This scheduling leads to greater concentration on a smaller number of subjects. Although traditional letter grades are used, they are supplemented by written evaluations that describe all aspects of a student's performance and are sent out seven times a year. These evaluations provide a complete description of progress and effort, and the school believes they are more helpful than letter grades alone. The student body consists of 40 boarding boys and girls and 2 day students. At CTA, students are not separated by grade level.
Students come from many parts of the United States and abroad.
The faculty determines most of the campus rules at the beginning of the year. Disciplinary decisions are made by the faculty or by the entire community, depending on the rules violated. In the 1930s, a hot springs resort was developed on the land that is now the CTA campus. The lodge building is now the main classroom facility, containing several small rooms, the library, the computer system, the dining area, and the central meeting room. The old bathhouse to the south of the lodge is the foreign language, science, and arts building, containing a science lab and a darkroom.