Welcome

The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) is a membership organization with 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. NAIS represents approximately 1,300 independent schools and associations in the United States, and affiliates with independent schools abroad as well. We offer a broad variety of services to our member schools and associations. Go to our membership section to learn more membership criteria and benefits.

NAIS Mission
NAIS's mission is to be the national voice of independent schools and the center for collective action on their behalf.

NAIS Values
The NAIS mission is rooted in the core values of independence, interdependence, inclusivity, and innovation. We believe the freedoms derived from independence and self-determination are deserving of preservation, worthy of emulation, and a source of the success of independent schools in preparing students to contribute effectively toward a peaceful, prosperous, just, and equitable world. The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) exists to represent and sustain schools that are self-determining in mission and program, free from government control, and governed by independent boards. NAIS serves independent schools, adjusting focus as emerging issues dictate. NAIS is a hub of resources and expertise on matters relating to schools. We embrace innovation, powered by creativity; networking; and energy around valuing, sustaining, and growing independent schools. The practice of NAIS is high tech and high touch, high performance and high integrity.

NAIS Vision
The NAIS vision foresees a future where independent school graduates will make good choices for themselves, their communities, and the world, capitalizing upon those values and skills that won’t change and acquiring those new skills and values a 21st Century marketplace and global commons will demand. We see NAIS’s role as leading and serving schools as the center of a network of ideas that propel good schools toward becoming great schools, characterized by demographic, environmental, global, programmatic, and financial sustainability.

Antidiscrimination Statement
All participants are welcome to participate in NAIS programs. NAIS has an institutional commitment to the principles of diversity. In that spirit, NAIS does not discriminate in violation of the law on the basis of race, religion, creed, color, sexual orientation, age, physical challenge, nation of origin, gender, or any other characteristic.