An exciting new era of American education is silently preparing to begin.  School districts, educational publishers and standards testing agencies are preparing to launch a new, nation-wide curriculum program that will raise the bar for American schools.  The Common Core Standards, which have already been approved as the new curriculum standard by 45 of 50 states, will provide American schools with a standardized curriculum and assessment system that has never existed before.  These standards will allow assessement and regulation of student achievement to be much more rigorous than it has ever been, and will hold schools and parents accountable for real, demonstrable achievement.

Most Christian schools and home schooling families will not be prepared for these standards, for they are ignorant of what is coming.  States have been preparing silently for these changes, which are slowly being studied and implemented.  The new standardized tests are very different from what has been done in the past and are scheduled to be launched in 2014-2015.

For Christians, these changes are a two-edged sword.  For schools and parents that are not prepared, states will have the means to crack down on disorganization and low achievement.  Much of the "un-schooling" community will find themselves in danger of having their home school privileges revoked--and justly so.  The current looseness and lack of accountability will no longer be allowed by the new standards. For those schools and parents, however, who are prepared, an opportunity will exist to glorify God and take the lead in what will prove to be very beneficial changes in American education.  The CLAA Core Standards Program will be at the forefront of this new era.

no need for compromise

St. Paul explained to us that rulers and their regulations "are not a cause of fear to good conduct, but to evil".  Children in literate homes who are immersed in Christian prayer, work and study are not the children for which educational regulations are made.  The goal of regulation and standards is to ensure that at-risk students are provided with the minimum needed for college and career success, not to bother those who will easily surpass the standards in the normal course of life in literate homes. Christians who are reading Scripture, praying and living well normally do not need a burdensome school curriculum to satisfy state or national standards.  They simply need to demonstrate that they are doing so in their normal course of life.

The CLAA Core Standards Program does just this.  We provide students with an efficient opportunity to demonstrate their academic achievement without boring them with unnecessary instruction and activities that keep them from pursuing higher interests.  For CLAA students, this means the classical liberal arts.  By "rendering to Caesar what is Caesar's" in an efficient way, we are free to devote our hearts, souls, minds and strength to God.  We eliminate the need for compromising educational goals because of state standards.

MIXED CLASSROOMS

Small private schools or families that choose to educate their children privately are often faced with the challenge of teaching a group of students who belong to different grade and ability levels in a mixed classroom.  A home school, for example, may have 1 parent teaching 5 children ranging in ages from 4 to 14.  

The attempt to use an existing K-12 curriculum to do this either requires that education be devoted to satisfying standards in an ineffecient and all-consuming way, or that an wild and exhausting effort be made to achieve higher standards without giving due attention to state requirements.  

The laxity and disorganization of past standards have allowed this chaotic school environment to go unchecked, but the days of laxity will be ending soon.  Christians must have a plan for the future that takes into consideration the new accountabiilty standards.  

Fortunately, if rightly understood and implemented, the CLAA Core Standards Program will prove to be the best plan available for such groups.  With objectives set for year-end achievement and layered across all grade levels, teaching mixed groups is no problem at all using our program.
 

what we provide

The CLAA Core Standards Program (CSP) provides schools and familes with a complete K-12 educational program that exceeds the requirements of the coming Common Core Standards.  However, we provide this without taking common of your entire school program.  Schools and families using the CLAA Core Standards Program are free to add to it any studies they wish.  In fact, the Core Standards Program frees families to pursue their educational goals with the freedom that comes from knowing--with 100% certainty--that state and national standards are satisfied.  We designed this program particularly for our classical liberal arts students who need this freedom, but it can be used to serve any study program.  

Whereas other K-12 study programs require that one make an either/or decision between state standards requirements and loftier Christian educational goals, our Core Standards Program supplements whatever course of study is chosen outside of these standards.  

AVAILABLE COURSES

In 2013-2014, we will be making all of the Language Arts and Mathematics courses available.  Enrollment, however, will likely not extend beyond grade 09.  Therefore, grades 10-12 will likely be delayed until 2014-2015 because our student body tends to be young.

To enroll, existing families simply need to add the grade-level Core Standards courses to their children's current CLAA course loads.  New families need to enroll here.

DISTANCE LEARNING PROGRAM

The CLAA's Beatitudes School Distance Learning Program offers parents the opportunity to procure daily academic management for their children, freeing them from all the burden of curriculum planning, daily progress management, assessment and record-keeping so that we can all just get this stuff done.  Students receive individualized task lists, which are reviewed daily and managed to ensure that objectives are completed.  For more in formation, visit the Beatitudes Distance Learning program page here.  

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the program director, Mr. William Michael.