Have Questions?

Williamsburg Academy Public Education Partners is a collection of partnerships between Williamsburg Learning (an award-winning online curriculum provider) and various public schools and school districts in Alaska, Arizona, California, and Idaho. We partner with these organizations to make The Williamsburg Curriculum available to students in these states up to 100% tuition-free.

We serve students in grades 6-12, and our academic program emphasizes leadership and the liberal arts. We’re on a mission to prepare promising students for meaningful lives as principled leaders!

Note: In addition to the partnerships mentioned above, Williamsburg Learning also operates public schools in Colorado and Utah where students in those states can access our program tuition-free.

We currently serve grades 6-12.

Our partners in Alaska, Arizona, California, and Idaho cover most or all tuition fees for Williamsburg courses. Some also pay for books and materials. Each partnership is unique because of its own state’s rules and regulations. As such, we recommend contacting our partners directly to confirm the full scope of costs they will cover. 

For a complete list of our public education partners, please see our How to Enroll page.

Yes. Our program is accredited by Cognia and the Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACS WASC).

However, if you choose to access the Williamsburg program through one of our public education partners, your student will receive credit from that organization (not Williamsburg). Please check with your preferred partner organization for more details about credit and categorization.

For any other questions about earning credit, credit portability/transfers, or accreditation, please email support@williamsburglearning.com.

Yes, our live-online courses are NCAA-approved. (Self-paced courses are not NCAA-approved.) 

Students taking Williamsburg courses through a public education partner should work with their partner organization's school counselor to select courses and determine NCAA eligibility.

Williamsburg does 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.

If your student is enrolled in Williamsburg courses through one of our Public Education Partners, and their total Williamsburg tuition exceeds the amount your partner organization will cover, you may be able to use funds from a 529 Savings Plan to pay the remaining balance.

Under U.S. federal law, parents can withdraw up to $10,000 per child, per year from a 529 account to pay for private school tuition (other primary or secondary education-related expenses are not eligible). Many states also offer tax deductions or credits when you add funds to a 529 account.

Note: Not all states consider private school tuition an eligible expense for 529 plans. Please check with your state’s education agency and 529 administrator to be sure before you make a withdrawal.

To view our individual course fees (and full details on tuition, including how you can save up to 100% on tuition by enrolling through one of our Public Education Partners!) please see our Tuition Info page.

Registration for the upcoming fall and winter semesters opens on the first Monday in February each year. Course registration is first come, first served.

We recommend enrolling with the partner organization of your choice and registering for classes as early as possible to secure your child's preferred schedule.

We provide online courses in three formats:

• 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 own schedule and communicate via email, online student forums, and mentor office hours.
• Independent Studies (for high school): Students earn academic credit for completing PE, Fine Arts, or Elective studies with a third-party provider.

For more information about each course type, check out this page on the Williamsburg Learning website.

Registration for all courses takes place in SIS. Some partner organizations require parents to select their students' courses in SIS themselves, and some partners register for you. Please check with your chosen partner organization to learn more about their registration guidelines.

If your partner organization requires you to register for your student's courses on your own, you’ll log in using your SIS parent account username and password. From there, you can follow the steps on our middle school and high school registration pages to select your student’s ideal courses!

For detailed course recommendations by grade, please see the course paths and sample schedules listed on our middle school and high school registration pages.

Note: Before registering for courses, we recommend checking with your chosen partner organization to ensure they will pay for your student's desired courses. Some partners have restrictions on the specific Williamsburg courses they will cover.

For any other questions about selecting the right courses for your child, please schedule a call with an enrollment advisor if your student is brand-new to Williamsburg. For returning students, please contact Customer Support.

Once your student is registered, all that’s left is to prepare for the first day of Williamsburg classes! To help with this, we highly encourage you to review our How to Prepare for School page and our Parent Orientation videos. We’ll also email you and your student with information about student orientation assignments they will complete in Canvas, our online learning management system.

In addition to preparing for classes, please follow any pre-semester instructions provided to you by the public education partner your student is enrolled with.

We maintain a student-instructor ratio of approximately 19:1. 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 live-online courses require a certain minimum number of students to register or the course will have to be canceled.

We have two general age guidelines (one for middle school and one for high school):

• For middle school, students should turn twelve during the academic year in which they register for 6th grade.
• For high school, students should turn fifteen during the academic year in which they register for 9th grade.

While these guidelines are highly recommended, we leave the final decision to parents and students because we know some students are ready earlier. If your student is younger, we encourage you to consult with an enrollment advisor before registering to avoid overloading them.

Yes, our drop policy is as follows:

• Students who drop a course within 14 days of the start of classes within a given semester receive no grade or record on their transcript.
• Students who drop after 14 days of classes but before midterms receive a "W" for that course on their transcript.
• Students who drop after midterms receive an "F" for that course on their transcript. 

We recommend contacting your student’s school of record to learn how dropping a Williamsburg course will be recorded on their transcript before withdrawing from a course.

As a curriculum provider to our public education partners, Williamsburg does not provide and is not responsible for IEPs. That responsibility is with our public partners. However, we fully comply with IDEA and will send representatives to IEP meetings as requested and required by our public partners.

