by Mike Davis, Ph.D.
Head of School

If you have heard one of our principals speak at CA or if you have heard any of my presentations, you know we often talk about rethinking and reimagining teaching and learning.

 

As a team of educators, our work often centers on how to harness education and brain research to be more effective at inspiring and instilling key skills and competencies in our students. Similar conversations about student engagement are taking place across the nation in education at all levels.

 

Please check out this really interesting National Public Radio story about how some universities are taking on this call for change.  Given all the anxiety about the college admissions process and the pressure that students face, you might be struck by the lack of data that truly compares the quality of undergraduate teaching at institutions of higher learning.  

 

One of the reasons we turned to the CWRA or College Work and Readiness Assessment, is because we wanted some real data about how effectively CA teaches critical thinking and writing skills.  For the most recent set of data, CA seniors who took the test and were deemed “proficient or advanced” in the skills sets measured were at 99%. Nationally, that percentage is 70%.

 

It will be interesting to see where the conversations go at the nation’s top colleges and universities.  For those students about to embark on the college process, I hope this article can stimulate some thinking about questions one might ask admissions officers about the quality of undergraduate instruction and the intentionality behind a college’s educational program.