Sidwell Friends School has partnered with nine other independent schools across the country and abroad to launch Global Online Academy, a nonprofit organization that will offer challenging courses online. The organization is scheduled to roll out the first five courses—Global Health, Math for the Computer Scientist, Media Studies, Spanish, and Urban Studies—in the fall.

Global Online aims to take into online classroom communities the rigorous courses for which the participating schools are known. Teachers from the participating schools will lead the classes, which will be limited to 18 Upper School-level students per course. The classes are meant to supplement, not replace, traditional classes.

The other schools in the consortium are Albuquerque Academy in New Mexico; Catlin Gabel School in Portland, Oregon; Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; The Dalton School in New York; Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia; Head-Royce School in Oakland, California; King’s Academy in Madaba-Manja, Jordan; Lakeside School in Seattle; and Punahou School in Honolulu.