Virtual Preparatory Academy of Washington, Starbuck WA

Original Research by School Decision on Virtual Preparatory Academy of Washington

The Virtual Preparatory Academy of Washington is a full-time online public school serving grades eight through twelve, operated by the Starbuck School District. Despite its mailing address in Starbuck, the school is a statewide virtual program, so its connection to that tiny rural hamlet is largely administrative. Starbuck itself is a quiet former railroad town in southeastern Washington that now has a very small and aging population, and its own brick high school shut down years ago, with local students bussed to the county seat of Dayton. This virtual academy draws students from across the state, not from the immediate neighborhood.

The school enrolls a substantial number of students for its grade band. The student body is predominantly white, with Black and Hispanic students each making up a notable share, and smaller groups of Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and American Indian or Alaska Native students. A relatively small share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which stands out for a virtual program and may reflect a different family profile than many online schools. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the profile; families with children in those categories would want to verify directly with the school how those populations are supported.

State testing results are available from the 2024-25 school year. In English language arts, proficiency rates across grades three through eight ranged from the low teens to just over a third of students meeting the bar. In math, rates were lower, with single-digit proficiency in several grades. In science, the fifth-grade cohort showed a higher rate than the eighth-grade group. No high school assessment data was reported in the profile, though the school serves those grades. A parent considering this school should be aware that across the tested grades and subjects, the share of students meeting state standards falls well below statewide averages, and a family may benefit from asking the school how it addresses academic support and progress monitoring, particularly in math.

The school offers no graduation rate in the profile, which is an important gap for a school that serves grades eight through twelve. Because the school has only one year of assessment data in the record, there is no trend to examine. The comparison set of other districts in Columbia County is too small to make a meaningful academic positioning, so no local benchmark is available.

The district brief for Starbuck School District turned up little information on recent changes, so that context is absent rather than filled in.

As a virtual school, the prep academy provides an option for families seeking a fully remote learning environment in Washington, with the flexibility that model offers. The online format may suit students who need a schedule different from a traditional brick-and-mortar day, or who prefer independent study. But the test results signal that many students are not reaching grade-level benchmarks, and without a graduation rate or post-secondary outcome data, a family cannot yet evaluate how well the program prepares students for a diploma and what comes after. This is a school that a prospective family should probe directly on its academic supports, its approach to helping struggling students, and how it tracks and reports student progress through to graduation.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 319%

School 19% · district not reported

▼ 31 pts below state median

Grade 422%

School 22% · district not reported

▼ 26 pts below state median

Grade 511%

School 11% · district not reported

▼ 29 pts below state median

Grade 79%

School 9% · district not reported

▼ 29 pts below state median

Grade 85%

School 5% · district not reported

▼ 29 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 313%

School 13% · district not reported

▼ 34 pts below state median

Grade 419%

School 19% · district not reported

▼ 30 pts below state median

Grade 534%

School 34% · district not reported

▼ 19 pts below state median

Grade 614%

School 14% · district not reported

▼ 33 pts below state median

Grade 720%

School 20% · district not reported

▼ 31 pts below state median

Grade 824%

School 24% · district not reported

▼ 26 pts below state median

Science

Grade 535%

School 35% · district not reported

▼ 16 pts below state median

Grade 815%

School 15% · district not reported

▼ 27 pts below state median

This schoolDistrict average, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.