POINT LOOKOUT, MO. — School of the Ozarks (S of O) participated in the Classic Learning Test (CLT) for the first time this year and has ranked in the Top 15 schools in the nation.
S of O was ranked No. 15 out of 1,200 participating schools.
“To be recognized as one of the top schools in our first year of taking the CLT verifies what our graduates have been reporting,” said Brad Dolloff, dean of School of the Ozarks. “They report feeling much better informed, prepared, and able to articulate their views than their college peers.”
Classic Learning Initiatives was founded in 2015 by Jeremy Tate, former high school educator and college counselor. Tate found that the SAT and ACT tests were missing many of the topics he had been tested over when he was in high school. He realized that many of the questions were politically charged, almost always leaning towards the political left.
Tate wanted to create an exam that was rooted in tradition and not swayed by political or societal beliefs. He was asked why yet another college admissions test is needed.
“Another test isn’t needed,” Tate said. “The right test is needed: a test that embraces the values inherent in our intellectual heritage, is free from common core political agendas and remains committed to testing aptitude.”
Dolloff expressed his excitement for the students’ achievements.
“We have had two National Merit Finalists and three National Merit Commended Scholars from our small student population in just the last four years alone. To have our students rank so highly in the Classic Learning Test (CLT) is, I believe, an indicator of what we have been hearing anecdotally from our graduates as they attend various colleges and universities.”
The vision of School of the Ozarks emphasizes the importance of Christ-like character and a biblical worldview in understanding truth. Its academic goal is to provide students with the opportunity to develop their God-given knowledge and wisdom to the fullest potential so they might become producers and influencers.
The instructors push their students every day to improve their skills and develop their character.
“The result has been that our students perform quite well on college entrance exams, consistently scoring well above the national and state averages on both the ACT and SAT exams,” Dolloff said. “We are thankful to God for blessing our school, grateful to our faculty for their investment in the lives of the next generation, and proud of our students for the hard work, grit, and resiliency that yield these kinds of results.”