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Williamsburg Academy of Colorado is a tuition-free online school for grades 6-12 offered state-wide in Colorado. The award-winning Williamsburg Learning program powers Williamsburg Academy of Colorado. This program combines classical education—training students on how to think, not what to think, with leadership training, technology immersion, and a culture of belonging with students all over the U.S. and worldwide. 

Yes. Williamsburg Academy of Colorado is accredited by Cognia. Cognia is one of the world’s largest organizations of educational professionals and is the accrediting partner for over 30,000 schools and school systems. View our Cognia certificate here.

Yes, our Live-online and Self-paced courses are NCAA-approved. For more information, visit our NCAA accreditation page. Please note: our Foreign Language courses are not NCAA-approved.

Williamsburg Academy of Colorado offers online courses in three formats (check out this page  on the Williamsburg Learning website for full details on each one and what to expect with online classes):

• Live-online: Students meet together with a mentor in an online classroom and participate in live class discussions every week. Some live classes include an Honors version with a larger workload for students who want to go deeper.
• Self-paced: Students complete assignments on their schedule and communicate via email, online student forums, and mentor office hours.
• Independent studies: Students earn academic credit independently with an approved mentor or program. 

Because Williamsburg Academy of Colorado is online, our students can live anywhere in Colorado. Our faculty and staff work from distributed offices in Colorado, throughout the U.S., and sometimes from international locations.

We attract bright and dedicated students who want to study great minds and learn how to think, not what to think. Our program is challenging and requires self-discipline, initiative, and hard work.

Our students come from diverse backgrounds, including home, public, and private schools. No particular background is necessary to become a successful student. A strong work ethic, eagerness to learn, and a desire to help others are the key ingredients of success at Williamsburg Academy of Colorado.

We call our teachers mentors, because they have the role of helping students develop as leaders, in addition to the traditional teacher role of helping them acquire knowledge. We have the highest standards and strongest filter in the industry when it comes to hiring talent. And, once hired, our mentors receive unequaled support and professional development. If you ask a Williamsburg student about their mentors, you will likely hear words like engaging, fun, inspiring, intelligent, hilarious, caring, and talented. Our mentors are a primary attraction to our program for many students and families.

Williamsburg Academy of Colorado and Williamsburg Learning do not affiliate with or support any faith, church, or religion. Our students come from a variety of religious and political backgrounds. We remain neutral and build a safe environment where students can be themselves, learn from each other, and share their ideas and beliefs respectfully.

We currently serve grades 6-12.

Though Williamsburg Academy of Colorado is an online school and students can log into classes from anywhere, our students must be official residents of Colorado. Students must provide proof of residency upon enrollment and annually after that. The following documents may be used to prove residency:

• Property tax payment receipts
• Residential lease agreement (that encompasses the pupil enrollment count date)
• Rent payment receipts
• Utility service payment receipts

If you have any further questions, please contact Cynthia Cox, our Director at executivedirector@wacolorado.org. 

Williamsburg Academy of Colorado is open to students in grades 6-12 who live anywhere in Colorado. If your student lives outside of Colorado, consider enrolling at Williamsburg Academy Private School, our sister program, which serves students across the U.S.

We have a guideline, not a requirement. Students should turn twelve during the academic year they enroll in sixth grade. Students should turn fifteen during the academic year they enroll in ninth grade. This age guideline is recommended for all our courses. Still, we leave the final decision to parents and students because we know that some students are ready earlier or later for advancement.

We work hard to find the balance between giving students a challenging workload and making sure it’s not so rigorous that students burn out. This can be a very delicate matter for younger students, so please make this decision carefully.

• Parents must submit an application each year for each student they want to enroll
• Students must be enrolled in our full-time program (4 or more classes per semester) or Williamsburg’s Homeschool Enrichment (HSE) program (2-3 classes per semester) and cannot switch programs during the school year
• Students must reside in Colorado and be entering grades 6-12
• For us to pay your student’s tuition, we must be your child’s only state-funded curriculum provider
• Parents must provide proof of immunization (or a formally documented exemption)

If your student would prefer to take 2-3 classes, you can enroll in Williamsburg’s Homeschool Enrichment program (HSE). 

Note: HSE students are not eligible for graduation, are not eligible to receive a computer package (laptop, tech support, internet filtering, etc.), and are not eligible for Special Education services. 

HSE students are not required to take state assessments.

Learn more about HSE enrollment at the bottom of our How to Register page.

Parents who wish to supplement their student’s homeschool, cooperative, or private school education may register their child for 2-3 courses per semester and receive books and supplies without cost as part of our HSE program. 

