Dear Families,

 

As we approach the end of this quarter and the start of a new one, it is a great joy to reflect on the progress students have made in their learning experience. Providing them instruction that fires the imagination and deepens their understanding of the world is our reason for existing.

As we all know, the world we inhabit includes many entities--families, volunteer groups, governments--all of which play a part in shaping the minds and hearts of our young people. Demonstrating the quality of our academic program requires us to faithfully measure and report on our students' academic progress. Typically, this comes in the form of a state-based standardized test, a minimum bar for us to show the benefits of our classical approach to K-12 schooling. It is both an expectation of the agencies that govern education in our country and a measurement to inform opinion leaders and policy makers who evaluate the quality of schools.

With those real world expectations in mind, we have decided to incorporate a nationally recognized test of academic proficiencies, the NWEA's Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), beginning in the upcoming quarter. Measures of reading and mathematics will be provided to all of our schools in grades 6 through 8, thus providing baseline data that will be useful in quantitatively confirming the value of our qualitatively distinct approach.

In selecting MAP, our goal was to maximize the amount of valuable instructional time. We were looking for the least intrusive, most beneficial assessment for our schools, and MAP provides the most accurate assessments in a most efficient manner (an exam takes about 45-60 minutes as compared to AZMerit's multiple hours).

Your trust in Veritas Prep depends upon the remarkable work accomplished within the school. Given the real-world demands placed on Veritas and Great Hearts Academies, we believe MAP testing is the best option for our continued success. Furthermore, MAP's national reputation as a benchmark and growth assessment will better position us as an educational leader in the state.

We are truly honored that you have entrusted your students to Great Hearts, and we are sensitive to concerns about additional testing. So, let me reiterate our commitment to cultivate the minds and hearts of our students, your children, through the pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty.

Thank you for your time and trust,