To evaluate a school’s culture, one must first understand the essence or the way of being of the institution. Why do we do the things we do? What do our habits say about who we are and what we value? What practices have become entrenched in our school? In what ways have we become robot-like in the way we do … Read More
Score Group 1: Mission-Based Budgeting
On February 2-4, 2015 six heads of school gathered in Orlando, FL to think deeply about the concept of mission-based budgeting. Also in attendance were several board members and school finance officers. Below are two ideas that surfaced during our time together (more to come in later blogs): 1) Three Levers – Jake Becker, Head of School at The City School, shared a … Read More
2014 Year in Review
On behalf of Sid & Carol Verdoorn and the Center for the Advancement of Christian Education, we offer our 2014 year in review. It has been a wonderful first year, filled with blessings and opportunities to advance the cause of Christian education. We look forward to continued conversations and partnerships with you as we seek to advocate for, promote, sustain, and innovate Christian education throughout North America. May God continue to bless your work as ambassadors in His Kingdom. Happy New Year!
The Intermountain Christian Story: Culture Making
The task of creating a school culture is not easy. I could probably stop with that statement and you could begin a vigorous debate with school friends about your school’s culture. Lots of questions surround this topic: Is school culture different than school climate? Can you measure a school’s culture or is it simply something you feel? Can you really … Read More
The Intermountain Christian Story: The Big Three
If this was the title of a Jeopardy slide, the answers could be numerous. General Motors, Ford, & Chrysler might have been your answer if you are into the world of automobiles. Or maybe Yale, Princeton, and Harvard would have been your response if you followed college football in the 1880s. If you grew up with myself and the rest … Read More
The Intermountain Christian Story: Covenantal or Missional?
One of the foundational questions that every Christian school needs to respond to is that of purpose – Why do we exist? The answer, for some Christian schools, has been deeply rooted in the concept of whether they are a covenantal Christian school or a missional Christian school. Intermountain Christian is asking this question as they re-story. For ICS, and … Read More
The Intermountain Christian Story: Introduction
The ICS story officially began in 1982, originally narrated by a passionate group of parents and leaders from The Evangelical Free Church of Salt Lake. It began as a ministry of the church, commissioned to begin “building disciple-making servants within a Christ-centered Biblically based, academically challenging, and caring environment which is focused on building Christian character and values.” The context … Read More
Platooning and Schools?
Two words that do not immediately fit together in my mind. My immediate connection to the word “platoon” will continue to be the Oliver Stone movie from 1986, starring Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, and Charlie Sheen as Vietnam soldiers on their tour of duty. I don’t know if this film made the act of war more real for an … Read More
Saving Money for Public Education through Christian Schooling?
Jeff Spalding, former CFO for the City of Indianapolis and current director of Fiscal Policy and Analysis at the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, published an interesting blog post last week titled If you think expanding school choice is expensive. I found his examples intriguing as they stimulated some good discussion around the question of whether we can really fund school choice in North … Read More
The Teacher Effect
There was a motorcar company commercial that ran in our local television market, coining the phrase “The Eide Effect”. According to their website, this meant that their company built a business on the values that takes one beyond the “business as usual” transaction. This company wanted customers to know that they cared about the human connection and that this “Eide … Read More