In our work at Charter Oak Research, we conduct several phone calls with current Christian school parents and parents of students who once attended a Christian school but did not re-enroll. One of the reasons we provide this service is to give schools more complete information on what current families are thinking as well as insights on why other families … Read More
Why NOT to Attend the 2019 Global Christian School Leadership Summit
Between the two of us, we’ve spent hundreds of hours at educational conferences throughout our careers. We’ve also had the humbling experience of having to coordinate a few ourselves. When thinking about conferences in Christian education, we would define most of them as “operational.” By that, we mean that the conference speakers and content focus on what we already do … Read More
A Look Back at 2018: Looking Ahead to 2019
Review of 2018 At the end of each year I put together a reflection of the year as well as a look ahead. See A Look Back and a Look Ahead 2018 where I shared the best of 2017 and themes for 2018. As anyone who reads my blogs knows, I love to hyperlink things, so click through and use … Read More
Why Coaches Need Coaching
Triangulation is the world of research when three pieces of data crash together, affirming or at least connecting the variables. This blog is due to the triangulation of three coaching experiences that collided in the past month for me. The first data set was a two-day coaching intensive that CACE held at Surrey Christian School. Two of our Teaching for … Read More
Storytelling: Deeper Than Learning
The universe is made of stories, not atoms. –Muriel Rukeyser Aha! Sonya was a very mature kindergartner whose mother was concerned that she would be bored in my class because she already knew how to do everything in the curriculum. Mom was especially peeved that I would be spending two days on the letter M, when her daughter already knew … Read More
What Do We Mean by Christian Deeper Learning? A Draft Document for Your Consideration – Part 2
In July I shared with you the first part of a working definition of Christian Deeper Learning. To refresh your memory I mentioned this background information by way of introduction: As a core group (authors are noted at the end of the full document – you can reference that here) we each took our turn crafting a document expressing our … Read More
Developing and Incarnating Community Character Traits
In my last blog, I mentioned the importance of a school developing a list of the traits that describe the character of Jesus, and then practicing them together in every aspect of school life. At a workshop my wife and I facilitated on deeper learning last summer, teachers from The Niagara Association for Christian Education (NACE) came to a more … Read More
Successfully Leading a School in a Culture of Change
I have had the pleasure of meeting with hundreds of Christian school administrators this year at conferences and on their campuses. Our conversations often lead to a discussion of their biggest challenges, and I sometimes share the following advice on how to make positive changes. We live in an era of exponential change, and with every change comes an element … Read More
Suggestions to Unleash Innovation
This past year, I’ve had the opportunity to start the Digical Education* podcast where I’ve recorded conversations with twenty-eight educators, innovators, or leaders. This opportunity has allowed me to ask questions about policy and practice in education that will allow us to be more successful in our work. Through these conversations, I’ve developed the following suggestions that might help us … Read More
Celebration of a Leader
With the resource of the Internet and other media outlets, there is no shortage of materials about Christian leadership. Instead of writing another article about this topic, I thought it might be helpful to write about a man who modeled what it means to be a strong Christian leader. We can learn a lot from his life and his legacy. … Read More