This final post completes the Evidence-Based Approach to Student Faith Formation series. The first post talked about the Faith Formation Flywheel. The second post highlighted planning and teaching for faith formation. This final post focuses on the crucial third component: collecting evidence of faith formation—and why it matters. Evidence For the flywheel to be effective and enduring, evidence must receive … Read More
Evidence-Based Approach to Student Faith Formation, Part 2: Planning and Teaching Christianly
In my last post, I introduced the Faith Formation Flywheel—a system for aligning Planning, Teaching Christianly, and Evidence so that faith formation becomes sustainable and visible. Before we go further, it’s worth clarifying what I mean by faith formation. When I speak with teachers about using Faith Journey, a web and mobile application designed to collect evidence of faith formation, … Read More
Evidence-Based Approach to Student Faith Formation, Part 1: The Faith Formation Flywheel
Looking back on my students over the past 25 years, I often reflect on those who professed a love for Jesus while in my classroom but later turned away from their faith. While many former students are still following Him, a significant number are not. Research from George Barna, Pew Research, and other sources reflects what I’ve observed anecdotally. According … Read More
More Than Words: Evidence of Mission Accomplished
More and more families are considering Christian schools. However, they may not have a clear understanding of what a Christian school is. As an administrator, it is easy to show test scores indicating academic progress, but how do we know and show that faith is truly being developed in each child? Do we have evidence to show that all students are learning and growing in their faith?
Learning in the Continuum
Many of us were taught to have a beginning, middle, and end to our lessons. In other words, we thought it was important to close out our lessons neatly. The Zeigarnik Effect suggests that we reconsider.