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 classes online for the

• Completion of graduation requirements
• To recover credits
• To balance academic and extracurricular opportunities

These online 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 email accounts. VPW courses are NCAA-approved as nontraditional courses.

VPW courses are fully asynchronous (self-guided). Students are expected to be able to work independently and collaborate with their teachers and peers. Asynchronous instruction is designed for students to complete coursework 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 2026 Information

• Registration
  • Fall registration time and date TBD.  We are currently moving to a new registration system called Avela.  We are working on this new registration system.  We look to have our fall registration open up in mid to late July 2026.  We will communicate our exact dates soon.  Thank you for your time and patience!
• VPW Fall General Information
  • Our fall term will be from September 8, 2026 - January 22, 2027.
  • Students are completing a full credit course in 18 academic weeks.
  • Students must be eligible for their course request by satisfying the prerequisites for the course. Students are not permitted to take sequential courses at the same time. For example, Spanish 2 and Spanish 3.
  • Students must be able to maintain internet and computer access throughout the term.
  • Students will be able to register for one VPW course.
  • On average, students spend about 4-6 hours per week in order to complete their course during the term.
  • There are no daily live lessons to attend, but instructors do offer weekly office hours for assistance.
• Fall Instructions for VPW registration
  • Coming Soon

Registration does not guarantee enrollment in the course. Each course has a certain number of available seats and may become full. A course may be canceled due to low enrollment. In addition, students need to be eligible to take their requested course. For example, a student who has not successfully completed English 10 yet cannot take English 11.  All VPW requests will go through an approval process that includes their school counselor and VPW admin.