaging projects, based on real-world challenges and problems.
We use a mastery-based approach to evaluate learning, allowing students to demonstrate skills and abilities at their own pace and in multiple contexts while fostering intrinsic motivation to deepen understanding. Students have multiple opportunities and avenues by which to demonstrate their learning. The primary methods of learning are Expeditions, Activities, and Independent Study Projects.
Interdisciplinary. Meaning-based. Student-centered.
An engaging, relevant learning environment designed by each student according to their interests.
Mastery-based assessment
At the end of a learning experience, Sora students are awarded a zero to four score on each "Unit" and "Ability" based on their demonstrated mastery of the material. Crucially, scores are not final until graduation, so students can always try again. This way, students can “overwrite” poor performances and practice a growth mindset.
At Sora, we don't base our student curriculum on grade level. All learning experiences, including expeditions, are designed for both middle and high school students.
Meaning-based learning
A connection-seeking mindset allows students to not only make learning stick but to also make it meaningful. When we design learning environments, our goal is for students to think about the meaning of the learning objectives.
In meaning-based learning, students use this knowledge to integrate their learning into their ever-evolving personal narrative. Students understand that this type of processing is linked to better stickiness in long-term memory, so we find ways to connect new information back to our personal narrative, to think about the meaning.
Curriculum Overview
We provide students with choices, autonomy, and setting high expectations for growth, we leverage their intrinsic motivation as a driving force for achieving academic excellence.
Learning experiences
Sora students choose from our hundreds of engaging
learning experiences based on their interests.
Dream Vacation
—Gain real-life skills as you dive deep into the culture, tourism, history, and geography of your chosen destination
Fantastic Beasts and How to Build Them
—Explore the fascinating world of cell biology
Let's Jam
—Dive deep into the nature of sound, production and recording
Culinary Globe Trotters
—Dive into the geographic, historical, and cultural influences that shape the world's most delectable dishes
Commotion in the Ocean
—The chemistry of our ocean is changing, but why is this happening?
History of Fashion
—Explore hallmark American fashion moments from flapper dresses to the Met Gala
Math at Sora
Like all of Sora’s learning experiences, our math program emphasizes meaning-based and mastery-oriented learning. Math serves as a tool for making sense of and improving our world. Students still strengthen their math muscles with practice and problem sets, but to the end of creating a fantastic project, not taking a high-stakes test.
A Day in the Life of a Sora Student
The Monday through Friday daily school schedule is not a block period schedule where students sit in class for several hours back-to-back. Nor is it primarily independent, asynchronous, and self-paced. Instead, our program balances synchronous or live meetings, such as Expeditions and participation in student life, with asynchronous or independent working time with Independent Study Expeditions and Activities.
Are you concerned about time zones?
At Sora, we provide varying school start times for each of the four time zones in the US.
Empowering Tomorrow's Innovators
Sora is an official partner of The Knowledge Society (TKS), the world’s top accelerator for teens. TKS is a 10-month global innovation program for ambitious high school students.
Sponsored materials
At Sora, our commitment to enhancing the learning experience knows no bounds. That's why we provide each and every student with a comprehensive array of cutting-edge digital tools tailored to various disciplines.
Read our viewbook
Our viewbook provides a comprehensive overview of our school model, curriculum, and student experience.
