Washington Virtual Academies

2601 South 35th Street, Suite 100

Tacoma, WA 98409

26 Reviews

School District

Steilacoom Hist.
Grade

K-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

-
Type

public

School Map for Steilacoom Hist. School District

Find Homes for Sale in this School Zone

Reviews

Submitted by parent on October 22, 2024

I cannot say enough Amazing things about this school. They are super fast at getting back to you and the teachers are on the BALL!! My daughter and I are still learning all the amazing things that she can do. They have almost held my hand the whole way through. Amazing Staff!!!
Submitted by student on August 17, 2024

I'm going into 9th grade and have been with WAVA since the 7th. I have had nothing but an amazing experience with this school! I have a learning disability and the ability to go at my own pace and privately ask questions to the teachers has helped me flourish at this school. All my teachers have been AMAZING! at in-person schools, the teachers have to fight to get the kids to pay attention and stop messing around. But at WAVA, they can shut the kids up with the click of a button against their will! this helps the teachers mentally not having to put up with roughhousing students which is why I believe they are nice. The curriculums are not too easy but not too hard. if you are struggling you can easily go to a support group and if you need advanced work you can sign up for that as well. As far as family engagement goes, the only things your learning coach needs to do in middle and high school is make sure you are keeping up with coursework and be there to support you when you need it. A common concern with online school is social life. WAVA has a site called the K12 zone which allows you to talk and interact with other students online in your free time. they also offer plenty of clubs and in-person meetups. If you are struggling in your in-person school and work better at your own pace i would totally recommend it! No idea where I would be without this school.
Submitted by parent on February 06, 2024

My daughter has been going to WAVA for 3 years now (2021 - 2023). Our experience has been great. My wife and I act as her learning coaches, and we support her learning. This mostly includes making sure she is connected to the classes, her materials are ready, and that she has completed her lessons. The teachers are very helpful, but we have not had to interact with IT help. We are lucky to have a stable internet connection and a good computer for her to use. It should be known that learning is more independent. The learning system needs to be checked daily for new lessons and (for 3rd grade) classes are typically scheduled as one to two live sessions per days (for 30 minutes each). Topics change per day. During that that my wife or I will set with my daughter during the class and make sure she is focused and on track. The after-class work takes about an hour or two for her to complete each day. So far, her grades and testing have been great, and she is reading above her grade level. With the extra time we have enrolled her in outside of school activities (e.g. Taekwondo, Girl Scouts, etc.). Also, she is interested in joining the WAVA eGaming club (likely next year). It is so nice not having to worry about bullying, bad influences, or even commuting, as experienced at brick-and-mortar schools. Perhaps when she is older, she might be interested in attending in person classes. But at this point we are happy with the way things are going and very satisfied with WAVA.
Submitted by student on December 28, 2022

Current student here, love WAVA but it has its downsides and upsides. Upsides: More Free time,no bullying, free materials and good teachers. Downsides: Hard to make friends, inconsistent workload and conflicting class times. I've been to multiple online schools like WAVA and it's honestly the best option. Teachers will support you in your learning and will support you. Unlike other major online schools such as connections academy or Pearson online.
Submitted by parent on November 16, 2020

Very poor. The K12 program provided computers to lower income families, but those computers are not compatible with ZOOM, only blackboard and NewRow. WAVA insists on using ZOOM even though K12 has asked them not to (Why does this feel like discrimination against lower income families?). This has caused my child to miss numerous ZOOM meetings and an immeasurable amount of stress. I wouldn't recommend enrolling your child in this academy unless you have the disposable income to purchase multiple devices (Tablets and/or computers) to alleviate the technical issues. My sons teacher is more concerned about defending the use of ZOOM rather than actually supporting my son. At this point I would prefer to be able to just do the virtual courses without the ZOOM meetings or with meetings using a system that works properly. This would allow us to move at our own pace instead of hindering us and wasting a few hours of our day, every day, troubleshooting.
Submitted by parent on June 14, 2018

I have never been more satisfied with my daughters educational experience. The teachers were wonderful and very supportive. The Administration hinted at starting vocational programs in the future for kids that are not college bound. I can’t wait to see what comes next
Submitted by parent on July 13, 2017

I have 2 children that have been on this school for 2 years. I heard good things about the school so I enrolled after we moved to the state. Do not enroll into this school if you want to have support from the school itself after enrolled. The teachers tell you to contact K12 support, K12 tells you to contact WAVA, and WAVA never answers the phone or returns voicemails.I tried getting my sons IEP records and his student records for 6 months. I called everyday and left a voicemail every time. I never got a call back, never got his records, and still cant even get ahold of a person to get his report card that was sent to an address that doesn't exist. ZERO support after enrollment. I now will have to drive to Tacoma to go to their office to get the records. Absolutely ridiculous. I have a Bachelors in Liberal Studies Multiple Subject (teaching degree) and the curriculum for my 12 year old son with learning disabilities was outrageous. I had to spend more time going over everything and slowing down the pace so he could attempt to understand the subject matter. you can not go at the students own rate, which was an important aspect I wanted for my son. I wanted him to be able to work at his own pace so he could get a good grasp on the subject matter and retain the information. After all of this I have withdrawn my children and now will be attending a different school. You cant have a school that does not provide support or can even call you back.
Submitted by parent on October 06, 2016

New format makes it useless for Learning Coaches. You cannot see anything but the schedule. The tests are terrible, especially in English. Giving multiple choice questions or poorly worded questions, with no partial credit for Literary Analysis, is a poor way to teach. Not teachers fault, but whoever designed the quizzes and tests is doing a disservice. Flexibility to work at child's pace is gone. Warning, if your child is an athlete, the program is not NCAA accredited.
Submitted by student on September 30, 2015

if you have a bad teacher it can be miserable but the bad teachers usually are in math but i finnaly got a good teacher
Submitted by parent on May 16, 2015

