Sora Schools Inc. students were doing virtual school long before the coronavirus pandemic forced public schools to close.
The project-based high school, founded by three Georgia Institute of Technology graduates, is an alternative online option to traditional schooling. It allows students to explore their individual interests in a college-like environment.
Its first class in 2019 was seven students. Now, almost 150 students are in Sora Schools. Three graduated last year and are now in college.
The founders feel they’ve proved their learning model works. Now, they’ve raised $18 million to expand the schools and its software, eventually hoping to scale globally.
"We’re building the education system of the future,” CEO Garrett Smiley said.
Investors include Hemant Taneja of General Catalyst, Rebecca Kaden of Union Square Ventures and Gokul Rajaram of Firebolt Ventures. Michael Lynton, chairman of Snap and former CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, is joining the schools’ board. The raise brings the total funding to $21.8 million.
Sora Schools' first obstacle to going mainstream was the accreditation to make sure the students’ high school diplomas were accepted by colleges and parents would buy into the new model. Sora Schools is accredited by Cognia, the largest accreditation agency, as well as WASC and approved by the NCAA.
The schools use an individual learning format already common among “progressive” private schools, Smiley said. But Sora Schools’ flexible tuition model aims to bring that format to more families. Tuition ranges from $3,600 to $12,000.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which pushed virtual school into the mainstream by force, sparked more interest in Sora Schools, Smiley said. Part of that interest came from the way public schools handled the virtual transition.
“Parents felt the schools could be better but thought they didn’t have other options because private school is so expensive,” said Indra Sofian, chief growth officer and co-founder. “The need and desire to change the school system is there.”
Sora Schools is plural for a reason. Though the plan is to create a global school system — right now, the schools have students in 33 states — the students don’t feel that massive scale. Instead, they have small class sizes with a network of teachers and other students with whom to collaborate on group projects.
As Sora Schools grow, that means students are collaborating with a more and more diverse group within their classes, Smiley said. The schools are also expanding club and after-school activity options. For sports, founders say students could join community leagues, which further exposes them to more people.
Sora Schools is also expanding its junior high school program and has students from seventh to 12th grade. The founders are focused on building out their learning management system to visualize academic progress, adding more experts (or teachers) and expanding academic offerings.
