September 2006

Washington Virtual Academy
Offers a New School Choice

By Colleen Reed

For parents and students, September is synonymous with Back to School. But starting school will be a different experience for hundreds of families with children enrolled in the Washington Virtual Academy this year.

The Washington Virtual Academy, or WAVA, is a new home-based public school. As a public program of Steilacoom Historical District No. 1, WAVA is open to all Washington state students from kindergarten to eighth grade at no cost.

The program uses curriculum developed by educational experts at K12 Inc., a private company that supplies learning materials to schools across the country. Parents can find lesson plans online and receive physical materials by mail.

Although it is a virtual academy, students spend only about 25 percent of their time in front of a computer, explains Randall Greenway, chief administrative officer. The majority of work is done with traditional materials from WAVA, which supplies everything from textbooks and maps to microscopes and rock samples. Parents need only provide a computer with daily access to the Internet. Basic computer skills are also required.

Steilacoom Historical District piloted the program locally in the 2004-2005 school year with 15 students. Due to its success and popularity, WAVA grew into a statewide program; this fall, it will serve more than 800 children. There is an even distribution between new students coming from traditional public schools and those who were homeschooled.

Greenway attributes the growth of the program to superior curriculum that is convenient and easy to use. It offers a more flexible option to parents who are dissatisfied with local education options, he says.

The curriculum is individualized and self-paced, but still meets or exceeds Washington state standards. Students study traditional core subjects: language arts, math, science, history and art. Once enrolled, children take a placement test to ensure each student receives curriculum best suited to his or her learning style. This allows WAVA to accommodate individual children, such as a third-grader who reads at a second grade level but does fifth grade math.

Students also take regular assessments at the end of every lesson, unit and semester. These assessments are used not only to measure mastery of the curriculum, but also to evaluate each child’s strengths and weaknesses and to better understand the student’s learning style. Children in the Virtual Academy are still required to take standard public school tests such as Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills and the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL).

Parents will not be on their own to prepare their children for these tests. WAVA’s certified teachers are available for weekly conferences with parents and students, or as frequently as parents want support. Teachers are employees of Steilacoom Historical District, but work from their homes all around the state, so there’s always one nearby. They review work samples and work closely with parents to give each student the best learning opportunities.

Teachers are also required to organize at least one outing per month. This could be a trip to a museum, the zoo or just the park. There are usually 10 or more field trips each month, Greenway says. Parents can pick and choose based on location and interest in the topic. Outings give students the opportunity to interact socially while enrolled in the Virtual Academy. Parents often wonder whether children will have those opportunities without going to a physical school building every day.

“Its usually one of parents’ biggest concerns beforehand,” Greenway says, “but parents involved in the program will tell you it’s not an issue at all.” Many families use online forums and WAVA’s parent directory to organize informal meeting times for their children. The school also plans to hold other academic events, such as spelling bees and science fairs, in the future.

The goal of the Virtual Academy is to provide everything a traditional public school would, but with personalized teaching styles and individual attention. The computer is used as a learning tool, Greenway says, but it cannot replace involved parents and devoted teachers.

Students can enroll in the program any time throughout the school year. To learn more, find out about parent information sessions or enroll, call 1-888-968-7512 or visit www.wava.org. The Web site also includes testimonials from parents in the pilot program, typical daily schedules and sample lessons for different grades.

Colleen Reed is a communications student at Washington State University and a summer intern with Puget Sound Parent and Seattle’s Child.

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