Before the civil rights marches of the early sixties and before Martin Luther King, Jr. stood in Washington and said he had a dream, a group of families quietly gathered in Silver Spring with the intent of starting a Christian school that would be free of racial barriers. To make that vision of a diverse school community a reality, families, using their own vehicles and at their own expense, drove into Washington, D.C., picked up minority students in the morning, brought them to school, then took them home every afternoon. That commitment remains a core value at Washington Christian Academy over six decades later. Historically, over forty percent of our students have been students of color.

While the school comes from a distinct theological tradition, it is not a denominational school. We have families from over 80 different churches in our family community.

Though Washington Christian Academy is located in Olney, MD, we are a regional school. We draw families from as far south and east as Upper Marlboro, Washington, D.C., Bethesda, and Potomac, as far west as Poolesville, Germantown, and Darnestown, and as far north as Laytonsville, Gaithersburg, Germantown and Frederick. The majority of WCA families reside in Rockville, Silver Spring, Olney, and Laurel.

The quality of its academic program is best told by its students, students like Jon Bratt, Trevor Morse, and Erica Gropp each of whom were among a handful of students nationwide who made perfect scores on their SATs, or Agur Adams who completed four years at the Naval Academy, graduating with Distinction and as Regimental Commander with 2000 midshipmen under his leadership, or Christina Mason, who in five years at Emory University completed not only her Bachelor’s degree, but her Masters as well, and who has gone on to become a Fulbright Teaching Assistant.

Adherence to the Christian faith in the Reformed tradition is not an excuse for narrowness, provinciality, or a simplistic approach to the educational task. The open recognition of the concern of the Creator in this endeavor should stir all students to the full expenditure of their energies in performing a work worthy of His honor. Since He is the source and definer of all truth, the pursuit of truth should be carried forward with full enthusiasm and vigor and without fear.

God makes truth available to us from two sources: His works of creating and governing all the affairs of this world, and the special revelation from Him found in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. From these two sources, we learn truth concerning the whole of life. Although the Scriptures are not to be regarded as a textbook for modern science, they present truth in whatever they state or imply about the whole realm of knowledge. At the same time, truth as it is found in God’s general revelation (creation) may enlighten the meaning of Scripture at many points. Particularly because of its verbal character, however, Scripture speaks with a unique authority about the world in which we live and how we are to live in it.

Our students represent the embodiment of potential for the future. Because human beings are made in the likeness and image of God, they possess unlimited promise of service to God and to society.

Distinctive gifts and inclinations must be uncovered in the educational process so that students come to recognize their particular callings. As teacher and student interact, the potential inherent in the learner should emerge. Under the guiding hand of the teacher, the learner and find the delicate balance between freedom and discipline.

Washington Christian Academy admits students of any gender, race, color, and national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, tuition assistance, athletics, or any other school-administered programs or hiring practices.