Coram Deo Academy

Coram Deo Academy (CDA) is an accredited non-denominational day school serving Christian families at three locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas. The mission of Coram Deo Academy is to train ethical servant-leaders and wise thinkers who will shape culture for the glory of God.^[1]

Structure

Coram Deo Academy is a hybrid between a private school and a homeschool. Students may attend the school on two days of the week, and complete their studies under the tutelage of their parents during the week. For instance, students may go to school on Mondays and Wednesdays and homeschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Fridays, students participate in science labs and electives, in addition to House activities for High School.^[2]

Academics

Coram Deo emphasizes Christianity and subjects from classical education, such as Latin, Greek, and Logic. The Christian religion is integrated into various subjects at Coram Deo. Students also take Bible classes, such as Theology I and II in Upper School.^[2][3] Ninety percent of all high school students at Coram Deo Academy score higher than the national average on the SAT. Additionally, over 95% of graduates attend a post secondary education.

Entrance Requirements

To gain admittance, all prospective students are required to score well on entrance testing. Prospective students must also submit their academic records from the school they are transferring from. Additionally, every prospective student and their legal guardians must confess that their beliefs are in accord with the Nicene Creed and provide a pastoral reference.^[4]

Faculty and Staff

Coram Deo Academy employs a highly qualified staff of teachers and faculty. Over the years, students have studied under the tutelage of doctors, authors and master naturalists. Thirty-nine percent (39%) of the teachers have a graduate degree, while fifty-eight percent (58%) of the teaching staff have graduate degrees or ten plus years of teaching experience. Many teachers choose to continue studying for the advanced degrees in their field while maintaining a teaching position at CDA.

University Schedule

Coram Deo Academy employs a university schedule system, so classes are scheduled two days per week, with the remaining days set aside for homework and electives. Students may take electives on campus each Friday. This permits parents to have a more active role in their child's education. Collaborative education is a defining feature of the school, and Coram Deo believes each parent should play an active role in the education of their children as much as possible. In 2006, a five-day program for grades 5-12 was implemented to assist parents who needed an additional option for educating their children in the classical Christian worldview. This five-day-a-week program complements the three-day program, which includes electives.

Curriculum

Coram Deo Academy's curriculum is modeled after the classical trivium. It is composed of three stages of learning: Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric.^[1] In Grammar School, the first stage, students are given a foundation of basic knowledge through joyful memorization and repetition in grades K-4. Following Grammar School is the Logic stage. In grades five-eight, teachers concentrate on developing the students' mind through questions such as "how" and "why", though the fundamentals of the previous stage are still largely incorporated. Finally, in the Rhetoric stage, which encompasses grades nine-twelve, students utilize the ideas and concepts developed in the Logic stage and established from the Grammar stage. Students at the Rhetoric Stage begin to polish their speaking skills through debating and speaking and delve further into advanced math, science, theology, and literature classes.

Campuses

Coram Deo Academy has a K-12 campus in Flower Mound, including Grammar School (Elementary, grades K-4),^[5] Logic School (Middle, grades 5-8),^[6] and high school (grades 9-12).^[7] The Coram Deo administrative offices are on the Flower Mound campus.^[8] This has remained the main campus since it was established in 1999.

The Collin County campus is located in the One Church (previously Four Corners Church) facility in Plano, Texas.^[9] It opened as the Coram Deo Academy of North Dallas in August 2004 in a building in Carrollton.^[9][10] During the first year, it offered grades K-8. Each subsequent year it planned to add a grade to cover high school.^[10] In 2009 the high school was added.^[9]

Coram Deo Academy also has a PreK-8 Dallas campus, which opened in 2006.^[11]

Flower Mound Campus Construction Plan

On 1 June 2009, Coram Deo Academy began the conversion of its gym building into classrooms by replacing the old interior with two bathrooms, two water fountains, a second story storage facility, and seven brand new classrooms. The school underwent the project because of a city ordinance that stated that the school needed to remove its temporary buildings containing the old classrooms. The renovation of the building was finished later that year before the school year began. Over the summer of 2009, the school removed its two temporary buildings as per the city's ordinance. During the beginning of the school year, CDA began to improve the landscape by adding new features such as new grass, three outdoor dining tables, embellishing shrubbery, and a pebble pathway to and from the school's pavilion.

