In the last post on the CESA heads surveys, conducted in the spring of this year, we looked at this group of school leaders’ views of the educational marketplace, primarily its effect on enrollment and re-enrollment. We examined the phenomenon that despite the fact that 70% of the surveyed schools have grown in the past five years, some quite dramatically, … Read More
Peace Preparatory Academy and Atlanta: Pursuing Shalom in the City
Atlanta is a historic city. A city that has been the center piece for major movements in the Civil Rights era, a city considered to have the most African-American wealth in the country, and a city in the top 20 of cities visited by international travelers. Yet it is also a city that has the largest rich and poor divide … Read More
Bored Boards?
“Are board meetings interesting?” At a recent board training session with one of our CACE Schools, I posed this question to the board and enjoyed their responses. There was some initial laughter that only these board members could fully appreciate due to their familiarity with the changes this school is in the midst of. Change makes for interesting board meetings. … Read More
Redefining Smart – A Book Review
Quality educators who have operated from their heart, from relationships with students, and who have seen themselves as coaches and designers of learning, will be greatly heartened by a new book, Redefining Smart: Awakening Students’ Power to Reimagine Their World (Corwin, 2016). I found it difficult to put the book down. As a psychologist, educator, and disciple of positive psychology, … Read More
Restoration Academy and Birmingham
In 1983 the five funerals in his first year of planting a church were too much. Dr. Anthony Gordon, a young African American pastor, was weary and broken from burying teenaged boys from his community- casualties of gang and drug violence. He recognized that his Sunday morning and midweek services could not compete with the predatory forces devouring his community. … Read More
Christian Education for “Normal” People
This article originally appeared in the Ontario Christian School Administrators Association newsletter, The Rudder. In June, I read Evangelism for “Normal” People by John Bowen. I expected that it might make me consider how I understand evangelism; I didn’t expect that it would make me reconsider how I understand the movement of Christian education. Bowen shares the ideas of a … Read More
A School and a Church at the Heart of a City
From the author Beth Green of Cardus: My editors have confirmed that certainly you may reprint the blog with the following accreditation at the top of the piece: “This article was originally published by Cardus:” What is it that makes a city? Judging by the ones I’ve visited lately—London, Abu Dhabi, Chicago, Sydney—it is global finance and skyscrapers. When people … Read More
The Case for Joy
I believe learning is, and should be, one of the most joyful experiences on earth. Last week I had the opportunity to gather with a group of 50 people at the Deeper Learning CACE pre-conference day to discuss ways of teaching and learning that engage students deeply and bring more joy back into the educational process. We are entering an … Read More