Note: HSE students are not eligible for graduation, are not eligible to receive a computer package (laptop, tech support, internet filtering, etc.), and are not eligible for Special Education services. 

To be a Williamsburg Academy of Colorado student, Williamsburg Academy of Colorado must be your only publicly funded curriculum provider. Exceptions include sports and other extracurricular activities offered at your local public school that are not offered at Williamsburg Academy of Colorado.

Williamsburg Academy of Colorado has no cap on enrollment. However, courses are offered on a first-come, first-served basis with a limited number of seats per course section. Courses fill up fast, so we encourage you to register early for the fall and winter semesters. 

Parents must submit an enrollment application each year for each student in our Student Information Services (SIS) portal. To learn more about the application process, visit our How to Enroll page. 

If you would like help with the application process, please contact our Enrollment Advisor at enrollment@williamsburglearning.com or call 800-200-6869.

Course registration for the fall and winter semesters opens Monday of the first week of April for the upcoming school year. See our Academic Calendar for details on other important dates.

Yes! Every class is recorded, and the links to recordings are made available to students usually within a few minutes of a live session ending.

If students only have an occasional time conflict with the live class, they can still enroll in the live class and watch the recordings when they can’t attend. If the conflict is weekly, the student should either a) enroll in a course that doesn’t have live sessions or b) take the course with live sessions and make special arrangements with the mentor to adjust time-sensitive assignments.

We take attendance at Williamsburg Academy of Colorado through Canvas. Students should log in every day, including Friday.

We maintain a student-instructor ratio of approximately 20:1. Instructors include both mentors and teaching assistants, who help provide detailed feedback on student assignments. For individual courses, our live-online class sessions range in size depending on the content of the course.

In general, we maintain smaller class sizes for middle school grades, with the exception of our seminar-style Leadership classes. It’s also important to note that a large online class is very different from a large class in person: The online classroom is a far less distracting environment for students than even a small class at a brick-and-mortar school. We’ve also pioneered using technology to maximize the online learning experience in classes of any size.

For example, many of our classes are based on engaging visual presentations by mentors, dynamic class-wide discussions, and smaller discussions and activities between groups of students in Zoom breakout rooms. Because of this, even students in our largest classes still make a personal connection with course material, their mentors, and their fellow students.

As Malcolm Gladwell pointed out in his book David and Goliath, smaller class sizes don’t always lead to better learning outcomes.* That’s because smaller classes make it easier for some students to dominate class discussions, among other things. At Williamsburg, we’ve found that offering a range of class sizes gives students a mix of small-group discussion and large-group participation that helps them build strong communication, learning, and leadership skills. We also offer ways for students to get extra support outside of class, such as mentor office hours.

*In fact, in one study cited by Gladwell, researcher Caroline Hoxby found no significant impact on student achievement as a result of class size (see “The Effects of Class Size on Student Achievement”). Instead, Gladwell says, the one thing educational researchers agree on is that teacher quality matters more than class size. At Williamsburg, that’s why we search hard to hire the best teachers and rigorously train them on our Six Mentor Practices.

Yes. Most courses with live sessions require a certain minimum number of enrollments, or the course will have to be canceled.

Yes, we accept transfer credit from accredited schools. This does not guarantee that all credits earned at other schools will transfer into our curriculum or count toward graduation. Students who plan to transfer credit should send a transcript from their previous school to our school counselor at counselor@wacolorado.org to find out how the credit will transfer and what additional work will be required to graduate. 

Credit earned at Williamsburg Academy of Colorado can be transferred to other schools. Check with your transferring school for eligibility requirements and credit categorization. 

Yes. All full-time Williamsburg Academy of Colorado students have a pathway to graduation, and our Academic Counselor monitors their progress. Students who satisfy the graduation requirements will be awarded a diploma.  

Because we are accredited, Williamsburg Academy of Colorado diplomas are accepted by colleges and universities. 

Williamsburg Academy of Colorado students must take the SAT during their junior year or submit a waiver. 

ACT and SAT scores are used as one criterion to meet Colorado’s State graduation requirements. Students who do not achieve minimum ACT/SAT scores may complete a Capstone Project. For more information, see Colorado's graduation guidelines here.

Transcripts and grades for completed courses can be found in Student Information Services (SIS).

Yes, because we are a public school, students are required to participate in state assessments in April each year. Parents are responsible for providing transportation to an assigned testing location.

Additionally, students participate in the NWEA MAP assessments three times each year. These assessments are a great tool for measuring your student's academic progress! 

Please see the CDE's website for more information. 

