WELCOME TO COLUMBIA VIRTUAL ACADEMY!
We prepare students for THEIR future with personalized learning for EVERY student
Register Now- Your student is a resident of Washington State and in grade K-12.
- The local brick and mortar public school does not meet your needs.
- You have the time and desire to work with your student at home.
How CVA Works
- CVA offers book and paper and online curriculum options for grades K-8, and a selection of online high school courses for grades 9-12.
- When you contact CVA, an Enrollment Advisor will answer your questions and, should you decide to register your student, guide you through the entire process. While registration is underway, an Academic Advisor will work with you to develop your student’s Written Student Learning Plan (WSLP).
- Once registration is complete and the WSLP is in place, a CVA teacher will be assigned to serve as your family’s primary CVA contact and educational guide.
CVA is a totally public, accredited, tuition free, K-12, alternative to traditional brick and mortar schools for Washington State residents.
Engaged Parents
CVA is not a program where even the most independent learner can be left alone to work without parental support and guidance.
Engaged Parents
Columbia Virtual Academy (CVA) is not a program where even the most independent learner can be left alone to work without parental support and guidance. As part of CVA’s partnership with families, parents:
- deliver daily lessons (text-based curriculum, K-8)
- monitor student progress (online curriculum, K-12)
- planning and navigating the daily academic schedule
- ensuring the student is completing work
- assisting with grading of student work
- collaborating with the CVA teacher
- preparing students for their monthly reviews
- facilitating the regular submission of work samples
- preparing students for assessments
- ensuring students have the necessary virtual school technology (high speed internet, updated browsers, plugins and settings, speakers and microphones, as applicable) and know how to use it
Learn more about how parents can contribute to the success of their remote learners.
Customizable
Nobody knows your family better than you. CVA enables you to personalize your student’s learning through flexible options.
Customizable
Nobody knows your family better than you do. That’s why Columbia Virtual Academy (CVA) allows you to personalize your student’s learning through flexible options.
Student and parents can work with their CVA teacher to modify course pacing and course learning goals to meet individual student needs, from honors track to remediation. Students can also make up missed credits, or achieve curricular stability when participating in demanding sports or fine and performing arts programs or when faced with health or discipline issues at school or in the home. This is also an ideal program for educational consistency if your family expects to move within the state during the school year.
CVA provides instructional resources each school year to support your student’s personalized learning plan at no cost to your family because CVA is a public school. If your student is taking a course that offers book and paper instructional resources, those resources are shipped directly to your home for your student’s use. At the conclusion of the course, instructional resources are returned to CVA at no cost to you.
Choosing the right instructional resources can be difficult. Your student will be using the selected curriculum for the school year. There are a lot of things to consider. Be informed, be willing to try, and most of all, be flexible. You and your student should be able to enjoy this journey. Here are some things to consider:
- Your student’s learning style
- Ages, stages, and number of children
- Your home environment
- Your opinion on the use of technology in your students’ learning
Don’t worry, your CVA Academic Advisor will help you through this process. Please take a look at our online course catalog to familiarize yourself with our options.
Support
CVA teachers are here to help you and your student succeed. Every CVA teacher is Washington State Certified.
Support
Columbia Virtual Academy (CVA) teachers are here to help you and your student succeed. Every CVA teacher is Washington State Certified. You are assigned a CVA teacher once you have completed the registration process and you will be able to rely on your teacher for guidance and support.
Once the school year begins, your CVA teacher will help you fulfill the basic requirements of all Washington State ALE programs by facilitating your weekly contacts, monthly student reviews of progress and yearly assessment. Your CVA teacher will be available to you via phone, email and other digital communication technologies.
Accountability
CVA is a public school that provides state high school diplomas. CVA operates under Washington State Law governing Alternative Learning Experience (ALE) programs.
Accountability
Columbia Virtual Academy (CVA) operates under Washington State Law governing Alternative Learning Experience (ALE) programs. ALE is primarily distinguished by off-campus instruction. The intent of this type of program is to give schools flexibility to serve a diverse student population.
The specific requirements and expectations of these off-campus learning activities are detailed in a Written Student Learning Plan (WSLP) developed and supervised by a public school teacher.
There are four state requirements for all ALE students. Here are what those requirements mean for a CVA education:
Written Student Learning Plan (WSLP)
The WSLP is your map to success for your student’s education, developed for your student by your CVA Academic Advisor. The WSLP includes the learning goals, objectives, learning activities and timelines for each online or book and paper course you choose. The WSLP can be modified throughout the school year by your CVA teacher as needed/required to meet specific academic needs.
Weekly Contact
Required each week, Weekly Contact is documented, direct communication between your student and your CVA teacher. Direct personal contact between the student and teacher can be accomplished in person, or through the use of telephone, e-mail, video chat or regular submission of student work with teacher feedback. Regardless of the option you choose, regular access to high speed internet is essential to participation with CVA.
Weekly contact also serves as attendance for the week. CVA is a public school program subject to the same attendance requirements as other public schools in the State of Washington.
Monthly Reviews
Each month, CVA teachers conduct Monthly Reviews of student progress toward achieving the specific learning goals and objectives specified in the WSLP. Satisfactory Progress reflects your student’s progress based on Weekly Contacts, work samples and grade reports provided from specific subject areas. CVA teachers will want to speak directly with you and your student by telephone or video chat at least one time a month to conference on your student’s monthly progress.
