Purpose: Despite the expansion of virtual learning during COVID-19, many questions remain unexplored on how to provide quality online instruction outside of a crisis-schooling model. Research Methods: The study takes place within a virtual school affiliated with the largest online curriculum provider in the United States. Using observations of synchronous virtual instruction and interviews with administrators and teachers in a virtual school system, we examine the extent to which virtual classroom practices provide high-quality, authentic learning experiences for students. We also describe contextual and organizational pressures that shape those practices. Findings: Our analysis identified pressures that encouraged alignment with state standards through an emphasis on standardization and minimum competency that, more often than not, constrained the implementation of instructional best practices. Implications: By mapping instructional practices onto the contextual pressures, logics, and beliefs present in the virtual school, we highlight how underlying classroom, institutional, and policy-level factors shape the quality and authenticity of learning experiences for virtual school students.