Columbia Virtual Academy

Supporting Family Choice Education

Our Mission: Columbia Virtual Academy (CVA) supports family choice education through the values of personalization, flexibility, choice, and control.

CVA offers a highly flexible and personalized program to meet diverse family learning needs. A parent or high school student with parental guidance can take more or less control of the curriculum through various curricular options including online courses or more traditional book learning. Our intent is to listen to your needs and to design a program to match them.

Any student in Washington may enroll in CVA tuition-free. Your student does not need to be in a partnering district to enroll. Students enrolled in private education or independent home-based education within Washington may also enroll tuition-free on a part-time basis by arrangement, or access courses by paying tuition.

CVA is the child of a tremendously successful HOME school program developed by the Valley School District in 2003. The HOME program is embraced by home-schoolers because it is founded by home-schooling families and several of our staff members home-school their own children. They understand the unique opportunities that home-schooling offers for their families along with how the HOME program supports family structure and values. To this end, CVA follows a continuous model of improvement for all course offerings.

WA State History Discovered on Tacoma Field Trip June 7-10, 2010

Step back in time and explore the rich history of Washington State as preserved and displayed at some of Tacoma-area’s finest experiential learning opportunities. While most participating families are expected to arrive on Monday, June 7th, that is just a day to gear up for the start of an adventure of historic proportions. On Tuesday, June 8th, a fast-paced day is planned with a visit to Ft. Nisqually Living History Museum and Pt. Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. As these are located next door to each other, Ft. Nisqually will be presenting two programs: one at 9:30 a.m. and a duplicate program at 11:30 a.m. This will allow families to "hop" from one location to another and make the most of the day.

Wednesday, June 9th is another education-packed day with the option of three museums: Washington State History Museum, Tacoma Art Museum and the Tacoma Glass museum. You will have one ticket for the three locations. Take your time and visit one, two or all three, depending on your families' interests. Once you have confirmed your attendance, optional activities will be sent to you for Monday and Thursday; these will be "on your own" days.

New Hire to Develop CVA’s Special Services Program

In keeping with our over-arching philosophy of family choice, we are aiming to significantly expand the ability of the CVA network to meet the unique needs of families with physically and mentally challenged learners. To this end, Keith Lambert joined the team at CVA this month with the specific goal of developing CVA’s special services program.

“I am excited to be here at CVA and to have the opportunity to really build something,” said Lambert. “I like to think big picture...I envision establishing a statewide network that engages in a range of activities, enabling CVA to become an entity that can more effectively serve students with special needs.”

Lambert’s enthusiasm for the task at hand is mirrored in his quick embrace of CVA’s approach to educational delivery.

“I am a people person, and the people here at CVA clearly like coming to work and they genuinely like the families they serve,” Lambert explained. “Then there’s the fact that CVA is a non-profit organization, which fits with how I see education as a social work. I also bring my own strongly-held philosophical belief in parental choice. All these things, along with the opportunity to really define a new position and to develop something that doesn’t yet fully exist, drew me to CVA.”

CVA Director Lori Larsen agrees that Lambert’s philosophy is well-suited to the job.

“As a former private school principal, he brings a practitioner’s appreciation for parental choice,” Larsen noted.

Lambert came to CVA on the heels of a cross-state move when his wife Tara took a job as a CPA in Spokane.

Time to Schedule State Assessment

By Loretta Kron, M.Ed
CVA Counselor

It is that time of year to start thinking about your student's participation in a statewide assessment. The test formerly known as the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) has been replaced by the Measurement of Student Progress (grades 3-8) and the High School Proficiency Exam (grades 10-12). Your student is not required to take the MSP or the HSPE by being enrolled at 99% or less in our program; however, we do offer you the opportunity to take it.

If you are interested, we will coordinate with your local school district for your student to take the test in your local area, but we will need to hear from you by February 5th.

Please contact your Advisory Teacher via email or
telephone for more information.

The MSP testing window is from May 12th - May 28th. Exact dates are to be determined by local districts.

The HSPE testing windows are as follows:
•   High School Reading & Writing: March 16th - 18th
•   High School Math: April 13th
•   High School Science: April 15th