Phase One

In October 2009, Coram Deo Academy broke the ground of Phase One in its New Campus Master Plan. The school contracted with Archistructure (Newark, TX) for the construction of three brand new 600-square-foot (56 m²) classrooms that would give the school more space to aid in the teaching of its students. Also in the plan for the school's Phase One schedule is a deceleration lane, a new entrance with the removal of the old entrance, a new monument sign, and a perimeter drive with fire safety.

Student Body

Athletics

Coram Deo Academy has viewed athletics as essential to the well-roundedness of its students. Coram Deo Academy offers a wide variety of sports from which a student may choose, including football, basketball, baseball, soccer, tennis, track, volleyball, softball, golf, and cross country. In 2006, the academy was accepted into the TAPPS 3A conference and regularly competes with other teams in the state of Texas. Currently, Coram Deo Academy has nine varsity and seven junior varsity teams.

Even in their short time in existence, the teams have been very successful. The Coram Deo football team won its state conference in 2006 and the tennis team placed third at a state competition as well. In 2011 the Junior High soccer team was 11-3, its best. In 2012, The Varsity Lady Lions Volleyball placed in the State Final with Coach Ed Chen winning Coach of the Year.

The track & field team has seen several TAPPS 3A state champions over the years—2008 (men's 800m), 2010 (women's 400m), 2013 (women's 800m and 1600m) and 2014 (women's 800m and 1600m). A member of the 2013 cross country team had the fastest time at the state meet, winning the gold in the TAPPS 3A women's state championship race.

The House System

Coram Deo implemented a type of student government known as the House System in Autumn of 2007. There are four Houses in Flower Mound and three Houses in Collin County.^[12]

Flower Mound House System

• The House of Homer
• The House of Lewis
• The House of Wallace
• The House of Wright

Collin County House System

• The House of Churchill
• The House of Luther
• The House of Newton

Each president has their own staff: vice president, events coordinator, journalist, chaplain, and others. The group of authorities and faculty in the house are referred to as the "house leadership".

Every high school student that is enrolled at Coram Deo is put into a house. They will always be a part of that house for their duration of time attending Coram Deo. This makes the houses consist of students varying in sex, ethnicity, race, and age.

Any house is sometimes considered as a "family" due to tight friendships, trust, and leadership that is formed in the house, and any member of a house is welcome to seek guidance, encouragement, and spiritual counseling from any house leader in any house.

The four houses often coordinate service projects around the area to benefit the community. Houses will work with other houses on many occasions to make their efforts a success. "House meetings" are held on Fridays, which allows each house to formulate and discuss the future of their house and plans to participate in service projects.

Occasionally there will be friendly competitions between the houses in the form of playing games, like Dodgeball, Ultimate Frisbee, and Paint Wars. The winning house will receive House Points in the form of colored gum balls. In addition, the Alfred Cup, an inter-house debate, is held annually for House Points. Four students from each house debate on a topic chosen by faculty. The two winners of the semi-finals advance to the finals, where the two finalist houses again debate. A few times per school year a house will have a house party (instead of regular house meeting) where house members bring food and play games in their own house. Combined house parties are when people bring food for multiple houses and when the houses play games with one another.

There is a house of the month award given to a house each month based on the number of service projects the house participated in, overall house performance (no suspensions, highest GPA for the students in the house etc.), and house points earned from competition.

A regular service term as a staff member in a house lasts a duration of one school year unless impeached. Elections for new house staff are held in the spring.

References

External links

• Coram Deo Academy