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Since 2006, Episcopal Collegiate School has required eighth graders to take Latin I, something that, to their knowledge, no other school in Arkansas is doing. In the five years since, Head of the Upper School Mary Lou Entzminger says faculty can see improvement in the students' knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, classical mythological and cultural references and standardized test scores.

Latin course teacher David Webb confirmed that, in addition, those who take a Latin course see their English vocabulary and other language skills improved as well. “Their understanding of English grammar is increased — and they freely admit and understand that it is — and we have ample statistical evidence that students across the country who’ve taken some, even just one year, of Latin have much higher SAT and ACT scores in critical reading and verbal comprehension sections,” he says.

Other evidence that students understand the benefits of learning Latin is in their end-of-year course evaluations, where they have the opportunity to anonymously give their thoughts on the course. In the 2011 evaluations, 80.8 percent of eighth graders at Episcopal responded that they thought it was a good thing that they were required to take Latin.

Episcopal Collegiate requires the course for eighth graders. In ninth grade, students may elect to continue in Latin or take a modern language. However, according to Webb, the number of students who continue on in Latin (after Latin I) has grown each of the past five years.