Western Reserve Academy 2020-2021 SCHOOL PROFILE ABOUT WESTERN RESERVE ACADEMY Founded in 1826 as a preparatory school for Western Reserve College, Western Reserve Academy is an independent coeducational boarding and day school, grades nine through post graduate. Western Reserve Academy is ranked as a top high school in Ohio and among the country’s best boarding schools. Our innovative college-preparatory curriculum features programs of distinction that prepare our students for an increasingly interconnected world. COVID RESPONSE Western Reserve Academy moved to distance learning in March 2020 and students were issued standard grades for the remainder of the 2019-2020 Head of School school year. We began the 2020-2021 school year in a hybrid model with most students attending class in person and some attending online synchronously. Suzanne Walker Buck Class sizes were reduced to allow for physical distancing in the classroom and a new daily schedule was implemented for the year to allow for a pivot to College Counseling remote learning for all students if the need arises (more information shared in Office the Program and Calendar section. Anna Barlow-Boesch MISSION Director FACTS AT A GLANCE Our faculty cultivate intellectual • Senior Class: 102 [email protected] curiosity through a challenging • Senior Boarding Students: 76 college preparatory program; our • Senior Day Students: 26 Emily Parliman students pursue a rigorous liberal • Total Enrollment: 402 arts curriculum and engage in Associate Director • Total Boarders: 256 [email protected] opportunities beyond the classroom in arts, athletics and service, ensuring • Total Day Students: 146 growth in mind, body and spirit. • Total Boys: 217 (54%) Jennifer Easley Western Reserve Academy’s tight- • Total Girls: 185 (46%) Associate Director knit community instills individual and • 45% of students are from outside [email protected] social responsibility and welcomes Ohio and respects diversity, while preparing • Average Class Size: 11 students Betsy Barry students as citizens and leaders in an • Teaching faculty: 49 Office Manager increasingly interconnected world. • Student-teacher ratio: 12:1 [email protected] • Faculty living on campus: 84% PROGRAM AND CALENDAR • Average years of teaching For the 2020-2021 school year, we have created a flexible curriculum that experience: 19.3 follows a schedule of four modules • Average years teaching at WRA: of forty days each, to allow for pivots 10.6 to online learning if necessary, either • Faculty with advanced degrees: on a mass or individualized scale. 84% Students will take a maximum of four classes during each 40 day module, with one free period. Each module represents the equivalent of one semester’s worth of academic work. As such, full year courses will meet for two of the four modules and semester-length courses will meet for one module. Courses are being offered on campus for in person learning as well as online for those 115 College Street learners who are unable to return to Hudson, OH 44236 campus. 330-650-4400 ADVANCED COURSES CURRICULAR NOTES & UNIQUE OFFERINGS ENGLISH College Level (CL) Courses: The pinnacle of academic height CL English: Author Study and rigor at WRA, CL courses replaced our Advanced CL English: Graphic Novels Placement offerings beginning in 2017. The intellectual CL English: Matter of Memory discourse in the CL classroom is sophisticated, nuanced and CL English: Shakespearean Lenses responsive to a changing world and student curiosity. CL English: Women and Fiction FINE & PERFORMING ARTS Compass: A self-directed, faculty-guided yearlong seminar CL Music Theory that invites students to design and execute a project of Honors Dance significant intellectual and social resonance around the themes of Civic & Global Engagement, Science & Technology, HISTORY Arts & Culture or Entrepreneurship. Through Compass CL Art History* projects, students have developed customizable LED light-up CL Comparative Politics pillows, grown microgreens for the dining hall and created CL Economics educational mobile apps games to help young students learn CL Philosophy about cells. CL US Government & Politics* CL US History The Wang Innovation Center (WIC): A 6,000-square-foot collaborative learning space, Western Reserve Academy’s INTEGRATED STUDIES & DESIGN CL Compass Wang Innovation Center is the next step in experiential CL Computer Science learning, where WRA students can take ideas from concept to completion with state-of-the-art design and production MATHEMATICS equipment. The WIC is divided into three main creative Calculus AB spaces with specific functions — to imagine and plan, to Calculus BC prototype and to build. In the computer room students Calculus Based Probability and can conceive and design their project with a multitude of Statistics* software used by architects, engineers and designers. In the CL Linear Algebra fabrication area prototyping begins and ideas come to life CL Multivariable Calculus using laser cutters, 3-D printers, molds, circuits and more. CL Statistics The final space, the workshop or “dirty” space, is where Honors Geometric & Algebraic prototypes can be made into final products with a large-scale Reasoning Honors Intermediate Algebraic & wood and metal shop. Geometric Reasoning Honors Precalculus Integrated Studies & Design (ISD): Beginning in the 2019- 2020 school year WRA introduced this new multi-disciplinary MODERN & CLASSICAL LANGUAGES department to hone student creativity, passion and skills for CL French Language and Culture living healthy and happy lives. ISD also includes courses that CL Latin Literature invite every student to explore the abundant opportunities CL Mandarin Chinese inside our Wang Innovation Center, including Learn to Make, CL Spanish – Spain* Learn to Code and Digital Fabrication along with many other CL Spanish – Latin America unique and interesting offerings. With an overall focus on Honors French III critical thinking, entrepreneurship, communication and Honors Latin III collaboration, the Integrated Studies & Design Department Honors Spanish II Honors Spanish III provides students a more enriching high school journey and valuable preparation for their lives after graduation. SCIENCE CL Chemistry GRADING SYSTEM CL Microbiology In advance of the 2019-2020 academic year, WRA transitioned CL Pathobiology of Human Disease its grading system from a 7.0 scale to an A+ through F scale CL Physics and will be noted on transcripts and marking period reports CL SynBio-Inventing with DNA in the same manner. Honors Chemistry Honors Physics *Not Offered in the 2020-2021 school year. GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS WRA graduates must complete a four year program of study. Students earn a minimum of 21 credits, while meeting specific departmental requirements, listed below:
