Education Savings Accounts – Do I want one? Education savings accounts may be the best vehicle for supporting school choice. Take three minutes and watch this video from the Wall Street Journal to become better educated about ESAs as an opportunity to put educational responsibility back in the hands, heads, and hearts of parents.
Leadership Lessons from a Hospital Room
I have been having many fun conversations about education recently, and have other blogs that I am working on entitled “NCLB Reauthorization and Private Schools”, “I Hate Homework”, and a follow-up to “Innovation and Digical Schools”. However, March 2015 is Multiple Myeloma Awareness month, and I thought I would share some leadership lessons from my journey through the early days … Read More
12 Changes Coming to the Future of Learning
Do you realize that the year 2025 is closer to us than 2004? It seems to me we are still preparing students to be successful in the year 2004 or before. We even fail if we prepare them for 2014. Why don’t we, as much as we can, prepare them for the year 2025? You see, today’s 2nd graders will … Read More
The Intermountain Christian Story: Culture Making II
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
Our Quest for Congruence, Part 2: Exciting Developments
A student centered learning movement is emerging in North American Christian education – this is a very exciting development! Now you might say, “Hasn’t Christian education always been about viewing students as image-bearers of God and being student centered?” I would contend, however, from my perspective as a recipient, participant, and observer of Christian education for the past 50 years, … Read More
Marketing Research: When is it Healthy to Compare?
I am a marketing researcher by profession and training. I have been conducting research and leading teams that do research for 20 years. Prior to that, I studied statistics and research methods and used what I learned (sometimes with difficulty) for my own research, not realizing that as a student in a political science graduate program, I would actually use … Read More
Effective Christian Leadership: The Work of Leadership
In my first year as the head of a school, I was enthusiastic and organized, with big dreams and a plan that I was developing and implementing. At first, though, I kept finding myself getting frustrated, because I would have seemingly constant interruptions that kept me from getting to the tasks that I needed to do in order to carry … Read More
Praying for the Fruit of the Spirit
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, … 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
Praying About What the Heavens Declare
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. Psalm 19:1-4 Here in the Twin Cities, we just … Read More