Washington, DC – The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) annually assesses core curricula at over 1,100 U.S. colleges and universities as part of our What Will They Learn? project. Each school is assigned a letter grade based on seven core subject areas. As one of the most significant improvements recorded this year, New College of Florida has skyrocketed from an F to a B+ rating. By achieving a B+, it comes in the top 7.5% grades nationwide, and is now the highest-graded public school in Florida.
The improved grade follows the full reconstruction of New College’s general education program. The institution replaced a fragmented model with a structured core organized around Logos (thought) and Techne (practical knowledge), ensuring that every student engages meaningfully in both the humanities and the sciences. Every student now completes substantive coursework in literature, U.S. government or history, mathematics, science, and composition, with further choices in Great Books, economics, philosophy, and religion.
“Flouting the trend toward lax academic standards, New College has achieved momentous, countercultural growth with its streamlined new core curriculum,” said ACTA Academic Affairs Fellow Veronica Bryant. “The coherent curriculum initiates students through literature, and they gain competence in civics, mathematics, composition, science, and technology, before ending with ‘Enduring Human Questions.’ Fulfilling its mission as Florida’s public liberal arts college, New College is the only public school in Florida to require Literature of all students, who benefit from reading Homer’s Odyssey in concert.”
“This recognition confirms that our academic reforms are working,” said President Richard Corcoran. “We strengthened our core around foundational knowledge because students deserve substance and seriousness. A liberal arts education must train the mind. It must build discipline, reason, and the ability to wrestle honestly with complex ideas. Moving from a failing evaluation to a B+ in three years demonstrates that structural reform and high expectations produce measurable results.”
New College’s improvement signals more than a change in rating. It reflects a cultural shift toward accountability, academic clarity, and restored standards. In a higher education environment where rigor often erodes, New College has chosen to raise expectations and define a clear intellectual path for every graduate.
To learn more about ACTA’s What Will They Learn? project, visit whatwilltheylearn.com.
For more information about New College of Florida, visit ncf.edu.
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