By Cassandra Taylor, Publications Assistant
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) has introduced an A+ tier into its What Will They Learn?® rating system. The College has earned an A in every ACTA survey since 2012–13; now, it is proud to be one of only seven institutions nationwide to earn an A+ in the inaugural year of this new category.
“Our ‘A+’ schools are models of educational quality and pedagogical integrity,” ACTA noted in its press release. “These institutions deserve the consideration of academically serious students and should serve as inspiration to educators seeking to make students’ college years some of the most rewarding and transformative years of their lives.”
The rating system, which evaluates the curricula of 1,134 institutions for “competence” in seven subject areas (Composition, Literature, Foreign Language, U.S. Government or History, Economics, Mathematics, and Science), now awards an A+ to those that cover all seven core subjects. The A rating is given to those that cover six.
Of the schools categorized by ACTA as “liberal arts” institutions, 1% nationwide merited an A rating. Similarly, only 0.98% of colleges in the Northeast earned an A. Notably, no Ivy League institutions earned an A or B rating in the What Will They Learn?® survey, in evidence of the United States’ shifting educational landscape. Thomas More College of Liberal Arts is also the only college in New Hampshire to earn an A+ (or A) rating, while also boasting the highest four-year graduation rate in the state, according to ACTA.
Additionally, the seven A+ institutions include fellow Newman Guide colleges Thomas Aquinas College and the University of Dallas, in recognition of the objective value of faith-based liberal arts education.
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