If you want your child stressed beyond measure and bullied by administration (namely the vice principal) then register. This was the worst year being at wava. Previous years were fine but this year was exceptionally bad. With their truancy notices that can't be excused because their blackboard won't work and the vice principal who calls one day and threatens that if you don't call back in two hours your child is kicked out. I'm am so angry that my child was kicked out one month before school is over over a truancy. Who is this hurting? The way the school is run this year is inexcusable. I don't recommend this school to anyone. My children will not be returning.
Submitted by parent on September 08, 2014

WAVA K-12 is a wonderful online public school. I have been home schooling my 2 boys, Brady who is 16 and Ashton who is 11, for 6 years now. I decided to pull my boys from the regular brick and mortar school because the teacher to student ratio was 1 to 30. This was very unacceptable for my husband and me. After researching the many different options we chose WAVA K-12 due to the personal recommendations and the type of education they had to offer. This program is adaptable to every students need. Whether you are a head, behind, or right on track, this program will create a schedule that is meant specifically for your student s needs. My 16 year old son is advanced with his schooling. He has been able to use this program to advance and fulfill his specific career goals. He will be attending college full time which will allow him to get his A.A. Transfer degree and his High School diploma at the same time. This program is truly wonderful and I would encourage everyone to use this program for your home schooling needs.
Submitted by parent on September 04, 2014

So far registration is a PAIN! Months we have been trying to get all of her paperwork straightened out. Call center gives you a new person to deal with each time we call... hopefully the attention will be better once she finally gets enrolled! Will update
Submitted by parent on June 23, 2014

My daughter just completed her first year with WAVA. She joined WAVA because she was learning nothing at our local school. Her initial testing showed she was below level. I am pleased to say she completed the year on the honor roll and with above average scores. Granted it was quite a bit of work for me as Learning Coach and registration is a pain, but I like the mastery based system. I will definitely be returning this fall.
Submitted by parent on June 22, 2014

We started our journey with WAVA, almost 5-years ago. Back then it was a good alternative to brick-and-mortar public school. However, over the past 2-years it became more like a traditional public school. Requirements began to change, and they became ridiculously demanding and rigid! Further, I watched in disbelief, while WAVA began to implement Common Core curriculum. This was done on the sly, without ever informing parents. This year, announcements were made that further Common Core requirements and changes to State testing would be implemented - beginning with middle school. This was the last straw, and it was time for us to say good-bye. We will be transitioning to traditional home school, come fall.
Submitted by parent on June 22, 2014

The registration can be difficult, but I found that this was due primarily to our local school district. My daughter attended WAVA from 4th-12th, graduating this year. She always found the system, requirements, teachers, and administration very easy to deal with. My daughter will be attending The University of Alabama this year. We never had a problem with the curriculum. It should also be noted without the testing WAVA participates in my daughter would never had been accepted into University at all. I would recommend WAVA to everyone I know!
Submitted by parent on January 23, 2014

If I could give negative 1 star I would. This organization is horrific to deal with even during the enrollment process. I can't imagine what it would be like to enroll as a full time student. After 2 weeks of being on hold forever and never getting full answers to my questions, I withdrew our enrollment for my high schooler. This organization is misleading in saying you have a PAL or personal liason to work with you. They give you a national "PAL" line, and say a name of a consultant for whom you don't get a direct line. When you call, you are on hold for at least a half an hour to try to talk to someone, and when you do talk, it is to whomever answers the phone. They have scripts and are constantly wanting to talk the scripts and are afraid to give you direct lines to supervisors or anyone who has power to actually give answers. I would not recommend K12 or WAVA.
Submitted by parent on September 05, 2013

Amazing school, it offers mastery of a subject and then moving forward onto the next learning opportunity. Teachers and parents are very supportive and help each other learn. It provides an chance for our kids to get an excellent education and still follow their dreams without the restriction of schedules. :)
Submitted by parent on September 04, 2013

Horrid. I agree with older reviews and we did this the entire 2012/13 school year. We wanted an online school that would teach my child and allow her to obtain a regular high school diploma at the end. She is currently a beginning jr high student. I did not want to homeschool following someone else's strict program with confusing recording, reporting, and even open ended grading required of me (I'm not a teacher!) They said parent supervision/involvement. They did not specify that I'd pretty much need to pretend to be a teacher in my own home as if I had a classroom of students. It was dry material. Boring. Not fluent. No teaching from the teachers. Absolutely a waste! I only hope she got credit for finishing the courses weeks after school was out because they messed up on enrollment, form approvals, lost forms, even refused our vaccination exemptions (we are in our own home!), and she couldn't even begin courses until late October! By then they never helped us catch up. Never adjusted the daily work. By the time I caught it and figured out how to just flipping change the courses assigned per day she had to do 15 plus 1hr assignments per day in order to hope to finish. Burn out.
Submitted by parent on November 12, 2012

This is our 2nd year with WAVA. I read some of the reviews below and understand the workload is scary for the learning coach. I have to add though that I felt overwhelmed to begin with. As the year progressed however I realised that my son and I simply needed an organized system. This way we actually finished school a week early last year. He scored well in MSP and he is doing great this year. I am not a qualified teacher or academic person but seriously, if you are committed to your child's future, you can DO THIS!
Submitted by parent on September 20, 2012

Not an online school, an online administrator. The "Learning Coach" is actually the teacher. Be prepared for many hours of teaching each day with weekends used to prep for the upcoming week. Very little room to deviate from the k12 daily plans. I homeschooled my older children for 13 years and have never been more exhausted then after one week of WAVA with one child. Be prepared to teach five classes a day as well as watch two hours of online gatherings a week. I do not see how a family could do it with more than one child.