Original Research by School Decision on Kingman Online Learning Academy (kola) High School
Kingman Online Learning Academy (KOLA) High School is the virtual-learning arm of Kingman Unified School District, serving grades nine through twelve entirely online. It is a regular public school, not a charter, and sits within the district’s broader system. The school is housed at a physical address on MacDonald Avenue in Kingman, though the core of its work is remote. Its enrollment skews heavily toward upperclassmen, with the largest group in twelfth grade and far fewer in ninth, a pattern that suggests many students may transfer into the online program later in high school rather than start there as freshmen.
The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic minority and smaller numbers of Native American, multiracial, Asian, Black, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. The school did not report the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals, nor did it report counts of students with disabilities or English learners, so a parent would want to ask the school directly about the availability of special education supports and language services. The lack of these figures is a notable gap in understanding the full picture of student needs.
On state testing, the data is thin. KOLA has a single year of assessment results, for the 2024-25 school year, showing an English language arts proficiency rate. That rate is well below typical levels seen in brick-and-mortar schools. This is a single data point from one year, not a trend, and it is possible that the online testing environment or the population of students who choose a virtual academy—some of whom may have struggled in traditional settings—contributes to the result. A parent considering KOLA should look into the school’s specific academic supports, how it monitors student progress day to day, and what the graduation and postsecondary placement rates look like. No graduation rate data was available, and no math or science proficiency data was available either, leaving a very incomplete picture of academic outcomes.
The school environment data is sparse: no discipline records, no attendance data, no staffing ratios, and no course access information were reported. Without these, it is difficult to assess the day-to-day experience of a KOLA student, including how much live instruction is offered, how student-teacher interaction works, or what the pace and flexibility of the program actually are. Many online academies appeal to students who need scheduling flexibility, credit recovery, or a non-traditional setting, and KOLA’s enrollment profile—heavy on seniors—might reflect that credit-recovery role.
Kingman itself is a regional trade and distribution center in northwestern Arizona, anchored by its location at the intersection of Interstate 40 and U.S. Route 93, a historic Route 66 town and the Mohave County seat. It has a defined historic downtown but is otherwise oriented around highway exits, making it largely auto-dependent. The district did not have any recent major changes publicly reported, so the school operates without a known recent restructuring or leadership turnover to account for.
This is a school for a specific kind of student: one who needs or wants a fully remote high school experience in a district where the alternative is traditional in-person high schools. The available academic data raises questions that a parent should investigate directly with the school, particularly around student outcomes, special education, and the structure of the online learning model. The school sits below the overall district in testing performance, but without a fuller set of metrics—including graduation rates, chronic absenteeism, and course access—it is hard to say whether KOLA functions as a successful alternative pathway or as a program where students struggle to meet benchmarks. The enrollment pattern and the single year of proficiency data are enough to prompt a careful conversation with the school before enrolling.
See more original research from School Decision →