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opportunities for students to grow in their faith: daily Bible class and weekly chapel for preschool K3 through 12th grade, in addition to discipleship groups for every student in grades 5-12. Students also take part in the school’s annual Circle of Prayer at the start of every year, fall retreats every August, Spiritual Emphasis Week in winter, Spring Term mission trips in March and community service projects throughout the year.

Karen and Brandon Carter, parents of 12th-grader Ella and eighth-grader Emmy, believe that beyond the opportunities and programs are the people — particularly the teachers — at NCCS. “We have been amazed at the love the girls’ teachers have shown them and how they apply the principles from God’s word to every subject being taught and to real-life situations being faced,” Karen said.

“Some people’s thoughts are that a secular school environment will strengthen their children by forcing them to stand up for their own beliefs, but God’s word does not endorse that viewpoint,” she said. “It does not say, ‘Give a child 12 years of training in the way he should not go, and he will be made strong by it.’ Instead, God tells us, ‘Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old, he will not depart from it’ (Proverbs 22:6). Our hope is that our children will become like their teachers at NCCS, whose love for the Lord and the Word is the central focus of all of life.”

First-grade students participate in an integrated science and Bible lesson with their teacher, Mrs. Attard.

North Cobb Christian School is home to more than 1,150 students in preschool K3-12th grades.

Tours and information: K ncchristian.org

m 770-975-0252 k info@ncchristian.org 9 4500 Eagle Drive, Kennesaw Q @nccseagles

Top, robotics students at NCCS demonstrate the robot they constructed and programmed. Below, lower school students painted rocks to place throughout the community as reminders of God’s love.

Teaching Backward

At North Cobb Christian School, an uncompromising Christian education means marrying spiritual formation with academic excellence. In addition to biblical foundations, NCCS students engage in rigorous, college-preparatory academics. Currently, every teacher from K3 through 12th grade is implementing an academic best practice called Understanding by Design. This method of teaching employs a “backward design” approach, meaning teachers begin planning units with the learning outcomes in mind. Rather than focusing first on the activities and instruction (the teaching), teachers identify student outcomes (the learning), asking, “What will students learn through this?” Hands-on methods, project-based learning and authentic assessments then are planned around that essential question. “Understanding by Design is a methodology of teaching that puts the learner at the center, ensuring understanding on a deeper level,” said Dr. Chip Houston, assistant head of school at NCCS. “Our students are learning how to learn, how to critically think and question. They can then transfer that knowledge to real-world contexts, leveraging their gifts and intellect to impact the world for Christ.”