Annual Assessment
At a minimum, all students taking alternative learning experience courses or course work must be assessed annually. For full-time students, the state assessment is required for grades 3 - 8 and 10 - 12, along with any other annual assessments required by the CVA school district for all grades. Part-time students must also be assessed at least annually. All assessments are administered at no cost to families and your CVA teacher will review the results with you in support of your student’s ongoing learning.
The Right Fit
We’re here to partner with families that need an option outside of the brick and mortar classroom. Take a look at students and families who chose CVA.
The Right Fit
CVA teachers are great. We've never had an issue with advisors and they respond timely to any questions the kids might have. I was not impressed however once we went to high school, having all online curriculum. The amount of extra time it took vs real text books was terrible. Plus we weren't impressed with the quality. We left CVA after a year of high school and looking forward to going back to text books!
I am so grateful to have found CVA. During the pandemic I had a feeling distance learning wouldn't work well for my daughter but I also wasn't sure if I could tackle putting together my own homeschool curriculum. CVA really does 'teach you, how to teach'. CVA also provided a variety of options for submitting work as well as flexibility with assignments. My daughter had Alissa Naccarato as her teacher that we checked in weekly with via Teams and my daughter felt such an ease communicating what she learned. I was nervous at the beginning of the school year but all my worries quickly faded. Looking forward to another school year with CVA soon!
recommends CVA
CVA was wonderful! Our teacher was very helpful and we were able to have a flexible schedule while keeping our kids on course throughout the school year. CVA was very supportive to help us, but allowed us to take the lead with our kids learning. We enjoyed our time with CVA and would highly recommend it to others. Thanks!
recommends CVA
Our family loves the flexibility of doing school any time anywhere we also love there are many different options to choose from as each and every kid is different as to what they find interesting and what will help them learn. It definitely makes a difference when you partner with any amazing teacher !!!!!!
recommends CVA
As the pandemic began to worsen and our local school was unsure how they were handling the school year, we found the blessing of CVA. All staff have been extremely helpful and understanding and I am so in love with the Moving Beyond the Page program. We were able to adjust our school days to fit my busy schedule and to watch my daughters growth has been amazing! I highly recommend this school to anyone!
recommends CVA
We are in our third year with Columbia virtual academy, each year we learn more and excel with the variety of curriculum. Miss Ruthanna has been amazing and we are so thankful to have her as our teacher! I love the flexibility of school, and all the moments when my children show me how much they have learned! We create our own schedule that works for us putting family first! Due to my husbands job he has a rotating schedule allowing us to do school when he works and take days off with him!
We love CVA it has been such a great experience we have an absolutely amazing teacher! I was really unsure about this adventure but now we are 2 years in and excited to start our 3rd year next year! The flexibility has allowed us to spend our time as a family as my husband works a rotating schedule! We “school work” when he works! I get the opportunity to teach my kids everything!!!
Highly recommend if you student has a good work ethic and wants to learn. All four of my kids did CVA for several years up to their junior year when they transferred to the Running Start program at our local college. CVA was just right for our family. Might not be enough teacher contact for some and just right for others, like us.
recommends CVA
We found that CVA was very helpful with our student with Autism - in understanding the unique problems a high functioning verbal autistic student often faces. The local public school could only offer a space in a room for students with disabilities, which required little learning (not the teachers' fault, as there are many budget constraints these days - the teachers and aides were wonderful) but it was a form of "warehousing." We have loved our 4 years at CVA!
recommends CVA
I love that my children can focus on what they enjoy and have more time to work on anything that might be a bit more difficult for them. They can stop if they get bored or tired and start again whenever they are feeling good again. They can get ahead if they want to, or just do extra work a few days so they can have a longer weekend. We have way more family time thanks to CVA. We love it!
recommends CVA
This is our 6th year with CVA and we LOVE this program! All of the people that we have had interactions with have been very professional and genuinely cared about our children's well being. We absolutely LOVE Ruthanna Frizzell! My daughter has trouble trusting and connecting with people and right off the bat Ruthanna established a rapport with her! Cannot say enough good things about this academy!
recommends CVA
We finally started our first year with Columbia Virtual Academy and I have been so happy with our experience. There has been nothing but support from each individual that we have had to speak with from this ALE. The staff that got us information and into our classes did an amazing job listening and being very supportive of what we were looking for. The teacher we have received has been nothing but amazing. He has been able to get back to me on some of my concerns and given me direction to help make my daughters experience with CVA the best it can be. This is our second ALE and so far, I am very glad I chose to move our daughter over to this one.
recommends CVA
This is our first year at CVA and we have been so impressed with this school. When I talk with our advisor, we keep hearing the strangest phrase. The phrase is, "We just want what is best for the student." What a wonderful and encouraging thing to hear from your school! They have been so helpful as I have tried to figure out the ropes of homeschooling and patient as I have made a few mistakes. The support and good will is fantastic. We plan to attend this academy indefinitely!
Awesome school options for families in WA. Been having students from High School to Elementary, THIS is the option in my opinion!! Fabulous staff, teachers, etc. Quick recovery and updating of materials, very flexible scheduling, and best of all: True AT your own Pace setting!! They have help for IEP's, and setup for Highly Gifted & Talented, to Prodigy students!! Awesome!!
Register
Registration for the 2023-2024 school year is now open!
Register
The registration process is initiated by parents when they submit online registrations for their students. Families are then assigned personal Enrollment Advisors who guide them through the registration process. Enrollment Advisors schedule time with parents to help them determine if CVA is a good fit for their students and family. Personal Academic Advisors are assigned to families if it looks like CVA is a good fit. Otherwise, Enrollment Advisors will recommend another type of program that might be a better suited for their students.
Register Now