In this second segment of his two-part essay, Matthew Beimers ponders whether the wider community would better know Christians by their love if greater diversity were fostered in Christian schools. Growing up in a tradition where children were baptized as infants, I never fully grasped the beauty and importance of the congregation speaking their covenantal, baptismal promises over families until … Read More
Schools Leaning Out
In part one of this two-part essay appearing on CACE this week, school principal Matthew Beimers makes the case that opening doors to strangers might make Christian education even more Christian, not less. “The primary goal of Christian education is the formation of a peculiar people, a people who desire the kingdom of God and thus undertake their life’s expression … Read More
Two Stars and A Wish…
I hope it is OK for me to dedicate this blog to one of the original thought leaders in the biblical framework for teaching that we call Teaching for Transformation or TfT. As some of you may know, CACE has been partnering with the Prairie Centre for Christian Education (PCCE) in developing and delivering TfT to schools in the United … Read More
Christian School Mission Statements
Developing a Mission and Vision statement is a task that every Christian School has engaged in at one time or perhaps, multiple times throughout their history. A lot is asked of Christian school mission statements. They must sell the school to prospective families and donors alike, rally the community in a multitude of different ways, and direct the overall operations. … Read More
The Toughest Question about Christian Education
This fall I celebrated my 40th first day of school. Those 40 first days include 4 first days as a public high school teacher, 9 as a state university graduate student (including 4 as a graduate assistant), 6 as a public university adjunct instructor, 13 as a student at K-12 Christian schools (across 4 different schools), 1 as a community … Read More
The Redemption and Promise of Service-Learning
You may think that Christian schools—whose missions can often be boiled down to “Serve God, Serve Others”—may be leading the way in implementing service-learning. However, in their new book, Bring It to Life: Christian Education and the Transformative Power of Service-Learning, authors Lynn Swaner and Roger Erdvig say that often the power of service-learning is unrealized in Christian schools. Instead, … Read More
Now or Never: The Research Basis for Innovation in Christian Schools
In Schools at Risk: An Analysis of Factors Endangering the Evangelical Christian School Movement in America (Nichols 2016), I investigated the nature, causes, and contributing factors to Christian school closures in the U.S. since 2006. A goal of the study was to identify implications for practice that these factors held for the future, as well as develop a set of … Read More
Harkness: Timely, Timeless Innovation
I remember the phone call I made to my dissertation chair like it was yesterday. I hadn’t rehearsed it. In fact, I didn’t really think too long about the implications. After 2 years of research and study on the topic of Independent School leadership, this decision meant I would make a hard turn, about-face, and switch my dissertation topic. I … Read More
Schools That Change Lives
What does this diagram represent? What about this one? If you got the first one, you probably got the second one. I’m not sure where I first saw these diagrams, but they come to mind when I think about the power a school has to affect students’ lives. I have had the privilege over many years in education to … Read More
The Real Cost of Marketing Research
We live in a world where, when we wonder why something is the way it is or want an answer to a relatively trivial question, we have the ability to find the answer rather quickly. Our expectation is that these curiosities can and should be answered almost immediately. This has contributed to expectations around market research that may be both … Read More