Further, students with learning disabilities, such as ADHD or dyslexia, tend to do well in our program due to reduced distractions from learning at home, the compatibility of our courses with text-to-speech software, and the psychologically safe learning environment in our online classes.

All of our mentors have Zoom office hours where students can log on and get help outside of regular class time.

If your student is struggling, the best place to start is by visiting their mentors’ office hours and asking mentors to customize 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.

In addition, once each semester, we offer Parent-Mentor Conferences where you and your student can meet with their mentors and discuss any challenges or concerns.

Parents and students can access unofficial transcripts through SIS. 

• Students: Click on My Transcript.
• Parents: Click on My Students, then the name of the student, then Transcript.

You can view or print the transcript page in SIS as an unofficial transcript.

Note: Your chosen partner organization (also known as your student's "school of record") can provide their official (non-Williamsburg) transcript.

Yes! All live-online classes are recorded, and the links to all class recordings are made available to students in Canvas (usually within a few minutes of a class period ending).

Yes. We expect our students to be truthful in all they say and do and demonstrate integrity in their academics.

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 themselves. Honor code violations may result in a failing grade and/or being permanently withdrawn from Williamsburg classes. Mentors report honor code violations to the Headmaster, and after consulting with the student and their parents, a final course of action is decided.

Please check with your student's school of record to learn about any additional policies.

In a nutshell, we inspire students to find their love of learning and use it to build the foundation for a meaningful, successful life in our modern world. Our school culture is open, uplifting, and brings out the best in us and our students.

Williamsburg students build lasting friendships with their peers and mentors as they explore their interests and unique abilities. On top of that, our students actively challenge and support each other in doing the hard work it takes to gain a liberal arts and leadership-focused education.

Lastly, each member of the Williamsburg team has a clear area of focus to support student success and development. We live lives of meaning, purpose, and adventure while inspiring our students to do the same. 

This all adds up to create a school culture that inspires students to do the best work of their lives so far—both personally and academically.

We call our teachers “mentors” because they play the role of helping students develop as leaders (in addition to the traditional teacher role of helping students acquire knowledge).

Simply put, we have the highest standards and strongest filters in the industry when it comes to hiring talented mentors (who are also all certified teachers). On top of that, once hired, our mentors receive unrivaled professional development training to help them excel even further at bringing out students’ potential.

If you ask a Williamsburg student to tell you about their mentors, you’ll likely hear words like “engaging,” “fun,” “inspiring,” “smart,” “hilarious,” “caring,” and “talented.” For many students and families, our mentors are the main attraction of the entire Williamsburg program!

We attract bright and dedicated students who want to study history’s great minds and learn to think critically. Our students come from diverse backgrounds including home, public, and private schools; no particular background is necessary. A strong work ethic, eagerness to learn, and a desire to serve others are the only key ingredients for success at Williamsburg Academy.

The best way to determine if we’re the right fit for your child is by scheduling a call with an Enrollment Advisor. We’ll ask a few questions to get to know your student so we can give you a strong recommendation either way.

In general, though, here are some things to consider when thinking about enrolling your child at Williamsburg Academy:

The liberal arts and leadership-focused education we offer at Williamsburg Academy is challenging. Since our mission is to prepare promising students for meaningful lives as principled leaders, we have high expectations for our students. This requires students to be self-directed and open to being challenged by their schoolwork.

In addition, we use online learning tools that give students the freedom to guide their own education. We trust our students to use that freedom wisely and appropriately. Specifically, we expect each student to:

• Work, read, and study independently.
• Set daily and weekly commitments, and put in the work to meet those commitments.
• Spend several hours a day in and out of class studying, completing assignments, and reflecting on how their learnings apply to their lives.

We only suggest enrolling your child at Williamsburg Academy if they are determined, excited, and prepared to meet these expectations. If so, our program could be the perfect fit to help your child unleash their full potential!

In general, Williamsburg students do best when a parent or guardian is home to support and encourage them during the school day. To maximize your student’s success, the single most impactful thing you can do is use our 3-Step Parent Support Plan with your child every week. This includes:

1. Helping your student create a daily checklist for each school day, listing the tasks and assignments they will complete each day.
2. Helping your student anticipate which assignments they might need extra support on, such as a quick check from you before they submit it or attending their mentor’s office hours.
3. Checking in with your student for a few minutes each day to make sure they’re completing the items on their daily checklist.

We promise: If you do these three things with your student consistently, they’ll be on track for their best school year ever.

We offer multiple resources to support you in helping your child get the education they deserve! These include (but aren’t limited to):

• Our On-Demand Parent Orientation videos to help you and your student get a strong start to the school year.
• Additional Parent Resource videos to support you and your student at key times throughout the school year.
• The Weekly Parent Update, which includes a summary of important action items, announcements, and upcoming events at our school.
• Parent-Mentor Conferences and Parent-Mentor Updates to keep you informed about your child’s progress each semester.
• Our proven 3-Step Parent Support Plan to help your student stay on track with all their coursework every week.
• Easy access to our Customer Support Team every weekday to get help with any technical issues

Williamsburg does not discriminate based on 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.