The Alpha Results in the Omega
or How Do Coram Deo Students Compare to Other American Students on Standardized Tests
January 2005
Rodney J. Marshall, Headmaster

It takes a quality beginning to meet high expectations at culmination. This is true of a forward pass caught vs. intercepted. It is just as true that beginning a school well results in meeting expected outcomes. In 1999, the CDA Board launched a program of education designed to educate youth in a historic Christian worldview through a rigorous classical curriculum. We expected students to learn to think Christianly about all of life and we expected them to perform well academically. Now six years of academically measurable results demonstrate that on the average Coram Deo students outperform over eighty percent of all students and in the upper grades all college bound students in America. Many outperform ninety nine percent of all students. Here is a summary of tests used and Coram Deo student achievement. You can click to find some graphs and tables to help back up this discovery or to read more about the tests themselves. We laude the students and their parent educators, classroom teachers and the curriculum designers for collaborating to achieve these results to the glory of God.

Student Achievement in Grades Two to Nine
At Coram Deo students take standardized tests each year beginning in grade two (the first year the CTP4 is offered). Grades two through nine take the CTP4 published and supported by the Educational Records Bureau. In 2005, the CDA students averaged a score higher than 88.9% of all other students taking the test. This represents average achievement two standard deviations above the national average. Last year the ninth grade scored better than 90% of all other students taking the same test. [See data table] For an in depth look at CTP4 results for grades 3,5,7 and 9 [click here]

Student Achievement in Grades Ten and Eleven
Students in grades ten and eleven take the PSAT/NMSQT published by the College Board. The average of all CDA students taking this test shows they scored higher than 77% of all other students taking this test. This is a challenging data pool since it includes only college bound students. Several of our students have received letters of commendation from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation for their remarkable achievement. [See data table]

Student Achievement in Grades Eleven and Twelve
Students in grades eleven and twelve take the SAT and/or the ACT in preparation for college entrance. Again CDA students score well above the national SAT average of 1028 with a school average of 1225. The graduating class of 2004 averaged 1303. [see data table]

Thanks are to God for the opportunity to train the next generation with excellence. "Unto whom much is given much is required."

© 2008 Coram Deo Academy.