Williamsburg Academy of Colorado’s Student Success Team is available to parents and struggling students to help them figure out how to succeed.  In addition, all mentors hold weekly office hours where students and parents can go for help. If your student is struggling, or if you have any questions about a course, visit office hours and ask the mentor to individualize the workload for your student. The day and time of office hours are posted on each course homepage in Canvas. You can also email mentors anytime with questions, and they will respond within one school day.

Our course mentors have regular office hours where students can schedule a time to get 1:1 help with their questions. Students can easily make appointments for office hours or additional help from inside Canvas, our online learning management system. Contact our Student Success Team at studentsuccess@wacolorado.org for assistance.

Williamsburg Academy of Colorado offers support to students with IEPs, and 504s. Additionally, we support students with Advanced Learning Plans, Gifted and Talented, and English Language Learners.

Yes, our withdrawal policy is as follows:

• Students who withdraw from a course within the first ten days of a semester receive no grade or record on their transcript
• Students who withdraw between 11-28 days receive a “W” for that course on their transcript
• Students who withdraw after 28 days receive an “F” for that course on their transcript

You can also find this full policy in the “Grading Policies: Withdrawal” section of the Parent-Student Handbook.

Our school community comprises the School Accountability Committee (SAC), administration, staff, mentors, parent boosters, families, and individual students pulling together in a team effort to build a school culture that is friendly, inviting, accepting, and, most importantly—fun! Each member of our community has a clear vision focused on student success and development. They live lives of meaning, purpose, and adventure both in and outside the classroom. Students and mentors are enthusiastic about education and support each other as each student explores their unique abilities and interests. Students build lasting friendships with youth of all faiths and beliefs, forming deep respect for each other. This is our culture.

The following information will give you a feel for our mission, methods, and curriculum.

A liberal arts education at Williamsburg Academy of Colorado is challenging. Students and parents must decide if the student is sufficiently motivated and self-directed to take on the challenge. Our mission is to prepare highly motivated and independent learners for leadership. Consequently, we have high expectations of students.

We use distance learning tools that give students the freedom to guide their own education. We trust our students to use that freedom wisely and appropriately.

We expect each student to:

• Work, read, and study independently.
• Set daily and weekly commitments, then exert the effort to meet those commitments.
• Spend several hours a day in and out of class studying, completing assignments, and thinking about how their learnings apply to their lives and futures.

You should only enroll in Williamsburg Academy of Colorado if you are determined, excited, and prepared to meet these challenges. We invite you to meet with one of our Customer Support Team members so we can learn about your family’s needs and answer your questions.

Parents are required to meet with their student for 20 minutes each week and generally be involved and supportive of their students. Students do best when a parent or guardian is home to help them during the day.

Canvas is our learning management system (LMS). It’s the platform we use to deliver all our courses. Canvas is where students will receive and submit assignments, complete some of their studies, collaborate with classmates, and access their course syllabi and assignments. Parents may create an Observer account in Canvas in order to view their student’s assignments.

Student Information Services (SIS) is the online system parents use to create an account with us, register for courses, view snapshots of their student’s academic progress, and access transcripts and grades for completed courses. Parents create their SIS accounts first, then add students individually. SIS recognizes one email address per person, so parents and students may not share the same email address. Only one parent SIS account is required per student, but both parents can create their own account if they wish.

To submit an application for a new or returning student, register for courses, see your student’s course progress or reach out to your student’s mentors, visit SIS.

No. As a public multi-district online school, we do not charge tuition or fees. 

Parents are responsible for providing high-speed internet.

Williamsburg Academy of Colorado covers the cost of required books and materials for core courses each semester, but parents are responsible for ordering them. We also cover the cost of supplies for many electives! Each item must be approved prior to reimbursement or through our Amazon purchasing process.

We provide a laptop computer (to be returned at the end of the student’s tenure) with the appropriate operating system needed to participate in our courses.

Visit our How to Prepare for School page to learn more.

Yes. We believe every Williamsburg Academy of Colorado student can be a leader and change the world meaningfully. We expect our students to act accordingly. We expect every student to treat others with dignity and respect and be truthful in all they say and do.

Plagiarism, cheating, or other falsification of research on projects, papers, or exams are not tolerated. Students agree in every course that they will not receive unwarranted help from any person and will complete all work for themselves. Honor code violations may result in a failing grade and/or being permanently expelled from Williamsburg Academy of Colorado. Honor code violations are reported by mentors to the Director, and after consulting with the student and parents, a final course of action is chosen.

Williamsburg Academy of Colorado does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnic origin, sex, or religion. We welcome diversity in our programs and strive to have students of high moral character from diverse races, ethnicities, and religions. Understanding and embracing diversity is a key characteristic for leaders seeking a liberal education.