Pride impacts how we lead, including a tendency to push those we lead not for some higher cause but for the sake of our own vanity.
Lessons Learned: A Retrospective on Four Decades of Christian School Leadership
Every situation has deepened my roots in the idiosyncratic call of Christian schooling. To what do I attribute this vocational stickiness? I offer these climbing holds.
The Power and Limitations of Executive Function In Schools
I noted in the first post on this topic—the presence and impact of professionalism in private schools—that two upheavals have altered the ways in which professional standards are defined in faith-based schools. The first is the erosion of the social standing of spiritually oriented vocations, including private school teachers. Not only is this trend driven by secularization, but the economics of private … Read More
“Professionalism” In Faith-Based Schools: A Brief Primer
When I ask small groups of teachers in faith-based schools why they teach “here and not elsewhere,” invariably someone says, “Because God called me here.” Often, more than one person in the same interview will claim divine direction as their fundamental motivation. Erik Ellefsen, a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Advancement of Christian Education (CACE), asks good questions. … Read More
Marketing for Strategic Growth – Thoughts from GCSLS
On January 30 to February 1, I attended the Global Christian School Leadership Summit in San Antonio, Texas. CACE was one of the sponsors of the event that drew over 1100 attendees from all over the world. If you were not able to attend the summit you can gain access to some of the content by registering for the GCSLS … Read More
Exit Interview Takeaways
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
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
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
Your Board’s a Bad Board, and It’s Probably Your Fault: Conversation with Chuck Evans
Introduction and Podcast with Chuck Evans: I had the opportunity to have another conversation with Chuck Evans of Better Schools about his work with school boards, heads of schools, and his recent stint as an interim head of school. I’ve written many times about the lack of stability in leadership and the consternation that heads of schools consistently discuss … Read More
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