ENGLISH: (4 credits) Four-year sequence and successful completion of the Junior Writing Exam. MATHEMATICS: (3 credits) Three years of mathematics at WRA, with one credit at the 30 level or higher. MODERN & CLASSICAL LANGUAGES: (2 credits) Two courses at WRA, including level III. SCIENCE: (3 credits) Three full credits in science: Biology, Chemistry and Physics required. HISTORY: (3 credits) Three full credits in history including US History. FINE & PEFORMING ARTS: (2 credits) Any Fine & Performing Arts courses. INTEGRATED STUDIES & DESIGN: (3 credits) Including Learn to Live Well. PHYSICAL EDUCATION: Students earn physical education credit by athletic participation or conditioning at WRA for each academic year. REPORTING DISCIPLINE AND STUDENT CHANGES: When asked on college applications, students are expected to self-report serious discipline infractions (probation and suspension) and WRA college counselors will confirm the accuracy of details and outcome. The College Counseling Office will report any significant changes to students’ applications. This includes: change in level of academic rigor, leadership roles or co- curricular involvement. The student should report changes as well.
Standardized Testing Mean Scores for the Class of 2020 vs. National Average
SAT Score Distributions for the ACT Score Distributions for the Class of 2020 Class of 2020
27.8 27.6 27.1 26.8 27.5 659 680
21.3 20.8 20.8 528 523 20.2 20.5
ERW Math English Math Reading Science Comp WRA National Average WRA National Average 2017-2020 COLLEGE ADMISSIONS Listed below is a cross section of colleges and universities to which Western Reserve Academy graduates from the classes of 2017 – 2020 have been accepted; * indicates where students matriculated.
20 and over Connecticut College* Centre College* Mass College of Pharmacy and Health Boston University* University of Denver* Champlain College* Massachusetts Institute of Technology Case Western Reserve University* Dickinson College Christopher Newport University McGill University Denison University* Drew University* Clark Atlanta University Middlebury College Drexel University Duke University* Clark University* Minerva Schools at KGI* Fordham University* Duquesne University Clarkson University Monmouth College University of Illinois* University of Edinburgh* Colby College* Montana State University Indiana University* Emerson College* College of the Holy Cross* Mount Allison University* Miami University* Georgia Tech* Colorado College* Mount Holyoke College* University of Michigan* Gettysburg College* Colorado School of Mines Munich University of Applied Sciences* Northeastern University* Heidelberg University* Columbia College Muskingum University Ohio State University* Hiram College* Columbia University* National University of Ireland University of Pittsburgh* Ithaca College University of Connecticut New York Institute of Technology Purdue University* John Carroll University* Cornell College Newcastle University* College of Wooster* University of Kentucky* Cornell University* Niagara University Loyola University Maryland D’Youville College* University of Notre Dame 15 - 19 Marquette University Davidson College* North Carolina Central University University of Akron* University of Maryland* DePauw University* Northwestern University* American University* University of Massachusetts Durham University Occidental College University of California-San Diego* University of North Carolina* Earlham College Oglethorpe University University of California-Irvine* North Carolina State University Eastern Michigan University* Oregon State University University of Cincinnati* Oberlin College* Eckerd College* Otterbein University University of Colorado* Ohio Northern University* Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Oxford College University of Dayton* Ohio Wesleyan University* Endicott College* University of the Pacific Hobart & William Smith Colleges* University of Pennsylvania* Ewha Womans University Pepperdine University Kent State University* Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute* Fairfield University Pratt Institute New York University* Rhodes College* University of Florida* Princeton University* Ohio University* University of Richmond* Florida Atlanta University Providence College Pennsylvania State University* Roanoke College Florida International University* University of Puget Sound* Rochester Institute of Technology* University of Rochester* Florida Southern College* Queen’s University* University of Southern California* Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology* Florida State University Queen’s University of Belfast University of Wisconsin* Rutgers University* Franklin and Marshall College Queens University* Xavier University* Santa Clara University* Gannon University Quinnipiac University Savannah College of Art and Design* George Mason University Randolph-Macon College 10 - 14 University of South Carolina Georgetown University University of Redlands Boston College* Southern Methodist University* University of Georgia Reed College Butler University* University of St Andrews* Georgia Southern University Rhode Island School of Design* University of California-Davis Texas A&M University* Gonzaga University Rice University* University of Chicago* University of Texas* Gordon College Robert Morris University* DePaul University Trinity College* Goucher College Rollins College Elon University* Tufts University* Grinnell College Saint Anselm