Academics at Nova

Nova High School (an Alternative Learning Experience) is an innovator in non-traditional education.   We are a competency, inquiry and project-based school that uses performance and portfolio assessment to gauge the level and depth of student work.  As a social and racial justice school, we believe personalization in education is key to building trust and academic success in preparing all students for college and the workforce after high school.  Learning to take responsibility for one’s own education is an educational experience in itself.  Nova’s coordinating system and active committees provide a network of supports, enabling students to grow into this responsibility. This approach allows Nova students to ignite their own passion for learning and provides them with the tools for university-level expectations and course work.

At Nova, students choose their classes and are directly involved in creating their schedules.  In the classroom and through independent learning contracts, students can follow their own passions while creating unique and individual ways to demonstrate their learning.

What is an Alternative Learning Experience (ALE)?

ALEs are learning experiences for public school students that are developed and supervised via a student learning plan with certified teachers. ALEs are spelled out in Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 392-121-182; it provides the legal and legislative basis for our ability to create and implement our innovative, flexible program with our students.  The other significant component of ALE is that student achievement and funding are not based primarily on “seat-time”, which is how conventional high schools are funded.

What this means for Nova

Nova provides a strong academic program within a competency and project-based teaching and learning system, performance-based assessment, seminar-style courses, multi-level classes, and independent study. In addition to learning individual and social responsibility, Nova students co-design their own programs of study within an interdisciplinary non-graded structure.

Student engagement extends beyond the classroom. Nova has always been grassroots, democratic school with a strong commitment to social justice. For over 40 years Nova has been run collectively by the students and staff. Students are required to participate in a governing committee that makes real decisions about how their school is run.

Nova is democratically governed by committees made up of students, teachers, parents, guardians, alumni, principal, and staff. School matters are addressed by the entire community. All have a voice and a vote on issues including managing the budget, staff hiring, and changing the governing system itself.