Academics

COLA's academic program meets or exceeds the requirements set forth by the Tennessee Board of Education and our governing organization, Tennessee Association for Non-public Academic Schools (TANAS).

COLA uses a traditional approach to education, utilizing the Abeka Curriculum to build a solid academic foundation on Biblical values and principles. In-person classroom instruction is supplemented with online lessons through the Abeka Pro-Teach Supplemental Video Program.

"Abeka is committed to providing the finest educational resources for Christian schools. Accordingly, we routinely monitor educational trends in curriculum and assessment to evaluate them in light of traditional Christian values and objectives. Our goal is to continually improve Abeka materials by providing the most up-to-date content and best practices in textbooks and curriculum. "

-Abeka.com

The Abeka Curriculum does not follow Common Core State Standards and methodology, but rather exceeds many of the Common Core objectives. More information on Abeka's philosophy regarding the Common Core Standards can be found here.

Because of our low student-teacher ratio, it is necessary for us to combine classes and to sometimes rearrange the traditional order in which non-leveled classes are presented. For example, in the middle school years, it is not uncommon to find both seventh and eighth graders taking the same science or history classes.

The nationally recognized Stanford Achievement Test Series, Tenth Edition (SAT10) is administered each spring to all students in grades 1-11. COLA students, on average, score higher than the national norm on these tests. High school seniors are required to take either the ACT or the SAT before they are allowed to graduate. COLA students are routinely accepted into any institution of higher learning they choose to attend.

Dual enrollment opportunities are available for high school juniors and seniors, dependent on their ACT scores, previous SAT10 scores, and classroom assessments.