Introduction: About a year ago I was introduced to Andrew Neumann and Open Sky Education at a Summit for urban schools. If you’ve read my blog over the years you’ll know my skepticism for Charter Schools, but I’d never come across an education provider that was a hybrid Charter School Management Organization as well as a Christian School operator. Over … Read More
A Time for Clarification: Religious Liberties and Religious Schools
With increasing frequency, religious congregations and ministries are facing unfamiliar challenges. Recent months have seen a major escalation in the willingness of political and other leaders to use cultural, political, and legal pressure against religious groups and individuals that resist the newest manifestations of the sexual revolution. (Eric Kniffin) Background: Recently, I had the opportunity to catch up with a … Read More
Building an Engaged School: Educators Crave It
Review of Prior Blogs: In April 2016, I started a blog series entitled Building an Engaged School because of the misery of educators in their work, lack of stability in school leadership, and the ensuing educator shortage (which is now upon us). The blogs I wrote were intended to help school boards, school leaders, and policymakers to think through what … Read More
Teaching, Coaching, Administrating…Synonyms?
Earlier this year, I had a unique opportunity to accompany my father-in-law (Dr. Len Rhoda) on a trip to Southern California, to Valley Christian High School in Cerritos where he and my mother-in-law (Lee) began their teaching and coaching careers. The purpose of this trip was to meet up with a team he coached to the 1967-68 CIF State Basketball … Read More
School Safety and the Christian School
This past week was a particularly trying week with the loss of life of 17 students at Stoneman Douglas High School. With this tragedy now comes renewed discussions on guns, shootings, the Second Amendment, and school safety. For just a moment, I want to examine the latter while skipping over the others, so we can discuss the truth about whether … Read More
Powerful Instructional Practices
This blog was adapted from opening remarks at the Powerful Practices: Implementing Deeper Learning in Christian Schools conference, Gainesville, FL, January 11-12, 2018. “It is nothing but a pious wish and a grossly unwarranted hope that students trained to be passive and non-creative in school will suddenly, upon graduation, actively contribute to the formation of Christian culture.” Nicholas Wolterstorff And … Read More
Curriculum Introduction
What if (Christian) education is not primarily about the absorption of ideas and information, but about the formation of hearts and desires? What if (Christian) education was primarily concerned with shaping our hopes and passions –our visions of the ‘good life’? What if the primary work of (Christian) education was the transforming of our imagination rather than the saturation of … Read More
What Does It Mean To Be Successful?
February has never been my favorite month. Not because winter seems like it will never end; not because the dreary overcast skies match my mood; no, February is the month where I fall back into my “imposter” thinking. February is most often the month where the busyness and challenge of my work butts up against my own insecurities and my … Read More
Delivering on Your Promises
In our work at Charter Oak Research, my business partner and I have the opportunity to travel to many different places and help Christian schools better understand their markets. Schedules are often very tight so we try to fit in as much as possible in a short amount of time. Thus, delays and cancellations often times add stress and frustration. … Read More
Thomas Arnett: Amplify the Teacher Effect with Technology
Introduction: As someone who espouses innovation in Education I’ve always been skeptical of the technocrats who push the cure-all that technology should be for Education. My qualms have always been twofold, first technology as the replacement for the relationship between teacher and student and second the lack of relationship between learners in a communal drive for some sort of corporate … Read More