College Emory University* Tulane University* Grove City College Saint Edward’s University Furman University* United States Naval Academy* Hamline University* Saint Joseph’s University George Washington University* Vanderbilt University* Hartwick College Saint Mary’s College High Point University* University of Vermont Harvard College* Saint Michael’s College Kenyon College* University of Virginia Hawaii Pacific University Samford University Loyola University Chicago* Wellesley College* Hillsdale College San Diego State University University of Miami* Wesleyan University* Hollins University* Sarah Lawrence College* Michigan State University* College of William & Mary* Howard University Seton Hall University Sewanee: The University of the South* Wittenberg University* Illinois Institute of Technology* Sierra Nevada College* Syracuse University* Imperial College London* Skidmore College Villanova University* 1 - 4 James Madison University Smith College Virginia Polytechnic Institute* Alfred University Johns Hopkins University* Southwestern University University of Washington* Amherst College* KAIST Spelman College Ashland University King’s College London St. Lawrence University 5 - 9 Assumption University Lafayette College* St. Bonaventure University Allegheny College* Auburn University Lake Forest College St. John’s College University of Arizona Ave Maria University* Lawrence University St. Thomas University Babson College* Ball State University Lee University Stanford University* Baldwin Wallace University* Bard College Leeds Beckett University Stetson University Baylor University Bentley University Lehigh University* Stevens Institute of Technology Belmont University* Berklee College of Music* Lewis & Clark College Suffolk University* Bowdoin College* Birmingham Southern College Longy School of Music Susquehanna University* Bucknell College* Bowling Green State University Louisiana State University Swarthmore College* University of California-Berkeley* Brandeis University* Loyola Marymount University Temple University* University of California-Los Angeles* Brown University* Loyola University New Orleans* Texas Christian University* University of California-Santa Barbara* Bryant University Lynn University* Trinity University* Carnegie Mellon University* Bryn Mawr University* Macalester College* United States Military Academy* Chapman University* California College of the Arts Marietta College* Wake Forest University* College of Charleston* University of Cambridge* Marist College* Washington University in St. Louis* Clemson University Canisius College* Marymount Manhattan College Williams College Cleveland State University* Carleton College* Marymount University Worcester Polytechnic Institute* Colgate University* Catholic University Massachusetts College of Art and Design Yonsei University* Western Reserve Academy COVID-19 Impact on Learning, Grading and Testing
Spring Schedule 2020 Disruption Effective March 13, 2020, WRA moved to a remote learning platform for all students for the remainder of the school year. In anticipation of this shift, beginning in late February faculty received extensive training in online instruction. Similarly, students who were identified as being at risk for connectivity issues or other technological hardships were given computers and assistance in securing reliable access to WiFi. Our academic schedule moved forward online for the remainder of the spring, following our traditional rotating schedule of classes and with the same academic expectations in place for students. In light of this, all students were issued standard letter grades which reflect the same academic demands and rigorous curriculum of our school in a non-COVID world.
Of Additional Note - Spring 2020 » All spring sports and co-curricular activities were cancelled. » College counselors had met in-person several times with all juniors prior to the move to distance learning in March, and continued to meet individually via RingCentral (a video-conferencing platform) throughout the spring and summer.
Testing Availability » Cancelled test dates: April ACT, May SAT, June SAT » Limited availability: August SAT » To be offered (subject to change): September SAT/ACT, October SAT/ACT, November SAT, December SAT/ACT
Academic Year 2020-21 Schedule and Changes (still in process) » Most local schools began with remote learning for the fall. » WRA opened largely in-person and has implemented a flexible curriculum that follows a schedule of four modules of 40 days each, allowing for pivots to online learning if necessary, either on a mass or individualized scale. » Classes meet every day during the 40 day module. Students will take a maximum of four classes, with one free period. » Each module is the equivalent of one semester’s worth of academic work. As such, full-year courses will meet for two of the four modules and semester-length courses will meet for one module. » In preparation for this school year, WRA offered students the option to pursue one of three different learning platforms: 1. In person, on campus learning from the beginning of the school year. 2. Remote learning to start the school year, with the intent to transition to in-person learning at some point during the academic year. 3. Fully remote learning for the entire academic year. » To support our remote learners, WRA has created a “school-within-a-school” model in which designated faculty members teach online courses only, in parallel and partnership with colleagues who are teaching the same courses in person. This approach will allow for the seamless transition for those students who begin the year with distance learning before returning for in-person instruction at a later date. » Official grades for all Module 1 classes will be available in late October. In-progress grades for Module 2 classes will be sent to colleges in mid-late November for students who have applied for any EA or ED deadlines of 10/15, 11/1 and 11/15. Mid-year reports, which will be available in early January, will include official grades for Module 1 and Module 2. » A modified schedule for fall sports and extracurricular activities start in October.