About Virtual Prince William

Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS) is a pioneer in online learning through our Virtual Prince William (VPW) program. VPW provides a world-class online learning experience, with accelerated courses taught by highly-skilled and certified PWCS teachers. Virtual Prince William offers students the opportunity to take courses online for the completion of graduation requirements, to recover credits, and to balance academic and extracurricular opportunities. These courses are delivered via Canvas, PWCS’ learning management system, and coursework is completed outside school hours. Students and teachers communicate within the learning management system and via PWCS Office 365 email accounts. VPW courses are NCAA approved as non-traditional courses.

VPW courses are fully asynchronous (self-paced). Students are expected to be able to work independently and collaborate with their teachers and peers.   Asynchronous instruction is designed for students to complete course work independently at a designated pace. While students have some flexibility to choose when they complete asynchronous tasks, they must adhere to course pacing, schedule, due dates, and deadlines.

Courses offered in any given school year are dependent on student enrollment and the availability of qualified and appropriately endorsed instructional staff. View VPW course offerings and schedule.

VPW Fall 2023 Term Information

• Our Fall 2023 Term will be September 5, 2023, through January 12, 2024 (18 weeks).
• If you or your student is looking to take a course for initial credit, use the link above to register for a course.
• VPW courses are fully asynchronous with course instructors offering open office hours in the evening hours throughout the fall term.
• Students are permitted to register for up to two VPW courses per term.  We ask that you do not complete a registration form for 2nd and 3rd choices.  However, per PWCS policy, students may not take over 9 courses per academic year.  This includes their base school schedule.
• We recommend that students contact and discuss VPW plans with their school counselor.
• On average students spend 4-6 hours per week to successfully complete the course within the eighteen-week term.
• We ask that all students and parents take school year schedules, jobs, athletics, activities, and plans into consideration prior to registering.  It is a requirement that students remain on pace and adhere to VPW term pacing, schedule, due dates and deadlines.

Registration does not guarantee enrollment into the course. Students need to be eligible to take their course request. For example, a student who has not completed or is currently sitting in English 10 cannot take English 11. Courses may be canceled due to low enrollment.  A course request will need to be approved by the student's school counselor and VPW administration.