Perhaps the academic key to Oak Hill's success with our students rests within our small class sizes. Here students experience classes of 8 to 10 students per teacher, attending seven periods for 50 minutes a day. Many of our students come to us from large public school settings where it is easy for an unmotivated (but bright) student to "slip through the cracks." At Oak Hill, however, a student cannot hide unnoticed in the back of the room. Instead, our students are "pushed" to improve their academic performance: at Oak Hill a student is expected to do all of the assigned work and he or she is held accountable immediately when their performance does not meet our expectations; an Oak Hill student whose grade drops below the "C" level is placed automatically in a weekly tutorial with their teacher so they can improve their grade.

At Oak Hill we have established an academic program that contains many stop gap measures. For example, in order to close some common homework "loopholes," class assignments are posted in all dormitories each evening; students also keep a separate copy of textbooks in their dorm rooms. This system assists those students who may be disorganized or may have developed poor homework/study habits.

Being a college-prep academy, Oak Hill patterns its academic calendar in accord to how our students will experience their studies in college. Students are present on campus and immersed in their studies for four to five week periods before experiencing an "open weekend" when they may go home for a few days. Since we are primarily a boarding school, our students also attend Saturday morning classes an average of 3 out of 5 weeks. Logging the extra time in the academic building while the students are on campus already enables the Academy to allow for longer breaks (one week at Thanksgiving, three weeks at Christmas, and two weeks in March for spring break).

The faculty of Oak Hill Academy is accredited to teach in their assigned areas, with over half possessing a masters degree. We have teachers ranging from their first year of tenure to 24 years of experience on "the hill." Our faculty view their jobs here in direct relation to the mission of the school.

College is certainly a goal for our students and 95 percent are accepted to colleges and universities (see College Placement), and Oak Hill is an official SAT, ACT, and PSAT testing site (our international students are transported to a nearby testing site for the TOEFL several times throughout the year). In both the fall and spring, for four weeks prior to a major testing date, we also offer an SAT preparatory course for an additional fee. Our guidance counselor is available-for parents and students-to assist in college placement. Oak Hill also offers four dual credit college courses through Wytheville Community College and we are one of the few high schools in the nation with "Microsoft IT Academy" certification.