Inspiring Life-long Learning for Over 25 Years
The Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA) is a nonprofit membership organization of independent Waldorf schools and institutes in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. In North America, there are more than 160 member schools and 14 teacher education institutes.
AWSNA is not a governing, management or umbrella agency. It does not enter into member schools' internal matters or day-to-day operations.
All member schools and institutes make up what it means to be a Waldorf School.
AWSNA's mission is to support schools through collaborative regional work, professional and resource development, accreditation, community outreach, and advocacy. An important service AWSNA provides is the process of accreditation for its member schools as a tool to guide their progress toward an ideal of educational excellence. In providing this process, the association in no way limits, but rather strives to preserve the freedom of each individual school to practice within the principles for Waldorf schools.
AWSNA accreditation is a structured, cyclical process of self-study, peer review, and follow-up. The AWSNA accreditation process includes all aspects of school life, including Waldorf principles, independence and mission, self-reflection, students and families, faculty and staff, community, educational programs, decision-making, resources, health and safety, and legality. The goal is to strengthen Waldorf schools while maintaining the true and complete independence of each school.
Full member schools have voting rights to weigh in on what it means to be a Waldorf school. Da Vinci Waldorf school is currently an Associate Member school; that means we can use the Waldorf name and provide input to the association while we work to become a full member school! A big thank you to our Steering Committee with all their work on this so far!
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