“Microscopes, telescopes, binoculars, sighting scopes, and eyeglasses help us see something more clearly—magnified and focused for a purpose” (Reel, 2016, p. 136). In a previous blog, I introduced the concept of an innovation cascade. An innovation cascade is the premise that educational innovation must begin at the top of an organization and filter organically through the entire organization. The concept, … Read More
What’s Your Plan? Part 2 of a Conversation with Dan Beerens and Steven Levy
In Part 2 of the CACE summer webinar series Dan Beerens and Steven Levy discuss how school leaders and teachers can use the summer to plan more effectively for the following school year. Part 1 was about “Ending Well” in celebrating the accomplishments of the school year and Part 3 will be about “Beginning Well” as we jump into the … Read More
Wineskins, Wolves, and Innovation
Matthew 9:17 – “Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved” (English Standard Version). At first blush, the Biblical principle in Matthew 9:17 doesn’t appear to relate to leadership. After all, … Read More
What’s Your Plan?
If you are an administrator, the latter part of June is an ideal time for reflection and future planning. Immediate day-to-day pressures cease and unless you are in a modified year or year round schedule situation, the pressures to start back up feel down the road. Still fresh in your mind are the things that worked well or didn’t from … Read More
Will We Be Ending Well?
I wrote this blog post several years ago and since we are nearing the end of the school year, I thought it was worth repeating – the questions still remain important to consider. Shortly after publishing the post, I received a wonderful response from Jon Postma about my questions. At the time, Jon was a teacher at Lafayette Christian in … Read More
Biblical Integration Conference: Integration is Personal
The Biblical Integration Conference is designed for Christian school leaders and educators to explore the idea of biblical integration in a thoughtful and theological way with colleagues committed to doing Christian education well. The setting is on Cairn’s suburban Philadelphia campus for nearly three days of thought leadership, interaction, and presentations on a significant subject ripe for serious consideration. Christian schools … Read More
Approaches to Christian Education: From Elusive Towards a Larger and Deeper Approach
“This article originally appeared in the March 2016 issue of Pro Rege.” “Despite thirty years of talk about integration of faith and learning, and despite a half-dozen best-selling books that call on Christians to take intellectual life more seriously, the idea of Christian scholarship remains elusive for women and men who teach at and who lead Christian colleges and universities.” This was the conclusion of Michael Hamilton, … Read More
Engagement Matters: An Introduction
According to Gallup’s weekly survey only 33% of employees are actively engaged in their work while another 25% are actively disengaged. The data regarding teacher and student engagement is equally as discouraging with engagement rates that have plummeted in the past ten years to levels not seen since the early 1980s. As I work in a school, work with other … Read More
Should Christian Schools Be More like Seminaries or Churches?
Out of its best motives, the Christian day school movement was born from the deep conviction by parents that God’s truth be recognized in every subject and every aspect of learning. Knowing that a teacher’s worldview has a powerful and undeniable impact on students’ worldviews, public schooling was not acceptable to these parents because of concerns over what core values/worldview … Read More
Who Is Ultimately Responsible for Learning?
How long will we continue to limit the learning of our children by our need to be in control of it? The new ELSE Education Act replacing NCLB, should have included an apology from the Congress for all of the mischief that the NCLB led to in spite of its good intentions. It was an inappropriate response to a misunderstood … Read More