Cooper Christian Academy is born out of concern for the education of children today. After teaching in the public schools in New Mexico, I returned to school to receive a Master's Degree in Education. After just 3 years away from teaching, it seems everything had changed. Public schools were on a course away from parent and teacher control and toward administrative, legislative control. Teachers no longer teach, they cover the required material (whether or not the kids learn it!). Parents are told a legislature knows what their students need to learn better than they do. As a result, I prayed for God to lead me somewhere where I could TEACH students to think and find information so they could make solid decisions. He did just that. For the last 20 years, I have been a youth minister. Throughout that time, discussions with parents and students continued as we lamented the public school system. Many who were able chose homeschooling, but many more did not have that option, or worried about the socialization of their students. It is from this that CCA was born.
From one teacher and many parents of public schooled and homeschooled students arose an idea of what school should and could become. Together we accepted the challenge to stop pointing out problems and start coming up with solutions. With faith in God to lead us and in each other to face the challenges, we have come together to do what we can to enable students to have the best education possible.
CCA seeks to combine the strengths of public, private, and homeschools while eliminating their weaknesses. Beginning with the belief that God created all mankind to desire and even enjoy learning, CCA is structrued to stimulate this God-given desire in a directed, individually tailored, hands-on setting resulting in creating eager learners prepared for college and life beyond.
CCA offers a college preparatory education uniquely designed to teach the student, not just cover the curriculum, by employing a variety of teaching styles targeting a variety of learning styles under the direction of a trained teacher in a classroom of no more than 25 students. Parents who are tired of their child being a statistic to attract federal funding or affect cumulative test scores but cannot afford a private school or provide homeschooling as well as homeschooing parents who desire help in college preparation without losing involvement in that education will find a place for their child at CCA.
Every student and their ability to learn is our focus. Working with parents, teachers will take the time and use all the methods possible to ensure the students grasp each concept before moving on to other concepts. The multi-age groups at CCA allow this to happen without the stigma of being "held back" in a younger class while exposing them to opportunities to accelerate learning when possible. CCA will be small enough to offer individualized instruction to former public school students, big enough to offer more social interaction in learning for former homeschooled students at a price that everyone can afford.
Parents of students in public schools, homeschools, and those preparing to enter school have collaborated in the formation of CCA. This school -- like a homeschool -- is intentionally intergenerational, small in class size, flexibly scheduled, and highly interactive; -- like a public school -- it provides a trained teacher with a college preparatory curriculum.
If you feel led, come join us. If you cannot pray about starting your own school. There are
many teachers who want to truly teach again and together with concerned parents you can make a
difference. If this is you, feel free to contact us to find out what we did. We'll help you all we can.
No longer do we have to lament. Let us rejoice!Connie Cooper
"The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life."
----Plato