At the Williamsburg Charter High School, all classes are created to foster critical thinking, inquiry, and self-assessment.  WCHS provides intensive, well-defined, sequenced instruction and academic rigor in the liberal arts.  All instruction is linked to assessment, creating solid evidence of learning.

Every student benefits from an ongoing personalized experience that supports high achievement, personal development, and family, school, and community partnerships.  We achieve this by focusing on individual needs and by developing and sharpening the range of behaviors and skills needed for adult success.

Students' social and developmental assets are addressed as a matter of course and are expected to catalyze and grow in tandem with more strict academic competencies.  Staff interacts with the student body in classrooms, advisories, sports teams, clubs, independent research projects, and many other areas, in order to foster healthy adult-student relationships.

The relentless attention to the tone and culture of the school as a rigorous academic institution contributes to student success. WCHS is a learning community where students achieve at a higher level than they would under traditional circumstances, an expectation made evident upon arrival. The school has its own discipline code and maintains a zero tolerance policy toward cutting, gang activity, drug involvement, and violence. However, achievement can not simply be forced upon students through extended schedules and the threat of repercussions; it must be harvested intrinsically through a sense of student ownership and school pride. The school's culture is based on the principles of membership, ownership, cooperation, accountability, hard work, and respect for one's self and others.